What's Blooming July 6th 2012

Blue hydrangea, black and blue salvia is budding out, blue veronica, black eyed susans tons of buds, small daisy on the way out, sweet William, dusty miller w yellow flowers, babies breath, few fox gloves still hanging on, astilbe both tall and short, round 2 of columbine, bleeding heart is finally done, perennial hibiscus buds, lilly buds, globe thistle globes one starting to blue, white swam, red double holly hock (I love it), random lavender bee balm, honey suckle, daisy, ebb tide-flower + buds red bee balm stating, double delight buds, white bee balm, beans starting to pop up, joe pye buds, white double holly hock, globe flowers, sedum buds, 1 cleome starting, volunteer tomato flowers, white landscape rose forming hips, pee gee buds, wisteria purple buds (completely random), star gazers , blue hydrangea, white hydrangea, blue peas starting to die back not maturing, white catnip, yellow snow peas starting to die back, morning glories low, white butterfly, hallertau hop finally growing,  orange butterfly buds/ starting to flower, hops are forming + flowers, cilantro finally starting to grow, alpine strawberries are covered with flowers, mustard still has flowers, baby eggplants are forming, and I finally have kumquat flowers again. 

I so need to get a picture of my new holly hock (new last year).  I love the color.

Update: So knowing that this has sat for a while it's time to let everyone know that the new and improved can be found over at www.gardeningfoodies.com I've learned a lot over the years and I'm super excited to share that with everyone.  So come check us out and see what we now have in store for you.  A lot of food, a little bit of bon COOK business and a sprinkling of gardening to bring everything together.  Or just check out our growing community over at www.gardeningfoodies.com/fbgroup Can't wait to see you there and catch up

Strawberry Short Cake Bites

These have got to be one of my favorite desserts right now.  They are so easy to make.

Mini tartlet mold from Demarle at Home (or bigger)



I like the 1 7/8 cutter

one pre made pie crust makes one tray easily (two batches pictured)

Whipped cream (I love my home made stabilized whipped cream)

      I whipped about 2 cups up and still had some leftover

diced up strawberries with a little sugar (splenda or truvia)

      I used about a cup here for two batches

Bake up trays ahead of time (remember to prick the dough to keep from puffing up)

pipe whipped cream onto cooled tartlets, and spoon diced strawberries on top.

I even found that the tartlet shells can be kept in an air tight container.  They weren't that bad even after a few days.  I made 120 of these for our pool party last year and there was not a single one left.  I think I got about two.  Mind you there was only about 50 people there. 

The possibilities are endless with this.  I think next I want to try it with dark chocolate on the shells before the whipped cream gets pipped in.  YUM!

Update: So knowing that this has sat for a while it's time to let everyone know that the new and improved can be found over at www.gardeningfoodies.com I've learned a lot over the years and I'm super excited to share that with everyone.  So come check us out and see what we now have in store for you.  A lot of food, a little bit of bon COOK business and a sprinkling of gardening to bring everything together.  Or just check out our growing community over at www.gardeningfoodies.com/fbgroup Can't wait to see you there and catch up

What's blooming June 29th

As I walk out my front door and around my yard this is what I get to see this week:

Blue Hydrangea, short daisy, black eyed susans (just starting), blue veronica, fox glove (done), yellow rose (done), sweet William, dusty miller (yellow flowers too), babies breath starting, wild daisy (done), Burgundy rose (done), astible starting (I think it got eaten), bleeding heart (still hanging on), Hibiscus about 3’, day lilly buds, Random plant with pink flowers, white swan, holly hock buds, filler asters, honey suckle, snow on the mt, daisy buds, fall aster up, red rose, white bee balm buds, tall daisy buds, white landscape rose, holy hock 5 stems going, pee gee buds, white hydrangea, blue hydrangea starting, star gazer, potato flowers, blue podded peas, tall catnip buds, yellow snow peas, morning glories (low), wild daisy, white butterfly bush buds, black knight butterfly bush, gladiolus up, orange butterfly bush buds, hops have gone total jungle

Its amazing how fast things change, but I still need to get some color in a few spots.  Too much green.  I've got my front side walk that explodes with color first thing in spring but then it dies down a bit.  And at the extreme oposite of the scale very little goes on in my front until about now.  So spring is the huge hole plus the time it takes everything to get going.  That’s the problem with trying to go for a full four seasons of color.  I’ll get there eventually. 

Update: So knowing that this has sat for a while it's time to let everyone know that the new and improved can be found over at www.gardeningfoodies.com I've learned a lot over the years and I'm super excited to share that with everyone.  So come check us out and see what we now have in store for you.  A lot of food, a little bit of bon COOK business and a sprinkling of gardening to bring everything together.  Or just check out our growing community over at www.gardeningfoodies.com/fbgroup Can't wait to see you there and catch up.  

Honey Suckle and snow on the mountain

Holly Hock yr 2 I hope this one sticks around

Freshly transplanted apline strawberries from this year.  I think they like their new home.

Blue podded peas.  I can't wait to have enough for dinner.

Soy Beans.  First time this year.  The flowers are so tiny you barely see them and then next thing you know beans magically appear.