Hot Temps and Red Hot Pokers

When it is around 2 Million degrees outside, you really can't do any more gardening. Not much outdoor projects. All you want to do is sit inside some air conditioned building. But, these guys have been tempting me to go out anyway.

Lilium stargazers! The high point of my garden in July. With their divine fragrance and their happy faces, they just perk you right up, no matter how blue you are feeling.

So I brought some of these babies in:

They were borne on teeny, tiny plants. So removing the flowers will help the bulbs grow bigger and next year I will have more from them.

These are a special treat for me this year, because last year, the contractor we hired to re-do our siding, totally crushed most of these plants. I had to scramble to save the few that I did. I am glad this many of them actually made it.

Notice the white one on the far end? That was a surprise. Did not even know I had a white one! Did it mutate or something? Anyway, it smells divine and looks beautiful and that's good enough for me.

Meanwhile in the front garden, the red hot pokers (or torch lilies or kniphofias) are holding forth, looking like the current temperature map of US!

These are supposed to be deer proof. I think they are too. But the little one in the deer family that lives near my home, never got the memo. He/she gnawed out the first of these blooms. He/she not come back for seconds!

I think some baby deer in the vicinity got told off my Mommy dearest to never go eating every bright thing it sees! Heh! 

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Old Tea Kettle Upcycled to Garden Water Feature

So I had this old tea kettle lying around at home that I did not really like all that much. It had a rather uninspiring finish and was just-- blah. Anyway, it got fairly good use as a tea kettle, but once the handle started to rust, it became less used as a tea kettle and more of a temporary kitchen scrap holder.

Finally, I decided to give it new life and center stage in my garden.

Tada! Behold my tea kettle turned garden art. All it took was some copper spray paint from the local hardware store.

I hung it on a shepherds hook, so that when it rains, some water will fall through the spout making an interesting water feature.

The idea is for it to gather up some extra water during the rain and pour it at the feet of the ever-thirsty hosta.

The lid became a bird bath.

The stone in the centre should hopefully keep it from flying off in the wind and also provide a little perch for the thirsty flighty things!

Do you like my chocolate sunrise blooming gloriously just beyond the birdbath?

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Collard Dolmades with Tempeh Veggie Filling

Ingredients:

• A bunch of collard leaves 
• 1 packet tempeh (you can substitute paneer or some other form of protein you like)
• 1 onion
• 3 pods of garlic
• tarragon dried 
• rosemary, crushed  
• 3 or four carrots grated
• red chile powder to taste
• 2 avocados chopped
• Juice of one lemon
• salt
• EVOO
• Olive tapenade -- 1 Tbsp
• Hummus -- optional
• Balsamic vinegar -- optional.

Method:

• Boil some salted water in a large pot -- wide enough to accomodate your largest collard leaf
• Drop one leaf into the pot and when it turns bright green, take it out of the pot and set it on a plate. 
• Do this to all the collar leaves.
• For the filling
• Heat some oil in a flat pan and add the chopped onions and garlic and saute until they become translucent
• Drop the finely chopped up tempeh and saute until tempeh becomes golden brown
• Add salt, seasoning and some red chili powder and a little more oil if need be and saute some more.
• Transfer it to a cold bowl and let it cool a little
• Add the chopped avocados and grated carrots into the cooked tempeh and mix
• Add the juice of one lemon
• Add a table spoon of the tapenade
• Taste and add salt or pepper if need be
• To make the wrap:
• Take each blanched collard leaf and cut off the tough stem at the end, leaving most of the leaf intact. 
• Smear the inside of the leaf with some EVOO
• Spread a little hummus
• Add some of the filling
• Wrap the bottom of the leaf inward, then the sides and roll.
• Stick a tooth pick in. 
• Do this for each leaf.
• You can also stick a skewer through the center fo the rolls.
• You can also sprinkle some balsamic vinegar and salt and pepper on the top, if you like.

Here are some other dolmade recipes from around the web:

http://open.salon.com/blog/beansgreens/2011/02/27/collard_greens_dolmades_with_cannellini_bean_kale_stuffing

http://guvi-guvi.blogspot.com/2011/12/vegetarian-stuffed-grapevine-leaves.html

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Old Light Fixture = New Planter

So last year, I had a brainwave about what to do with the glass enclosures of a couple of old light fixtures. I even turned one into a makeshift birdbath, with plans for making it more permanent and better looking.

This year though, I decided to turn it into this:

I started with the glass light fixture and removed the center decorative part. This gave me essentially a glass bowl with a hole in the center. 

Filled the center part with some large pebbles from the craft store (on second thoughts, I should have used the dollar stone pebbles for the bottom, and kept the prettier craft store version for the top).

Filled it up with my favorite succulents, sprinkled some water and voila!

I have a pretty little succulent garden for my family room octagonal table.

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