Hi Friends
Here we are June 1st WOW of WOW. I guess being so busy in my garden sure did make the time fly like magic. You know it is coming and you know it has gone by, only to look back and think Mmmmm what happened to this time? My answer to this is so easy. Although it has been a very busy time, there is still a good 3 months of heat and awesome weather to come yet. So I am not done having a lot of work but the hardest is behind me for a few months now. Come Fall I will have to cut out everything that is done for the year. Then I will be picking strawberries until Christmas because there is another spurt of growth near the end of November. Yummy.
So I hope all of you are enjoying some great weather and I mean by that NOT TOO HOT! hee hee it seems we go from Sprintime comfortable in the sun to extreme 90F's or high 20C's to 30C's in a flash. If I had it my way I would want 70F's all year round which is about 17C's for 6 months then a mild Winter. (currently on wishlist)
Well I better continue to share photos of my garden:
This is my pond iris. It needs repotting for next year so it looks healthier
This is one of my two artichokes, this is a picture I took about a month ago, you should see the monster plant I have now. It is huge and it is starting to show a few flowers which will become the edable part and happens to be so expensive at the grocery store all the time.
If you are not interested in know how to prepare an artichoke when ready to pick, go to next photo.
Artichoke preparation. Quick and easy. Cut the artichoke from the plant, each petal will have a little needled ending which you will take scissors to remove the tip of all petals then with a sharp knife lay the artichoke on the side and cut out the 4-5 top rows of petals so you have a flat top, it will also speed up the cooking time by doing so, if you want to prevent the oxydation of the top, rub some lemon or lime on the top of the flower after it has been washed. Then run cold water and place it under making sure to let the water run all over the artichoke to remove any sand. Make sure you cut the base of the artichoke so it stands flat in the pot. If you have a stem remove it and let it cook along side of the artichoke when ready to add to the pot. Once well washed, it is ready to cook. I personally add about one inch of water to my small pot keeping the artichocke nice and snug while cooking and I keep it covered once I know the water is boiling and the heat is not to high but enough to simmer for an hour. I check it every 10 minutes to make sure I don't run out of water, very important. Once the hour is over to check if your artichoke is ready all you need to do with tongues try and remove a petal from the art.. if it comes out easily it is cooked if not, continue the cooking for another 10 minutes. Drain and serve in a plate with some mayonnaise on the side.
This is a great source of iron and other essential vitamins and the way you eat it, is you scrape the flesh with your teeth on the inside of the petal. I dip it in some mayo first very little mayo and scrape the flesh. Once you have gone through the petals that are firmer you will get into the soft petals which are edeable it will leave you with just the pointy end. It is tender and so tasty.
You will get to the heart of the artichoke by removing the fuzzy coat which looks almost like the middle of a daisy I personally remove this with a spoon you just scratch the fuzz it will go easily. Once it is removed you have the artickoke heart which is so tender and good to eat with mayo. We have one a week and loving it. We can't wait to get ours from the garden. Freshly cut and cooked. Yummy! Some people don't want to try it because sometimes it is because they wouldn't know how to prepare it.
My yellow rose tree it was such a nice sight for the time it was blooming, for sure!
My other artichoke plant above
Above, this is one of the close up of the rose bush I took a picture of that had thousands of blooms at once. It is a really pretty rose, but it had so many bees on it wow. I was walking and keeping my distance around that tree but the bees were too busy to see I was around anyway.
I hope you like close up of flowers because this is what makes me enjoy photography. I love when I can capture some insect roaming around the pistil as it is not always just bees.
This is another close up but this one is a side picture of the same rose.
While I have the chance to do so. I want to take this special occasion to thank Colleen a regular and a follower of my blog now for many years. She has been so supportive of my gardening as she was so keen on helping me out with the right links to my gardening questions. There were quite a few at the beginning since I had not been gardenning since, well, let's put it this way it was about 30 years ago so I had forgotten the most important details of it so she was so gracious to tell me the tips and tricks and even some images of flowers with the part names LOL. Without her expertise I would not have half as much blooms as I was able to show you so far. There is more to come as I have some Mums and some daisies coming out any day now. I also have happy hummingbirds as well thanks to her recipe for nectar. Colleen, you are such a great friend. Thank you for assisting me and to continue to be so helpful with my gardenning questions. If you need anymore cuttings of my roses please feel free to ask. It is easy to send them to you since you are the next State to the South from us.
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Now for the card to share for today I was in the flower mood with my inks again so I hope you like this one as well and it makes you try your hand at this simple, easy and so elegant in the flesh card.
Two color of CS needed. White Bazzill (Linen texture) and Orange. Make sure you can match the orange ink with the cardstock you have. Sometimes it is clashing from a different hue. Test it first. Or pick another color you know you already having a match not a clash!
I used 2 stamps for this card. The Sentiment and the stems. First I used my orange ink over a frame mask (refer to a few days ago technique with the TULIP in a frame for more details on the inked frame technique. After my ink is sponged around the frame to satisfaction I removed the mask and added some black dots on each corner just because I can.
Next, I picked a green I liked for the stems to stamp over some of the frame and some outside of the frame. For the back flowers I only bent a full flower in half making sure that the petals would all show at least partly once it is adhered to the card. So I started with my back punched flowers. I added some ink with the sponge dauber around the petals to add some dimension and cut out a small circle to leave me enough room to add a bling to it. Two flowers were adhered to the background and one has to be made for the front this one is kept full. Apply ink around the edges same as the back flowers, then punch out a hole large enough to sit the bling in the middle of it as well. By doing so your bling has a better chance to stay put during travel to the recipient. I use glue dots so it stays put but also has some flexibility in case it is pushed to the side it will come back to its position. (bling that is)
I then stamp my Sentiment with the use of the Stamp a ma jig tool and with a sponge dauber I had some left over not completely dry sponge that had yellow on it so I decided to run gently the sponge over the Sentiment. That's it! Voila!
I hope you enjoyed the recipe it is longer to type than it is to make, almost. Because I have to make cards that are flat so it is easy to mail and not costing extra fees for thickness it is popular. But when I don't have to make flat cards I am enjoying making my own paper flowers for special cards to send to friends and family. So I do more intricate cards. You will see them from time to time.
Time to close for the day!
Have a safe and happy day!