Mississippi in May

Magnolia blossom.

All along the mighty Mississippi, flooding. Those 20 inches of rain we had in 12 days here, eventually wound up in some farmer's backyard, down around Vicksburg, MS. I'm sorry for the people who have had to move, or had everything washed away.

My reason for being in Mississippi this past week was for the Mississippi State Master Gardeners Conference in Ellisville, MS. Driving down, I could hear masses of locust in the timber along the roadsides. But the scent in the air was of magnolias in bloom. Along the highways the native magnolias were showing off, their dinner plate-sized blossoms waving at the passing traffic. If you've not smelled magnolias in bloom, its a heady smell, a soothing, relaxing fragrance that will almost lull you to sleep. I sometimes add magnolia blossoms, dried, to bath blends.

Ladies having a flower arranging session.

I arrived the day before the conference so I could set up my table of wares and check out where I was to speak. These folks were having a great time with a flower arranging class.

The roses were donated by a local grower, the Mills Rose Nursery. This is one of the creations of the class.

Upon arriving at my motel room a few miles away in Laurel, MS, I found a gift basket. It contained an assortment of snacks and a jar of blueberry preserves and one of plum jelly, both homemade by members of the Jones County Master Gardeners. What a great welcome. Folks down South show such generous and warm hospitality!

One of my programs was, "Eat Your Landscape" where I talk about all of the perennials and shrubs (and water garden plants) you may not think of as food, but which you can make good meals from. I had lots of slides in my KeyNote program to demonstrate what I was talking about. This was my audience, in a very nice auditorium.

It may not look like it, but there's quite a bunch of folks up there, and some along the sides.

It's hard to see me there amongst the roosters and paintings but if you look real close in the middle, next to the rooster, I'm there. The projection screen behind me was partially hidden but what you don't see is above my head is a giant screen, too.

Roosters seemed to be the theme of the very impressive stage display the gardeners had created.

The group's creativity was everywhere. The Jones County Master Gardeners were the hosts for the rest of the state.

Another display by the Master Gardeners. I always like taking pics of masks.

A small portion of the rose fields at Mills Rose Nursery.

The Mills family grows roses for the wholesale and retail trade. From what I could tell, the rootstock for their award-winning roses is jasmine. I didn't even know you could graft a rose onto jasmine rootstock! I didn't bring back any roses for my garden as the Mills' said they probably wouldn't be hardy for me here.

Good food!

Like all plant conferences and herb events, the food was very good. The facility where the conference was held, also is host to a culinary school, and we reaped the benefits.

Jan Knight was the winner of my bentwood trellis.

My second program was, "Making a Bentwood Trellis for Your Garden" and Jan Knight won the drawing for the trellis. Several others said if Jan couldn't get it in her car, they'd take it home.

Robert St. John is owner of several restaurants in Hattiesburg, MS

The keynote program was given by a local hero, Robert St. John. His quirky, down home newspaper columns have a huge following in Mississippi, and rightly so. He had no idea what Master Gardeners were all about, but proceeded to entertain us for the entire evening with his stories of his children's most embarrassing moments, as well as his own. His tales of being a restauranteur and all around foodie were fun. He also told how he had visited an Alice Waters' program a few years back and came home inspired to grow as much of his own produce for his 3 restaurants as possible. He bought 2 acres and the first crop he planted was a 100 ft. row of summer squash. He explained that as a novice gardener, he had no idea they would produce so much, or keep producing for months.

The smells of honeysuckle added to the magnolia air.

I was blessed with a wonderful helper, Kay, and lots of hosts and kind people. Merry Beth Tigert was my guide to being there and I got to see great folks from past trips to Mississippi as well as meet lots of new friends, as well.  Those Mississippi folks really know how to make a northerner feel welcome!

Baker Creek Spring Garden Festival

One tiny corner of the Seed Store.

It's always fun to go to the Baker Creek Festivals but it's the spring festival I look forward to the most. Lots of plant vendors have great varieties of vegetables, herbs, berries and fruit plants for sale. This year I took my Red Flyer wagon so I didn't have to carry everything. Unfortunately, it rained and was chilly both days, which made it pretty miserable for the people with booths.

Booths cover the hillside leading up to Bakerville.

They were expecting about 25,000 people but the days and days of constant rains kept the numbers lower. Still, people came, they shopped and had fun.

Across from the Seed Store is the garden in the center, and the restaurant, apothecary and store.

It's actually pretty amazing that this town, Bakerville, didn't exist just 5 years ago. If you could see to the left of the photo, pretty far to the left, is the old farmhouse where Jere and his wife, Emilee, live. The town square is built in what would have been their front yard, or front field.

This is Jere Gettle, whose vision it is to create an old-time country town. One of the requirements for being a vendor, or a speaker at the festivals, is to be in period costume. Jere's outfit is always interesting, often bizarre, but always fun.

I don't know this character's name, but he's always a fixture of the festivals. He's a good musician, and changes costumes, and characters, about every 2 hours. He keeps everyone laughing.

The Tomato Meter offers a comparison for tomato sizes.

One of the interesting things I saw at the festival was this Tomato Meter. Dan, the inventor, said people used to give him a blank stare when he'd say that a black cherry tomato was the size of a large marble. Or that a patio tomato was the size of a golf ball. So he put together this Tomato Meter, so people can actually visualize the sizes of the tomatoes they will produce on the plants he sells them.

I don't know the number of booths, but several large tents were filled, as well as rows and rows of vendors in tents. I didn't see everything, somehow I missed an entire tent.

Hank Will and Karen Keb

This is Hank Will, editor of Grit magazine, and his wife, Karen Keb, editor of The Heirloom Gardener magazine (you'll find my regular columns there, under the name of The Heirloom Herbalist; you can get a sample issue here). They were giving a program on the many varieties of corn. You can see one of my bentwood trellises in the background. I'd given my program just before theirs.

There are lots of music groups playing in various parts of the festival. Jerry Van Dyke played and sang on Sunday. Every hour of the festival you could sit and listen to several groups playing in several locations.

This young fellow was tuning up his washboard, getting ready to go on stage.

I don't know how you tune up a washboard, but this fellow seemed to know exactly what he was doing.

People who attend the festival, get into costuming, as well.

Our friend Robbins, who sells plants. She came from Osceola, Mo, near where I grew up.

People come from pretty much the entire U.S. You'll find vendors and customers, too, from every state.

The groups that perform at the festival are very talented and fun to listen to.

Baker Creek Seed is helping organize the National Heirloom Exposition, to be held at the Sonoma, CA County Fairgrounds, Sept. 13-15. It's shaping up to be a pretty amazing event, combining seed companies, chefs, organic organizations and lots more. I'm pleased to be one of the speakers!

This young fellow's job seemed to be guarding the wagon, which he was doing very well.

So I'm off to Mississippi for the Mississippi State Master Gardeners Festival. My programs are, "Eat Your Landscape" and "Make a Bentwood Trellis for Your Garden." Here's a plug for my book, in case you want one.

Happy gardening!

Jim Long's Garden: Spiderworts

Jim Long's Garden: Spiderworts

Spiderworts

Please  click on the photos, you can see the details of the very feathery center, possibly the view bees see when they visit looking for nectar.

We have Spiderworts in bloom this week in the yard and around the edges of the garden. I have several kinds, collected in various locations. This pink one I found in Arkansas several years ago and is Tradescantia ozarkana. It's found growing in rich, rocky areas, including woods and bluff ledges.

Look close into the center. If the stamen hairs turn orange, there's a radiation leak somewhere!

Tradescantias are claimed to be indicators of radiation leaks. I found this quote on the web: "All members of the Spiderwort are used extensively in scientific research to detect radiation fallout or exposure." The name, Spiderwort comes from the feathery, glistening hairs on the sepals and the buds which resemble spider webs, especially when covered with dew. (Wort, is the old English word for plant). Other sources claim the name comes from the leaf arrangement that looks like a squatting spider. Really? I don't see it.

This one is a deeper purple, with a brighter yellow-green leaf color and is a selection of Tradescantia virginiana.

Most spiderworts grow in shady areas around the edges of woods and the flowers bloom from early morning until around noon. Mine are growing under various oak trees in the yard but we had them growing in full sun on our cellar when I was a kid. Sometimes on cloudy days the blossom will last from morning to night, but like a daylily, the flowers only last one day.

Note the cluster of buds, each one ready to open for just one day. This is T. bracteata, native of Missouri.

The Cherokee Indians and probably other Native tribes, used the plant medicinally in preparations for "female" and kidney problems. The sticky, muciliginous sap was rubbed on insect bites and poison ivy.

This is the more common color of spiderwort.

In the afternoon the flowers wilt, turning into a jelly-like fluid but before that, there is a constant line of bees and butterflies going after the nectar. The flower has very little fragrance to the human nose but evidently bee noses sense something special because they line up like kids at a hot dog stand.

 
I'll leave you with just one more photo to consider. Know what this mean looking critter is, resting on a spinach leaf? You'll be surprised if you don't already know the insect. It's the larval stage of the common ladybug! A very desirable insect to have in the garden. They love to eat the aphids that eat young plant leaves.

Happy gardening!

The Royal Wedding

To commemorate the Royal Wedding.

People often grouse about the Monarchy in England, about its being occupied by dinosaurs, about being an institution that has outlived itself. Maybe, but I think the world needs a good royal wedding from time to time. Most people feel their lives are rather bland and predictable and once in a while I think it's good to let your fantasies run wild and imagine what life must be like for those who seem to have it all. Few of us will ever have a 30 million dollar (or pound), wedding, or can even imagine having 6,000 of our closest friends in attendance.

When I was in Italy in 2005, Prince Williams' father, Prince Charles was one of the speakers at the Slow Foods Conference. I was impressed at his knowledge and dedication to not only gardening, but pushing organic gardening in England. Our friend, Elvin McDonald traveled to England to interview Prince Charles, in his garden, and told me that Charles is a very dedicated gardener who actually works in his own gardens.

I was recently inspired by reading Amanada's Dablings and Whimsies blog post of lilac syrup and lilac martinis (in response to my Lilac Sorbet recipe) and she gave me an idea. It's perfect timing that Sweet Williams are bursting into flower today in the first sunshine we've had in over a week.

Sweet Williams are a biennial, plant one year, bloom the next.

So in honor of Prince William and Catherine Middleton's wedding on April 29, I offer up the Sweet William and Catherine Martini (and for those who don't drink alcohol, you can leave out the vodka and put in some fizzy water). Make a batch and give a toast to the royal couple tomorrow.

If you don't have Sweet Williams in bloom, use dianthus, they're relatives and taste the same.

First you'll need 1 cup of fresh Sweet William (or similar dianthus) flowers. Stems picked off, just the flowers. You'll also need 1 1/2 cups of water and 1 cup of white sugar.

Sweet Williams come in various shades of pink, red and white. All are fragrant and all have a spicy, clove-like flavor.

Bring the water to a boil, add the sugar and stir to dissolve. Add the flowers, lower the heat and simmer for about 5 minutes. Cover pan and let the syrup cool for a few hours or overnight. Strain out and discard the flowers. Add a drop of red color, if desired. You now have about a cup of Sweet William syrup. Use it over ice cream, over strawberry shortcake, or in a Sweet William martini to toast the royal couple.

Not having martini glasses, I chose the closest thing. These look more royal, anyway.

Prince William and Catherine's Martini
3 oz. vodka
1 1/2 ounces Sweet William syrup

Fill a martini shaker with ice. Add vodka and Sweet William syrup and shake.
Pour into 2 martini glasses and garnish with a sprig of dianthus, in honor of Prince Williams' mother, Diana

Dianthus, a close relative of Sweet William, much like Princess Diana was mother of Prince William.

Kate Middleton and Prince William

An Herbal Affair

Booths are set up on both sides of the street around the town triangle.

This was the 22nd annual Herbal Affair at Sand Springs, OK, which is always held the 3rd Saturday in April. This year it was chilly, but thankfully, not raining. Josh, Barbara, Adam and I all went, with Josh and Barbara staying with our friends, Tom and Sue Stees in Tulsa. We always have a booth, taking along Herbal Nail Fungus Soak, my books and assorted other things to sell.

One of the great things about this event, and one of the many reasons vendors happily come back every year, is the complimentary dinner the festival hosts provide the night before. Every year, the volunteers who organize and work the Herbal Affair, cook up a bunch of great food and invite all us vendor-sorts for dinner. It's always a welcome event, many of us having driven many hours to set up our booths. The food is always great, with all sorts of salads, sandwiches, beverages and desserts. It shows their appreciation for our being there, and it's also a great opportunity to get to visit with people we see only once a year.

On Friday night, while most of us were sleeping, strong winds blew through Oklahoma. Some of the vendors who'd set up their tents, and secured them down low over their goods, discovered on Saturday that the tents had taken flight, tumbling along down the street and breaking apart. It was sad to see, but everyone picked up and moved on, selling their produce or plants even without the tents.

The festival is a pretty impressive event, with around 30,000 people showing up this year. One of the local churches offers free plant sitting, so that shoppers can drop off their plants while they shop for more.

It's always remarkable how many people bring their dogs to this event. Women carrying little cuddle-dogs in their arms, men leading giant horse-like pets, small dogs on leashes dodging feet in the crowd. With the 30,000 people attending, I'm guessing there were about 2,000 dogs in attendance, as well!

People come for the plants and while Mr. Tomato Man  (who's there every year) does a very brisk business, selling a couple thousand heirloom tomato plants, it's the herb folks that are the primary focus. This festival is fully an herb festival. The Boy Scouts sell drinks (out of a canoe filled with ice) but it's either root beer - herbal based, or water. The food vendors must include herbs in their foods, as well. There's a big outdoor food court and it's a great way to visit with other shoppers and see what plants you might have missed.

The 5 women who started this festival 22 years ago, including the late Ruth Leib and Sandi Bylerly, visited my Herb Day in May back when I was still having a festival at Long Creek Herb Farm. They took notes, asked questions and inquired if I minded if they borrowed some of my ideas for their festival. I was pleased to know another festival was forming, as mine had outgrown its space. They took some simple ideas and ran with them and their festival is one of the best herb festivals anywhere!

People not only bring their pets, they bring their wagons, as well, and fill them several times with their purchases. By the end of the day, the plant booths are pretty empty with little left to choose from. Even though the festival opens at 9:00 a.m., people start arriving even before we have our booths set up, wanting to buy things at 8:00. 

People bring wagons of all kinds to haul around their purchases.

Everything sold has to relate to the garden or herbs. That includes old garden antiques, painted garden furniture, trellises, even worm tea, produced by kids at the local grade school and sold to fund school projects.

Worm tea, from the children's worm farm is excellent fertilizer.

Rustic furniture made from twigs, along with trellises and everything else for the garden, could be found at Sand Springs.

 And last but not least, in the spirit of herbs, check out my recipe this week, for Lavender Cookies that I served to Texas visitors yesterday, on my Recipes Blog.

Lavender Cookies, so good you want more!

Happy Gardening!

Lilac Sorbet

There are some fragrances that are just better than others. This one is my favorite, the primary fragrance I look forward to each spring and I have a long history with this flower. Along about the year this embarrassing photo was taken, I was in love. No, not with the bear, but with Clara Jean Graves.

Jeanie, as I knew her in the first grade, had freckles and blue eyes and a sense of humor that made me happy. I looked forward to seeing her every day. We were in the same one-room school, along with 28 or 30 other students, grades 1-8. Every day she and I took our lunches over to an old Osage Orange tree that had a limb near the ground, looking for all the world like it was reaching down, just so school kids could sit there. We'd unlock our lunch boxes and talk about classes we'd had that day. Her being a year older and in the second grade, she was more knowledgeable. But since I sat behind her, my being the only one in the first grade, I got to listen in to her lessons and learn second grade material.

I decided during lilac blossom time that I was going to propose to Jeanie before someone else claimed her for a future wife. I wanted to do something special to make sure she knew how serious I was about her. We had an ancient set of Encyclopedias in the school and I read up on how to make perfume. Basically, I learned, flower essences were the collected steam of hot water vapor from flowers. Knowledge in hand, my mother allowed me to bring some water to a boil into which I added a whole lot of lilac flowers. I covered the steaming pan with a tea towel and collected the steam. I'd found a very tiny, old perfume bottle, so wrung out my lilac flower essence into the bottle. Next day, I could hardly stand it until lunch time came. Out of my lunch box I pulled the tiny vial of lilac flower essence and handed it to Jeanie. She wasn't impressed, and refused to believe I had made it. Her not believing me, no matter how much I tried to persuade her, ended our lunches together, and any future marriage plans, as well. But I never stopped liking lilacs.

I've been making flower and herb sorbets for years but it was my friend, Cathy Barash (author of Edible Flowers) who told me about using lilacs for sorbet. Recently I made plum blossom sorbet, another favorite, but even though it is very fragrant and tasty, nothing compares to lilac sorbet. Here's the recipe, from my book. If you're interested in lots more easy and delicious Herb and Flower Sorbet recipes, order the book, here.

Lilac Sorbet
2 cups water
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup (or more) lilac flowers, stems removed, chopped slightly in the food processor

Pour the water into a non-aluminum saucepan, add sugar and stir to dissolve. Bring to a boil, turn down the heat and add the flowers. Allow the liquid to simmer for 3 or 4 minutes. Remove from heat, cover with a lid and chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours or overnight. Strain.

Pour strained liquid into a small ice cream freezer or sorbet maker and freeze. Serve as soon as sorbet is fully frozen, or pack in ice or the freezer for an hour.

I use a Donvier sorbet maker, which I found at a yard sale for $5. I often see them in thrift shops and have bought a couple more that way. You can order them from the company, new, for about $60. The inner part is kept in your freezer, then when you want to make sorbet, remove the liner from the freezer, put it inside the plastic cover, pour in chilled liquid and turn the crank. In a mere 15 minutes, with turning the crank once every couple of minutes, you have perfect sorbet!

And what you get, is perfect sorbet every time. Here's a photo of the plum blossom sorbet (recipe also found in my book). I haven't taken a pic of the lilac sorbet yet.

If you like the fragrance of lilacs, or plum blossoms, then you will really enjoy the flavor, too. It's more intense, delightfully fragrant and keeps well in the freezer.

Pansies, lavender, roses, Sweet Williams, violets and many more edible flowers make outstanding sorbets. There are over 45 recipes and lots of tips and instructions for great sorbets in my book. Springtime, it's time for sorbet, healthier than ice cream, quicker than a trip to the store. Happy spring!

Also, I'm proud to say, this posting has been translated into Estonian by Anna Galovich, with my permission, on her blog, 1800 Flowers. You can find her interesting blog here.