Wednesday Vignette


Sedum 'Angelina'

Wednesday Vignette is hosted by Anna at Flutter and Hum.

Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

DVD Giveaway

Image
Congratulations to RobinL, who is the winner of the contest! I recently received a great documentary and want to pass it along. Gardeners will love this! The subjects of "Portrait of a Garden" are a country estate owner in the Netherlands and an 85 year old pruning expert. The film follows them during the course of a year as they work in a vast kitchen garden. They grow every fruit and vegetable you can think of (and some that I had never heard of). Most of their time is spent painstakingly pruning espalied fruit trees. They chat about their methods (which they have been practicing since the days of Louis XIV) and how the world once revered great gardeners while today it is sadly a diminishing art. There is little dialog however (and the language is Dutch with English subtitles). Mostly the camera lingers on nature, resulting in exquisite photography. The beautiful images are accompanied by a mellow score. The whole film is mesmerizing (or it was for me) and I enjoyed it very...
Read more

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day for September

Image
Is it really September already? It has been a long, warm, dry summer but autumn is on the horizon. The temperatures are steadily back in the upper 60s and low 70s and we are getting sprinkles. There are autumnal hints everywhere in the garden - the Japanese maples and the dogwood tree are beginning a color shift and fall flowers, like Anenome and Goldenrod are blooming. The garden has been full of goldfinches during the past two weeks and hummingbirds have increased dramatically. Gardener Blogger's Bloom Day, hosted by May Dreams Gardens , is the place to see what is blooming in gardens across the United States. Check out the blog for a list of links. In the meantime, here are some of the flowers in our garden this month... Goldenrod ( Solidago 'Fireworks') is a sure sign that the season is changing. Crape Myrtle 'Dynamite' finally beginning to bloom.  Aster dumosis 'Wood's Purple' and Mexican Feather Grass ( Nassella tenuissima )  Rudbeckia 'Goldst...
Read more

Danish Apple Cake

Image
The baking group I participate in (The Cake Slice Bakers) starts baking from a new book this month. "World Class Cakes" by Roger Pizey features recipes from around the world. The group's previous book was by Maida Heatter and I have been baking from her books for years (see my blog Mad About Maida ). I learned quite a lot from Ms. Heatter but it is good to try my hand at some other recipes. This month's selection of four recipes included Chocolate and Rum Canneles (I didn't have the pans to make that), Maple Syrup and Pecan layer Cake (tempting) and Bee Sting Cake (I almost selected it). I opted instead for the Danish Apple Cake. This is a popular cake in Denmark. The cake was fairly simple with just a few ingredients. It is made in a spring form pan. The batter was very thick and you press apple slices in the top (I used Granny Smith apples). A sprinkling of brown sugar goes on top before baking. The cake turned out nicely but was slightly underdone in the middl...
Read more