Sick Day
I had high hopes of cleaning the windows yesterday and taking photos for the Window Cleaning post of the non-toxic cleaning series. Then I woke up with a bit of a headache. I rarely get headaches now that I quit eating processed food and quit taking NSAIDs, but every now and then the stars align, the weather changes, I get busy, spend too much time in front of my computer, miss some sleep, and everything lines up perfectly for me to wake up not feeling my best. As a result I spent the day resting up, staying off my computer and drinking herbal tea.
When I have a headache I like to make a tea with a mix of a few of these herbs: ginger, chamomile, lavender, and peppermint. Helps me relax, helps my headache go away and usually I wake up the next morning feeling great. Hopefully today I’ll be cleaning the windows and trying a few different non-toxic cleaning methods to see which one works best.
What tips/tricks do you have for dealing with headaches naturally?
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The Parade of Tulips
I promised a parade of tulips when every single one had finally bloomed. Last week the last of the later tulips opened. Barring any extreme heat, the blooms will last for a couple more weeks. All-in-all, I should get over 2 months of beauty. There were a few glorious days when all the varieties I planted were blooming at the same time.
Just in case you’re wondering how I kept track of the tulips I planted, I cut the photos/names from the catalog and pasted them on a piece of paper grouping them by order of bloom. This gave me a handy chart to quickly be able to identify what was blooming. It also came in handy when making my order so I knew which tulips I was buying so I didn’t end up with all late flowering tulips.
‘Rai’ parrot tulip, a beautiful dark pink/purple and green parrot tulip. I only purchased 8 bulbs for this and they were planted in a pot by the back door. Parrot tulips are just as interesting in bud form as they are when in full bloom. This is the first time I’ve had parrot tulips in the garden and I must say, I’ll always have some from now on! (I won’t relist the Parrot King tulip, you can see this post if you’d like to see them).
All of the bulbs listed below were purchased from Van Engelen in lots of 50 or 100. I’ll include their description of the tulips after the name. The tulips will also be listed in the order in which they bloomed in the garden.
Blooming first was ‘Passionale’, which I’ve had in the garden for many years. Described as: huge, lilac-purple tulip has dark purple flames on the outside of its petals while the inside of the petals is beetroot-purple with a tawny-yellow base. Bulb size: 12cm/up. April/May. 16″
Along with ‘Passionale’ the ‘Rembrandt’s Favorite’ tulip bloomed as well. They make a perfect combo! This tulip is described as: a mutation out of Hans Anrud, this strong and sturdy bicolor is glistening snow-white with deep blueberry-purple flames. Bulb size: 12 cm/up. Late April. 22″
‘Pimpernel’ is a lovely lily flowering tulips, one of two varieties I planted. Rich purplish-red with green featherings. Bulb size: 12cm/up. May. 16″. HZ: 3-7.
‘China Pink’ One of the most popular of all Lily Flowering Tulips, this award-winner has lustrous, soft pink flowers with a white base. Bulb size: 12cm/up. May. 18″.
‘Cum Laude’ circa 1944, Cum Laude is dark campanula-violet with a white base. Bulb size: 12cm/up. May. 24″.
‘Virichic’ this jaunty beauty has an elegant, almost Lily-like form and exotic coloration. It opens dreamy pale rose with tawny yellow highlights and green flames and matures to a darker purplish-pink with green flames. Bulb size: 12 cm/up. May. 18”.
‘Greenland’ Also known as Groenland, this award-winner is a charming old rose color with soft green stripes from the flower’s base to its tips. Bulb size: 12cm/up. May. 20″.
‘Green Wave’ A terrific cut flower, this sport of Greenland is pastel mauve-pink with green flames and an exterior white base. Watch how wide it opens! Bulb size: 12cm/up. May. 20″
‘Elegant Lady’ Subtly changing colors as its blooms mature, this beauty has pale creamy-yellow flowers edged in soft violet-red. Bulb size: 12cm/up. May. 24″. HZ: 3-7.
‘Queen of the Night’ is a deep velvety-maroon, appearing as glistening black in the sunlight. Circa 1940, this award-winner is still the “blackest” tulip to date. Bulb size: 12cm/up. May. 24″. I have grown this variety of tulip for many years here at Chiot’s Run and it’s the one tulip that I find that doesn’t get eaten by various deer. The black color must make them bitter or something. There have been years when this is the only tulip to bloom in my garden.
I think my favorite combination from this year was ‘Queen of the Night’ and ‘Elegant Lady’. I planted these two varieties in a few clumps in the front foundation bed and I think they’re perfectly stunning together.
I also have a few other kinds of tulips that bloom throughout the garden that I planted a few years ago. I definitely gravitate towards the purple/pink/green range when it comes to flower colors. I’m not sure if I could pick a favorite, it might be ‘Queen of the Night’ or it might be ‘Green Wave’. I’m certainly happy I don’t have to choose!
Which of these do you like the best?
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Quote of the Day: Joe Eck & Wayne Winterrowd
Around Rome, where wild greens have been valued for over two thousand years, sophisticated diners consider themselves cheated if their salad of wild greens, misticanza, does not contain at least twenty-one separate varieties. Do they count them, we wonder, shape by shape and texture by texture and taste by taste?
Still, the point is well taken, for part of the pleasure of any wild salad is composing the dish outdoors, clipping a bit of this or that, a throwing in this texture or flair or color to balance or add variety to al the others. No wild salad ought to be of any one thing, unless, indeed, of dandelions, when one is really hungry for them; rather, it should be a sort of edible bouquet, at once as varied and beautiful as it is salubrious.
Joe Eck & Wayne Winterrowd in Living Seasonally: The Kitchen Garden and the Table at North Hill
A lot of you mentioned yesterday that you were enjoying dandelion greens and we are too, though they’re getting big enough that they’ll need cooked now instead of eaten raw in salads. The garlic mustard is also perfect right now, we’ve been eating a lot of it as well. The wild violets are also blooming and we eat the leaves and flowers in salads as well. I also need to start picking the blossoms to dry for winter teas.
Is there anything wild on you plate this season?
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The Simple Things…
“If the sight of the blue skies fills you with joy, if a blade of grass springing up in the fields has power to move you, if the simple things in nature have a message you understand,
Rejoice, for your soul is alive.”
-Eleanora Duse (Italian Actress. 1858-1924)
The dandelions have been blooming beautifully in the driveway and earlier this week they set their seed heads. Brings back memories. Who didn’t LOVE blowing the seeds off of a dandelion when they were little?
What simple thing are you enjoying today?
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Friday Favorite: The Garden in April
April is that month here in my zone where everything seems to burst forth overnight. The tiny seedlings start to grow quickly, the flowers start to come out and almost all the plants start putting up new growth. I’ve truly been enjoying spending time outside this week, I think I’ve spent a few hours every single day, some days I’ve been able to spend 5-6. Here’s what my garden looks like right now:
The dogwood blooms opened up earlier this week and they’re quite nice. Not as prolific as they were last year, it seems they look especially great every other year and last year was their year. The front flowerbed is brimming with color and exuberant growth. I love to see it come to life after being kind of sad and bleak all winter long.
Things are coming right along in the edible garden as well. The garlic is looking fantastic, the first sowing of beets are coming up, the golden peas in pots on the front porch will be climbing their supports soon, and the strawberries are blooming prolifically.
I’m also super happy that the wrens returned yesterday. Mr Wren spent the morning serenading me while I weeded! The weather has been really great this month, though a tad on the dry side. I’m certainly not complaining after last spring when it was so wet I could barely get a few hours outside. I’m looking forward to what this coming gardening season brings; no doubt successes and failures, should be interesting!
How does your garden grow in mid-April?
