Our expert gardening columnist Dawn Neff reflects on gardening in
June and celebrating Midsummer's Eve on the 24th. She also has advice on
growing roses and making rose butter, rose tea and rosebud wreaths.
My goodness, now that the non-gardening months have passed look
how fast time is going. June already. Now is the time of annuals, veggie
garden planting, iris blooming, and the arrival of the first pests.
Most likely by now most of us have several types of annuals growing
and blooming as well as the standard iris, pansies and other early spring
bloomers. We are also able to get an idea of which of our perennial areas
work well and which need help.
I have compared my last year garden diary with this years plants
and made some hasty repairs with annuals and plans to repair with
perennials.
The garden pond has begun getting a makeover this year. Nothing
wrong, just ready to update it to reflect my current lifestyle. That my friends,
is one of the best benefits of gardening. The ability to change it as your
lifestyle changes gives the garden such a flexible feel and makes it a living
part of your life.
And do remember to pinch your chrysanthemums back now. You will
need to do this several times in order to have the fullest ones for fall.
And trim out your raspberry bushes as well as your forsythia and other spring
blooming shrubs. You may move your iris anytime after they are done
blooming.
And June is the month of roses. How are yours? Give them a treat
and bury your banana peels alongside the bushes. And they do love a drink
of tea--hold the sugar.
If you want rosebud wreaths you must snip the buds before they get
to full bloom. And in order to harvest the petals for teas, foods and potpourri
you must cut them early in the morning after the dew dries.
Dry the petals away from light and breezes. If you are cooking with
them remember to cut off the white heel as that can be quite
bitter.
You might consider making rose butter. In a small glass jar in alternate
layers place a layer of rose petals and a layer of sweet unsalted butter
continue until you fill the jar. Cover and store in the fridge. It makes
a lovely addition to tea.
And rose tea, pour 4 cups of boiling water over 5 tsps dried rose
petals. Steep 3 to 5 minutes.
For a lovers breakfast add rose petals to scrambled eggs, serve
rose tea and use the rose butter on your croissants or muffins.
For flavored sugar put one sweet smelling rose in a two quart jar
of sugar. I also have a jar with a vanilla bean in it and one with lavender
flowers as they bloom. It makes a wonderful fragrant sugar to use in sugar
cookies or as a sweetener for tea.
And do celebrate Midsummer's Eve. After all, what holiday better
celebrates the essence of gardening? Go out early in the morning on Midsummer's
Day (the 24th) and pick a rose still covered in dew. Rub the petals and dew
over your face, the legend is that any woman who washes her face in the dew
of Midsummer's Day will grow more lovely with the passing year.
Prepare for a personal reevaluation of where you want to go and
what you want to do with this year. Make a pitcher of old fashioned pitcher
of lemonade. Boil two cups of sugar and on cup of water with the rinds of
three lemons cut into thin strips for five minutes. Let the syrup cool and
add the juice of eight freshly squeezed lemons. Strain and store in the fridge.
Use two tablespoons of syrup for every glass of ice water.
Also take time to rejuvenate yourself in your sanctuary garden.
If your don't have a designated one then at least find yourself a secluded
spot and spend quality time alone there with yourself.
In order to be your best at work and in your home life you must
be in contact with your authentic self or soul. You can't give of yourself
to others unless you are truly aware of what you have to give. And you can
only discover this in the sounds of silence.
Until next month---take care and take time for a little one on one
with the most interesting person you may ever meet---yourself.
About the author: Dawn Neff lives in Indiana Zone 5. She shares
her home with 7 birds, 4 cats, a husband and a teenage son. She has almost
as many plants indoors as out. She collects old cookbooks and gardening books,
loves to go "junking" at yard and barn sales, and writes in and on anything
in any spare moment. She theme gardens and feels that they tend to take on
a life of their own and go in directions she had not expected. She also forages
for many of the Native foods she was raised with and uses them as a focal
point for local school lectures on nature. |
