Day time has become shorter and shorter. Sunrise today was at 7.00 am and sunset 5.19 pm. These pictures were taken one hour after sunrise this foggy morning when the sun was reaching the bald black walnut branches.
© Burke's Garden, 2009.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Saturday, November 21, 2009
The Flower of Hoja Santa
Photos © Burke's Garden, 2009.
Reference from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoja_santa
Hoja santa (Piper auritum) is an aromatic herb with a heart-shaped, velvety leaf which grows in tropic Mesoamerica. The name hoja santa means "sacred leaf" in Spanish.[2] A Mexican legend says that Virgin Mary dried diapers of the infant Jesus on the bush of this plant, hence the name.[3] It is also known as yerba santa,[4][5] hierba santa,[4] Mexican pepperleaf,[5] root beer plant,[2] and sacred pepper.[1]
Description
The leaves can reach up to 30 centimeters (12 in) or more in size. The complex flavor of hoja santa is not so easily described; it has been compared to eucalyptus,[6][7] licorice,[2][8] sassafras,[4][9] anise,[5][10] nutmeg,[5] mint,[11][12] tarragon,[6] and black pepper.[5] The flavor is stronger in the young stems and veins.
It is native to the Americas, from northern South America to Mexico, and has escaped cultivation in Florida.[13]
Usage
It is often used in Mexican cuisine for tamales, the fish or meat wrapped in fragrant leaves for cooking, and as an essential ingredient in Mole Verde, the green sauce originated in the Oaxaca region of Mexico.[4] It is also chopped to flavor soups and eggs.[14] In Central Mexico, it is used to flavor chocolate drinks.[5] In southeastern Mexico, a green liquor called VerdÃn is made from hoja santa.[15] American cheesemaker Paula Lambert created "Hoja santa cheese", the goat's milk cheese wrapped with the hoja santa leaves and impregnated with its flavor.[9][11] While typically used fresh, it is also used in dried form, although drying removes much of the flavor and makes the leaf too brittle to be used as a wrapper.[16]
A B C Blooms
Purple Aster blooming at last.
Bougenville blooms.
Clematis reblooming.
This has nothing to do with the title, but...
couldn't resist taking pictures of these beauties
over and over again.
Passion flowers by wooden post.
© Burke's Garden, 2009.
Curcuma
I have been trying to grow ginger from rhizome that I bought from the supermarket for cooking, here in Texas, but to no avail. My friend who lives in California told me that ginger's rhizome that has gotten too cold in a fridge won't grow. She's been growing ginger purchased from Asian grocery stores that put their produce out in room temperature there and it grows well. So she shipped me a piece of California bought ginger with some new growth stem on it just to make sure it's alive, and besides that she also sent me turmeric and zedoary (white turmeric / cutcherry / kencur) plants.
Turmeric, or Curcuma longa, is a ginger family native to South East Asia. The rhizome is being used widely for spices or traditional medicine in Asia and Middle East, dried or fresh. It gives the orange-yellow color to curry dishes. It is also used outside Asia & Middle East for food coloring in pickles, prepared mustards, even dairy products such as cheese, butter, margarine, ice cream, yogurt, and cake as well, a cheap substitute for saffron. Turmeric's medicinal and cosmetic properties include antiseptic, antibacterial, remedy for gastrointestinal problems, diet supplement, sunscreen agent. It needs to be in temperature between 68˚- 86˚F / 20˚- 30˚C, definitely has to be brought into our house in winter. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turmeric.
Turmeric plant.
The rhizome of turmeric plant used for propagation in this case.
Zedoary, or Curcuma zedoaria, is also a rhizomatous plant in ginger family and used as Asian culinary spices (aka cutcherry / kencur in stores) or as medicinal agent, dried or fresh. It's like white turmeric with stronger fragrant and bitter aftertaste. Besides the culinary and medicinal uses, it apparently posses ornamental quality, too. It could grow to 3 feet / 90 cm with maroon cluster of flowers in spring. I am not sure about its hardiness. One source says it's tropical (not hardy), other says it's hardy up to zone 8. It's in the green house now and I am going to take them into our house when the temperature got really low, for precaution. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zedoary and Stokes Tropical.
Zedoary plant
Photos © Burke's Garden, 2009.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Foliage Appeal in The Green House
Fern (second year) and Aeroplane plant
(first year, Bruce Miller).
Kimberly Queen Fern (first year),
surprisingly survives in our garden for 3 months now.
We tried Boston Fern which has similar look
but they didn't like it here and died
in a matter of weeks.
More about this in another posting.
Schefflera plant, purchased from WalMart,
has been growing well and now is safe in the green house.
Coleus and purple fountain grass
have been dug up from the yard
and transferred to safety.
I am trying to save these Polka Dot plants
for next year, too. Other plants that
I've dug to safety are sweet potato vines,
petunia and chamomile seedlings.
© Burke's Garden, 2009.
Coral Geranium and Carolina Breeze Hibiscus
They've been moved to the green house and bloom a few days later.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
The Purple Shamrock
A seedling of Purple Shamrock (Oxalis) in a cup-size teracotta pot transplanted from the garden. It opens up like this during the day and close down at dusk, and has a cone at its base where the roots produced. Let's hope it makes it and grows well.
© Burke's Garden, 2009.
Frog, Preying Mantis, Chamomile
The white frog with Kimberly Queen fern in the green house.
A preying mantis perching on a teracotta pot.
Chamomile seedling I found in the garden
is transferred to a small teracotta pot
and safe in the green house.
© Burke's Garden, 2009.
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