Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Developments

The first freesia has bloomed, and it's yellow!  The second spike is just starting to swell, and I think it's going to be purple- you can just see a hint of color at the tips of the buds.  I love the fragrance of freesia.

First freesia blooms!

And speaking of fragrance, here's the sambac jasmine I got last weekend. (I know, I know...)  It's spectacularly perfumed.  I had one of these plants 15 years ago when I lived in North Carolina, but left it with a friend when we moved to Friday Harbor.

Sambac jasmine. Heavenly.

It's been giving me a flower or two every night (today I have three!), and I've been carrying it back and forth between my bedroom and the deck.  It's inside at night so I can enjoy the perfume while I sleep, then back outside during the day to get lots of sun.  Even just one flower fills my whole bedroom.

I pick off the previous night's flowers when I put it back outside in the morning, and drop them in a little jar of 190-proof alcohol.  I'm making jasmine extract to store the fragrance.  The flowers won't last through the heat of the day anyway, and this way I get to enjoy the scent longer.  It's slow going with just a flower or two at a time, but I've got all summer.

Now, let us pause and take a moment to appreciate this next picture.

Oh lovely tomatoes!

I look at that and almost hyperventilate, it makes me so happy.  That is a lovely bunch of Amish Paste tomatoes.

Also, the first cucumber is almost ready to pick!

First cucumber!

And the grapes are moving along fine!

Grapes developing well.

As I was leaving for work today I grabbed a handful of chocolate mint, and one sprig of orange mint. (Yeah, there's an orange mint now.  I know, I know...)

Chocolate mint and orange mint trimmings for my first mug of tea at work.

Chocolate on the left, orange on the right.  I chopped them up and made a lovely mug of tea to start off my day in front of the computer.  There was a bit too much greenery for one cup of tea, so I only used about half of the orange mint.  I'm rooting the rest... because I need more mint...

The yummy result, plus rooting the extra orange mint.

And to wrap up this post, here's a view of the newest resident at my address.

Flycatcher nest in the inside corner of the porch roof

This little flycatcher built her nest in the inside corner under the front porch roof, a lovely protected spot.  She doesn't seem too fussed about us coming and going through the front door, and just sits up there quietly and watches.

1 comment:

Anne said...

Everything is thriving, including YOU and the birds..... So nice.