Florida Oranges - Nature's Sunny Fruit

Honeybell Tangelos being packed for shipment.

Perfect goodness - Florida oranges

Today as the sun was shining brightly in a clear azure blue sky, I was reminded of that old saying, "A day without orange juice is like a day without sunshine."

And that got me reminiscing about my trip last February to Polk County, Florida in the interior of the state. Although Florida was experiencing a bit of cold weather that weekend, it could not dampen the spirits of a group of garden and travel writers as we experienced the wonderful hospitality central Florida has to offer - beautiful gardens, antique airplanes, conservation areas, great food and even a dude ranch, and of course, delicious, sweet citrus fruit.

Although we can't grow citrus fruits here in Canada, it was so interesting to learn about the various aspects of the citrus industry from growers to industry specialists researching methods to keep the citrus crops free from pests, from processors to restaurants and food companies turning the orange orbs into tasty and delectable treats. Not to mention growers more than happy to ship fresh picked produce direct to your door. Nor did I realize that there were so many different kinds of citrus varieties. One of the most delicious, and only available for a limited time in January is the Honeybell Tangelo - sweet and juicy, a cross between a grapefruit and a tangerine. The growers at Lang Sun Country Groves say "they are so juicy some folks eat them in the bathtub."

If you're looking to bring a little Florida sunshine into your day, you should try this delicious recipe for Honeybell Cake from Lang Sun Country Groves, it's guaranteed to brighten your day.

1 package of lemon cake mix

1 3 oz. package of orange gelatin

1/2 cup canola oil

1 Tablespoon grated Honeybell zest

3/4 cup Honeybell Tangelo juice

4 eggs

1 recipe Honeybell glaze

2 cups confectioners sugar thinned to a glaze consistency with Honeybell juice

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Grease and flour a 10 inch fluted tube pan. In a large mixing bowl combine cake mix, gelatin, oil, zest, juice and eggs beating on low speed with an electric mixer to combine. Beat at medium speed for 3 minutes. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 1 hour 10 minutes. Let cool in pan for 15 minutes. Using a knife or skewer, punch holes in cake. Pour warm honeybell glaze over cake. When glaze has soaked in and cake has cooled completely, remove cake from pan, sit down and enjoy this sweet treat.

All this talk about sunny citrus and that delicious Honeybell cake, I think I'll go a bake one right now.

The Seed Catalogues Are Here!

" Snowy winter, a plentiful harvest."

As you can see from my last post it has been a very snowy winter in our part of the country. So if the proverb above is correct, I'll be looking forward to a plentiful harvest both in the blooms like this bounty of roses as well as in the veggie garden.

Each day it seems there is another seed catalogue bursting forth from my mailbox. And I can't wait to peruse the offerings looking for something new to try, easpecially in the veg department. I've been reading the book "Growing Chinese Vegetables in Your Own Backyard." I love cooking and one of my favourite cuisines is Chinese. I once worked with a Chinese girl who took me under her wing, introducing me to all sorts of Chinese food products not available in your local supermarkets and then showed me how to prepare them. Several times a year I make a pilgrimage to Toronto to Chinatown and load up on sauces, unusual vegetables and other culinary treats that are staples in Chinese cooking, so this book has been very interesting in learning the more unique veggies I can add to my backyard garden.

Since Asian foods have become more mainstream in recent years, more seed purveyors are offering these "new to us" varieties. So I look forward in the next couple of days to taking time out with a cup of steaming green tea and the new seed catalogues, making my list and garden plan for the upcoming season (that is if our snow ever melts). And then as the proverb says, with a little tender loving care, I'll be looking forward to a plentiful harvest. This is the perfect time to be making your seed selections, before you know it spring will be here.

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow!!!

" Oh, the weather outside is frightful

But the fire is so delightful,

And since we've no place to go,

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!"

Wow, how appropriate those words are today. For the past three days it has been snowing non-stop here in Bracebridge as you can see from the pictures. The kids have had three days of "school snow days" as the buses haven't been on the road (and I'll tell you they are going stir crazy being holed up here in the house). As I write this looking out the window onto my garden, the snow is now waist high, the bird houses look cute with these high top hats on. It is simply incredible - the snow just doesn't stop and now they have declared Bracebridge as a snow emergency area. Even the snowplows are nowhere to be seen. Everyone is hunkering down in their homes, just as the song says - we have no place to go!

So much for the three lilacs we got last week at the Royal Botanic Garden. We didn't get them in the ground before the snow started, so now they sit inside the doorway and as you can see from the photos, there is no way they are going in the ground now. Winter is definitely here, as garden work has ceased and it is time to sit beside the glowing fire and get caught up on reading all the great garden books I received over the year but just didn't get around to really reading. We might as well enjoy it while we can for as soon as it does stop snowing, we'll all be busy shovelling out and cleaning off roofs. And for those of you outside the snowbelt, if you are looking for a white Christmas - come on up to Bracebridge, you won't be disappointed.

Well, no worries about it not being a white Christmas this year!

Colchicums - Autumn's Splendour

"September mild, October gold,
Are followed by November cold."

Unknown

Well, it's hard to believe that it is almost the middle of November and the sun is shining brightly and the weather (for mid-November) is unseasonably warm. And when almost everything else in my garden has been touched by frost, my autumn crocus, like little soldiers, are still blooming brightly. What a cheerful patch they make here and there in the beds.

Now one small patch looks great in the spring when the foliage emerges in a spot where nothing else is growing. But once the hydrangea blooms the location is covered over and when the crocus blooms in all its autumn splendour, the blooms are hidden away. And every fall when this happens I tell myself I am going to move the bulbs so I'll truly be able to appreciate their colourful blooms the following year. In summer you get busy with other garden tasks and the foliage dies back and you can't remember where the bulbs are located. So you plan on waiting until the flowers bloom, but you know what happens, you get busy and time slips away or the weather turns suddenly and the ground freezes menacingly refusing to release the bulbs, and so another year goes by.

But today it is bright and warm and I'm determined to at least mark the spot where the bulbs are blooming. So armed with a few golf tees, I'll mark the spot now. Next spring I'll enjoy the foliage flush before the hydrangea puts on its growth spurt. Then as soon as the foliage dies back, I'll dig the bulbs and transfer them to a more visually accessible part of the garden.

Well, that the plan anyway. Gardeners always need to have dreams and plans, it's the implementation that doesn't always proceed as intended, but then again that's one of the trials, tribulations and yes, even joys of gardening.

So now we'll wait for November's cold and the December snows to follow. If you haven't already finished all your garden tasks, you'd better get busy for winter is on the way!

Tips for Planting Spring Blooming Bulbs

"Clean and round,

Heavy and sound,

Inside every bulb a flower is found."

Old Poem

I don't know how it happens but each autumn time magically slips by for me and before I know it, it's November and I still have garden chores to complete before the snow falls - like planting bulbs. And of course, this autumn is no different even when I promised myself I would be proactive. But between family events, attending the GWA symposium and having other commitments on those sunny warm days, the days I am free to get the chores done - it is miserable, cold and pouring down rain. So here sits my bowl full of bulbs still waiting to be planted and again today the weather has not co-operated but I did hear that the sun is to shine tomorrow afternoon.

Planting spring blooming bulbs in the fall is important so that you can be greeted with colour after 5 to 6 months of winter's white. There is just something magically about seeing the bulbs burst forth as the snow begins to melt brightening up the spring landscape. Here are just a few tips to ensure your bulbs bloom successfully next spring:

1. Make sure the soil has good drainage - sandy loam is best. Bulbs dislike damp soils that may be waterlogged come spring as your bulbs will rot and all your hard work will be for naught.

2. Bulbs look best when clustered together in mass plantings as opposed to planting one here and one there. This is especially important for the small bulbs like Muscari and Squill.

3. Your bulbs will benefit from a little bone meal, bulb booster, or compost mixed into the soil at the bottom of the planting hole.

4. Remember to plant your bulbs at a depth of 2 to 3 times the diameter of the bulb with the roots down and the growing tip up. For any bulbs in which you cannot determine the root end, plant them on their side and the stem will find its way up to the soil surface.

5. Once your bulbs bloom next spring, leave the foliage to die back naturally before cutting back. This will alow the plant to divert energy back into the bulb so it can bloom for you the next year. This goes for naturalized plants in lawns too - let the foliage die down before mowing.

6. If you are blessed with an abundance of squirrels as I am you may have trouble keeping your bulbs in the ground. Some say that squirrels dislike Daffodils - so plant more of these or you may want to try one of the commercial squirrel repellent products.

Take heart, if the ground is not yet frozen and there are still a few weeks in which your bulbs can set some roots you still have time to plant a few spring blooming bulbs. You may wonder as your fingers are freezing setting the bulbs but you will be visually and spiritually rewarded next spring.

Happy planting!

Ten Ways to Celebrate Autumn

One of the many fruit and veggie stands in the Niagara region of Ontario offering fresh picked produce ready to be enjoyed.

"There is a harmony in Autumn, and a lustre in its sky, which thru' the Summer is not heard."

Percy Bysshe Shelley

Just the other day my son Jeremy said to me, "Mom, I think autumn is my favourite time of the year." Although I love all the seasons, I think I have to agree with him - the hills ablaze with colour, the mellow yellow of the setting sun, the chill of autumn evenings, the smell of woodsmoke in the air. Even with the shortening daylight hours, a warm Indian summer can be just perfect for gardening and family activities. Here are ten way to celebrate the fall season:

1. Visit a cranberry marsh - I'm lucky to live in an area with not one but two cranberry marshes (Johnston's and Iroquois Growers) plus my friend Sharon who lives in Hoquiam, Washington is also a cranberry grower. These tiny tart ruby berries are full of anti-oxidants and a symbol of autumn.

2. Decorate your home inside with big bouquets of sunflowers - a truly seasonal bloom that not only brings a ray of sunshine to your interior decor (they don't call then 'sunny sunflowers' for nothing) but also for me evoke a feeling of Provence.

3. Enjoy the warm weather by finishing all the garden chores you have been putting off. Winter weather is just around the corner. Cut back your perennials and protect tender ones with some mulch.

4. A great autumn family activity is raking the fallen leaves. When my children were young we would rake the leaves into big piles, their reward to jump into the piles before we would bag them for curbside compost collection. Now I have a mulching mower and use the mulched leaves to protect my garden beds and add to my compost.

5. Spend some quality family time planting spring blooming bulbs (tulips, daffodils, hyacinths and squill). Check out the variety at your local garden center or purchase your bulbs through one of the many specialty bulb suppliers (my favourites are Breck's of Holland and Vesey's) You'll be rewarded next spring when the snow melts.

6. Plan a day trip to a pick-your-own farm to purchase pumpkins and squash. My children still love searching the fields to select just the right pumpkin to carve for Halloween. I love trying all the different squash turning them into tasty treats like warm squash soup, mashed squash and even pumpkin muffins, fritters and cheesecake.

7. Spend a day making pickles or sauces. Visit a local farmer's market and load up on fresh veggies and tomatoes. A rainy autumn day is perfect for filling the house with the delicious aromas of garden produce being prepared now to be enjoyed in the depths of winter.

8. Clean out your potting shed. Clean and oil your garden tools so they will be ready to use next spring. Take all your unused fertilizer and chemical pesticides (if you have them) to your local landfill site on Hazardous Waste day. Do not dump them down the sewer as they will end up in your local water system.

9. Decorate your porch with an autumnal seasonal display. Purchase a bale of hay or straw, add a few cornstalks, a scarecrow (you can pick one up at the dollar store if you don't want to create your own), a pot of mums in an old milk can, aloong with some pumpkins and squash. Be creative, you are only limited by your imagination.

10. Finally, celebrate all the joys of the autumn season by inviting a few friends over for a seasonal dinner. It doesn't need to be lavish or elaborate. Fresh seasonal produce from farm or market stands, simply prepared, along with local cheese, breads and wines while watching the setting sun with good friends is the perfect ending to a great gardening season.

Indian Summer - The Best Fall has to Offer

"Who loves a garden still his Eden keep.
Perennial pleasures plants, and wholesome harvest reaps."

Amos Bronson Alcott

It's hard to believe that the kids go back to school tomorrow and just when summer has finally made its appearance. The past week has been beautiful, warm sunny days turning hot by late afternoon with not a bit of rain. Where has summer gone?

As the annuals begin to fade, their life cycle drawing to a close and hit by this sudden burst of heat and no rain, the colour show begins up above in the trees. Here and there a tree is bright with reds and yellows, fall is just around the corner. Yesterday I watched closely as a flock of starlings descended into the trees between our yard and our neighbours scouring the bushes for berries and the feeders for seeds. But I was fearful that they might attack my great crop of grapes. This year I pruned by grapes back hard and have been rewarded with lots of bunches of grapes. But the sunless, wet weather in July has meant that the grapes are behind schedule and I'm not sure that they will get ripe before frost comes (as I had such great hope for grape jelly this fall, so we will have to see).

The garden centres are full of mums and asters now, time to replace those ailing annuals with the rich tapestry of fall flowers. I can't wait for pumpkins and squashes to appear so we can decorate for autumn glory, perhaps we are to be blessed with Indian Summer. The beauty of Echinacea (above) Iare still blooming in the fall garden and the seedheads provide food for overwintering birds.