It was my turn to bring refreshments for today’s meeting. Since Georgeann was doing a presentation on herbs,
I thought I’d include my favorite: Cilantro
This also is an incentive to use our website’s Blog to get the recipe.
It’s easy and refreshing.
Chop 6 Roma tomatoes, 1 medium red onion, 2 avocadoes and cilantro into a bowl.
Squeeze the juice of two limes over the mixture, add salt to taste. Mix it up and serve
with Scoops, over chicken or as a salsa for a great Mexican dish. Enjoy.
Posted in Recipes, Uncategorized, Vegetables | 1 Comment »
We have some lovely autumn pictures this week! Frank submitted a flaming ‘living bouquet’ entitled, “Woodlot scene in Fall Colors”.
Woodlot Scene in Fall Colors
Linda submitted two photos of her sedum. As much as I love sedum, it’s always a little bittersweet for me when they bloom because I know the end of nice weather is upon us.
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Strangely enough, fall seems to be taking its sweet time in coming to our exhibition garden. While most of the areas maples, sumacs and oaks are in full fall color, there are still a few of our deciduous plants that have yet to turn. Jennie snapped a few photos of some of these specimens and challenges you all to identify the plants and their location within the garden.
Fall Plant Quiz.
“these three native shrubs in the demo garden October 8, all have black fruits (reportedly edible but not tasty) and bright fall leaf colors. They are not all located in the native shrub row. Can you name them?”
Posted in MC Demonstration Garden, Plant Quiz, Trees and Shrubs, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
If you need another reason to attend this Saturday’s general meeting, it’s Georgeann’s taste tempting class on Savory & Sweet Herbal Cooking. Learn quick and simple ways to incorporate the herbs from your garden into elegant, but easy to prepare dishes that are guaranteed to please.
Menu
Sun-dried Tomato Tapenade with Crostini
Polenta rounds with Pesto, Kalmata olives and Parmesan
Lavender infused Mascarpone in Dessert cups
*****
Long time Master Gardener Georgeann Brown is the owner of un coup de main Cooking School in Dundee and past president of the Maumee Valley Herbal Society.
Posted in Events, Herbs, Recipes, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
Hello everyone,
Just a short reminder that the two scheduled W & L sessions for October will be held on this Saturday October 8, 9-11 am and Thursday October 20, 6-8 pm. Jennie will be overseeing the work on these two days while I am taking a leave of absence to finish up some projects before winter.
The Deutzia in the hummingbird garden is now starting to throw out branches. If they are long enough, maybe we can pin some of them in the ground and do some layering propagation. Jennie can make a short presentation on how to do this easy to learn technique.
The Thursday night session will be a first for us and the blog, in that Sue will actually video Paul demonstrating lifting and dividing some peonies. It is our plan to upload this short instructional video and add it to our growing archive of garden topics. So…please do NOT cut back the peonies in the entry garden!
UPCOMING EVENTS:
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We didn’t have any member entries this week, so I decided to mix things up a bit. Usually we think of enjoying garden photography in vivid color. We commonly overlook the fact that many things such as tone, texture, and contrast may be shown better in black and white! Many cameras these days, even cell phone cameras, have a B&W option, or the ability to convert color photos to B&W. For even more options, inexpensive computer programs are available. Here are just a few examples. The dahlia and hibiscus flowers were shot in the demonstration gardens at our Extension office. The fern was taken awhile back at Hidden Lake Gardens.
Posted in FotoFriday, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
For anyone interested, I will be presenting a class on Vertical Gardening & Living Art, Wednesday October 12, 2011 from 6-8PM. The class is through the Monroe Public Schools Community Education Programs. It will be held at Riverside Early Learning Center, 77 N. Roessler St., Monroe, MI. If you wish to attend there is a $5.00 registration fee. You may register by Telephone at 734-265-4950, or in person weekdays between 9:00am-3:00pm at the same location.
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Well, I’ve been introduced to a new tree this weekend. I’ve never seen one before and didn’t know what it was when everyone in the campground said they have to go collecting “Sage Orange” for the trailers. Evidently the seasonal campers tell me by setting these large fruits full of seeds around the trailer it keeps the mice and spiders out. They swear by them. They also have been using them in their basements to keep the spiders out. So I took some photos to post. I did a bit of research this morning when I came home as well. It is an Osage Orange-Maclura pomifera, also know as a Hedge or Hedge Apple. . In my research I find they are edible…but just the seeds are desired since there’s a slimy mucus like on the inner side. Squirrels evidently love them. The ones in my photos are still green, however I understand they turn a bit more yellow. So upon the advice of my fellow campers we placed these in a bowl with some aluminum foil under them all around areas of the trailer. We shall see…could it just be co-incidence or fact that the mice stay away? Although some of the websites did confirm that there is a chemical in them that repels cockroaches and spiders. Anyone out there know anything else about this tree? My fear is that I come back to some rotted fruit in the Spring.
Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments »
I had a few photos left over from our last W & L session, so I thought it would be fun to make a compilation and see if you can identify them. They are all from plants growing within the exhibition garden and this should be a snap for you older hands…or maybe not.
Jennie will be the authoritative source for the correct answers, which will be in MG form of botanical and common name…and species or variety if known. You can make this as hard or as easy as you like. Print out the sheet and write in your answers for a self quiz. If you like, keep the completed form as a reference. To make it a little more interesting, there is a “trick” entry. See if you can spot it.
(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)
(E)
(F)
(G)
Sue is posting another direct link to the University of Minnesota Yard & Garden newsletter in the Gardening Resources section. This extension site has a couple of interesting features we hope you will enjoy and use on a regular basis to identify some of the things around your garden. I would like to thank fellow MG Sharon Diefenthaler for telling me about this site. The “What’s this plant”, “What’s this bug” features are very popular with her students when they are quizzed on what they found in the greenhouse that day.
Please post your answers as a comment…if you want to play and impress everyone with your plant knowledge.
Posted in MC Demonstration Garden, Perennials, Plant Quiz, Trees and Shrubs, Uncategorized | 6 Comments »
I knew something was up as soon as I turned into the parking lot last Monday night. The air was filled with the aromas of freshly baked herbal bread right out of the oven. The closer I got to the front door, the stronger the aromas of drying lavender, thyme, bergamot, mint and rosemary were competing with one another to draw me in. I stopped and noticed something was odd about the potted bayleaf…somebody had given it a rather severe haircut and about one quarter of its leaves had been harvested to serve a higher purpose.
Sharon and Winnie with their herb garden
What I am talking about is the Herbs, Senses workshop Winnie Webb, Sharon Diefenthaler and Karen Morris were hosting in the conference room. With myself on the door, this session drew 24 people which is a very impressive turnout when you consider the original MEN advertisement listed a local pizza parlor as the reservations phone number!
Aroma therapy 101
These ladies really outdid themselves with the vast array of plants and props they set up to transform our rather bland conference room into a haven of tranquility and some of the most deliciously soothing aromas I have ever experienced. Each table had a fragrant herbal arrangement, the front presenters tables were groaning under pots of freshly dug rosemary, lavender, geraniums, mints, oreganos, chives, parsley and cilantro. The side tables were strewn with sachets, soaps, candles and an entire section from Franks arts and crafts. The show stopper was one of Linda Welch’s vertical garden pieces planted with herbs…what a novel, space saving idea!
Vertical herb garden
Herb drying rack
The kitchen counter displayed the herbal breads, gooey lavender brownies, herbed hot buttered popcorn and a rather interesting Vernors punch with bergamot, honey, bruised mint and wafer thin dried lemon slices.
Assorted herb breads
Sharon and Winnie shared with everyone their experiences with herbs and how pleasantly mood altering and uplifting the aromas can be to our weary psyches. Karen was spritzing the arms of the unsuspecting with a lavender oil based concoction that smelled terrific, while Sharon was showing how the woody stems of rosemary could be used for kebabs and Winnie demonstrated some basic herb drying methods with a homemade wooden rack. Karen and Sharon explained how to make spice bags, bouquet garnis and a tasty herb mix called “herbes de Provence”
Herbes de Provence
Rolling basil for freezer storage
Frozen herbsicles
Sharon told the group of her experiences visiting a special greenhouse that grows herbs and flowers organically as part of a patient rehabilitation program. I am also reminded of her own program with the ISD at Matthis’ greenhouse and how the kids all “fight” to work in the herb house when we are taking cuttings and transplanting. This is positive effect of aroma therapy!!
The herbal products and ideas table
The presentation ended with Sharon and Winnie talking about how easy and inexpensive it is to incorporate herbs and their aromas into just about any household use. As a guy, even I found that part interesting!
Good work ladies…your efforts were much appreciated. Everyone left full of herb bread and with an assortment of dried herbs, bags of bayleaves and sachets…and a greater appreciation of the benefits herbs can have on our senses.
This workshop is actually an excellent lead in to Georgann’s upcoming Culinary Herbs presentation on October 15, after the general meeting. Be sure to read the blog for details and some of the recipes that were covered in the workshop.
Posted in Events, Herbs, Recipes, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
