Tea Adventure

Visited the prettiest tea house yesterday for Ladies Lunch Out here in Florida.  The Glass Slipper Tea Cottage is in Fort Walton Beach, FL and absolutely charming.  The food is delicious, the teas (Harney & Sons) delicious and I had to smile when they brought out pots of Hot Cinnamon Spice tea, one of our bestsellers at the store.

 We all got to put on hats, and there was a tray of tea cups where we chose our own cup.  This display of tea pots from around the world was so pretty!  The food was wonderful with delicious scones, savories, and desserts served with clotted cream and lemon curd  They had a nice cookbook which of course I bought.

And I learned about cheese straws.  I was told in the South, every shower and event has cheese straws and they are delicious.  Got the recipe for that and will have to try it.

Here are the ladies, what a wonderful outing (I'm in the back on my toes, you can see my big beige hat just peeking through!).

Angelica 'Break-through"

It has been said by some that it is better to know a few plants well than many plants superficially. Angelica is one of those that has fascinated me over the past couple years, and never fails to impress me and surprise me. From it's amazing size summer before last, to the many, MANY volunteer plants this summer it is beautiful and dramatic.

The Fall however brings another whole facet to the plant. The weather has gotten cold and just when you think it should be quietly dying back getting ready for winter, new growth literally bursts forth from this plant.

You may need to enlarge the picture to see how the thick, hollow stem splits right open up the middle as a new stem with leaves bursts forth. It looks like someone has taken a knife to the stem of the plant, but they are all exploding with growth at this time when everything else is faded.

So as I trim back all the growth in anticipation of the winter weather right around the corner, I can't help but leave these new stems bravely reaching out. I find it just incredible, and never get tired of watching and learning about this plant.

Herb Competition

I've never entered a competitive show before, but with the New England Unit of the Herb Society of America having their second annual Competitive Herb Show next door at Tower Hill Botanic Garden, I had to give it a try. I found myself rather nervous bringing my entries in last night, we'll see what the judges say!

The picture above is my Fragrant themed container. It has five plants - Pineapple Sage (salvia elegans), Banana Mint (Mentha arvensis), white flowering Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis 'alba'), Lavender (Lavendula angustifolia 'Munstead') and a chocolate peppermint scented geranium (Pelargonium 'Chocolate Peppermint').

This is the Lemon Delight container with Lemongrass (Cympopogon citratus), Lemon Verbena (Aloysia triphylla), Lemon Savory (Satureia biflora), Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis) and Lemon Thyme (Thymus citriodorus). It was hard to get this in the car and to the show without bending the lemon grass - it grew awful tall!

And the third container submission was a single specimen of Lavender, Lavendula angustifolia 'Ellagance Sky'. Ellagance Sky has a beautiful shape and also a unique lovely light violet blue flower. I made sure to take one for myself when they came into the store this Spring as I knew they would sell quickly.

I also submitted two items into the Cut Stem, Medicinal, category - Boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum) and Horehound (Marrubium vulgare). This was tricky, because I don't think I had a stem in the garden that didn't have at least one leaf with a hole or discoloration. But I picked the best I could find.

So if you get a chance to go to the show this weekend at Tower Hill, see if you can spot my entries and hope the judges are kind. I'll add a post how it turned out!

Foxglove Frenzy

I just love foxglove (Digitalis purpurea). There is all kinds of folklore around foxglove and other common names are Fairy Gloves, Fairy Thimbles, Witches' Gloves and Dead Men's Bells. It

was originally Folksglove as the flowers resemble the fingers of a glove.Foxglove contains cardiac stimulants, the most familiar being Digitoxin. It is extremely poisonous and should not be used internally.

So just enjoy these wonderful plants. They come in all colors and Digitalis grandiflora, the big-flowered foxglove, is a brilliant yellow. The above picture is Digitalis mertonensis, or Strawberry Foxglove, which is a cross of Digital purpurea and Digitalis grandiflora that I am enjoying in my garden this year.

Angelica Angst

Aargh!! What is happening to the angelica? I think it is a gourmet groundhog that only eats angelica? This is what was a good size 2nd year angelica at the store that I was looking forward to flowering this year. In one day, all the leaves were gone, obviously munched away. This plant is surrounded by other herbs, none of which have been touched.

The mystery actually started last week, when the seedlings from last year's beautiful angelica (see the post on that from last summer) filled the garden. They were thinned out and I left a number of them in place to mature. One day, I went out and the leaves were chopped off the seedlings, about every other one. What was up with this?
It was a few days later that the 2nd year angelica at the store was someone's dinner. Did Angelica Alice or Al like the small ones so much they went looking for larger leaves? I have never seen an angelica bothered by any type of animal or insect. Anyone have any ideas or seen this before?
So here is the picture of last year's angelica in June. No hope of that in either garden this year. Maybe if I can protect some of the seedlings we can look forward to next year and Angelica Alice will have to find something new to eat!

Scotland - Part I

Scotland - land of castles, water, mountains, rock...we just returned from a wonderful trip. There were so many wonderful things but here are the "garden" pictures.

Well not exactly garden, I was fortunate to be able to visit for a 2nd time the standing stones of Callenish on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides. Thousands of years old, no one is quite sure who put them there, or why. Experts are pretty sure it is a lunar alignment, and the area is scattered with them. They fascinate and move me, quite extraordinary.

The land was ablaze in yellow for our visit. The gorse was everywhere. This was taken from the top of Dunnideer Hillfort, the site of an ancient Roman castle.

And more yellow came from the fields of rapeseed. I had a delicious rapeseed oil one night for dinner with fresh bread. Heavier and a bit nuttier than olive oil, it is flavorful and grown all over.

The Highlands are stark, rocky and breathtakingly beautiful, with gorse here in bloom again.

On the Isle of Skye, we visited the "fairy land". I can believe fairies live among these rocks and this tree that seemed to grow right up out of the rock.

A wonderful moss wall on a country road in Insch. It was a beautiful trip, I hope to visit again.

Scotland - Part II

I was all excited when I saw this herb store in Glasgow - with the plants outside and the beautiful signs. Inside was rather like a health food store here in the States, but what I really liked was the desk where you can make an appointment to consult with an herbalist. Wish it was so here!

But here are the formal garden pictures. This collection of different heathers was beautifully arranged on a slope, with rhododendron and ablaze in color.

A formal design at House for an Art Lover at Bellahouston Park in Glasgow.

Also at Bellahouston Park, what is this? It looks similiar to angelica, and obviously the same large size, but not really quite right....

And the British do love their colorful primrose, mixed here with tulips.

A treat to see horse chestnut in flower. It brought back memories for several in the group who remembered them growing up.

At the Glasgow Botanic Garden, I thought this color combination was just beautiful.

Rhododendron in bloom at the Glasgow Botanic Garden, what colors.