A happy childhood memory; fried squash

I just harvested two more summer squash from my container garden yesterday and there are two more coming right behind them. So I decided I would make some fried squash patties for lunch yesterday. (yum-yum) One of my earliest childhood memories is of my mother making fried squash and my brother & I would eat it as fast as she could pull it out of the pan. She would always say “You’re going to burn your fingers.” We didn’t care. 🙂 By the way, my mom has a cooking blog and is a fantastic cook so if you are interested in some great recipes you can check her out at Cooking in Cleveland. And you should see the pictures of her urban garden too. This is the recipe my grandmother gave me that her mother passed down to her. Sorry mom, I should of asked you for your recipe first, but was really hungry and in a hurry to fry these squash up! 🙂

Fried Summer Squash

Ingredients:
· 2 eggs, beaten
· 1/4 cup milk
· 1/2 teaspoon salt
· 2 med summer squash, sliced thinly
· 1 1/2 cups flour or cornmeal (I had flour)
· oil

Preparation:
Combine eggs, milk, and salt in a bowl. Place flour or cornmeal in a separate bowl. Dip squash in the egg mixture, then roll in flour or cornmeal coating it well. Then fry in skillet with about 1 inch of hot oil on med-high heat until golden brown.

Don’t these look yummy? I would of saved you a few but my family gobbled them up before they even had a chance to cool off! 🙂

Garden Collections

Just recently I realized that I have something of a water fountain/birdbath collection. The funny part is that I didn’t set out to collect these items, because most of them were given to me as gifts. By providing sources of water I attract a variety of birds and insects to the garden. I enjoy watching the birds splash around on hot days. They are almost comical in their bathing rituals.
This birdbath was actually my first and I’ve had it for 8 or 9 years now. I acquired it while visiting my local Pottery factory . Our Pottery is fantastic for finding handmade pottery and annuals, perennials and tropical plants that are grown on site. I love the embossed birds and flowers that decorate the pedestal and the gray-blue color.

Can you believe my friend was going to put this on the curb? She told me I could have it I came and picked it up. It is made of concrete and very, very, very heavy. This is the one my cat likes to drink out of when the birds aren’t using it of course. 🙂

Everyone probably remembers this one from my Whimsical Garden Art post a few days ago. Here is a better picture of it. Don’t you just love the base of it? It is made of a cast metal. I think the little decorative bird drinking out of the flower-shaped dish is so cute.

My absolute favorite one at the moment is this bronze ceramic one my husband gave me for Mother’s Day this year. He picked this one out at our local Wild Wings Nature Store. This store has fantastic birding accessories. Their items range from contemporary to whimsical.

I purchased this fountain at our local home improvement center. It was a floor model and they gave me a huge discount which means I had to get it. This is located in the bed with the huge Hosta I posted yesterday and the burgundy Cannas. The dogs enjoy drinking out of the lower basin and I’ve seen birds splashing in the smaller top dish.

This fountain is located out front next to my front door. I love the splashing sound of the waterfall and my cat enjoys drinking out of this one too. There is a light that makes it really pretty at night. It is located in the same flowerbed with Mr. & Ms. Turtle.

I hope you enjoyed my collection of birdbaths and fountains. What do you collect?

Bloomin’ Tuesday

It’s Bloomin’ Tuesday and to start out I’m going to show a couple of new things that are blooming in my garden today. Then I will show you some stuff that is still blooming and just to make it interesting a couple of things that have interesting buds and will be blooming really soon.

This is my much anticipated “Snow Queen” clematis or so I thought. But this is not a white bloom is it? I also planted “Dr Ruppel” on the same trellis, but this isn’t it either. Another case of mislabeling for me this year. Three strikes I’m out for the season. I did a little research yesterday, but I still don’t know the name of this cultivar. However, it is pretty with that lavendar blue background and faint purple striping on the petals. I also am fond of the deep purple center. Does anyone know what the name of this Clematis might be?

I wish I could of gotten a better picture of my new Yarrow Achillea Hybrid “Summer Pastels”. I bought three small plants a couple of weeks ago at a bargain price. I specifically tried to pick ones that at least one bloom so I would know the color. One is a deep golden yellow, one is a pastel yellow and the last one is a peachy salmon color. Yarrow has a long bloom cycle from May-June and if you deadhead it will rebloom again later in the summer. I know it can be slightly invasive in the garden but I haven’t had too much trouble with in in mine. In addition, the fern like folliage is attractive even when it’s not blooming.

I love the pale pinkish yellow tone of this hybrid rose. Unfortunately I don’t know the name of it because it was a pass-a-long plant from my grandmother’s garden before she moved in with us. The blooms are full and it has a pleasant fragrance. As it ages it fades to a creamy white color.

The Lirope muscari is blooming prolifically in my woodland garden at the moment. This plant can be very aggressive at putting out runners and will take over if you let it. I prefer the “Variegata” variety because it is better behaved in the garden. But I have to admit Lirope is a great plant for areas of your garden that have harsh conditions like along the driveway and it’s low maintenance other than a haircut every spring to make room for the new foliage.

My garden Phlox paniculata “Robert Poore” is on it’s second bloom cycle for the season. It has a lovely spicy fragrance that really is noticeable in the morning. The bright lavendar blooms are a nice contrast to the light green foliage. This plant gets about 3-4′ tall and has a nice clumping habit. It will flop slightly after a heavy rain but straightens itself up once the blooms are dry.

The Forever & Ever Hydrangea “Red” has a single bloom so far for the season. This bloom has been open for over a week now. I purchased three of these shrubs thinking they would be a nice mass planting along the fence in my new garden. The second one has 3 or 4 buds on it waiting to open and the third bush which gets more shade is smaller and has no buds at all. The color on this bloom has gotten darker as it has aged. So far I am not too impressed with this variety. But we’ll see what it does next year. I have to water these daily or they will wilt in the afternoon.

This is one of my favorite Hostas in my garden. I think this might be “Royal Standard”. It has large leaves and is my largest at about 30” in diameter. I also like the blooms on this variety because they are substancial. Look at the size of this bud. The stems are sturdy and the blooms are lavender and slightly fragrant. This is the only Hosta that I allow to flower in my garden, because the blooms are worthy of the plant. I prefer the folliage of Hosta to the bloom. This variety can take more sun than my others will tolerate. It gets morning sun in this bed, but it use to get some afternoon sun and it tolerated that as well.

My final almost bloom is the Physostegia virginiana or Obedient Plant. This variety is a pale pink color and gets about 24″ tall. Don’t you think the unopened flower buds have an interesting shape? I grow this plant in a large washbasin so that it doesn’t overtake my garden. It is very invasive, so you will have to contain it. The flowers are tubular in shape and are available in pale pink, magenta or white. Next year I would like to try the white variety, it isn’t as invasive.

For more Bloomin’ Tuesday Posts or to join in please visit Ms Green Thumb. What’s blooming in your garden today?

They enjoy the garden too!

Yesterday’s video of Spaz chasing the birds got me to thinking how much my pets enjoy the gardens I’ve created around our home. Gardening with pets can be a challenge at best, but the joy they bring to our lives has it’s rewards. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not happy when the dogs dig holes in my yard or the cat lays on one of my favorite plants, but for the most part they really do very little damage that is irreparable to my garden. Holes can be filled in, plants will bounce back if not this year than the next and life will go on. Just as I enjoy sitting on my patio enjoying the sights, sounds and fragrances of the gardens, so do my dogs and cat. Spaz the terrier spends the entire day from sunrise to sunset exploring the gardens and she is very careful to weave in and out around my plantings. She also enjoys the excitement of chasing the birds, squirrels, mice or whatever else happens to wander into her domain. My beagle “Misty” enjoys lounging in the grass under the trees as well as sitting on the bench in my Arbor Garden. Which is funny, because I think my dogs and cat get more pleasure out of the garden then I do at times. While their exploring and using their five senses to absorb everything around them, I’m too busy thinking about what needs to be done next instead of just sitting back and relaxing. The cat “Mooch” spends the majority of his time in the front yard garden beds because Spaz and him haven’t come to a understanding yet. He loves to lay in the mulch under my Butterfly Bush, drink out of the birdbath, and sleep behind the daylillies in the Border Bed. The benefits are he keeps the squirrels and rabbits from visiting my garden and devouring my plants. In addition he also chases other cats away from his territory which means my beds aren’t being used as large litter boxes by the neighborhood cats and the funny part is he doesn’t do it either. All of my pets were rescue animals. We adopted Misty from the SPCA ten years ago this month, the cat was a stray that I fed and he stayed, and we got Spaz from the SPCA February of this year. We adopted her shortly after we lost our terrier mix Pepper last fall. Pepper was a rescue dog as well, my dad saved him from abuse in Ohio about 8 years ago and gave him to us. I can’t imagine what our lives would be like without these little members of our family. They give us unconditional love and affection on a daily basis. Our lives are richer because of them.

No wonder the birds are hungry…

Spaz keeps chasing them away from the feeder. Maybe she thinks she’s helping me by conserving the birdseed? Nope, she has her own agenda as usual. Don’t worry no birds were harmed in the making of this video and she does give up after about 15 minutes so the birds do get their dinner afterall. She’s just having some fun, afterall she is a terrier. 🙂