Ilene has been talking about planting trees at her new home on her blog, The Rock Whisperer. I wanted her to see the self seeded Golden Rain Trees I have thanks to the black seeds inside the cute little lanterns. It is a good small tree. I used to have a very large one, but either an ice storm or the tornado took it down. What I do have each year are little seedlings still coming up! It is amazing.
These came up in a planter out front where there used to be a huge spruce tree (downed by strong straight line winds). I have let this clump grow together.
They have never been watered or sprayed. The Japanese Beetles do eat them but they are not the top choice for them!
This is the sassafras tree right outside the kitchen window. I have wanted one for years and the birds gifted this to me a couple of years ago. I hope it isn't too close to the house.
This next one was a mystery tree, but I think I have identified it this year by the tiny bell shaped little blooms hanging from the underside of outer branches. I believe it is our native persimmon tree. There are several growing on the farm and a grove of them west of the house where the big pond it. As it grew I thought it was a pretty, healthy tree with interesting bark so I let it be. It is just behind the double pink rose of sharon next to the lawnmower shed. They are small trees so I think it will be fine left here.
Once again, no watering during this drought.
There is an 18" one growing right by the back steps that I think is another persimmon.....I am keeping my eye on it.
Another very hardy tree for drought is our native redbud. I planted three seedlings dug from the yard a few years ago and they have done really well. I also have some growing out of my lily patch....not a good thing. That is the only things about self-seeders. They don't always sprout in good places. I am trying to kill one out of my 20 year old Parson's Pink China rose but am not having much luck.
The St. Louis grands are coming down this weekend so I had a good excuse to put the mixer through the paces. I made my French Bread recipe that calls for almost 11 cups of flour. The mixer was barely warm. The bread seemed awfully soft like my potato bread but I added no extra flour. I am curious about that. It turned out great.
I made up one loaf in my bread pan.
I sliced one loaf and the texture was nice but more holey than usual.
They all love the cookie recipe I got from Flower Lady's Blog. It's called Creaet-a-Cookie. We love it. This time I added 1/2 cup of wheat germ and used the chocolate chips. DH doesn't like them , but the grands do so guess who won out?
It makes a large stiff batter. Once again the mixer did great.
I was worried about all the talk about needing to order a special paddle with plastic extenders on the side because the original paddle doesn't scrape the bowl well. That hasn't been a problem for me. I resent having to buy something extra to make this expensive a mixer work! So I didn't do it.
I think both recipes are listed on my side bar or they were. I will check later.
I've never ordered the special paddle, either! Worst case, it takes me 20 seconds to scrape down the bowl myself. :)
ReplyDeleteThe bread looks gorgeous!
The Golden Rain tree--lovely tree. I try to give and plant small trees for my neighbors if they have a parent die. One neighbor picked a GRT to honor her father at his passing.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful bread and you're right making cookies that the Grands like. They'll remember things like that, trust me!
Samantha, that's what I thought. I always scrape down a few times any time I am mixing anything.
ReplyDeleteI use a rubber spatula to scrape down the sides of my mixing bowl when I mix anything in it. It works well enough for me.
ReplyDeleteThe golden rain tree is beautiful. I'm trying to select some type of tree to plant on the west side of our place. Still haven't decided what to plant. I don't want anything that grows to be too big but want something that will give a little shade.
I love homemade bread with the holes in it. It holds the jelly really well. :) You're right about making the cookies the grands like. There probably won't be any left when they go home anyway. :)
COOKIES!!!! You KNOW how I feel about cookies! Count me in. Could the holes be caused by too much air? Over mixing? My sister told me not to over mix with mine...:)JP
ReplyDeleteI got home from the library and walmart and a couple of estate sales, pulled down the phone book to look up the number for my Internet provider and started up the computer, and lo and behold, I have access!! It's magic and I'm sure glad now that I won't have to sit here and wait to be fixed!
ReplyDeleteMy little GRT seedlings aren't going to live but I have the seeds and I think I will go out and plant them somewhere. They make an awfully pretty little tree, might be perfect for along the driveway, as long as I mark them clearly so I won't forget they're there and plant something else there, and so that Hubs won't cut them down when they do come up. I planted persimmon seeds that way last fall, and they came up beautifully this spring but they all died because I thought, being native, they wouldn't need to be watered. One day they were green and doing ok and the next day they had just turned dark brown overnight. But then this have been a severe year. Maybe in a "typical" year, whatever THAT is, they would have lived. Diane sent me some persimmon trees and one has lived. I'll go pick a leaf and post it for you soon.
The bread looks yummy. Nooks and crannies are good when there's real butter and homemade jam......