Wild, Beautiful...and Bad

This post 'Wild and Beautiful' was originally uploaded by Tyra Hallsénius-Lindhe in the blog Tyra's Garden

The Scarabaeidae Cetonia aurata.

By tomorrow half of the month October has already passed and I must say it has been wonderful so far. Sunshine almost every day and up to now no frost here in Vaxholm, I still have my Dahlias in bloom and chilies in the greenhouse! Time flies fast and it is Friday again and once again we visit Katarina in her blog Roses and Stuff, it is Blooming Friday and this week theme is 'Wild and beautiful'. I glanced through my garden picture and found this little fellow.

I think the Cetonia aurata is extraordinary beautiful, but I know it is a bad - wild, beautiful and bad. Still I like it when it comes into my garden for a quick visit, as long as 'he' doesn't bring all the family.


UPDATE! What have I done, it's not that bad at all! I guess it is just some gardener that has complained that their lawn has been 'ruined' and plant roots been eaten by the Cetonia auratas larvae. I've killed several of these...now I'm the bad one :-) Read more about the Cetonia here in The Natural History Museum site - Cetonia aurata - Rose chafer
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I just have to add a flower as well. One of the last, don't know the name of it. This rose was one of those cheap pots of roses they sell in the local grocery store. I have had it for a few year now and it seems to like it in my potager.

- I wish you all a lovely weekend in your garden.

Ps. Don't be a stranger - Do write something!

Arty Artichoke

This post was originally uploaded by Tyra Hallsénius Lindhe in the blog Tyras Garden

Arty Artichoke

T.G.I its Friday and once again It is Blooming Friday

For this weeks theme Katarina our host choose 'USED' 

My used leaves of my artichoke dinner represents this week theme in Tyra's Garden. I always think my plate of artichokes looks the most beautiful when I'm just about to take them to the compost bin.

 I wish you all a great weekend./ Love Tyra

Miss Emilie's Opal Plum Pie

This post 'Miss Emilie's Opal Plum Pie' was originally uploaded by Tyra in the blog Tyras Garden

Now I so wish you could taste this!

Miss Emilie's plum and almond pie, it is so delicious. The thin crispy pie shell merges together with from the plum slightly moist layer of coarse almond paste and then on the top the lovely sugar powdered Opal plums. It is beautiful to look at and absolutely scrumptious, sweet in taste and yet still a bit tangy from the Opal fruit.  

October flowers and food.

 - Echinacea with a butterfly friend, my red Morton's basil,

Opal plum fruit and  Miss Emilie's plum & almond tart.

Opal is a Swedish self-fertile plumtree, a successful cross of a french and an english plum. This sure is one of my favourites. Beautiful and tasty, it is a really nice cooking plum too, perfect for marmalades and chutneys.

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 This is what Ashridge trees says about the Opal plum tree.

"Opal plums are sweet, bite-sized dessert plums that range in colour from bright yellow to deep purple, on the same tree and often on the same fruit. They have pale yellow flesh with a characteristic Greengage flavour. Opal plums are early fruiters in a good year you can start picking the first fruit at the end of July. Because they are so early, Opal plums ripen rapidly and so do better in the South of England; they also reward being planted in a south facing spot - trained against a south facing wall or ina warm corner is perfect.

Opal's History and Parentage

Opal is one of the creations of the Horticultural Research Stations in Alnarp and Balsgard in Sweden. It was produced from a cross between two classic plum trees, Early Favourite and Oullins Gage, which are respectively tough English and tasty French varieties.

Plum Tree Pollination guide for Opal Prunus domestica

Opal plum trees are truly self-fertile, which means no pollination partner is needed. It really is a good plum as it crops steadily each year." read further at  Ashridge trees 

Tyra

Meet Dear John.

節氣 Quifen

We are now on the 23th of September entering the Quifen, the autumnal equinox is here and the summer of 2010 is gone, the days are getting shorter and shorter by the day. The leaves colors are starting to fade and soon they will fall. In the garden this morning I met my friend John, he is a Canadian, I took some picture for you so you can meet my darling John Davis the Explorer Rose from Canada. A little bit wet and cold but he looks like he is enjoying the September days, the last days of summer.



Thank you Canada for giving us these hardy Explorer Roses!



Visst är han grann min John Davis, han är faktiskt snyggast så här års. Han gillar september och det brukar jag också göra men i år har den varit dötrist tycker jag. Är du intresserad av härdiga rosor eller rosor i huvudtaget så kan jag rekommendera en tur till Söderfors, där ligger Trädgårn' och dom är riktigt duktiga på rosor.

Antipasto from my Potager

Antipasto dal giardino – a simple appetizer straight from my potager.

Sometimes, quite often actually I take a little walk in the kitchen garden and pick a little of everything that is ripe and that feels just right for the occasion. Here I have an eggplant that I've glanced at for some time now, it together with some nice tomatoes are perfect for my little ‘antipasti dal giardino’.

I divide the tomatoes and aubergine into fairly large pieces/thick slices, put them all onto an oven tin pan. Pour over some nice olive oil and cook them in the oven and cook them until they are really well cooked. Sprinkle grated parmesan cheese on the top and cook au gratin for another minute or two just to give the cheese some color.

Serve the vegetables together with a tasty Italian dressing, perhaps add some walnuts or other nuts or seeds and last but not at least a well-made country bread with character.

Today is a big DAY here in Sweden it is Election Day and this time it is going to be sooo exciting. I went to vote early this morning and I plan to get to bed very late, Champagne or 'funeral feast'? That is the question, we will see what will happen later tonight.

Swedish?

 - Vill du hellre ha det på svenska så kika in till KÖKTRÄDGÅRDEN där tar vi allt helt på svenska.

Physalis - locally grown

At last, now in early September my Physalis are ready to harvest, sweet, pretty and very healthy. Full of vitamin C it is a true power-fruit or shall I call it power-berry. Eat locally grow! - you cannot beat home grown.

 Don't forget to save one little Physalis and harvest your own seeds - free seeds for 2011 growing season. 

Vill du läsa på svenska? Välkommen till KÖKSTRÄDGÅRDEN

Chantarelle Mushrooms - Free Food from the Forest

Delicious and free!

Can it get any better?

The last day of August gave us a day of glorious sunshine and I went for a long and lovely walk in the woods. Pure pleasure to walk in the woods in company with a lot of birds and butterflies. To my big surprise I have seen an incredible number of beautiful butterflies today evidently that means that the summer is not over yet. Warm and pleasant too and hardly any wind at all, it said 16 degrees on the car thermometer when I was on my way home. The basket was full of wonderful mushrooms, chanterelles mushrooms, golden chanterelle Cantharellus cibarius mostly but also some other nice ones. A favourite is what we call 'Karl Johan' - Porcino Boletus edulis  I just love finding those they are so good to slice up and dry, they are very useful in the winter dishes like caserols, stews and soups.

Sista dagen i Augusti bjöd på solsken och en underbar skogspromenad. Ren njutning att få vandra i skogen i sällskap med fåglar och en massa fjärilar. Ja dröm om min förvåning men idag har jag sett otroligt många vackra fjärilar så än är inte sommaren slut. Varmt och skönt var det också, 16 grader stod det på bilens termometer när jag skulle åka hemåt. Korgen blev härligt full av svamp, mestadels kantareller Cantharellus cibarius  men även några fina soppar. Karl Johan Boletus edulis tycker jag så mycket om att hitta för de torkar jag och hartill matlagning hela vintern tillsammans med höstkantarellerna som kommer snart. Det ser jag fram emot.

Umami Power Snack

Tomato - this powerful umami* fruit full of goodness.

旨味

They contain lycopene, one of the most powerful natural antioxidants.

A perfect savory snack, swap to a bowl of tomatoes instead and get a living power snack instead of the dead bowl of ' ¤)#&FAT/¤#&SUGAR%#¤what-ever' I mean the snack that we usually have beside us :-) I often do anyway.

Medium snack-sized tomatoes of the cultivars Borghese principe, Stupice and Promyk tomatoes

NUTRITION: This is what Wikipedia says about the subject. Tomatoes are now eaten freely throughout the world, and their consumption is believed to benefit the heart among other things. They contain lycopene, one of the most powerful natural antioxidants. In some studies lycopene, especially in cooked tomatoes, has been found to help prevent prostate cancer but other research contradicts this claim. Lycopene has also been shown to improve the skin's ability to protect against harmful UV rays.Natural genetic variation in tomatoes and their wild relatives has given a genetic treasure trove of genes that produce lycopene, carotene, anthocyanin, and other antioxidants. Tomato varieties are available with double the normal vitamin C (Doublerich), 40 times normal vitamin A (97L97), high levels of anthocyanin (P20 Blue), and two to four times the normal amount of lycopene (numerous available cultivars with the high crimson gene). Tomato consumption has been associated with decreased risk of breast cancer,head and neck cancers and might be strongly protective against neurodegenerative diseases

More tomatoes?

Take a hop into The Greenhouse

PIE and SEEDS

* it is japanese and means good flavour

I'm Back...Armed with a Machete

After several weeks at sea I'm back on solid ground again. Back to my garden...but what a mess, a small disaster at the first glance. Armed with secateurs, machete, one mile of garden twine I'm ready to attac the 'garden'... jungle. I have had help from my friends with the watering ( a huge thank you to you! ) But as the weather has been wet-wet-wet watering has been easy, another problem accured of course the plants that I put on large tray for easy watering almost drawned instead. I will need to do some 'CPR' on those poor plant they are so pale and sad looking.

The last Lily of the season, a bit sad but it is the bitter truth. I chose this picture for  my August picture, it really stands there all alone in the border, stunning, bright and beautiful. All the other has already faded away into the long sleep of autumn.

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  Det känns lite vemodigt att se årets sista lija, den står alldeles ensam i rabatten...men ack så vacker. Resten av liljorna har för länge sedan vissnat och förbereder sig för den långa sömnen

Word Verification problem...

I have had a problem with my Word Verification lately on this blogg, I hope I have fixed the problem now. Sorry for the inconvenience 

Please let me know if the problem still occures.

Rosa 'Maigold'

TYRA