I finally finished the Butterfly Garden

My sister is coming to visit this week, so I wanted to get the butterfly garden planted and ready for some butterfly viewing.

After much looking-at-flowers-at-various-nurseries, I finally decided to go all out with the Lantana and Blue Salvia.  (Why do they call it blue when it’s actually purple?)  This garden space is very narrow, but I squeezed in the Lantana in front of the Pentas, and put in the Salvia at the end.

I’m having much more success with this than I did with the hummingbird garden. I’ve seen the usual Zebra Longwing butterflies, and the new plants are already attracting Large Orange Sulphurs, Florida Whites, Cloudless Sulphurs (bright yellow), and once I got a quick glimpse of what I think was a Giant Swallowtail.

This is fun!  And sitting on the lanai watching butterflies is very relaxing.  A nice way to start Spring Break.

So hurry up, sister, and come down here to see the butterflies!

Serendipity! A Butterfly Garden

My attempt at attracting hummingbirds wasn’t a total failure after all.  The red pentas I planted didn’t attract hummingbirds, but they did attract a certain type of butterfly:  a Zebra butterfly. So my hummingbird garden has become a butterfly garden!

These little guys have been all over those red pentas.  They don’t stay still for very long, so it wasn’t easy to get these pictures!

To attract some other kinds of butterflies, like Monarchs, I planted some Lantanas in front of the Pentas:

(Note to Master Gardener / Sister:  notice the nice mulching!)

The yellow ones are really bright, and take a closer look at the multi-colored ones:

Wow!  That rocks my world that one flower has so many different colored petals!

I just planted the Lantanas yesterday, so now I’ll have to wait and see if the Monarchs show up.  (See if they’re any smarter than the hummingbirds!)

THE COOLEST thing happened while I was planting the flowers.  I happened to look over into the side yard where there is a reservoir that feeds into a creek back in the preserve. The reservoir is dry right now, and covered with grasses. I saw FOUR OTTERS scooting across the grass and then they went under the fence back into the preserve.  A momma otter and three little ones!  I heard them splash into the water back there.  They were so cute!  I hope I can see them again.

It was a perfect Saturday:  tennis, flowers, otters, nap, church, popcorn.  (Just to be clear: the nap was before church, not during.)

“Gardening”, if you can call it that

So all the flower-bookmark-making has resulted in some gardening.  Well, if having plants on the lanai counts as gardening.

I planted seeds to grow forget-me-nots, phlox in assorted colors, and wild flax.  Looks like some sort of science experiment.

I planted the forget-me-not seeds 11 days ago, and they’ve already sprouted!  Given my “black thumb”, I consider this a minor miracle.

Aside from gardening, I also have been pilfering flowers from trees in various parking lots.  I picked these yellow Cassia blossoms off of a tree in the Office Max parking lot, and  I got the red Jatropha blossoms from a tree-sized shrub in front of Joann’s.

Now I’m looking for a small hot-pink flower that will press well enough to use for making bookmarks for my Salvation Army fundraising project.  I’m hoping that the phlox will work, but I’ll have to wait for it to grow to find out!

Bookmark City

Okay, it has been WAAAAY too long since any of us have posted.  Cousin Aud – since last Septmber.  Sister Sarah – since LAST JUNE!  I miss your blogs!  I want to see pics of your crafts and hear what you’re doing! And yes, I’m as guilty as the rest of you. But today marks the end of my delinquency. Well, when it comes to my blog anyway.

So I have a “new thing” to show you!  It has nothing to do with baking.

I’ve been making botanical bookmarks, and I’m selling them to raise money for the Salvation Army’s local food assistance program.

The side-effect of all this is that I’ve had to become a bit of a gardener, too.  I have a nice little stash of plants on my lanai, including a few little cups in which I am attempting to grow Forget-me-nots.  (Had a special request for them.)

So I dry and press the blooms and leaves to make these bookmarks:

And here are some closeups so you can see the flowers a little better.

In this first pic from left to right:  Butter Daisy, Bougaianvillea, Plumbago, assorted Pentas:

Second closeup from left to right:  Dianthus, Firecracker Flower, more assorted Pentas, Delphinium (my fave):

And in this 3rd pic, the Polka Dot Plant.  Had to get really closeup on this one so you could see the pink color in the leaves.  It’s gorgeous!

What doesn’t show in the pics is the nice, glossy laminate used to cover and protect the bookmark.  And on the back of each bookmark, I’ve put a little tag that with the name of that particular flower on it.  ‘Cuz people might want to know.

If any of my close friends or family members would like to support this cause and buy some bookmarks, choose which ones you like from the pics above. They’re $7 each, or 3 for $20.  You may not get the exact one from the pic, but it will be very similar.  Net proceeds will go to buy food for people who don’t have enough to eat.

And now I am off to the opera – Faust - starring Anthony Kearns as Faust.  And featuring my friend Diana who sings in the chorus.  I can’t wait!

P.S.  Aud &  Sarah -  get to blogging! Or I will have to start referring to you as “my deliquent cousin-in-law” and “my deliquent sister”.  heehee.

 

Baking Withdrawal

I have been having MAJOR baking withdrawal now that the holidays are upon us.  All the baking items are on sale, and there are new recipes everywhere I look.

But since I’m off sugar and have no real baking outlet, I have no reason to bake.  It’s pure torture!

The only thing to do was to distract myself by heading upstairs to the sewing room and making this set of little ornaments:

Think I’ll give them to my mom, because she likes it when people make things.  (Thanks to Cousin Audra for the Sewing Calendar from whence came the pattern!)

Since I have none of my own baking pics to show you, I’ll share one that Cousin Leah texted to me.  Entitled ”Oops!”, this photo depicts the results of using overly-soft butter in a recipe for Praline Cookies:

In fact, she suggests we call it A Lesson In Butter Management.   But, really, I do not view this as a disaster, because you could eat the whole pan and still say you had only one cookie.  One Giant, Tastee Praline Cookie.  Mmmmmm.

Thanksgiving Morning at the Beach

Last week it dawned on me that I had not been to the beach since last May when my sister came to visit.  WHA!?!??!

Time to do something about that.  And what better time to go to the beach than on Thanksgiving morning!

It was about 75 degrees and breezy – perfect! I decided to walk down to the pier.

There were plenty of people around.  The locals were out walking . . .

and the tourists were frolicking. . .

although some of them were more crawling than frolicking.

When I reached the pier, there were plenty of fishermen and -women.  (I had to stand next to some really stinky bait to get this pic.  Ewww!)

After my walk I rested in the sand for awhile, wondering where all the usual birds were.  Maybe there still on their way from colder climes?

But on my way home, I saw the first Woodstork of the season!  He was by the canal that’s just around the corner from my house.

I came home just in time to see the end of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade when Santa makes his appearance.  I LOVE that part! And they said that it was ”the official start of the holiday season”.

Oh yeah?  Well, since that was the case, I put out my Christmas decorations and lights, wrapped some gifts and put them under the tree dried arrangement.

Don’t hate me because I’ve already done my Christmas shopping. Well, actually, go ahead!  While you’re frantically shopping on December 23rd, I’ll be lounging, sipping some hot tea, and smugly thinking of you and your pre-Christmas frenzy.  Heeheeeeeee!!

Baking With Agave Nectar – Part II

After the agave oatmeal cookies turned out pretty well, I wanted to try using agave nectar in another cookie recipe.  Last weekend I tried to make chocoloate chip cookies with agave nectar, but they didn’t turn out very well. There were texture and flavor issues.

But while I was in church this weekend singing “Ye Watchers And Ye Holy Ones”, I suddenly  knew what I needed to do to get it right.  A little divine intervention, perhaps?  (Or maybe it’s a sign that I need to quit thinking about cookies while I’m at church.)  Anyway, I came home and worked out  a successful small batch recipe for Tastee chocolate chip cookies with agave nectar. Mmmmm!

Ingredients:  6T all-purp flour, 1/8 tsp baking soda, 1/8 t. salt, 1 T unlsalted butter (melted), 5 T light agave nectar, 1/2 t. vanilla, 1 & 1/2 T beaten egg, chopped pecans, chocolate chips (I substituted unsweetened carob chips b/c allergic to chocolate and wanted to avoid refined sugar.)  Baked them at 335 degrees for about 16-17 minutes.  Makes 5 or 6 cookies, depending on how much dough you eat.

I’m not sure if you can see in this pic, but the dough was very shiny because of the agave nectar.  It was also very sticky.  It tasted good!  I had hopes for this recipe . . .

After I took this pic, I decided to flatten the dough balls a little bit.  I didn’t think they would spread a lot while baking, and I wanted to make sure the middle of the cookie baked well. That turned out to be a good idea.

Out of the oven they came!

They have a smoother look that a regular chocolate chip cookie, but the texture was fine this time – Yay!   A Tastee snack to enjoy while watching my favorite Christmas show:  The Grinch Who Stole Christmas.

Green textured cotton cloth compliments of my sister.  She knitted this one and another, larger one for me years ago, and I still use them all the time! Thanks, Sister!

I’m back in the kitchen!

The natives are restless.  They’re complaining.  They want  . . . CANDY.

Haven’t been making candy since I gave up sugar last April, but it dawned on me that just because I gave up sugar doesn’t mean that my friends have to!

They’ve been asking – with expectant looks on their faces – if I”m going to do any holiday baking, and two in particular asked if I were going to make toffee.  So last weekend I went into the kitchen and made 2 things:  a huge batch of Fig jam:

and a batch of toffee!  I’d forgotten how fun it is to make candy.  And look, here’s your good friend, the Candy Thermometer!

My friends Diana and Ana were the recipients of the toffee.  The jam is for my relatives during the holidays.

That was so much fun!  This weekend, I plan on more baking or candy making.  Perhaps I’ll try another agave nectar recipe.

Small Batch Baking with Agave Nectar

So after all that research, planning, and planting, I have not seen a single hummingbird in my hummingbird garden.

Instead of spending my free time looking out the window for ungrateful little birds who are apparently too dense to know what’s good for them, I turned my attention to a new trend in baking:  Agave Nectar.

Although it can be used as a substitute for sugar, it is not considered a refined sugar.  It’s is very low on the glycemic index.  I tried the Amber variety on some French Toast a few weeks ago, and it did not cause any of the problems that refined sugar usually causes for me.  Yay!

I used the ‘light’ variety pictured above to make a small batch of oatmeal raisin cookies last weekend.  I also used whole wheat pastry flour instead of regular flour.

To make a small batch of 5 cookies, just mix the following:  4 T old-fashioned oats, 3 T whole wheat pastry flour, 3 T agave nectar, 1/8 tsp salt, 1/8 tsp baking powder, 1 T + 1 tsp beaten egg, 1/2 T melted butter, 1/4 tsp vanilla, chopped pecans and raisins.

You have to lower the baking temperature slightly when baking with agave nectar, so I baked the cookies at 335 degrees for 14 minutes.

While they were still hot, the texture was slightly spongey, but after they cooled down a bit, the texture was just like that of a regular oatmeal raisin cookie, and they tasted really good! I would describe them as ”a hearty, tastee cookie”.  Mmmm!  Now I’ll have something to snack on when I start watching my soon-to-arrive DVD’s of Hawaii 5-0, Season 7.

Calling All Hummingbirds!

Okay, I know it has been a ridiculously long time since I posted anything.  Truth is, I haven’t been baking.  You know why?  Because last April, I gave up refined sugar.  I myself can hardly believe it!  But it wasn’t hard at all, and now I am sleeping much more soundly and feeling more energentic during the day.  And I don’t crave sugar any more, and those 4 pounds that I was constantly battling are gone.  I have won the battle! I can wear my favorite skinny skirt!  YAY!  Totally worth it.

So what I have been doing instead of baking?  Ummm . . . Playing some tennis.  Shopping (Nordstrom is my current favorite).  Daydreaming (about shopping at Nordstrom). Watching Season 6 of Hawaii 5-0.  And . . . planting a simple Zone 10 hummingbird garden.

Please understand, I am  in no way an “outdoorsy type”, and over the years I have killed every indoor plant that I’ve tried to grow,  so I am no gardener.  I knew I had to keep things very, VERY basic.

I read a few little books about hummingbirds to find out what flowers they like. They are attracted red, nectar-producing flowers including Pentas, so I put in a row of red Pentas behind my lanai.  Pentas are pretty much indestructable, so for those of us with black thumbs, they’re perfect.

 

They also grow like crazy, so in a month or two, they’ll be all over the place!

And then at the end of the garden, I put in a few blue salvia – which are actually purple – because they provide a lot of nectar for the hummingbirds.

So come on, tiny hummingbirds . . .  Your garden awaits!