WINTER BOUQUET, NYC STYLE

(Click on any image to enlarge.)

It was a small party Chez Moi following the artist reception for a group collage show "Pasted". I had entered three pieces and my friends who were eating my food and drinking my wine all loved my work. Any surprises here?

It was also Other Ellen's birthday and I had promised to make her my best orange/sour cream bundt cake with orange/Grand Marnier glaze and a fresh strawberry sauce to spoon over ad lib. Too cheap to buy a pack of official birthday candles I raided my closet for three votive candles used in another photo shoot and three small clay flower pots. The center of the cake screamed for a fresh flower arrangement.
Three floors up in the roof garden I tend for my building, I pruned rose hips from the climber 'New Dawn', a few stems of lavender foliage still in perfect shape, (unheard of for NYC in January) and three stems of an unknown Euphorbia. I placed the stems in water in a porcelain egg cup I keep for miniature arrangements.
Five days later, the euphorbia BLOOMED, and no, I hadn't singed the bottom of the stems, just allowed them to seep milky sap into the water.In summer it's easy to decorate cakes like this from what I grow on the roof; though decidedly less showy, I was even more pleased with my winter bouquet.
(photo ©Alan& Linda Detrick, Ellen Spector Platt design)

Mud Pies & Other Recipes

I've always loved books. Books were my favorite presents growing up, and as an adult I occasionally buy children's books for myself. It's like catching up with an old friend.

So imagine my delight when Sara surprised me with Mud Pies and Other Recipes, by Marjorie Winslow, illustrated by Erik Blegvad. Published in 1961, it is self-described as a cookbook for dolls, and it's true, the recipes aren't intended for human consumption. I was fascinated by this book as a child, convinced that if I followed the instructions precisely, I'd end up with something wonderful. Which I did. Although I couldn't eat it.

No matter. As I thumb through this reprint (thanks to the folks at The New York Review's Childrens Collection for bringing it back into print), I wonder, "Is this where it all began?"

The gardening, the foraging, the cooking? Maybe the spark was lit by the recipe for Marigold Madness, lo these many years.

FOUND IN CENTRAL PARK

I need some help. Please.
For my forthcoming book, "Artful Collage with Found Objects" I made a collage using found fabrics, a frame from the swap shed at a small town dump, and one feather I grabbed on the ground last summer in Central Park near 5th Ave. and 93rd St. I thought it was real, but I'm not a birder. What bird with pink feathers might be flying through C.P.?
Double click on the image to see in full size and take a stab.
Other Ellen thinks the flowers at top right look like the cherry trees in bloom in the same area last week, Prunus subhirtella 'Autumnalis'. I think they're surely roses.
The fabrics were from my own closet as well as from friends and family. Collage artists have no shame, will beg for anything.

MORE CONFUSION, NYC

Up on the rooftop Christmas day, in my container garden, not Santa but Rosa'Graham Thomas',
the annual Calibrachoa 'Million Bells',new self-seeded calendula plants and California poppies, waiting to bloom.and at my bus stop, a few flowering pear blossoms.
All is not right with the world.

I'm confused. And I'm not the only one.

Last week in Central Park:

Some plants think it's August.

Some think it's September.


At least one thinks it's May.


But the one I'm really worried about is this little beauty.


What are they going to do come next March?

WIN A FREE BOOK

Win a copy of Art Wolk's informative and hilarious book," Bulb Forcing: for beginners and the seriously smitten." All you have to do is comment directly below this post or for the tech challenged, email me and I'll add your comment section: 75 words or less describing your greatest success or failure in bulb forcing.

Garden Bytes publishers Ellen Spector Platt and Ellen Zachos will judge your comments and announce the winner on the blog. Entry deadline, Jan 2, 2012. The book is a beautiful hardback, signed by the author, published at $32.95 with free shipping courtesy of GardenBytes.com .(above, Crocus tomasinianus, 'Ruby Giant' forced in a pot)

Now is the time for New York City gardeners and all urban gardeners with tiny or non-existent outdoor spaces to think of growing bulbs indoors. Ok, you people with huge gardens are also invited to add the pleasure of winter blooms to your indoor space.

I've been forcing bulbs since girlhood but as I read Wolk's book I kept thinking with wonderment, 'I didn't know that.' He reveals all from his vast experience; how using a heat mat under a pot or increasing room heat forces the two or three amaryllis flower stalks within a bulb to shoot up and bloom simultaneously for a grand display.
I never realized that tap water that contains fluoride would probably kill the freesias I was trying to force (OMG, so THAT'S why...) Try layering your bulbs, explore a different species like anemones or ranunculus, plant a multi-species pot.(three photos above courtesy Art Wolk, from his book "Bulb Forcing." Directly above, Wolk's 13-division daffodil display at the 1999 Phila. Flower Show)

Maybe you don't want to compete for the big blue ribbon wins as Wolk does. I'm happy with a few hyacinths in water in a color to compliment my new gift African violet (see below). But in "Bulb Forcing" I discovered why my hyacinth stems are so short. If you want to learn the secret, win the book, or even (gasp) buy it.

Membrillo

(giant Cydonia oblonga v. petite Chaenomeles japonica)

'Tis the season to cook with quinces.

I've extolled the virtues of the traditional quince in the past, but these days I'm looking at edible plants from a different point of view.

The ornamental quince (Chaenomeles japonica) is grown primarily for its flowers. When I was growing up we had a beauty in our garden, and my parents told me the fruit wasn't edible. I'm sure they weren't intentionally lying to me. Most people just don't realize these hard, yellow fruit can be delicious.

Ornamental quince grows well in containers and new hybrids have expanded the flowers' color palette from shades of pink to include orange and red. Please note that some of these hybrids (specifically the Proven Winners Double Take series) do NOT produce fruit. So sad. Were they bred that way on purpose? Did someone think that was a good thing?

Spring is the pretty time for these shrubs, but fall is when they get interesting. Small ripe fruit looks like lumpy tennis balls. They're often marred by large black spots, but these can be cut away during preparation and do nothing to mar the sour, complex taste and fragrance of the fruit.

Flowering quince is great for making jelly. It has loads of pectin and jells easily. But why not be a little more adventurous and experiment with membrillo?

Membrillo (aka quince paste) is a classic Spanish dessert. Most recipes call for traditional quinces, sugar, and water...that's it. I used ornamental quinces, and added a vanilla bean and a Meyer lemon. It's time consuming, because basically what you're doing is cooking all the liquid out of the fruit mixture, which literally takes hours. But boy oh boy is it worth it.

Serve it with slices of manchego or sharp cheddar and you'll impress the hell out of your dinner guests. After they've enjoyed it and praised your culinary skills, you can tell them you picked the fruit from the flowering shrub on your terrace. If you don't have a terrace, you may be able to score some ornamental quince fruit in your local park. Most people let them fall and rot.

I harvest from the same spot every year, offering the shrub's owner some jelly or membrillo in return.