Spring is Around the Corner

Even though we are closed early in the week,  we have been busy getting ready for spring. Mary is seriously potting up baby Thyme plants. Aren't they cute?

The greenhouses aren't quite full yet but well on the way. This one is full of little seedlings waiting their turn at the potting table.

Mary's dog Annie gets to help. It sure does make her happy to be with her mommy.

The lights of winter

We celebrated our favorite event a couple of weeks ago: Luminations. We light the nursery with many candles, lanterns and luminaries (Connie calls them farlitos, the New Mexico name). The nursery is beautiful all lit up.

The red lanterns were new this year. As the night wore on and got darker, they glowed brighter. It was stunning. We had some trouble with the wiring - Kendel had to plug and unplug, add one at a time to make it work. He promised to re-wire more for next year so we can light every path with red lanterns.

Chris lit the outdoor fireplace for the first time and kept that fire going all evening. It was lovely and cozy back there. She had people come to visit all evening. We hope to light that fire during other events in cool weather.

Bright Fall Color

Who says we don't have great fall color here in the South? Even after the horrible summer, we have some brilliant foliage here at the nursery.

Ornamental pear

The bald cypress tree is turning red before going brown. It gets really messy this time of year; not a good choice for next to a patio.

The shantung maple in front is gorgeous right now. I love this golden color, it just glows in the sunlight.

is loOur Waterfall Japanese maple is lovely all year long. In the spring its new leaves look like tiny flowers. Summer foliage is delicate and green. This fall color is specatular, but fleeting. The bare weeping branches are gracefully elegant in the winter.  

This is yet another maple - Improved Red Maple.



pizza party

Last week we hosted Sharon's rug hooking/knitting group. It is actually Laura Shulze's class (see her fabulous blog at www.beehiverugs.blogspot.com).

Laura is the one in glasses and black collar. They were a really fun group, trading tips on knitting and enjoying each other's company.

We made pizzas for them for lunch. We are perfecting our dough, dough pulling, pizza oven cooking and favorite ingredients. We made about 12 different pizzas and they all turned out really well.

Kendel was our baker for the day. He has figured out the best gas/air mix in the pizza oven. We are waiting for cooler weather and more rain to fire it with wood. 

Sharon made the pizza dough using the traditional recipe we got somewhere on the internet and tweeked. It is at the end of this post. Sharon is great at pulling the dough. First she oils her hands lightly, the starts pressing from the center of the dough, twirling the dough on the parchment paper. Her pizzas were perfectly shaped.

Here is a few of our finished pizzas. The most popular combination was white sauce covered with carmelized onions, pears, sausage and fontina cheese.

Traditional Pizza Dough

1 tsp rapid rise yeast

2 Tbs sugar or 1 1/2 Tbs honey

2 cups plus 2 Tbs lukewarm water (100 to 108 degrees)

5 1/3 cups unbleached flour

2 tsp salt or 1 Tbs kosher salt

2 Tbs olive oil

 In a large measuring cup or small bowl, mix yeast with water and honey. Set aside and allow to proof for 10 minutes.

 In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, salt, proofed yeast and oil. Mix on low speed using a dough hook attachment until a ball forms.

 Remove from hook and transfer to a floured board. Punch down dough and knead briefly. Divide dough into 5 equal portions and roll each piece into a ball (each ball makes a 12" pizza, for individual size divide dough into 10 equal portions.) Place the balls of dough, covered, in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours or overnight.  Bring the dough to room temperature before proceeding.

 On a floured piece of parchment paper roll and stretch each piece of dough into a 12 inch circle.  Place each circle on a pizza peel or pizza pan and top as desired.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees and bake 12 to 15 minutes, or until crust is golden.

.

Our lovely old camellia

Our camellia started blooming this week and it is gorgeous.

This Camellia sasanqua was growing next to our old farmhouse when we bought it in 1992. The house, already 70 years old at the time, needed a lot of work. When we hired painters, they cut it down to a stump. Now, almost 20 years later, it has grown back to its original size.

We haven't been able to ascertain it's correct name. It has small glossy green leaves and semi-double rosy-pink flowers kissed with white.

Because it blooms so early in the season it is seldom affected by freezes. Blooms of the mid and late season Camellias often get burned by a freeze and turn to ugly brown mush. A common sight in the south during winter is sheets and quilts thrown over camellia bushes to protect the buds and blooms.

I love this old beauty. It grows on the east side of the farmhouse that is now our gift shop, under 2 big pecan trees. It gets very little sun and is crowded against the house, but it blooms beautifully every year for several weeks. I even appreciate the look of the fallen petals on the ground.

Trip to Natchitoches

We went to Natchitoches, Louisiana last weekend with our garden club. The weather was perfect - cool in the mornings, sunny and warm in the afternoons. We had a great time talking, shopping and eating.

The city did these wonderful fall decorations with mums and pumpkins. There were many of them around the downtown/river area. We wondered if they had trouble with theft, but the displays were nice and full.

We were particularly taken with the Southern slant on the traditional corn stalk bundle. They included stems of cotton with the open cotton bolls still attached.

Several of the larger displays included old wagons or carriages. It was really lovely and welcoming.


It wasn't only the city putting on a seasonal show.
Several houses caught our interest as well.

I appreciated this porch display. It doesn't look too complicated: a swag and wreath made from that net-like material which I obviously don't know the name of. Orange lights, a couple of gourds, and you're done!

We took this photo to show Connie. She is crazy for Halloween decorations so we knew she would appreciate all the ghoulish elements of this house. I liked all the spiders, but the ghost flying over the door is a really good touch.

Jeweled visitors

Flocks of Monarch butterflies visited the nursery this weekend. Here you can see 5 butterflies in this one picture.

Milkweeds are the favorite food of Monarch caterpillars and the nectar of the flowers is prized by many types of butterflies so it is a good choice to plant in a butterfly garden.

The female Monarch lays eggs on the undersides of the Asclepias leaves and they hatch into tiny larva. All they do is eat and eat and eat, eventually becoming 2 or 3 inches long. Then the caterpillars lumber off to a protected area where they attach themselves and spin a cocoon, or chrysalis, covering around their bodies.

This picture was taken by our friend Penny Livingstone. The chrysalis were in her greenhouse. The one on the right is about to hatch; you can see the butterfly wings inside the cocoon.

All the butterflies visiting us now are loading up on nectar to fuel their flight back to Mexico for the winter. We wish them a safe journey and a warm winter. The last couple of years a lot of Monarchs froze in unusual cold weather in Mexico. The loss of trees in their winter resort is reducing their numbers as well.

New Fall Hours

Due to the dramatic drought conditions the nursery will be open Thursday through Sundays only, 9 am to 5 pm.
We are sorry for the inconvenience.
 

Oh My-It's Hot Again

Scarecrow making continues. As always it provides us entertainment while it is still hot outside and no one is planting yet.

                                                                                    We love using excelsior. It makes body building easy. It kind of sticks to itself even before we wrap it with twine.                                                   

                  

Sunday we had a little class with folks from the Edom community to show them how to construct the scarecrows. It was a warm afternoon but everyone who came enjoyed the project. They are dressing them up when they get home. Can't wait to see the results.

Fall is in the Air

 We always have plenty to keep us busy at Blue Moon. It's early, but scarecrow building has begun. We normally aim to have them complete by Fall Festival, the second Saturday of October. However this year, Fright Fest is October 1 so we are rushing a bit. Our theme this year is scary. Of course we always create ballerinas and this year is no exception. Chris is working on the first of many.

You wouldn't think it was scientific but it does take a little engineering on our part to pull them off. Chris is studying her measurements.

Iris likes to be in on the action and found a nice soft spot to relax.

Our ballerina is coming along. We found if we put the umbrella up over us to create some shade, it was a lot more pleasant to work in the 106 degree heat yesterday. Today it's cloudy and we got a touch of rain. It is very pleasant.

Fun with the Pizza Oven

Kendel is lighting the oven so we can practice making pizzas for lunch today. We have a pizza class next week on Friday evening and we are getting familiar with our new oven making sure we understand how it works.

Sharon is pressing out the pizza dough. Notice not all of them came out round. Practice makes perfect, they say.

We had fun topping the pizzas with all kinds of ingredients. Everyone likes something different.

Lunch is served. They turned out really good. Our favorite had pears on it!

Armadillo roundup

We have had a plague of armadillos this year. Well, truly we have problems with them every summer, but this hot, dry summer has been particularly bad.

They dig in our irrigated gardens looking for worms and grubs to eat. They particularly like to dig up ground covers so the edges of our beds are looking ragged. In an effort to stop the damage we are trapping them and relocating them over 3 miles away, hoping they won't find their way back.

Here's one of our set-ups. We don't bait the trap, we just find a spot where they continue to dig and travel, set the trap in the middle of the path. Then we put 2x4 boards along the sides, leading into the trap. It works some of the time. We have trapped and relocated 7 so far this summer.

Look at this - one of our intended victims dug a hole right at the opening of the trap, but didn't go in. Like he was thumbing his nose at us.

This is another of our configurations. We can't figure out which direction this guy is moving, but he digs this bed up almost every night so we are hoping to corral him into the trap.

To all those people who tell us that armadillos are so cute and we should leave them alone, here is my thinking: This is the best way to enjoy armadillos if you think they are cute and cuddly.