Passalong Plants - The Book

Passalong Plants -the April/May Selection for the Garden Bloggers’ Book Club.
By the time this book came into my life, my world was already filled with plants passed along by other gardeners, so Felder and Steve [we were instantly on a first name basis] didn’t introduce me to the concept, but they gave all of us a great name for what we were doing, validated our experiences and filled an entire book with objects of desire. We were introduced to some quirky yard art as well as some truly odd plants.
The two authors, Steven Bender and Felder Rushing talk about individual plants in a neighborly, anecdotal way, sometimes lurching over the line into Jeff Foxworthy territory, but with genuine horticultural information under the kudzu. I have no resistance to this kind of Southern- style writing, treasuring old paperbacks by Lewis Grizzard and Celestine Sibley, enjoying the YaYa Sisterhood, and loving movies like Steel Magnolias and Fried Green Tomatoes. If you can’t swallow garden writing served with a side of cheese grits, you may need a lot of iced tea to get you through the pages, but the plant stories are wonderful. I love my copy, sometimes rereading the book for fun, and sometimes using it as a reference for specific plants.
Many of the most tempting stories are about plants that won’t grow above zone 7, giving the Northern gardener a case of zone envy. Felder and Steve are currently considering a new book about Passalong Plants for colder zones, so if you live where camelias freeze, read this book first and hope they’ll write a companion volume in the future. Last March, I posted about meeting Felder Rushing, and mentioned that my copy of the book was written-in, and stuffed with notes. The extra pages at the back of the book were blank when I bought the book, but were soon covered in lists of plants and people. I noted daylilies named ‘Timeless’ and ‘Charm Bracelet’ as coming from Bernice, that Sweet Autumn Clematis was given to me by Ruth, whose plant came from Sophie. The Malva moschata was from Dorothy, Iris from Lorraine, Peonies from Patty, Sweet woodruff from Sherry, orange lilies from Laverne and that the Jack in the Pulpit was passed along to me by my mother. Most of the passalong plants in our Illinois garden stayed there when we moved to Texas in 1999.
But among the passalong plants in my present garden are two that traveled long and winding roads to live in Austin, Texas.
Look into the photo above and you’ll see some tall while phlox, cavorting with a white Echinacea and some Perovskia last July. The family legend says that my great-grandmother grew the phlox in Michigan in the early 1900’s. By 1924 she'd given a division to her daughter, my Grandma Anna, who took them to Chicago. Grandma passed them along to my parents in the 1950’s. Decades later, I took some of the white phlox with me to a rental townhouse, then to our first house. Another four years passed, I redivided the burgeoning clump and took some to our second house, then repeated the process and planted them in the square garden at the third house, seen below.

The phlox are blooming in the upper left corner of this decade old snapshot - with the head of an 'Annabelle' hydrangea flopped artistically across the center.
In the mid-nineties our son M. took some of the white phlox for his garden and after we moved to this house in .., M. returned the favor, bringing a division of the heirloom phlox down here - to make this the fifth home where we’ve grown them.
The journey of another plant began on April 13, 1992, when a garden club speaker in Illinois gave me wands of corkscrew willow - extra greenery from an arrangement. I managed to root one of the slender twisted branches and grew it in a whiskey barrel. The wand eventually expanded into an attractive tree, from which I rooted more cuttings, one for my son M. and a couple for my friend Barbara. We left the original tree in the whiskey barrel in Illinois, but after a while I missed it, and wanted one here. Both M. & Barbara gave me wands from their now larger trees, with no luck at first, but this piece from Barbara finally made roots in ... The young willow now grows in a big pot, placed so any drip of condensation from the roof will land in the container. Also in the container are some passalong agapanthus plants from Pam/Digging. I started writing this while waiting for a couple of passalong daylilies to bloom, but as I waited, the draft grew longer and longer, and now the daylilies need a whole post! Since I want to tell the stories of the passalong plants in our garden and the people who shared them with us – let’s call this Passalongs/Part One.

Milldale to Tissington and back

With Harry. Cloudy and drizzly to start with, then cloud lifted. Muddy in places. just under 8 miles.











Cross Viator's Bridge out of Milldale village, and follow the steep path up to the left, signposted Tissington.

The path climbed up quite steeply, but the usual zig-zag path wasn't too bad, nor too long! At the top the signed route was fairly clear, though it turned muddy, and I think we may have taken a path slightly too far to the north of the route we intended.

In any case, up a bit and down a bit, it led to the (unmarked) minor road to Tissington, just across the A515 Ashbourne to Buxton road.

We walked into Tissington, as far as the Tissington Trial, but on a dankish Monday at 3pm nothing of interest (i.e. a coffee shop) seemed to be open, so we made our way back, following the same route mainly. The views were good, but not great - a little too misty, though the cloud did lift a little later in the walk.

Silver City Trailhead

Earlier this week I received from Mill County Conservation, looking for photos of the Wabash Trace and particularly Mineola, Silver City, and Malvern trailheads. I had good photos of Mineola abd Malvern, but not a shot of Silver City. Yesterday, I decided it was a good day to get that shot and a bike ride.
Did my normal ride from Silver City to Malvern (8.5 miles). Stopped at the trailhead/depot for a break, a granola bar, and G2. Allan (another SWINT board member) came by on his bike. He was riding up to Silver City. Had a good ride and conversation. Weather was pretty good, sunny with a light breeze. On the way back, the humidity was climbing. Had problems with sweat in my eyes.
Needed to get out and ride. When I headed out, I was not sure how far I would ride. Glad I made it the whole way to Malvern. Dealing with auto dealers was/is getting to me. But, that is another whole story.

My Favourite Tuscan Meal - Zuppa di Farro

One of the best meals I’ve ever eaten in my life was at the Ristorante Latini in San Gimignano, Italy. This little gem, located in the heart of the Tuscan countryside, uses only the finest quality ingredients to prepare a delicious array of Tuscan fare. The meals are cooked with simplicity and a lot of love and attention. The proof is all in the flavour. 

An enchanting view of the San Gimignano countryside.

My favourite item on their menu is the Zuppa di Farro, a delicious spelt soup. This hearty soup is well loved in Tuscany, particularly in the Garfagnana region, in the mountains northwest of Lucca. The ingredients blend together so beautifully for a flavour that will have you coming back for more.



If you visit Ristorante Latini ask for Chiara, the daughter of founder Giovanni Latini.




Here is the recipe for you to try at home.

ZUPPA DI FARRO – FARO SOUP

To serve 4 you'll need:

•6-8 ounces (by weight) farro, in whole grains (more information on farro)•3/4 pound ripe plum tomatoes (or canned tomatoes), chopped and seeded•2-3 ounces pancetta (smoked if possible)•Grated pecorino toscano cheese, or Parmigiano (romano will be too sharp) •2 cloves garlic•1 onion, finely sliced•A small bunch parsley•Some fresh basil•A few sprigs thyme•Olive oil•Salt & pepper to taste•1 quart hot broth (it can be made with bullion if need be)

Speltis an ancient grain. Thegrandfather of wheat as we know it today.

Begin by preparing the farro: Wash it well, picking out impurities such as bits of chaff, pebbles, or bad grains, and soak it for at least 8 hours.

When it's ready, mince the pancetta and sauté it in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil, together with the thyme, finely sliced onion, and garlic cloves. When the mixture has browned, remove and discard the garlic, and stir in the chopped tomatoes, parsley and basil. Cook for a few minutes, then stir in the hot broth, and once the pot comes to a boil, the farro. Cook over a low flame for about 2 hours, or until the farro is done (taste a grain), stirring often, and checking the seasoning towards the end. Let the soup sit for an hour and serve it warm, with olive oil and grated cheese.


(This is based on a recipe printed in Luciano Migliolli's Il Farro e le sue Ricette.)

Night Wishes

I am really having a lot of fun with my Canon 5D Mark II. This camera is allowing me to capture images that I never thought were possible. It certainly is a wonderful camera for night photography! The waterfall seen here is Partridge Falls on the Pigeon River in northeast Minnesota. This river is the border between the U.S. and Canada in this part of the state. My friend Roger was up for the weekend and when Roger visits we usually try to do a session of night photography. The concept portrayed in this image was actually Roger's idea. I was in between shooting images when all of a sudden Roger walked out in front of me and stood near the base of the falls, using his flashlight to paint light up, down, left and right across the falls. After I saw his image I knew I had to try one of my own. I have always wanted to try shooting Partridge Falls with the stars above it but with the cameras I used to have the results, while interesting to view at web size, would have been too noisy for printing. The Canon 5D Mark II changes that. I have already had a print of one of these images made, and it is stunning!

(Above: I used my Petzl Tikka headlamp to "paint" light onto the falls during the 30 second exposure.)
(Below: In this image, in addition to my Petzl headlamp, I was also holding my flashlight in my right hand. My intent was to try to look like I was holding a lightsaber, making me look like a Jedi from a Star Wars movie. The effect sort of worked, except my lightsaber is really long!)

After shooting at Partridge Falls, Roger and I then headed down to the Spirit Tree to do some more star shooting, this time with longer exposures to produce some star trail images. In this first image below, I was looking for a unique angle on the tree and was lucky to have both the North Star and the Milky Way in this image behind the tree. Overall, this night was one of the most fun times that I've ever had with a camera!

Snow Ride at Manawa

Today I made my first singletrack ride of the year. We got an inch+ of new snow overnight, so I was the first wheel tracks down the trail.
My plan was to ride my hardtail. But, I had problems getting one of the pedals loosened (wanted to change to combo or flat for my boots). When I skinned my hand, I decided to ride the Fuel EX7.
Tried riding with the air pressure in the tires (about 30#). That was too much, so let out more air. Riding much better now. The other thing I did was lock the rear suspension.
The wind started to pick up, and felt a bit cool, so called it a ride after just short of an hour.

The first tumble

A new year, a new camera and a new fall. Yesterday I managed my first crash of the year at Tomewin, while riding across the top of the Macpherson Range on Glengarrie Road. It's the sort of thing that happens when you attempt to climb steep graidents on rocky dirt roads covered with a slick coating of mud. Very little damage was done, although my left hip is a little stiff today, and the surroundings in the Garden of Eden provided more than enough compensation.

Evidently Martin and I hadn't had enough flooded creek crossings from the day before, as we first headed toward Urliup. Much to my surprise (especially as the lost bet cost me an inner tube), only one causeway was under. Another surprise in the early stages was just how quickly the wildflowers have taken over Urliup after the flood. It's not an area known for them, but the freakish downpour may have created just the right conditions.

A punishing climb to the summit of Tomewin followed -- the punishing nature of the climb owing as much to the muggy conditions as the gradient. It was followed by the now obligatory detour along the Garden of Eden Road, before returning to the Eastern side of the range for the ridgetop ride across the top. The muddy conditions made for difficult going, and I had several near misses before "the crash". Nevertheless, I found the motivation to continue as we watched some rain approach.
The rain held off until we descended the switchbacks of the Zig-zag road, before creating a slick surface for the final descent into Bilambil (how convenient). Martin managed to pick up a flat on the way to the bakery and a welcome food stop (that still leaves me in front 3-1 however) -- a large piece of glass was responsible, and he'll probably need to replace the tyre. The final stretch through the last 30-odd km of suburbia was uninspiring, but at least a tailwind made it pass quickly. In the end we both agreed that it was one of the hardest 100km rides we've had in a while, but every minute was worth the effort.