Things to Do on a Rainy Night!

And the rain came! It has rained close to 3' in the last couple of days. There are flash flood warning out for low lying areas and along streams and rivers. Thankfully we don't have to worry as we are in a safe area. The thing I do have to keep an eye on is our sump pump in the basement. So far, bless it's heart, it is keeping up!

Thursday evening, my daughter to me to my very first Italian Cooking Class. She signed us up a couple of months ago through the continuing education program in Champaign, IL. Wow! We had so much fun.

The 'chef' greeted us at the door with a traditional kiss on both cheeks. the other greeting...wonderful aromas. You probably don't know this about me, but I could eat pasta 3 times a day, 7 days a week! So this was like heaven.

We were split into little groups, each one making a course. We were in the cake making group. The cake, Cornmeal Rosemary Cake with Balsamic Syrup, was very easy to put together. I'll admit I was a little wary. The fresh rosemary smells wonderful, so different from the dried I use. Other groups made Ricotta Crostini, an appetizer with anchovy fillets. This was pretty good, although very spicy, and when Carlo (the chef) tasted it, he quickly checked the recipe! Seems there was a typo and 3 tablespoons of pepper was listed instead of 3 teaspoons! After drinking lots of water, our taste buds returned to normal!

Other groups made Pasta Al Forno a baked dish, and Farfalle with Prosciutto and Green Peas. We call the pasta bow tie, but in Italian Farfalle means Butterfly. There was also Arugula with Red Wine and Mustard Vinaigrette, and another desert Orange and Nut Squares made with package sugar cookie dough.

Carlo put together a booklet filled with information from knives and how to use them to emergency substitutions, to Italian words and how they are translated. He told us of his love for cooking, "cooking, like love should be entered with abandon or not at all!" and "a table is like the street, always room for one more!".

We loved the food, the company we were in and of course the Chef! The 3 hours flew by, and we were sorry to end it. At the end, we all received our diploma. The good news is, he does one of these 3 times a year and always changes his menu. We are definitely going back for more classes.

Cucina Amore!!

Banana Bread and Daffodils

Notice: All work in the garden and lawn area has been temporarily suspended due to a recurring delay in the arrival of Spring. For an ETA, check local weather forecast for frequent updates. This message super-cedes previous announcements that Spring has arrived.


The weather was a cool 40 degrees this morning compared to almost 70 yesterday. The sky was a dark grey and I could have sworn I saw a snowflake or two. Not wanting to spend time on mundane chores, I decided to bake. That always warms the kitchen and produces wonderful aromas. Out came my recipe box and I finally found "Nana's Banana Bread". A favorite I found on the Internet site, All Recipes and have used many times, especially when baking my Christmas breads. I had enough bananas in the freezer to make a double batch and if you are going to dirty up dishes anyway... While I was looking for the banana recipe, I found one for "Apple Breakfast Bread" (also from All Recipes) and decided I had enough apples to make that one, too. The baking went very well, and in a short time I had the oven full, was drinking coffee and reading garden blogs. I'll admit it was hard to wait for the breads to cool some before I cut a piece. Warm banana bread and hot coffee can chase away the gloomiest of days!
Won't you join me?

By mid-afternoon, the sun had come out and the temps had warmed some. I took my camera, of course, and Fat cat and we went out to see how to see how the gardens were doing. A light rain during the night left everything looking fresh and smelling clean.

Can these daffodil buds get any fatter without opening? A few more rays of sun should do the trick. Unfortunately we are expecting 2 days of heavy rain, and then much colder temps.

But the promise of blooms is there.

More day lilies are coming up. This is a new one planted last fall and is called 'little business'. It's a red dwarf variety. I'm anxious to see the color and how well it does.

My Vinca Minor, Bowles is blooming and really spreading. I may have to trim or dig some up for pass along plants to have space for some of the new plants this year.

And speading!


And last but not least, I found several clumps of hostas poking their heads through the ground. I know this looks to be a sunny spot, but after the trees leaf out, it is in deep shade. They are going to get company this year. Brunnera Macrophylla, Jack Frost with it's leaves that turn silver should add some spots of lightness in the shade.

Warm Wonderful Weather!

What a glorious few days we have had! Temperatures were in the mid-60's, the sun was out, and the breezes were warm! I worked outside two days with no jacket! I got the rest of the flower beds cleaned and the ones I cleaned earlier, finished. I fluffed mulch, I cut back Engish Ivy, and I got our not-working-now-but-hubby-promises-to-fix-it water feature cleared of leaves. Of course it is supposed to start raining tomorrow and be cooler, but I can take that after having experienced at least the beginnings of Spring!


Rose of Prairie Rose's Garden and I went to the 2nd open house and seminars at our garden center this past Saturday. We had a session on 'Hot New Perennials" most of which were new sports of existing varieties. All, though, improved in some characteristic, a new color, more disease resistant, or longer bloom time. I did enjoy seeing these and took some notes on ones I might want to try. A couple really grabbed my attention. The first being columbines that now come in red-one called spit fire, and in yellow-called Denver gold. I am definitely going to plant one each of these. There are new colors, also, in Echinacea which now come in a pale green, yellow and orange. I may buy one plant this year,and save the seeds to have more next year! We also heard about new types of phlox. David White, Tenor, and Starfire are shorter and less affected by powdery mildew. Ever since seeing the tall one's growing in a cousin's garden at a family reunion last year, I have planned on incorporating them into my some of my beds. I think the shorter ones will work better where I am planning on planting them.

As you can see, I did get some pansies. They are one flower that always says spring to me. Something I can plant when I can't plant anything else. When we walked in that morning the shelves were full. And by the time we left, there were hardly any left. So we were not the only ones captivated by their beauty.

When I went to plant them, after cleaning out my pot and adding new soil(this is supposed to be law according to the container police), I found the plants were extremely root bound.

When plants are like that, I either rough them up some or do like below and make a criss-cross cut in the bottom of the plug. It may set them back a little, but in the long run they do better as the roots will grow out into the new soil.

Speaking of soil...I did, finally, get my seeds planted April 4th. Today, when, I went to spritz them, I had plants! Statice, Zinnias, Tomatoes, and Dwarf Sunflowers called Teddy Bears. Those are the ones Cheryl from My Wildlife Sanctuary sent me.

Instead of putting them under grow lights, I put both flats on the top shelf of my garden window.I don't know why I haven't thought to do this before...Duh! So we will see how this works.

I hope spring has come to you, and if not yet keep the faith..it will soon!

More Spring for Your Buck!

Deciding to take another walk this afternoon when the sun finally came out, I ventured beyond my own gardens. Spring is coming more quickly, it seems, to my neighbors. I found this lovely white with yellow center daffodil and the south side of my neighbor's house across the street. It may be that it is an early variety. I always thought daffys came in one color-yellow. Growing up I remember my grandma's 'March Flowers' as she called them, and they were just yellow. But we knew when went there to hunt Easter eggs, the bunny would always hide some in their leaves.

Again, my neighbor's daffodils. The sun was out finally and was so bright it almost washed the color out in the picture. I assure you the leaves are green and the buds are yellow. But I don't remember mine having their buds pointing down... almost like snow drops. Maybe when they open more and the temps. are warmer they will hold their heads high.

At my mother-in-laws, also across the street (the fact that we have lived so close to her for years entails many interesting stories, but we will save those for another time!) I found her poppies up and growing very well. These are the old fashioned ones-single blooms of orange with a black center. Oh, but they are beautiful when blooming in their great masses. I have tried on several occasions to transplant some of them, but they never survived. I finally felt bad for killing so many and stopped.

And finally, another poor attempt on my part to take a picture of a bird-a male Cardinal. I am just going to have to get a better camera!

Enjoy your weekend!

Spring! Has It Finally Sprung?

I think Spring may finally have arrived at Dragonfly Corner! At least that is what the new yard flag says. The sun did not shine, again today. But thankfully it wasn't too cold to play.

As I was walking around the gardens looking for positive signs of spring, I found a little surprise. Not one quite like Lisa found, but I'll take it as it made me smile. I usually find at least one the Easter Bunny hid well enough to keep the grand girls from finding it. And it does look a springy lavender in among the new growth on the iris.(name unknown, but they are purple and white)
Another surprise was the buds on the daffodils. This was the only bunch were I found some. I suppose it is because they are on the south side of the house and a little more protected. Soon, very soon!

The Asiatic lilies are poking their heads up and look bigger this year. Maybe the bulbs are growing and putting up stronger stalks with lots more flowers. I know these don't last very long compared to other perennials, but they do come in such an array of colors and I use them for pops of color in what are otherwise neutral areas of the gardens.

The columbines have sprouted and have self seeded in a larger area this year. These are a delicate purple with a hint of white. Again, I don't know the name. Most of these plants were put in the ground before I started keeping my meticulous garden journal.:>) Seriously, I am doing pretty good with my journal so far this year. And have even added a few pictures to help me remember. The mind goes foggy at my age!

The coral bells look very sad. I didn't see any new growth. Maybe it's a little early, will give them a few more weeks.

I was clearing the dead tops from last fall off the mums when I noticed very tiny, but definitely there, green sprouts. I probably should have covered them for a while yet. Another we'll see plant. A couple of the new mums from last year seem to have heaved and I didn't see any new growth on them, so may be replacing those.

Even the rose canes are starting to green up and have little red buds on them where new leaves will come out. This one is Betty Prior, a gift from hubby a few years back. She is more of an old fashioned rose with few pink petals, but oh what a perfume she has. We have her in the front by the walk leading to the front door and she welcomes our guest with both beauty and fragrance.

Now... this rose, some sort of rugosa, sits in the middle of a burm that runs along our side street. The year I planted it, it was small, very compact and bloomed it's head off. It is not a repeat bloomer and I knew that when I planted it. But every year it gets bigger, has less blooms and even with tender care , it is getting uglier. The leaves turn brown like they have been frost bit, it sends runners out faster than I can cut them out and the Japanese beetles love it. I did trim it back unmercifully (boy, was that a job!) a couple of years ago hoping to bring about a more pleasing shape, but that just didn't work. So I have decided this year it is going to the land of discarded plants! I'm thinking about a Japanese Maple or maybe a dwarf clumped birch. I really don't want something that will shade that area very much. But that long span of burm needs a focal point, one that takes the eye up.

Finally, on my walk, I noticed all the leaves in this bed. What a mess! So I got out the rake and did some major clean up. Why did we make this area sooo long? And where do all these leaves come from? We don't have that many trees. And why( this afternoon was for pondering!) does fall clean up not take care of this?

I did do some burning as we do not have a compost pile. But mostly I sent smoke signals!

Hope spring is coming your way!

Of Life, Flowers, Birds and Squirrels!

A cold windy start to April, is what greeted me this morning. It felt more like a December day with no sun and dark gray skies. I had planned on getting my seeds planted today, finally! But as I drank my morning coffee and checked in on my favorite blogs, I looked around at my house. I had to clean! The seeds would wait one more day.

I cleaned the bathrooms first, my least favorite job. Did I actually use the word favorite in the same sentence as cleaning?! I used to clean house everyday, dusting and vacuuming, sweeping, and even did laundry on most days. Of course that was when my girls were still home and my grandmother was living with us. In those days the house was filled with activity. Friends of the girls were always here, my husband had his own business and was in and out and my mother-in-law from across the street often came over. I lived the life of the typical '80's house wife. I worked off and on but mostly my job was to take care of my family. I don't regret not having a career, in fact my dream when growing up was to get married and have a family. So I did live my dream and would not then or now change anything.

We got married very young. I had been 18 all of a month and Steve(spouse) was only 5 months older. In those days you didn't move out of your parents house to live with your boyfriend! I don't have a problem with they way things are today, in some ways they are better. I'm just saying we wanted to be together and to do that we got married. For us, it worked. We were lucky in that we had been raised by loving parents who taught us that when you make a commitment, you stick to it. There were some very rough times, we had to grow up a lot and learn the art of compromise. And there are times yet when we hit some bumps. But all in all, I would not have missed a minute!

This post didn't start out to be this long discourse on marriage...I just wanted to tell you why I didn't get those darn seeds planted! So we will leave the story of my life for now and get back to today.

As I said it was a gloomy day and when I took a break from cleaning( I take frequent breaks!) I decided to print out some pictures for my garden journal. I found these that I took Sat. at the garden center. I know Rose has shown some, but I wanted to show mine too as they just say Spring so well.

These are a new color of pansy. The garden center was touting them as orange...Illini orange and blue! Actually, they were selling very well. By the time we left that afternoon most of them were gone. I know these as primrose but the garden center called then primulas. By any name they are beautiful! They were so perfect, they didn't look real and I found myself touching them to make sure.

If I could have a whole bed of these....!!!

After my break, I dusted and did laundry. My day just got better and better! I decided that I needed to put clean sheets on the beds upstairs in the grand girls rooms. As I headed to the stairway door, I looked out the window to my bird feeding area. A break was needed, again, to watch the birds.

I have been seeing finches for the past few days and an occasional woodpecker. There have been doves on the ground and of course starlings are here all winter enjoying the food. Now my pictures are not very good-honestly it's my camera- but I enjoy taking them.

After getting the beds made and picking up a little upstairs (the girls are getting so much better at picking up after themselves), I came back down and something caught my eye out that window again.

So that is where all my Zick Dough is going! Beth had told me it would disappear fast and it was, but rarely did I see birds eating it. I thought they must have been getting it early in the mornings. Okay... another break was needed as I watched then remembered my camera!

How do they climb that pole? It is over 6 feet tall?

He is quite the acrobat!

Almost fell, be careful!

What's he doing?

A real balancing act!

Another one on the other feeder! It's an invasion!

Okay, back to cleaning and figuring out how to keep the squirrels out of the bird's food! And tomorrow, I really do need to plant those seeds!

Garden Bloggers Book Club Review of Second Nature

I have started this review twice now. The first one, I was trying to do a serious "New York Times" type of book review. I have neither the talent nor the desire I guess, because it just wasn't working. So here goes, me telling you about a book I've read and what I thought of it.



My general feelings about Second Nature, was that it was interesting. It was not what I imagined-a book full of gardening hints and what types of flowers and plants to put in a garden. It was rather one man's evolution from a novice gardener who expected great things from his newly acquired land, to a self satisfied gardener who found a new respect for his gardens.



I think the main theme, his dilemma so to speak, was finding his own way. And in doing this he shares with us his thought processes. One of the first problems he has to solve is that of learning to deal with nature if you want to garden the naturalist's way. Should he simply let nature take her course after the planting or does he step in and take measures to save his garden. This was actually fun to read about. He does mightily battle against a woodchuck!



Along the way, we gain insights into his quandary by learning of his experiences in gardening during his childhood. He refers to his younger self throughout the book and for me these glimpses were enlightening. His grandfather fostered his love of growing things, while his father had little use or time for anything green. From a very structured garden replete with row upon row of vegetables and flowers with no weeds allowed to Pollan's desire to be a total naturalist, we follow.



While I found a lot of his musings redundant and verbose, I did learn a lot about the history of gardens. I now understand why Americans so love their lawns and how Thoreau, Emerson and Wordsworth writings still influence generations of gardeners. I read about the rose... from the old roses with royal pedigrees to the new hybridized roses of questionable heritage. Then there was the question of weeds. What constitutes a weed depends on who's garden it is in. I learned, also, that most of the plants we now consider weed are alien species brought to America by the earliest settlers.

Of course Pollan eventually comes to terms within himself and finds he can and must coexist with nature. He realises we each have to follow our own path when gardening. Whether it is the romantic, the Jeffersonian, the naturalist or the picturesque garden or a combination of some or all of these we desire, it is in the end our decision. To do with as we please with our plot of land is our right and we have no one to please but ourselves.