Garden Do Over

Harvest Time

2008-08-17T18:49:00.003-05:00

It doesn't take many tomato plants to provide for two people... (note to self: one plant of 'Sungold' is plenty for next year). 'Carmello' was first to ripen and has been super-productive. 'Green Zebra' is one of my favorites for taste. 'Rose de Berne' is a delicious pink, but the shoulders have tended to crack this year, for unknown reasons. 'Black Cherry' has not been too productive.

It's been a pleasure to have the two plots at the community garden. I've been surprised at how little time is necessary for maintenance, since we did a good job of weeding and mulching to start the year. Looks like I do need to visit more often to water seed beds, though. The second plantings of cilantro and zinnias were perfect, but beets not so much. And the lettuce didn't germinate at all. We've had a cool August, with many hints of fall, so it's time to order more seeds for greens, for a fall crop of arugula, lettuce, and spinach. The swiss chard has been great -- wish I liked the taste better.

It's Official -- Getting Dirty Makes You Feel Good

2008-07-20T16:57:00.002-05:00

You know how you always feel better after working in the garden, even for a few minutes? It's not your imagination -- it's good bacteria in the soil increasing your serotonin levels, says a researcher in England, the land of gardeners. So get out there and get your hands dirty!

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-04/uob-gdm033007.php

Plus ça change

2008-07-06T11:10:00.003-05:00

So, am I part of a trend, or is the rest of the world catching up with moi? Seriously, it is exciting that vegetable gardening seems to be catching on again.

But I guess we are reflecting changing times. Last year, I grew herbs in just two containers -- one for perennials and one for annuals. Everything else was jammed with colorful annuals. But the expense -- even though I got the plants wholesale -- seemed too extravagant this year. So I expanded the number of pots for herbs, and get to feel virtuous every time I snip a few, instead of buying handfuls every week. A single packet of cilantro seeds will get us through the summer for the price of one bunch. Ditto dill and basil. Even though we have the community garden plots for tomatoes, etc, I wanted herbs closer to the kitchen.

Expanding on the edible theme, we put half a dozen ever-bearing 'Mara des Bois' strawberries from White Flower Farm in a large pot. Incredibly delicious little berries, bigger than alpines, but smaller than most June-bearers. They throw prodigious runners, unlike the usual alpine strawberry. You really could start with three plants and have a colony fast. I've been removing runners weekly, after tucking a few into the center of the pot. Alas, the chipmunks have gotten more berries than we have, so we're going to have to concoct some kind of removable wire cover to foil them. Strawberries need harvesting frequently, so I figured I'd better keep them close to home, too.

... Not that we're doing without flowers out front, but I DID cut back to five large pots and two urns... oh, and, um, the tender bulbs I hadn't grown before (sprekelia and haemanthus and gloriosa lily from EasytoGrowBulbs.com). And some little pots crammed with the overflow because I overbought. I did have enough to fill a concrete planter in Madisonville, near the community garden. And my boss gave me some extras for work for another one, so we're spreading the love.

The first zucchini, the last peas

2008-07-06T10:25:00.006-05:00

Despite being a long-distance garden, our community plots are doing fairly well --plenty of mesclun, blackseeded simpson lettuce, arugula, radishes, dill, cilantro. The chard is big enough to harvest now.

It's been several years since I grew anything from seed, and the contents of seed packets seem to have shrunk considerably since then. I got only about 5 feet of a double row of sugar snap peas, undoubtedly planted too late because of all the rainy weekends in May. We got two whole meals worth... So I harvested the last overripe pods Saturday, tore up the vines, and planted beets and more dill and cilantro. The arugula had bolted, so that came out, to be replaced by what Burpee promises is summer lettuce... we'll see. The spinach, alas, definitely went in too late, and went from germination to bolted without a pause. We'll have to try a fall and maybe a winter crop.

The first two Raven zucchini were the size of fat cigars, so I snipped them off, to enjoy with plenty of herbs and olive oil. I also planted more radish seeds (that packet was very generously full) and a few more zucchini. We used to have terrible problems with squash vine borers, so I'm hoping the late sowing will give us plants that yield late.

My inspiration for the replanting is probably my favorite gardening book: In the French Kitchen Garden: The Joys of Cultivating a Potager by Georgeann Brennan. Illustrated with charming water colors, it's partly a how-to, mostly a why-to. So much of our American gardening tradition seems to be of the "plant rows of beans, squash, tomatoes, corn, melons when the weather gets hot." So learning a few years back that it's possible to keep replanting was an eye-opener. That, and doing away with rows, in favor of raised beds makes weeding and bed prep so much more manageable.

Meanwhile, the pole beans are in bloom, and the tomatoes are loaded with fruit. 'Sungold' is usually the first to ripen, but the 'Carmellos' are bulking up beautifully. As usual, I'm tieing the plants up 7ft poles, and pinching out as many suckers as possible. There are some signs of problems -- spotting and yellowing lower leaves -- I snipped off all that were affected and am keeping my fingers crossed that it's not early blight. The tomato bed was fallow last year, but I'm sure had tomatoes the previous year, since that seems to be the most popular crop.

The biggest disappointment of the season? The flower seeds from Renee's Garden. The mesclun, pole beans, beets and herb seeds were great, but we got zero germination from the zinnias, cosmos, and sunflowers. The Burpee zinnias that went in to replace them had poor germination, too, but not zero. There are relatively few wholesale seed growers, so I'm wondering what's up-- is it me, or are there crop issues this year?

A New Garden

2008-04-29T05:01:00.014-05:00

After two years without a garden, we're back in the veggie business! I was lucky enough to get two 4' x 8' plots in the Madisonville Community Garden, and in the last couple of weeks we've gone from this ...

to this ...

One of our plots was fallow last year, so it was filled with a wildling version of lamium, and a weed I've encountered before, although I haven't ID'd it properly -- it looks like a non-silvery artemesia, with tenacious stoloniferous roots. It took a couple of hours to dig it all out ... and I'm sure there are bits left, along with some quack grass. The second plot was also weedy, although not as bad. The paths are full of the same weeds, but lamium doesn't seem to like being stomped on, so the paths around our area (and leading to the compost bins) are already looking like paths again.

We started a couple of weeks ago, but rainy weekends delayed our progress. The Civic Garden Center sponsors the garden, and provided those heavy cedar boards to replace the rotted sides of our plots and half a dozen others. Ed and I finished installing the sides Saturday afternoon. On Sunday, he dug in half a dozen bags of mushroom compost and cow manure while I fetched #25 pots of leaves I'd salvaged at work. The leaves went through the giant vac during cleanup last fall, but aren't as finely chopped as I'd like... still beats paying for mulch. The earth worms should be happy with it.

It's too early for tomatoes, but we have finely-engineered stakes ready when White Flower Farm ships our heirloom plants in a few weeks. I'm sorry to miss Tomatomania! there, which is a great event (120-plus varieties of tomato plants plus thousands of veggie gardeners in one place. What's not to love?)

It might be too late, but we planted mesclun, oakleaf lettuce, spinach and Super Sugar Snap peas Sunday, leaving room for tomatoes, basil, pole beans, and a few cukes and summer squash. And hopefully a row or two of zinnias.

Michael Pollan to defend food in Cincinnati

2008-01-10T18:25:00.001-05:00

Michael Pollan will visit Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Oakley at 1 p.m. Saturday to discuss and sign In Defense of Food, his "sequel" to the best-selling The Omnivore's Dilemma.

Did you ever get the feeling that it's hard to keep up with nutrition science? That what's healthy yesterday is bad for us today? Well, Pollan basically tells us the nutrition emperor has no clothes ... the whole premise that we can consider foods as merely bundles of nutrients is just plain wrong, and has contributed to the obesity epidemic. And, by the way, they DO keep getting it wrong -- it's not your imagination.

The Omnivore's Dilemma is one of many books that helped spur the "eat-local" movement. I can only hope that eat local is truly taking off everywhere, because there is such a backlash against it. Can the Doughboy (and his big friends) be getting nervous? Isn't that a perfectly wonderful thing?

Pollan's defense of food recommends what most of us know, even if we don't always walk the walk -- shop the outside of the supermarket (or, preferably, farmers' market) and don't bother with the highly processed stuff in the middle of the store. More veggies and fruits, some dairy and meat, but forget the granola bars, low-fat cookies, meals-in-a-box, etc. I'm still working my way through the book, but I must say it's a delight to see lots of industry-sponsored food research get so thoroughly body-slammed, trounced, and stomped on.

A Cooking Rock Star Visits Cincinnati

2007-12-04T20:41:00.001-05:00

Christopher Kimball, founder and publisher of Cooks Illustrated, spoke at Joseph-Beth Booksellers this evening, to a full house-- more than 70 fans of the magazine jammed the aisles around the lecture area. He's a hoot -- self-deprecating, great sense of humor, and also very clearly opinionated about food. And publishing. And what passes for cooking on TV.

He shared anecdotes about the magazine, to which 95% of the attendees subscribe, but was ostensibly there to talk about The Best Lost Recipes, the newest CI book. Cooks Country, a sister publication, solicited "lost" recipes from readers and received 3,000 responses. He said most turned out to be much better than you might have expected, including some real gems.

Editing the book made the staff realize that in the 19th century, the country had hundreds of thousands of recipes, because each family had its variant. Then, by the mid-20th century, standardization arrived, in the form of the food industry and publishing, so thousands of those variants were lost.

The staff winnowed the recipes to those with the best stories, as well as the best recipes. The book is very heavy on baked goods, with only a slim chapter on meats/main dishes. It's the way people cooked before Campbell's convinced us that every recipe started with a can of cream of mushroom soup. Many of the recipes are for frugal (but delicious) fare, although some are clearly celebratory cakes.

Which got me thinking about a story The Enquirer ran recently about a food stamp challenge -- feed yourself on the $21 a week per-person folks get in food stamps. The woman they wrote about was hungry all the time. And no wonder, because it doesn't look as though she cooked anything but spagetti and hot dogs, and maybe eggs, and survived mostly on peanut butter or maybe cheese sandwiches.

The only way to live on that tiny little bit of money is... learn to cook. Which takes time and effort. It means rice and beans, with meat as a condiment, not the featured ingredient. Cabbage and potato soup. Bean soups. Lentil soup. Oatmeal instead of cold cereal. It certainly means spending Sunday afternoon cooking for the week, since frugal food takes lots of time to make up for the lack of quick-cooking steaks and chops and burgers.

It's really a shame that everyday home cooking seems to be a lost art... based on what's sold in the end caps at the grocery stores. I'm sorry that home economics has gone the way of the dodo in our schools... if I were queen, I would make sure both boys and girls learn to cook and repair a torn hem and sew on a button, and wield a hammer, screwdriver, saw and drill, and how to check the oil in the car. And everyone needs to know how to balance a checkbook and use a credit card. Our kids are being left behind, in lots of ways.

Christmas Green

2007-12-03T19:51:00.000-05:00

Christmas-y weather is finally here. After a month of wildly seesawing temperatures, we seem to be in a pattern of below-freezing temps at night. This week, anyway. On Saturday, we finished putting the big containers into the garage for the winter, earlier than expected, but there's snow in the forecast, so we figured we'd better do it while we can before the pots freeze up. I hated to see the pansies go, since they were so late going in, with the crazy heat in September. The urns are now stuffed with cut greens, local and Oregon-grown. Made me realize how much I miss white pines, which are planted here, but really struggle. The old trees seem to be ok in many older landscapes, but the new ones installed by builders appear to survive maybe 5-10 years, then bite the dust.
I went shopping for greens for a client Friday, and found a nice selection at Burger Farm in Newtown and at Hyde Park Floral, just around the corner. In addition to mixed bunches, Hyde Park had beautiful red-twig dogwood stems, white pine, nice bunches of boxwood, and these stunning huge cones, and I couldn't resist getting one. There were enough trimmings left over for a big and a tiny vase indoors. If I change the water frequently, I can just replenish the red carnations and white mums occasionally. And Kroger had fabulous winterberry stems -- pricy, but a "bunch" (of 2 whole stems) was enough for knockout color in my big green McCoy vase.

Visit The Heirloom Gardener to see more ideas for winter pots -- already covered in snow. Our rain Sunday was snow in the upper Midwest and the Northeast.

Take THAT, You Pesky Squirrels

2007-11-29T16:48:00.000-05:00

We still don't have any real beds where I can plant bulbs, so next spring will be celebrated in pots, again. A local wholesale nursery had a mix of 'Daydream' and 'Negrita' tulips, so I snagged a bag of 100 -- and stuffed them all into one 24-in pot. I planted them about six inches deep, and then liberally dusted the top with red pepper, to deter squirrels and chipmunks. ... But that didn't work this year. A day later, ALL the soil was dug up. I don't think the varmints got any bulbs, though -- when I probed, the tulips were still down a couple of inches.

Ed volunteered to get some hardware cloth to protect the pots, which are still outdoors to take advantage of the rain. I was envisioning a sheet covering the top of the pot, and weighted down with a few rocks. However, this is what an engineer means when he intends to foil squirrels.

I had planted some 'Minnow' narcissus, too, and interestingly, those pots were completely untouched. Even under a heavy coating of red pepper, the squirrels could smell the tulips. 'Minnow' is a miniature Tazetta -- I planted a couple of small pots that I'm hoping to bring indoors in late February, but I was very late planting the bulbs, so that 12-14 week chilling period will end almost when spring arrives.

We'll move the pots into the unheated, detached garage in another couple of weeks, where they can wait out the rest of the winter.

'Daydream' opens yellow, then matures to apricot-orange. The color changes every day, which is fun to watch. 'Negrita' is a very dark purple, so it will be a great contrast to yellow or orange.

Can you say "global climate change"?

2007-10-23T19:34:00.001-05:00

OK, so we had approximately zero rain from May until last week. Trees dying, perennials dying, lawns dying... Yesterday AND today, we broke records for single-day rainfall amounts, with nearly two inches each day. Which theoretically cuts the drought deficit to "only" four inches. Too late for many plants, of course. Meanwhile, Georgia is in crisis because of the drought, southern California is burning, and the dweebs who write letters to The Enquirer STILL say global warming is a myth.

Celebrating Books

2007-10-17T20:39:00.000-05:00

So how cool is this? A whole day devoted to books, local authors, reading.

On November 3, the Duke Energy Center -- the local convention center -- will be devoted to Books by the Banks. Forty-five local and national authors have already signed on to appear -- panel discussions, signings, talks... fiction, non-fiction, lots of local history, baseball, books for kids and teens, three cartoonists (including local fave, Pulitzer-winning Jim Borgman), romance, mystery, science fiction, cookbooks... a little of everything on the printed page.

This is the first time for such a large gathering devoted to books and reading -- hope it's a great success. (And just in time for Christmas shopping.) Sponsored by Borders Books, CET, Cincinnati Magazine, The Mercantile Library, the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, and the University of Cincinnati Libraries.

Hawk Moth Sighting

2007-10-03T20:27:00.000-05:00

More record-breaking high temps in the offing, even though the nights are now longer than the days. As I was watering the pots on the front steps last evening, out of the corner of one eye, I saw one the moonflowers moving -- an enormous hawkmoth was dive bombing the vine. The body was almost as big as my index finger, suspended by impossibly small and impossibly fast-beating wings. They're also nicknamed hummingbird moths, because they bear an uncanny resemblance to the bird. It -- or a relative -- was still at it when I fetched the paper at 6:30 a.m.

The moonflower vine is routinely putting out a dozen or more fragrant blooms every evening. They stay open until almost 9 a.m. now.

Here's photos of one of apparently many species of hawkmoths -- scroll down to see one with blurred, beating wings.

A Visit to the Early 19th Century

2007-09-19T20:53:00.000-05:00

Two lost modes of transportation -- canals and trains -- survive today at the site of the Historic Whitewater Canal, in the old canal town of Metamora, Indiana, less than an hour west of Cincinnati. The colorful little village now caters to the tourists who take kids and grandkids on brief train or canal boat rides. As you can see, a pair of Belgian draft horses pulls the reproduction barge along at the brisk pace of 4 miles an hour --they could easily go faster, but the wake would erode the banks of the canal, so there's a speed limit. And always has been. We had a terrific guide, a retired teacher, who explained the history of the canal and the technology of transportation.

Like most other 19th century canals, the Whitewater went out of business when railroads became the faster mode of moving people and freight. Unlike most others, the railroad bought the tow path, so the tracks run right along the narrow canal.

Indiana bought the surviving stretch of canal and has restored several miles of it. There's still a working lock a mile or so downstream, although the regular canal boat ride doesn't go that far -- it takes an hour for the lock to fill, so it would be a looong wait. A gristmill also survives and still uses water power to grind local corn into meal. The mill is open for business, along with a raft of small gift and antique shops, and local restaurants. Not a chain store or fast food franchise in sight, although plenty of ice cream, burgers, and the usual Sunday afternoon fare is available.

After the extended drought we've been having, it was a delight to see so many wildflowers in bloom along the edge of the grassy banks of the canal -- jewelweed and a sunflower that I think is Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus), plus asters and goldenrod. A few spiky teasle seedpods appeared here and there, too, amid the greenery. Nothing very exotic, but I've missed jewelweed in our parched landscape.

A large flock of ducks appears to call the canal home, at least in summer. We saw several places to buy corn to feed them, so they're smart enough to stay close to the tourist haunts. This looks like any lovely old covered bridge, but it's carrying a unique load -- water. This, the country's only surviving active wooden aqueduct, was built to carry the Whitewater Canal over Duck Creek, a stream that runs perpendicular to the canal route and 16 feet down in a ravine. The original massive oak beams, with their hand-hewn adze marks, still support all that weight. It's a little marvel of engineering and ingenuity, built by hand around the 1840s.

The canal brought Indiana farm crops to Cincinnat at the Ohio River, and in turn brought raw materials and manufactured products to the farmers.

The canal is drained for the winter, but the railroad may still run, and the village shops stay open all year.

One Good Thing About the Heat

2007-09-19T20:15:00.000-05:00

It hasn't been easy to find much good to say about the record-breaking heat last month. But there IS one thing... I've never grown better moonflowers. These morning glory relatives love heat and rarely amounted to much in my Connecticut garden. But here in SW Ohio, they are spectacular. Last night, I counted 10 open blooms -- tonight, it was 16! The buds look like soft-serve vanilla cones, then unfurl as twilight approaches. I took these shots without flash, so there is still a bit of daylight when the blooms open.

We're careening towards the equinox, so the flowers are still open -- although growing limp -- when I fetch the newspaper in the dark at 6:30 a.m.

I salvaged one freestanding, 4-legged trellis from my garden, and we installed it near the front door here. An interesting vendor at the Flower Show at Coney Island was selling pots of annual vines, so I snagged a moonflower, a cardinal flower (source of the cut leaf under the white blossom) and a morning glory. Almost lost them all when the temps plummeted to 20 in April, but I kept moving them in and out as the weather seesawed, and they managed to survive, although all looked the worse for wear when I finally planted them, and basically sulked through May. I should have known better than to plant them all on one trellis, but they were so pathetic, I figured I'd be lucky if even one survived, much less thrived.

The moonflower has definitely won the competition -- I occasionally see bright red trumpets of the cardinal climber and one or two morning glories, but the moonflower has hidden the trellis, reached for the flagpole and would eat the mailbox if we didn't keep pushing it back.

The fragrance is heavenly, and an excuse to linger out on the front steps in the evening, enjoying the cooler evenings.

From Pond to Plate

2007-09-15T20:08:00.000-05:00

With record-breaking heat and drought this summer, local farmers are struggling to make a living. (As they do every year.) One tiny group actually found the high temps a boon -- shrimp farmers. Shrimp? Yep, in Kentucky. The state has been working to find ways to help farmers raise a little extra cash, and it turns out fresh-water shrimp thrive in the local sweet water every bit as much as horses and bluegrass do. Prawns LOVE heat, so they have been eating constantly this summer.

Three farms near Cincinnati raise prawns, and September is harvest time. Inspired by a story last week in The Enquirer we visited the Bluegrass Shrimp farm in Ryland Heights this afternoon, in time to watch half a dozen wader-clad shrimp wranglers battle the mud--and a couple of snapping turtles--to net more lively blue-clawed prawns from the bottom of the pond, which they evidently drain this time of year. One turtle, the size of a hubcap, will wind up in the farmer's soup pot, after feeding on sweet shrimp all summer.

When we arrived at the farm in the Licking River valley, after a half-hour drive through roads we never would have found otherwise, a small crowd was gathered to watch the harvest. It's pretty low-tech -- six guys pump out the pond, then slowly drag a net across the remaining water, scooping up the prawns into big plastic baskets. Bluegrass Shrimp has three ponds, and this weekend started their 13th harvest, which will continue next weekend. They expect to net about 1,000 pounds of prawns, so they are obviously not making a living at this, but it's enough cash to help pay expenses, presumably. They had a barn with holding tanks, plus more small tanks outside a shed. And they have to pay for the baby shrimp, and the shrimp feed, which includes a corn mash left over from bourbon distilling -- a nice bit of recycling and probably part of the secret of the sweet taste of the shrimp.

After watching the harvest, the spectators descended on the holding tanks to place their orders. You bring your cooler and the folks weigh out your wriggling catch and dump it in, along with plenty of ice.

With only two of us to feed tonight, and after a colleague warned me that prawns taste like dirt, we only ordered two pounds, at $10 a pound. After cleaning, that yielded probably less than a pound, or three nice servings. But no way did it taste like dirt... the prawns were very sweet and mild, with a nice texture.

Of course, before we could cook them, we had to kill them.

Oops. Little detail.

Once again, I learned that if I actually had to do the slaughtering, I'd have to be a vegetarian. But Ed dove in after hearing my "ewww" when I realized what had to be done. It took a few critters before he discovered that when the directions say "twist off their heads," they really mean "twist off their upper bodies." Once he had the technique down, the prep went very quickly--after you understand that you're throwing away about half of each shrimp. A quick snip with kitchen scissors took the shells off, then the deveining went fast, too.

The prawns were in every stage of development -- they were all about a hand's length long, but only a few had the incredibly long bright blue fore claws. Half a dozen were loaded with eggs, and others had molted very recently and had thin, translucent shells.

Most of the other spectators had obviously tried this before, and they brought massive coolers, planning either big parties or to freeze some of the bounty.

I made our favorite shrimp dish -- scampi. The major components made it darn near a locavore's meal -- local scampi, and farmer's market garlic and tomatoes. (Of course, the spaghetti, olive oil, and Parmesan were from Italy, so we don't win any points there.) But it was the sweetest scampi I've ever made.

Even the honeysuckles are wilting

2007-09-10T19:01:00.000-05:00

It's official. The month of August was the hottest and driest ever. And September hasn't gotten better. August had more days over 90, more consecutive days over 90, more triple-digit days, and less rain than since records were kept. After the driest May on record, and a June that saw little rain. July was the only month with any moisture, and not much fell then. The humidity fell to 17% one day last week -- there isn't a molecule of water left in the soil.

Greater Cincinnati seems to be stuck on the northern tip of the drought that's hit the Southeast this summer. Our condition moved to D3 last week (with D0 being not-so-bad and D4 the lowest level of hell, apparently). Mature white pines are turning brown overnight. Dogwoods are defoliating. Some neighborhoods look like fall, with dessicated beige leaves carpeting the beige lawns.

Mature viburnums are wilting, as are the omnipresent shrubby honeysuckles. The blooms of unwatered Sedum 'Autumn Joy' are brown, rather than pink. In fact, the only plants that look good are Liriope and Eastern Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana). The junipers self-sow everywhere, and look perfectly lush and richly green against the parchment and dusty olive green that are the dominant shades of the woods these days.

Even an hour north of us, the roadsides are green and the trees don't look so stressed, but it seems as though every recent storm went north of us or simply dissipated without any rain ever hitting the ground.

We're trying to convince customers that they must water, or they'll lose their beautiful boxwood hedges and mature trees, but it's so time consuming that few folks are taking us at our word. I suppose I could say it'll be good for the nursery business next spring when people have to replace thousands of dollars worth of plants, but I suspect many people will be very discouraged and simply give up.

PS... guess I'm back. My new job got very hectic in late spring, and after weeks of six-day work weeks, I got out of the habit of posting. Writer's block? Unblocked?

Cincinnati Flower Show

2007-04-22T11:03:00.000-05:00

The Cincinnati Flower Show at Coney Island opened Saturday to glorious weather -- the first weekend that's felt like spring in about a month. This is the Coney Island on the Ohio River, not the one on Long Island...

The grand marquee had great exhibits -- with forced early summer perennials, plus azaleas blooming about the correct time. The exhibits with the most stealable ideas, however, were the couple dozen window boxes. The grand prize winner was overstuffed with flowers, and would never actually stay looking good all summer in that small a container. However, several competitors assembled windowboxes with NO flowers -- and lots of color.

More commentary to come later, but we're off to a Reds game... two events in one weekend. Can you tell we are no longer proud owners of the Money Pit?

A little late, but irresistable

2007-04-15T16:50:00.000-05:00

Co-sponsored by the Good News Office and the Department of People With Way Too Much Free Time:

The Washington Post sponsored a contest recently, asking people to create dioramas for Easter, using Peeps... and they received 350 entries. Here are the winners... Trust me, the results are extraordinary, funny, and very clever. And worth three minutes of your time to see... and thanks to the Enquirer's Foodie Report for providing the link.

Coming soon to a "museum" near you...

2007-04-15T12:30:00.000-05:00

The Enquirer has been covering the upcoming opening of a $27 million "creation museum" in Petersburg, KY, dedicated to showing all visitors the literal truth of the Bible. You know, that the earth is 6,000 years old, God created it in 6 days, and Noah had dinosaurs on the ark.

Say what?

Sorry, I missed that part in Genesis. But we all know raptors sell, so this "museum" will have a huge flock of animatronic dinos to amuse the kiddies. Oh, and educate the kiddies. This is science, after all. Um, except we must remember that "no apparent, perceived or claimed evidence in any field, including history and chronology, can be valid if it contradicts the Scriptural record."

These folks are performing the most amazing contortions to fit snippets of scientific fact -- like the inconvenient (but highly profitable) existence of dinosaurs and the Grand Canyon, among other things -- into their religious views. This is nostalgia for the good old days... emphasis on "old." The 8th century, perhaps?

No. 42

2007-04-15T12:15:00.000-05:00

Cincinnati's own Ken Griffey Jr. will be wearing no. 42 today, Jackie Robinson's retired uniform number, in honor of the 60th anniversary of the first game Robinson played for the Brooklyn Dodgers. It took way too long, but the order to "play ball" that day in 1947 was the sound of a color barrier finally starting to break.

Griffey's request started a huge chain reaction, and many African-American players will be wearing 42 today. All of the Dodgers (now in L.A., of course) will wear 42, as will the entire teams of the Phillies, Astros, and Pirates. The ESPN broadcast of the Dodgers game tonight will shine a spotlight on Robinson.

What's in bloom? Garden Bloggers Bloom Day

2007-04-15T11:53:00.000-05:00

Despite being frozen solid (literally) several times a week ago, the 'Angélique' tulips in a 14in pot by the front steps have bloomed. After two days this week of heavy rains, and chilly temps all week, the tulips look remarkably good. If I ever knew it, I had forgotten that 'Angélique' is a multi-flowering variety -- nearly every stem has more than one flower. Most of the secondary blooms haven't really colored up much yet, though.

The 'Dicksissel' jonquils still look ok from a distance, but you can see the edges are beginning to brown if you get close enough. A previous resident had planted dwarf iris on the other side of the front terrace, but the heavy rain has spoiled them. The pansies are still blooming, and if it stops raining long enough, require some serious deadheading. The Viburnum carlesii is pretty much gone by -- because it's planted so close to the south-facing brick wall, it bloomed two weeks before its siblings planted elsewhere, making it especially vulnerable to last week's extreme cold.

The annual Cincinnati Flower Show opens Friday. It will be very welcome after the recent weather... which has presumably been causing vendors and exhibitors fits.

Spring interrupted

2007-04-12T19:14:00.000-05:00

A nurseryman told me earlier this week that the recent cold snap, coming when the apples were in bloom, was the worst frost here in Ohio since the mid '80s. The biggest economic impact will be on the fruit crop, since it's still far too early to have planted corn or soy beans. At the moment, the most obvious impact is blackened and/or wilted foliage on hydrangeas, crabapples, ferns, some of the viburnums. The shrubs will leaf out again, of course, and this will mostly be an unpleasant memory soon. But the folks in the green goods world are fretting, since plants that were perfect and saleable a week ago sure aren't today.

Two Steps Forward... Three Steps Back

2007-04-07T08:13:00.000-05:00

This was supposed to be a triumphant post. The daffodils, tulips, grape hyacinths, and hyacinths I planted in pots last fall came through the winter in the unheated, detached garage, and are in glorious bloom. You can see how good the Jonquil 'Dicksissel' looked earlier this week. It's one of my favorites -- bearing two, sometimes three, blooms per stem. The sweetly fragrant flowers open a sunny lemon yellow, then the cup fades to white, with the white extending into a halo at the base of the petals.

But that was then. This is now...

Even the pansies look overcome by overnight temperatures that dipped to the low 20s. This is the shot taken before the sun hit the steps. The Angelique tulips actually still looked perfect, with even more color than in this photo, taken Tuesday -- but that was probably because they were frozen solid. We'll see how they look around noon. *sigh*

And this is how the pansies used to look. The season here in Cincinnati is about two weeks ahead of average -- and a month ahead of the usual spring in Connecticut. The crabapples, early tulips, and redbuds have been in bloom for more than a week -- lovely on Opening Day, when the Reds got to play a game in the balmy 70s.

Our bulbs survived several nights below freezing and looked fine, but last night the thermometer dove into the low 20s here -- it had been colder in the outer suburbs this week.

The peach and plum crop in the region is ruined. The apple harvest will be severely curtailed, because the blossoms froze. And tonight is supposed to be even colder. So the damage is far worse than a few lost flowers.

Purple Haze

2007-04-02T18:41:00.000-05:00

This photo is in the public domain in the United States because it is a work of the United States Federal Government under the terms of 17 U.S.C. § 105. See Copyright.

Eastern Redbuds (Cercis canadensis) are in bloom here in Southwest Ohio. Plants are tucked into the roadsides all along the highways around Cincinnati, blooming way up at the branch tips that extend above the shrubby growth at the edge of woodlands. The tree is also a fairly common landscape tree, in city and suburb, which is nice to see. Mature specimens in landscapes tend to grow as wide as they are tall, and have a very graceful shape.

Hardy up to USDA Zone 4, the redbud's natural range does not extend to northern PA, NY, or New England, although the tree will certainly grow there.

Interestingly, the references say redbud needs well drained soil, which can be hard to find in the dense clay that's pretty typical of the soils here. And redbud certainly seems to be a much better landscape choice than Cornus florida, the eastern dogwood that fills a similar niche in Connecticut. As much as I adore the graceful horizontal habit of dogwoods, I'm finding I need to recommend that landscaping clients go with the more adaptable redbug.

Many of the home landscapes around here seem to rely on the same small handful of shrubs and trees, but I'm discovering why. It's not that you can't buy and plant lots of other things besides boxwood, blue holly, and viburnum -- but with the heavy soil, hot and humid summers, and uncontrolled deer population, northeast favorites like rhododendron and C. florida fail to thrive. Or even survive.

I can attest that deer don't eat viburnum, though. I've visited a couple of clients with ravaged properties, and the viburnums are untouched (except for the occasional antler rubbing attack). Alas, my very favorite viburnum, the doublefile (V. plicata tomentosum Maresii, or variants) does not do well in the heavy soil here.

Play Ball!

2007-04-02T05:42:00.000-05:00

Opening Day is an unofficial holiday here in Cincinnati. There's a rally at 9 a.m. and a parade (featuring 18 high school marching bands) starts at Findlay Market at 11 -- all before the first pitch is tossed at 2:10 p.m. I lost count of how many O.D. stories The Enquirer ran today, but they run from the usual sports page stats, speculation, and prediction, to the food vendors at Great American Ball Park, and various human interest pieces. This, after running an entire section on the Reds on Sunday. This is a city that takes baseball seriously. Seriously. (See Jim Borgman's great Sunday cartoon.)

Leapin' Lizards

2007-03-28T18:35:00.000-05:00

As a gardener, I'm familiar with many introduced, naturalized species of plants, and the usual suspects: starlings, English sparrows, gypsy moths, voracious long-horned Chinese beetles.

Yesterday, I spied my first exotic lizard -- a European wall lizard that is quite at home in the limestone walls of eastern Cincinnati. Called the Lazarus Lizard, this fast little critter arrived here from northern Italy around 1950, smuggled in by a young member of the family that owned the Lazarus Department Store. From that group of 10, this critter has moved out through many neighborhoods. A biology prof at nearby Xavier University has followed their spread. It turns out, like many vagabonds before them, they followed the railroad -- the tracks, not the trains. They love the stone rail beds, and each year move a little farther along the tracks.

I only glimpsed the lizard from the street, scurrying across a sunny stone stoop. It's larger than the salamanders we used to find around the compost pile every spring, but similarly fast. Not sure how large the lizards get at maturity -- a Google search yielded images of some hefty critters, but who knows how accurate the labels are.

Here's a link to a scholarly article, with some great photos -- of more modest sized lizards. Although residents view the Lazarus with some affection, this species is considered aggressive in Europe, and is highly adapted to urban areas. It may pose a threat to native populations of skinks, which are shy forest-dwellers... but the Lazarus Lizards have not yet expanded their range far enough out of the city to collide with the natives. Yet.

Daffodils and Dutchmen's Breeches...

2007-03-25T17:17:00.000-05:00

... And scillas and spring beauties and trilliums and Virginia bluebells and...

The 1,025 acres in nearby Milford, Ohio is now the home of the Cincinnati Nature Center. But to gardeners who love the work of Elizabeth Lawrence, this beech and maple woodland is one of the two gardens in The Little Bulbs: A Tale of Two Gardens. I've read the book several times over the years, and almost didn't want to visit, for fear that the magical woodland garden created by Carl Krippendorf over a long lifetime had been lost. Groundless fears, I am so happy to report.

A dozen visionaries bought the property after Mr. Krippendorf's death, and it became the nature center in 1965. In some ways, they are letting nature take its course -- as forest giants fall, they are left to return to the soil, providing food and habitat for many years in the process. When the trees fell across paths, sections were removed to make the paths accessible, but that's it. Snags are also left to stand, so it's a woodpecker's paradise.

Mr. Krippendorf planted 6,000 varieties of daffodils (totaling hundreds of thousands of bulbs over time), plus winter aconites (already gone by), scillas, and more.

Buttercups (Ranunculus), a carpeting weed, arrived in the 1930s with bulbs from a friend in England. And the buttercups are quite at home, especially in damper parts of the woods. They create huge sheets of bright yellow. I know they're crowding out more desirable natives, but the effect from a distance is lovely. Unfortunately, they are essentially impossible to eradicate, since they spread from any bit of root left when you try to dig them up.

There are 18 miles of trails throughout the property, including some labeled "difficult," probably because of some steep slopes from the upland you enter, down into the valley. We took the wildflower walk, to admire the Dutchman's Breeches (Dicentra cucullaria, just, just starting to bloom), Spring Beauties (Claytonia virginica), tiny white Trout Lilies, and more. There are probably thousands of trilliums, just starting to bud in sunnier spots, and unfurling in cooler spots.

The walks are probably too long for toddlers, but the place is a kids' paradise, with enormous limestone stepping stones across some of the streams, several ponds, and loads of wooden and limestone staircases. We admired three turtles sunning themselves on rocks in the middle of one tiny pond, and also admired a huge bullfrog which a 12-year-old managed to catch. I'd plan on the kids getting wet and muddy and having a great time.

The character of the woodland changes as you walk, and Mr. Krippendorf also varied what he planted, or encouraged to grow. We didn't see any Mertensia (Virginia Bluebells) when we started the walk, but there were dozens in bud on the path leading back up towards the house.
I probably could have left the trail to try to get close-up photos, but wasn't sure that was OK, so the brown of fallen oak leaves is the dominant color this time of year.

Just 24 hours

2007-03-24T09:48:00.000-05:00

In Connecticut, the first day of spring and the first springlike day rarely coincided. Here in Cincinnati, however, the season is unfolding amazingly quickly. The Vernal Equinox (Wednesday) was warm (60s) and muddy. By the next day, trumpet and early large-cupped daffodils were blooming on many streets in the neighborhood, and the snowdrops that had looked so gorgeous 10 days ago were going to seed. By Friday afternoon, the red maples and forsythia were blooming, and saucer and star magnolias were showing the first color. And lawns are miraculously green and growing.

Doing the March Two-Step

2007-03-18T18:13:00.000-05:00

As in, two steps forward, one step back.

The temps hit 70°F earlier this week, before dropping 30+ degrees by Friday, during and following a heavy rainstorm. But it could have been worse... and it was, on the East Coast, where our lower Midwest rain was snow. Lots of snow.

It's still nippy today, only getting into the low 40s. But the sun this weekend was very welcome.

Knock on wood... my experiment with bulbs in pots is working, so far. The top photo shows Narcissus 'Dicksissel' with several 'Sky Jacket' Hyacinths in the center. 'Dicksissel' is one of my favorite Jonquils -- a reverse bicolor (meaning the cup turns white while the petals stay yellow; the cup does open yellow, though) with the lovely, sweet jonquil perfume. Usually there are 2 or 3 flowers per stem. I grew a lot of these in my old cutting garden (although, I confess I was sure the name was 'Daydream', until I started doing research and realized 'Daydream' is a Large-cupped, all-yellow variety. So it was definitely not in the cutting garden...)

The grape hyacinths in one smaller pot sprouted over the winter, but the ones in the large pot didn't. How's that for a scientific observation? So far, the 'Angelique' Tulips, surrounded by muscari are also sprouting nicely (below). We have lots of chipmunks in the stone walls, and squirrels everywhere else, so I dumped most of a container of red pepper flakes over the pots, in hopes of deterring the rascals.

In my travels this week, in my new job working for a local landscaping company, I saw wonderful huge clumps of snowdrops in glorious bloom at a couple of older houses, but only two or three crocuses. Lots of daffodil foliage, but essentially no tulips. I saw lots of deer damage, and actually saw a deer at one house. She was not in the least disturbed by my walking around and measuring beds... actually, when I used the measuring wheel, she got the teeniest bit freaked, and moved about 10 feet away. That's it. ... she browsed pretty much oblivious to my presence, since I didn't smell of gunpowder.

The 'Jack Snipe' narcissus are also starting to sprout. I planted a handful in a small pot that appears to have frozen solid overnight, but the foliage is just peeking out of the soil, so I'm hopeful it will bloom fine. It's a cyclamineus, with white, swept-back petals and a yellow cup -- petite in height, but a great bloomer and great increaser. I had a great huge clump in my last garden, and loved him. Although, to tell the truth, I loved all the daffodils. 'Thalia', a super fragrant pure white Triandrus, was my #1 favorite, which I planted on all four sides of the house, so I had some in bloom for about 6 weeks, from the first on the south to the last on the north.

I often tried to capture photos of the various clumps of daffodils interplanted with perennials, shrubs, and grasses, but they never looked like much from a distance. In person, your eye edits out all the expanses of brown soil, and you just glom on to the bulbs. But the camera is not so discerning. However, I and all the neighbors enjoyed the show immensely, even if I don't have the photos to prove it.

My success story, as far as I was concerned, was the perennial/rose/shrub border along the sidewalk, which also had many dozens of orange-cupped daffodils, the main source of color in April, interspersed among all the green tufts of perennials. 'Ambergate', a large-cup with coppery-orange cups and golden petals; 'Tahiti', a very reliable double with orange segments mixed in among the yellow petals'; 'Jetfire', a cute little cyclamineus with very swept-back yellow petals and a long orangey cup; and the split-cup 'Buff Belle', which I had the honor of naming, when I worked for White Flower Farm and we bought the entire first year's crop. The "cup" opened a pale yellow, then quickly turned to a buff, almost beige, color. Very handsome.

I also loved 'Kedron', a vividly colored jonquilla, but it dwindled away, and went from 5 bulbs to two to none in three years... unlike most Daffodils, which increase, as long as you let their foliage mature. Which means, leave your cotton-picking hands off.. no braiding, no folding, no nothing. I admit that is very hard to do, when the leaves are flopping around in May, and even into June before they finally turn brown enough to remove. That's one reason why it's great to plant daffodils in between daylilies, which grow fast enough to camouflage the fading bulbs.

Almost Spring

2007-03-11T18:57:00.000-05:00

We've had a couple of days in a row of temps in the 50s, even up to 60, with warmer temps promised for the beginning of the week. That means wild onion is greening up in lawns -- no signs of any bulbs in bloom in the neighborhood yet. However, the Cincinnati Home & Garden Show had plenty of color. Today was the final day, so most of the forced daffodils had already faded, but tulips and azaleas still looked good, as did the variegated red twig dogwoods, Heritage river birches, and Japanese maples forced for many of the gardens.

Water features and paving stones dominated most of the display gardens... some of the construction was pretty amazing. In a change from past years at the Hartford show, this one had plenty of waterfalls, but very few ponds of any size. Lots of pergolas and seating areas -- some very formal, others rustic, which was a nice change. Except for a couple of enormous standard roses, the forced plants and bulbs were pretty much what you'd expect -- nothing exotic anywhere, but walking by dozens of hyacinths in full floppy bloom is still delightful.

The show at the Duke Convention Center is organized into three sections, with the home-improvement vendors at one end (replacement windows, tile, kitchens, floors, furniture, etc etc); the display gardens in the center, and the garden vendors (contractors, stone, concrete, decks, hot tubs, John Deere, a couple of arborists, tchotchkes, etc) at the other end. Quite a few folks selling jewelry and pocketbooks, too, in yet another area.

A couple of garden centers had booths, too -- this must kick off the season for them, since it feels like it's time to plant pansies. Of course, by the end of the week, temps will be back down, so spring here is two steps forward, one step back, just like in New England.

Two vendors had products I definitely coveted.

Aquatic & Garden Decor in West Chester, OH had an amazing selection of self-contained fountains and birdbaths, plus bronze sculpture. I especially loved this blue pottery fountain, which they sell as a complete kit -- with the holding basin, pump, screen, river rocks, and blue jar. They had ginormous multi-tiered fountains, plus some very clever pottery jars in which all the water, the pump, etc, is contained in the single jar -- no separate holding basin required.

Renaissance Garden Ornament, from nearby Oakley (a Cincinnati neighborhood), had the most gorgeous sculpture and containers -- some antique chimney pots, but mostly new and reproduction designs. They had some fiberglass pots with a skim coat of concrete, that looked amazingly like stone, plus examples of this faux terra cotta from England (below) that were stunning. (Not that we have quite the manor house you'd need to be able use something like this... ) They also supplied urns and fountains for a couple of other vendors, so they managed to show off a lot of merchandise even though their booth was small. There's definitely a visit in the future.

The Mercantile Library: Step into the Wayback Machine

2007-03-05T20:17:00.000-05:00

Stepping into the elevator at 414 Walnut Street, Cincinnati, is like walking into a time machine. It's 2007 on the street, but press "11" and you emerge in 1906, at the Mercantile Library. Organized in 1835, it's one of the oldest cultural institutions in the midwest, and pre-dates the Public Library. The Merc is a membership organization dedicated to the art of writing.

With a 10,000-year lease on its space, the Merc is not planning on relocating any time soon.

It has massive windows, extending nearly to its 20-foot (or more?) ceilings, so there is ample natural light for reading. It's furnished with oak Morris chairs, heavy library chairs, tables, with cast iron brackets on many of the shelves. Newspapers and magazines are caught on metal rods affixed to slanted oak reading tables. (Lit Chick at the Enquirer published a great photo.) The book shelves in the reading room are well spaced, so two people could easily browse each side. Each bookshelf is topped with a marble bust, of luminaries such as G. Washington and A. Lincoln.

The stacks look like a movie set -- they don't make 'em like this any more -- iron frames holding closely-spaced shelves, with several levels worked into the height of the reading room. There's also a small reading room with comfortable furniture outside the only lavatory. Up a perilous-looking cast-iron spiral staircase (or the more conventional iron staircase outside the entry) is a boardroom, furnished with more oak in the Arts & Crafts style, and examples of Rookwood pottery in the glass cases, along with rare local books.

Walking into the Merc Saturday morning brought back very early memories of the Silas Bronson Library in my hometown of Waterbury, CT. As I was growing up, the library was housed in a wonderful red brick Richardsonian pile; furnished with heavy oak chairs that took two hands to move; and massive oak tables... all, alas, removed, dumped, torn down, around 1963 or 64, to be replaced by a modern square box of a building, crummy formica and pressed board. Even at age 13, I felt a terrible sense of loss when the old building met the wrecking ball. That "new" library is now hopelessly inadequate, with a wicked mold problem in the basement, a heating/cooling system that's on self-destruct, in a space with all the warmth and charm of a bus terminal.

Over the Rhine photos

2007-03-05T20:11:00.000-05:00

Evidently there was a walking tour of Over the Rhine Saturday, which I'm sorry I missed. Here's a link to some wonderful photos of the architecture, taken by someone who calls himself UncleRando. There's a site called Urban Ohio with other interesting photos, but it seems to be designed with frames, so there's no way to link to specific pages. bummer.

Happy Birthday to the Cat in the Hat

2007-03-02T17:15:00.000-05:00

He doesn't look a day over 5, but the Cat in the Hat is 50 years old today. Send him a card and Random House will donate a book to NEA's Read Across America program. They've committed to 1 million books, and -- as of this afternoon -- 797,081 cards had been sent from the site. If the perky rendition of "Happy Birthday" makes you too crazed, there is a very tiny "Music On" sign in the lower left corner ... just make it "music off."

LitChick, The Enquirer's book/arts reporter's very informative blog on all things literary, reports that Newsweek has a great story about how Dr. Seuss limited himself to 236 words for the story -- a first grader's vocabulary. It took him 18 months to write the book.

Cincinnati Says: We Love a Parade

2007-03-01T18:53:00.000-05:00

In another excuse to break out the lederhosen, Cincinnati will sponsor its annual Bock Fest Parade Friday evening... sure hope this heavy rain is gone by then.

Last year's parade featured a Trojan Goat, among other imaginative floats. The story is: in the 1800s, Cincinnati consumed more beer per capita than any other American city. There were 50 breweries just in the one neighborhood of Over-the-Rhine. The breweries eventually all started releasing their bock beer on the same day -- obviously a cause for celebration. Bock is a robust lager that signals the end of winter and the beginning of spring. Also, obviously, a cause for celebration.

The goat? Well, that tradition goes back to the Renaissance, and a drinking competition between two beer-brewing monks. Near the end of the contest, when one fell over, he denied he was drunk, and said a goat pushed him. To which his competitor replied: "The only goat was in the beer." Bock is German for "goat," hence the long story and the name...

Andrew Wyeth: seeing an artist at work

2007-03-01T10:42:00.000-05:00

Cincinnati Art Museum has organized a fascinating special exhibit that traces the career of Andrew Wyeth -- his decades-long work capturing the lives and surroundings of Christina and Alvaro Olson in Cushing, Maine. It's Andrew Wyeth: Watercolors & Drawings -- Selections from the Marunuma Art Park & Collection, Japan.

Image from Artchive. Everyone is probably familiar with Christina's World, the iconic 1948 tempera painting that propelled Wyeth into public view. When you think "Wyeth," you think detailed, almost photographic realism. This new exhibit of 114 watercolors and drawings shows his development as an artist, and also the evolving composition that became Christina's World... and it was very much a composite, a composition, not the transcription of a photograph.

Although there are some finished pieces in the exhibit, most are sketches in pencil or watercolor studies of snippets of the Olson house and landscape.

The very first piece is an exuberant, almost Impressionist, watercolor of the Olson house, made moments after the 22-year-old Wyeth saw it for the first time in 1939. Not at all what we expected to see, since we both think of Wyeth as the realist in tempera. His palette then included bold, almost primary colors, like a rich blue not quite found in nature that he used to capture the essence of a few trees. If the tempera pieces are photographs, the watercolors tend to be snapshots, a quick capture of a moment -- harvesting wild blueberries, or swallows swooping in the barn.

Some of the pencil drawings are practically architect's detailed drawings of the house. Others are quick, limited sketches capturing Christina's hands, or profile, or her arms as they were finally shown in Christina's World.

The exhibit is broken into a series of rooms, with each holding thematically linked sketches, studies, and watercolors. My only quibbles: it's not obvious if you're supposed to move clockwise or counterclockwise through each section (we went counter clockwise...) And I wish they had shown bigger prints of the finished pieces, instead of the postcard size, where the finished painting was not included.

It was fascinating to look at the studies, and see how Wyeth changed perspective, or changed the placement of the basket or tools for the final piece. Look at the many ways he drew the fluttering sheer curtains in the open window before settling on the final composition in Wind from the Sea.

There were pieces that seemed very familiar, probably because Wyeth revisits frequently the theme of light and shadow, and the intersecting angles of doors, windows, roofs, walls. My favorite piece was one I'd never seen, displayed in the last room -- the Olson house in fog. The land and plants in the foreground are distinct and anchored, but the house is softened in mist. It showed the essence of fog perfectly. How do you capture gossamer? But he did.

The exhibit is well worth spending a couple of hours. It's at the Cincinnati Art Museum until May 6; Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa from June 1 to August 26; and Butler Institute of American Art in Youngstown, OH September 23 to December 16, 2007.

Christina's World is at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC, and doesn't travel because the tempera is such a fragile medium, but I think it would be fascinating to have these sketches displayed with it, although that does not appear to be in the offing. A loss for the New york audience.

Twist & Shout: Ferris Bueller Day at the ball park

2007-02-21T11:04:00.000-05:00

Calling air guitarists, karaoke singers, and leder-hosen-wearing dancers in Cincinnati. The Great American Ballpark plans a great excuse for skipping school -- or work -- on Thursday May 10. That will be Ferris Bueller Day at a Reds' home game. Tickets are discounted until April 2. Ticket-holders will receive a "Save Ferris" button, which also serves as a raffle ticket. Proceeds will go towards children's medical research.

Oh, and they're also auditioning in March for lip-synchers and dancing girls to perform in the opening day parade...

Opening Day (April 2) is a huge holiday here in Cincinnati, and apparently the biggest absenteeism day of the year for every office. Guess bosses have learned to check the Reds' schedule before planning any major meetings.

Hint of Spring

2007-02-20T11:49:00.000-05:00

Spying a robin won't be the first sign of spring here, since Ed and I have both seen one in the past month. Looking none too happy, although hopefully there are enough holly and barberry fruits for it to survive until the ground thaws.

The equinox is still a month away, but the air early this morning felt like winter might be retreating. It was well into the 40s by 7:30, birds were singing, and the sun was shining. The sun shining early in the morning is a big deal here in Cincinnati -- at least for people raised in the east. SW Ohio is almost as far west as you can go and still be in the eastern time zone. The good news: it stays light an hour later in the evening, which we got used to very quickly. The bad news: it gets light an hour later in the morning, and that is much harder to see as an asset.

Amaryllis Rebloom

2007-02-19T15:15:00.000-05:00

So much for my old notion that Amaryllis 'Lemon Lime' is a weak grower -- mine suprised me by delivering a third stem last week. And little Cybister 'Ruby Meyer' put out a second stem, despite the fact there isn't even a hint of foliage on Ruby yet. So there was life indoors, although it was cold, icy, and snowy outdoors.

Today is the first time this month that the thermometer has edged above feezing. More than "edged" -- it's nearly 50°F now. All day, there's been a din of melt water and crashing icicles on the flat roof of the office. A very welcome sound, replacing last week's creaking and cracking of ice-coated tree limbs.

The Enquirer's garden columnist, a local nurseryman, was very pessimistic yesterday about spring. Most plants had gone dormant, but then reawakened in the warmest-ever January, only to freeze solid in the coldest February. He predicted most bigleaf hydrangeas won't bloom because the buds are toast. I'll be curious to see how the crape myrtles and vitex fare. The lowest nighttime temp in our area was still barely below 0°F, so still more like zone 7 than 6... but that January warm fakeout will be the culprit.

White Death, part 2

2007-02-13T12:54:00.000-05:00

We're caught between two fronts, from north and south -- right on the edge of the snow/rain line. The city/county/state prepared overnight by brining the streets -- a technique you just don't see in Connecticut. Because of this, our street seems fairly clear so far, but the sidewalks are coated with at least a couple inches of waterlogged snow. Which is certain to turn to ice, because the temps are supposed to plummet, and stay in the low double digits for the rest of the week. Ugh. We're just above freezing now. If we're very lucky, we won't lose power. If we do, we'll have even more reason to be grateful that we have a gas cooktop, waterheater, and fireplace. The oven won't work without electricity for the temp setting, but at least we can still cook.

The White Death (aka snow) Hits Cincinnati

2007-02-07T08:59:00.000-05:00

A record-setting five whole inches of snow fell yesterday, beginning a bit after noon and ending around 8 p.m. Since the highway departments here don't seem to understand the difficult concept of "plowing," the highways and roads were a mess. They seem to have city trucks, but they're used to spray salt on the roads ... no sand, no plowing. Ed has several times seen trucks drive by with the plow in the up position, not actually scraping the, um, snow...

Lots of businesses let employees out early, theoretically before the heaviest snow, which had the effect of starting rush hour a couple of hours early. Another reason to be very happy we chose to live in Hyde Park, 6 miles from downtown, instead of out in the burbs.

Yesterday on his blog, Jim Borgman, the Pulitzer-winning cartoonist for the Enquirer, assembled a collection of "white death" cartoons from the last decade... the opening (above) is my favorite. And is a pretty accurate reflection of the local TV commentators. To be fair, since everything was shut down or canceled, the snow was the only news to report. So they did. Endlessly. The stations have cameras (jam cams) in several locations on the highways, so we got to see I71-75 in Kentucky shut down in both directions because the hill was so slippery no one could get up it. Temperatures were in the single digits, so the thawing effect of salt doesn't last long.

An Amazingly Dreadful Wine from Argentina

2007-02-05T20:07:00.001-05:00

So, the thing is, we've been reading about all these South American wines now available, and it seemed like a great idea to try something new. I spotted an Argentine wine from the Quara brand, called "Torrontes." Hmmm. Never heard of it, but the label called it a "uniquely fragrant wine with bold floral and tropical fruit aromas." And "dry and crisp finish with a touch of oak for complexity."

Well, no oak to speak of. But floral for sure. As in, shampoo. Or cheap cologne. Think: the strongest, ickiest artificial chemical "flower" scent -- Ed thought it was like drinking a bottle of perfume. I thought it was like drinking a bottle of shampoo. But you get the idea. We each gagged down a couple of sips, thinking it might improve on the finish. Sadly, the finish was strictly Clairol.

So, if you ever have the opportunity to try a 2005 Cafayate Valley Torrontes... please don't. You've been warned.

But the icky wine did not spoil our pleasure in an excellent homemade pizza and the best Super Bowl game in recent memory. Not that we're particularly Colts fans, but we were very happy to cheer Peyton Manning and teammates.

Findlay Market in Cincinnati

2007-02-05T19:45:00.000-05:00

Opened in 1855, Findlay Market is the only surviving public market in Cincinnati. The original cast iron-framed market house is still used today, although now there are movable exterior glass walls to protect the market from the elements... very handy on Saturday when the temps topped out in the low 20s.

This is what grandma meant by going marketing... (or perhaps what food shopping means in Paris today). You bring your tote bags with you, and shop at a huge variety of vendors, for meats, fish, cheese, bread, fresh pasta, herbs, and loads of veggies. You can point out exactly which chop or chicken breast you want from the meat counter -- nothing is shrink-wrapped.

It takes a bit of time to shop this way, so marketing becomes an event, not just a chore. We still haven't quite figured out exactly who sells what -- there are a lot of merchants. There are at least 3 places to buy chicken, if not more; and two places for fish.

We've definitely found our source of pork and sausage -- Kroeger & Sons has the most amazing homemade sausage selection imaginable -- southern style, German, pork, chicken, (duck on a recent visit), and variations on Italian. So far, the blend they call Chicago style is closest to what a Connecticut native thinks of as Italian sausage. They have nitrate-free bacon, lovely ham by the slice, plus every pork cut you can name, and lamb.

Last weekend, we had lunch at Paula's Café, where we tried her home-cured corned beef, and pastrami. The pastrami had zero fat, and was as delicious as the corned beef. Their idea of a Ruben has what they call "Amish" sauce, instead of Russian dressing... but it was wonderful.

We've been thrilled to see that Findlay Market appears to be packed with shoppers on Saturdays... we'd been on Sundays or weekdays, when the crowd is much smaller -- so it was exciting to see a full parking lot and loads of shoppers. It seems to be a mix of neighborhood residents (i.e., people of color), people who would probably be called "young urban professionals" although I'm sure they don't think of themselves that way, and folks our age.

Findlay Market is in the heart of Over-the-Rhine -- the most depressing neighborhood in Cincinnati. It's home to the largest surviving collection of Italianate architecture in the U.S., but many of the buildings are decrepit, or worse. Although people are trying to spruce the place up, and you can see buildings and blocks that have been rehabbed, the overall effect is darn depressing. Evidently, a group affiliated with Findlay Market owns a lot of real estate around it, and is about to embark on a huge improvement project, but the neighborhood feeling now is semi-abandoned -- hence the very pleasant surprise of seeing white people shopping here.

From what we've been able to see since moving here, Cincinnati is extremely racially segregated, and to be black seems to mean being poor... I know there's a black middle class, but I don't think they live in town, but out in the burbs. And it doesn't seem to be as large as the black middle class in Connecticut.

Unfortunately, Mairose, our favorite neighborhood butcher in Hyde Park, is going out of business after 100+ years in the neighborhood, so we need to find a new meat source. Mairose had the best chicken we've had in years, so we're looking for another alternative to the Tyson/Purdue lock on the supermarket trade. We've tried two vendors at Findlay Market, and both had wonderful chicken.

Cincinnati Observatory Center

2007-01-28T17:16:00.000-05:00

This is the oldest telescope in continuous use in the world, built in 1842 ... and it's housed less than a mile away, atop Mount Lookout, at the Cincinnati Observatory Center. The 11in lens (like a giant magnifying glass) is held at the tip of a tube made of a bored-out elm. This is the original telescope from the first observatory in the United States, originally atop Mount Adams, the neighborhood that looks out on the Ohio River, just above downtown Cincinnati.

Just at the top, you can see daylight where the window in the dome is hand-cranked open. The dome itself rotates, powered by a motor installed after electricity finally arrived, post World War II.

This structure was built in in 1873, when the observatory relocated to what was then the boonies, to escape the air pollution of the city (coal was -- and still is, for electricity generation -- the fuel of choice). This National Historic Landmark bills itself "the Birthplace of American Astronomy." The buildings and both telescopes have been beautifully restored.

The center was open this afternoon for guided tours, so we bundled up -- the high temp today was only about 27. The rooms housing the telescopes are kept at ambient temperature, to improve the view, and it was darn cold.

The original telescope was replaced in 1904 by a much larger one, also still in use, although it required extensive restoration. Although the telescopes are huge, they are perfectly balanced on their complex housing. To keep the subject in view, both telescopes rotate, ever so slowly. Craig showed us the elaborate original clockworks from 1873, in which a 300-lb weight provides the drive to move the 4,000+ lb telescope and supports (hope I'm recalling the weights correctly... but it was a little counterweight balancing a big honking telescope... ) It was a beautiful piece of engineering, and so lovely to see it still ticking away. I know we tend to think all things digital are an improvement, but it's wonderful to get to admire the great analog technology that built this country.

The stand for each scope is mounted on bedrock (or close to) and the floors don't touch the bases anywhere, so there's no vibration from people moving around.

Craig Niemi, the executive director, showed us the original telescope (shown at the top), now housed in a small observatory, adjacent to the building shown above. Because the instrument is smaller, it's more easily accessible for school groups, so this is usually the scope used in their regular programs, a couple of times a month.

The observatory has a very active program schedule, which I was surprised to see. I'd thought of the building as a history museum, not a place where science is actively pursued. Saturn Days Feb. 24-27, and a lunar eclipse March 3. And nights devoted to Venus and Jupiter later in the season. The University of Cincinnati keeps the lights on, but there is now a 501(c)3 organization that is trying to raise funds to keep the observatory going.

Wonder if the school children living here have any clue how lucky they are to live so close to a working telescope that's open to the public?

This is Craig Niemi giving us a closer look at the lens of the newer telescope.

"Christmas" Amaryllis

2007-01-13T10:16:00.000-05:00

'Honeymoon', the large-flowered Amaryllis billed as a Christmas-blooming South African variety, finally bloomed Friday -- three weeks later than expected. And, as I suspected, the color is more of a carmine red than the pinky-purple shown on the John Scheepers web site. Still quite nice, and the warm color is very welcome on this dark, dank day -- heavy rain predicted for the weekend, but fortunately we're on the warm side of the colliding fronts. Folks to the west and north got heavy ice out of this storm, so no complaints here.

Blogger is once again refusing to upload images, so the pics will have to come later. If I monkey with the color in Photoshop, adding quite a bit of cyan, it looks more like the Scheepers' pic.

Amaryllis 'Lemon Lime' is also blooming -- the first of the elegant, pale chartreuse flowers also opened Friday. Although I've had problems in the past with this variety being a weak grower, this bulb has two very tall stems, and four buds on the first stem.

What's Wrong With This Picture?

2007-01-05T15:53:00.000-05:00

The temperature at 2 p.m. today, January 5. In southwestern Ohio, not in Savannah.

Spring Grove Cemetery

2006-12-30T17:47:00.000-05:00

Spring Grove Cemetery and Arboretum in the northwest part of Cincinnati (in the inner ring of very old suburbs) has just won designation as a National Historic Landmark. One of the largest cemeteries of its kind in the U.S., (at 733 acres, 400 of them developed) the cemetery has been in use for 150 years. And is obviously still very much in use as a cemetery.

Home now to many state and national champion trees, the cemetery was carefully laid out and landscaped like a park, one of the first in the country to do so. In the mid 19th century, it apparently replaced the smaller churchyards down in the lower, inner-city area, which by that time was heavily developed and densely built.

We'll have to visit in the spring, when the National Champion Silverbells are in bloom. There are also state champion native oaks, pines, a yellowwood, and bald cypress, among others. Among the non-native champions is a Cedar of Lebanon, plus many firs and pines.

We visited a couple of neighborhoods we hadn't seen before. We started at the Cincinnati Civic Garden Center, which began life in the early 20th century as an estate only a couple of miles from downtown (hence its name, "Sooty Acres." The owner, Mr. Hauck, clearly had a sense of humor, as well as being a gardener.) As you might expect, it's pretty quiet in December, although there were plenty of holly trees, evergreen magnolias, yews, and other evergreen trees and shrubs, including Mahonia (possibly a couple of varieties -- there was a saw-toothed broadleaf evergreen that I didn't recognize, but am guessing is a Mahonia, in addition to a mature specimen that I recognized), Christmas ferns, a few huge Hellebores (not in bloom), and some European ginger and Epimedium.

There is a large Daffodil garden, a shade garden with dozens of different varieties of Hosta (based on the labels), a Hemerocallis display, and more. We saw Daffodils already an inch or two tall. (On the walk to Mairose this morning for steaks and pork chops, I saw a few flowers on a Forsythia that is confused about what season this really is, since it's been in the 50s for weeks.)

The Civic Garden Center has many terraces and benches, so it is very inviting, even on a gray day like today. At this time of year, a flying pig sculpture is the biggest source of non-green color, though.

From the garden center, we drove northwest, through Clifton (we think), the neighborhood around the University of Cincinnati. On Ludlow Street, there are a few blocks of commercial area, with many small Chinese, Thai, Indian, Mediterranean, and Latin American restaurants. With school not in session, the area was pretty quiet, and we had our choice. We tried Biaggio Bistro, an Italian restaurant, for lunch. Excellent homemade soups, great salad with clearly homemade dressing. Ed tried a Ruben, which was good, but had barbecue sauce instead of the Russian dressing that is de rigeur in the Northeast. From there, we head north to Spring Grove, which is surrounded now by light industrial zoning, not far from I75.

Amaryllis Ruby Meyer

2006-12-29T15:36:00.000-05:00

Blogger finally let me upload the photo of the Cybister Amaryllis 'Ruby Meyer', now in full bloom. Two blossoms have opened and the third is swelling and nearly open. The petals are very narrow, rich red with a yellow throat, and a bit of yellow streaking in the three lower petals. The effect is exotic and elegant, very different from the over-the-top fullness of its full size cousins. The tiniest tip of a leaf (or possibly a second stem) is just barely visible in the bulb, so the show isn't over yet. I'll try posting the image again later.

More Amaryllis

2006-12-27T12:43:00.000-05:00

With its unusual coloring, Amaryllis 'Exotica' lives up to its name. The main shade is the palest pastel hint-of-peach, with darker veins that vary from rusty red to peach-pit red. Where the veins converge in the center, the color is a rich orangey- red. The effect is almost translucent, as though you could see your hand through the petals. This is a full-size variety, with the first stem 17-in tall, and the second one more than 19-in.

'Green Goddess' is also in bloom. This miniature is pure white, with a green throat and green brushed on the outside of the petals. The effect is cool and elegant.

Meanwhile, the Cybister 'Ruby Meyer' is tantalizingly close to opening.

The Nutcracker at Music Hall, Cincinnati

2006-12-25T11:09:00.000-05:00

Music Hall, built in 1878, is a grand concert hall with amazing acoustics. Like many such gems, it came near to the wrecking ball, but folks here rallied to rehab it. And thank goodness they did. It is one of the finest concert halls in the world -- designed and built long before electric amplification, yet the sound carries beautifully to all 3,500 seats. Without speakers.

The Nutcracker performance was super -- excellent dancing and choreography, great sets, fabulous costumes. But the best part was the orchestra -- excellent conductor, and great performers. The sound was exquisite -- you could differentiate every instrument. After hearing a concert there, you realize how soupy the sound is at most venues, where all the instruments blend into a stew -- fine, but not top notch. Music Hall is clearly la creme de la creme.

Christmas Visit

2006-12-23T17:11:00.000-05:00

Michael and Rini both arrived safely (although Michael's flight was 2 1/2 hours late), so we spent today sightseeing downtown Cincinnati.
It was great to see crowds downtown -- waiting in line for a horse-drawn carriage ride, skating at Fountain Square, or watching the amazing train display at the Duke Energy building. And, of course, we had to show the kids the Palm Court at the Netherlands Hilton at Carew Towers. There were even people shopping, although I'm sure the crowds at the malls were 10X greater.

Fountain Square is the equivalent of the town green here, the heart of downtown. The statue, called "The Genius of Water" was removed for close to two years while the plumbing was redone and moved, all the paving torn up and replaced, and the whole area refurbished. The work hasn't been completed yet, but the city had committed to having a Christmas tree there this year, one way or another.

Rini was surprised to see that, unlike PC Boston, there's a creche here at Fountain Square (and also a life-size one with live animals at Eden Park). Also unlike Boston, cars stop to allow pedestrians the right of way. And drivers are generally courteous and not in so much of a hurry.

The holiday train setup at Duke is obviously a labor of love for some diehard model train enthusiasts. There were three there guys in chambray blue today, running at least 8 trains on the 1,000 feet of track... great fun.

Amaryllis for Christmas

2006-12-20T10:56:00.000-05:00

At least one of the Christmas-blooming Amaryllis is doing just that. 'Amalfi' is a candy-pink miniature with four flowers open, and an amazing three more buds on the first stem. I haven't grown a miniature in several years, and had forgotten how relatively demure they are. The first stem is a foot tall, compared to 17-in for the full-size 'Exotica' next to it.

Unexpectedly, most of the Amaryllis planted the second week of November are showing signs of growth. 'Green Goddess', another miniature, will bloom within a few days, and the first bud of 'Exotica' (first of three stems) has just split, so we'll likely see that by New Year's. [Update: Dec. 23, first bud of 'Green Goddess' opened this morning.] 'Ruby Meyer' has a single, slender, very dark stem that can move inches in a day -- it must be rotated daily to have a prayer of keeping it upright. The first tip of a leaf is peeping out of the 'Lemon Lime' bulb, too.

I was able to put all the Amaryllis on radiator covers, and we keep this apartment much warmer than our old house, so I'm guessing that's why the heat-loving Amaryllis are growing faster than I'm used to. It was often February or March before they bloomed in Connecticut

Alas, 'Honeymoon' -- the other "Christmas" bloomer -- is positively sulky. The bud emerged from the bulb within two weeks of planting, but it has grown only about a quarter inch in the last week. It is very stubbornly sitting there. I gave two as gifts to non-gardeners two weeks ago -- both were about this size, so I'm really hoping these aren't duds. I kept the one that showed streaks of red in the bud -- possible signs of red-fire, a fungal disease of Amaryllis. Spores hide deep within the bulb, so a minor infestation shows no symptoms until the stem emerges. It's a terrible blight in Holland, and hard to get under control, even though the bulbs are inspected carefully before they're exported

This picture of three Amaryllis shows, from left, 'Amalfi', 'Exotica' (with its three stems) and -- just visible -- little 'Ruby Meyer', a Cybister that looks more like a wild flower than a buxom Amaryllis. So we have lots of bloom to look forward to after the holidays.

New Home for the Holidays

2006-12-09T10:40:00.000-05:00

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

We put our tree in the center of the three front windows, so we're sharing with the world. Since the tree does not interfere with the cats being able to sit in those south-facing windows, they've permitted it. One angel ornament flies off the tree and into the dining room every night, though.

Decorating for Christmas

2006-12-03T18:10:00.000-05:00

After admiring our tree, I have to admit that Ed and I have not quite mastered the empty-nest thing. Instead of a color-themed, tastefully-decorated, Martha-perfect tree, we once again are enjoying our collection of ornaments that includes many as old as Michael and Renee (including a few made by them in pre-school), and a precious handful about as old as I am. This is the first year I've been able to even open the box of ornaments I inherited from Mom. Guess 6 years after her death, I was finally able to. ... with a few tears, though. There were some more recent ornaments that didn't resonate with me, and one small box of a dozen old glass ornaments, all small -- no more than 2in in diameter, bells and balls, many of them striped in a way you rarely see any more. I wish I could swear I remember them from growing up ... but two of the striped ones feel familiar. They're definitely vintage 50s (or maybe 60s), though.

There are eight complex needlepoint snowflakes that Uncle Norm made one summer when he visited Nanny -- he always had to keep his hands busy while he was keeping her company. These are made with two overlapping pieces of canvas, cut in very intricate designs. He could manage to carry on a conversation, joke, and quip, while his needle kept flying.

There are also several cross-stitch ornaments that Mary Ann made for the kids many years ago, and some adorable tiny teddy bears in beaded wreaths she made another year. Two angels Margo Cleveland made about 20+ years ago. And some of the fun felt ornaments I bought at Alan and Sharon Keston's craft shop when Peggie and I shared that great riverview apartment in Mystic, back in the 70s. Have I ever mentioned Ed and I don't believe in throwing things away? (OK, the painted macaroni ornaments from pre-school disappeared a few years back after disintegrating to shards, but not much else has... Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without, was something we were both raised with. )

Even though when I was packing in May, I gave Michael and Renee each a big carton of their ornaments collected over the years, we still have quite a few mice, teddy bears, and at least a couple of dinosaurs (of the non-toothy, snow-hat-wearing, sled-riding variety. They probably went extinct first...)

Folks here in Cincinnati seem to start decorating early -- lots of trees on our street were up and lit the day after Thanksgiving. We recycled some of the window candles and timers from Crescent Street, and have candles in the 7 windows visible from the street. Then, wottheheck, in the dining room and kitchen. And, of course, still have candles left over. Our upstairs neighbors set out their candles last weekend, so the whole house looks wonderful at night.

I suppose we made some progress towards empty-nest mode -- this is the first time in 27 years that our tree has white lights, instead of multi-color ;-)

Another Archeology Site

2006-11-26T15:29:00.000-05:00

While Michael was visiting for Thanksgiving, we took advantage of fabulous warm (66°!!) weather to visit a site very nearby in northern Kentucky, called Big Bone Lick. It's an ancient salt lick/mineral spring -- you can see the salty water in the photo. Lucky for you, you can't smell it -- very sulfurous. Hard to imagine that this was a spa in the 19th century, where folks "took the waters."

The water level has gone down substantially in the last century, so that what was an 80-acre bog is now a moist meadow with a stinky stream meandering through it. You can tell from the erosion and the very steep banks of the stream that there must have been times when a lot of water coursed through here, but not now.

So the "lick" part of the name is explained, but what about "Big Bone?" The bones that once filled the site belonged to mammoths, mastodons, giant sloths, and bison that became trapped in the soft mud towards the end of the last great Ice Age. Apparently, thousands of bones and tusks littered the surface of the bog. The Shawnee knew of the site, and processed salt here for preserving meat. Whites soon learned of it, and the first bones were removed by a trader in 1744.

Before the site was completely despoiled, Meriwether Lewis stopped here in 1803, on his way to join the Corps of Discovery, and sent samples to Thomas Jefferson at the White House. Later, in 1807, Jefferson sent Clark to Big Bone Lick for the very first organized vertebrate paleontology expedition in the United States. So this state park is important in the history of paleontology.

Alas, lots of collectors stripped off the bones during the 19th century, so truly methodical study came later, when less remained.

There is a small museum at the site, with examples of vertebrae and mammoth and mastodon teeth, among other things. There was a sloth vertebra the size of my hand -- hard to imagine the animal it came from.

The park, in Boone County, only about 15 miles from I-75, has lots of campsites and hiking trails, as well as a small museum and shop, and a nature center that was closed this weekend.

There are labeled examples of native plants used in the landscaping, such as New England asters and little bluestem grass, and it appears there is habitat restoration ongoing in the woodland. We saw quite a few trees deliberately girdled, so I'm assuming they are non-natives that will be removed.

One interesting native tree none of us had seen before is the black locust, Robinia pseudoacacia. At least, that's what we were told it is, but I'm not positive. The seedpods look right, but the thorns on these trees are much fiercer than those in photos I've found on the web.

As you can see, the trunks of some are covered with very long thorns. Some are less completely covered than this example.

Another great find of this trip -- the book we've been looking for since we moved to Ohio. Looks like someone saw the same need we did. Natural History of the Cincinnati Region by Stanley Hedeen, Emeritus Professor of Biology at Xavier University is labeled as "Volume 1" of a new series of scientific publications from Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal. We found it in the little museum shop, and I suspect it's very recently published. It's 152 pages, with plenty of maps, drawings, and two sections of color photos. The geology and ecology here are so different from what we're used to in Connecticut, Ed & I both wanted to understand what we're seeing.

Remembering the Titanic

2006-11-25T10:36:00.000-05:00

The Cincinnati Museum Center is hosting a traveling exhibit of artifacts salvaged from the Titanic... a pretty chilling but very well-mounted display. Michael and Rhona both visited for Thanksgiving, so we got tickets for the 10 a.m. walk-through Friday.

It's remarkable that leather wallets and bags -- and the paper inside them -- survived so long underwater. There's a display case of currency, as well as displays of china, jewelry, and detritus like the frame of an electric fan. You walk through reproductions of a first class hallway, and a second class hallway, plus an engine room, while listening to descriptions of what you're seeing, and interviews with survivors. It's all very well done, and if you've seen the movie Titanic, you'll recognize how accurate its reproductions were.

All the same, it's very chilling to know how many people died needlessly because the captain and the White Star line wanted to set records for the crossing from England to the US.

As is the norm these days with blockbuster exhibits, the tour ends with a gift shop ... how creepy is it to want to dine on reproduction china, or hang a Titanic Christmas ornament? Although I guess I can understand wanting to have videos on the salvage operation. The stories are fascinating, as is the science behind conserving objects that survived at pressures of 6,000 pounds per sq. in. (they tend to explode or disintegrate when brought to the surface if you're not really careful).

A Garden Alternative

2006-11-19T20:56:00.000-05:00

It seems too odd not to be planting bulbs in the fall. So the lack of garden space isn't stopping me. We used to plant at least 400 tulips every fall just for cutting, plus dozens- to- hundreds of daffodils, scilla, muscari, allium, hyacinths, etc etc. So this seems like a very modest effort.

We've had mixed success planting tulips in pots -- several years, absolutely glorious results, another year, nada. But, since pots are all we have now, pots it is.

In about 4 or 5 months, I hope I'll be posting photos of pots of Tulip 'Angélique' (only 50 bulbs) with Muscari, Narcissus 'Dicksissel' (only 25 of a favorite reverse bicolor Jonquilla) and 20 'Jack Snipe'. The 'Jack Snipe' bulbs were tiny (as befits a Cyclamineus type, I suppose), but all had two or three noses, so I'm hopeful. I layered another 4 or 5 inches of soil above these bulbs after taking the photo, watered them, dusted them with hot pepper flakes (in hopes of deterring mice), and then dragged them into the garage. The prediction is for a warmer than average winter, so I'm crossing my fingers that the unheated, freestanding garage will be enough protection. It worked several times in Connecticut, which is colder than Cincinnati. So... stay tuned!

Amaryllis Time

2006-11-12T16:03:00.000-05:00

Well, Amaryllis planting time, anyway. My order arrived this week, so I planted the bulbs Sunday afternoon. (I tried posting this Sunday evening, but Blogger was on strike, evidently...) The early-flowering varieties of Amaryllis are from South Africa, rather than Holland, and are grown and cured on a different schedule, allowing them to bloom in December, rather than January, February, or even later for the Dutch-grown.

So this year, I'm trying a couple of early bloomers, plus some Dutch varieties.

John Scheepers Bulbs in Bantam, CT, has (or had -- most are sold out now) a big selection selection of Christmas-flowering Amaryllis, large-flowered singles and doubles, and miniature varieties. This one, a large-flowered called 'Honeymoon', is described as "raspberry-rose with a blue sheen."

I should know better than to trust colors on the web, but this one looked irresistable. I bought three, so we can have a couple to use as hostess gifts. All are in unglazed white ceramic pots (courtesy of the White Flower Farm employee giveaway a couple of years ago.) The pots are gorgeous, but because they're not heavily glazed, they developed mold/algae in the greenhouses. Although a lot of gardeners kill for pots with that aged look, our customers weren't thrilled, so we switched to a different pot style, and lucky employees got to take home the extras.

The two green pots are planted with green-flowered varieties: 'Green Goddess' and 'Lemon Lime'. The bulbs of both varieties were big and looked great -- 'Lemon Lime' can be a weak grower, so we'll see. 'Green Goddess' is a miniature flower, but the bulb was quite large.

'Amalfi' is a Christmas-flowering, miniature variety in pink ("neyron rose" in bulb catalog-speak).

'Ruby Meyer' is Cybister type -- it looks more like a wild flower than like a typical, big, blousy Amaryllis. This variety is supposed to be Tovah Martin's favorite. Evidently the Cybisters drip a lot of nectar --there being a fearful lack of butterflies and hummingbirds in our living room in winter, I assume I'm going to have to be careful about where I place this when it blooms. ... if it blooms -- I ordered a different Cybister from Scheepers last winter, and it never sprouted. I finally pitched it in April.

And last, one of my favorites, 'Exotica', which is a soft apricot color, with red veins.

Sharpie® Marketing Opportunity

2006-11-07T14:55:00.000-05:00

Another first ... the first time I've ever voted using a paper ballot. It's an incredibly painstaking process, that will require a huge amount of warehouse space, and certainly takes a looong time.

Hamilton County, where we live, decided to go with a paper ballot, which voters then scan. So it's electronic voting, with a paper trail. When you sign in, the clerk has to find your voter registration signature in one of many stapled books of signatures -- you then have to produce an ID, sign to acknowledge receipt of the numbered ballot, and the ballot number is written in by hand.

Then it's off to a little portable cube to fill in boxes on a 3-page ballot. When you're done, you feed the ballot into a scanner, which has a hood around it for privacy. If the scanner reads the ballot, you see an American flag and you're done. If there's a problem reading the ballot, I guess you get to do it again...

If there is a recount, evidently the paper ballots are counted, not the scanned ones. Presumably, the ballots have to be boxed and stored securely for some amount of time after the election. Logistical nightmare....

And you have to fill in the box (1/4in X 1/8in) by next to your candidates'/questions completely. Using a black-ink ball. point. pen.

A Sharpie® would cut the time needed to cast your votes by probably 95%.

It's hard to imagine how much more convoluted the process could be.

Note to Connecticut officials: when you replace the old, speedy, reliable, mechanical voting machines in our old home state, do not expect people to fill in ballot boxes using ballpoint pens. You will have riots on your hands, from all the impatient, type-A voters having strokes while being forced to wait in long lines ...

Killing Frost. Finally.

2006-11-02T14:00:00.000-05:00

We've had frost on the lawn and cars quite a few days in the last several weeks, but last night was the first time the temps dropped well below 32°. The two Strobilanthes (Persian Shield) in the big urns turned completely black -- but the Osteospermums in the same pots still look quite perky. Time to either move the urns to storage or switch to red twig dogwoods or cut greens.

Introducing a great new information technology

2006-11-02T12:18:00.000-05:00

I first read about this fabulous new technology on David Pogue's tech blog. He cribbed it from a reviewer, who cribbed it from someone else. Ain't the internet grand? In any case, it is truly a groundbreaking idea ...

Introducing the new Bio-Optic Organized Knowledge (BOOK)

BOOK is a revolutionary breakthrough in technology; no wires, no electric circuits, no batteries, nothing to be connected or switched on. It's so easy to use even a child can operate it. Compact and portable, it can be used anywhere, even sitting in an armchair by the fire, yet it is powerful enough to hold as much information as a CD-ROM disc.

Here is how it works: BOOK is constructed of sequentially numbered sheets of recyclable paper, each capable of holding thousands of bits of information. The pages are locked together with a custom-fit device called a binder, which keeps the sheets in their correct sequence. Opaque Paper Technology (OPT) allows manufacturers to use both sides of the sheet, doubling the information density and cutting costs. Each sheet is scanned optically, registering information directly into your brain. A flick of your finger takes you to the next sheet. BOOK may be taken up at any time and used merely by simply opening it.

BOOK never crashes or requires rebooting. The Browse feature allows you to move instantly to any sheet, and move forward or backward as you wish. Many come with an Index feature, which pinpoints the exact location of any selected information for instant retrieval. An optional "BOOKMARK" accessory allows you to open BOOK to the exact place you left it in a previous session, even if the BOOK is closed. BOOKMARKS fit universal design standards; thus, a single BOOKMARK can be used in BOOKS by various manufacturers. Conversely, numerous BOOKMARKS can be used in a single BOOK if the user wants to store numerous views at once. The number is limited by the number of pages in the BOOK.

You can also make personal notes next to BOOK text entries with an optional programming tool, named: "Portable Erasable Nib Cryptic Intercommunication Language Stylus"-or-"PENCILS."

Portable, durable and affordable, the BOOK is being hailed as the precursor of a huge entertainment wave. BOOK'S appeal seems so certain that thousands of content-creators have committed to the platform and investors are reportedly flocking to the new phenomenon. Look for a flood of new titles soon.

Serpent Mound

2006-10-29T17:57:00.000-05:00

Today we visited a mysterious site about an hour east of Cincinnati -- the Serpent Mound. Built by a relatively unknown Native American culture, the mound is 1,330 feet long, built atop a bluff overlooking Brush Creek. This is an image taken from the first official map of the site, in 1848, c. the Ohio history site. It's the largest surviving such structure in North America.

There are three burial mounds nearby, at least two of which date back to the Adena culture, 800 BC- 1AD. Harvard University archaeologist Frederic Ward Putnam, who excavated the burial mounds and the Serpent Mound in the 1880s, attributed all the structures to the same time period. Nothing is actually buried in the serpent, except for some rocks that form the core of the mounds. But recent research (carbon dating of some charcoal found in the serpent) dates the serpent to the Fort Ancient culture (AD 1000-1550). There is a Fort Hill site, an earthenworks on a hilltop, associated with the same people.

The Serpent Mound is remarkably well preserved -- thanks to the "good ladies" of Boston, who raised money for its preservation in 1888. Harvard's Peabody Museum aquired the site, and protected it, eventually donating it to the Ohio Historical Society, with the proviso that the mound be preserved -- AND open to the public. Today was the last weekend the site will be open this year, so we were lucky the weather was so gorgeous.

This shot was taken from atop the 30ft observation tower built perhaps a quarter of the way along the serpent, looking towards the head. A narrow paved path traces the entire structure.

Because no written records -- or evidently, oral tradition -- survives, there is some disagreement about exactly what the mound depicts. It's pretty clearly a snake zigzagging along the top of the bluff here. But the snake ends, just before the edge of the ravine, with a large oval, preceded by a V. Which might be the snake's head, seen in plan view. Or the V might be the open jaws seen in profile, about to swallow an egg. And some folks see a frog escaping ahead of the egg... that took more imagination than we have. We could definitely see the "egg," though.

The mound is anywhere from 2 to 4+ feet high. It ends with a tight coil -- also within a few feet of the edge of the ravine. The site is beautifully maintained, and well worth the visit. To preserve the mound, it was planted in grass, which is kept mowed, and keeps the site from reverting to forest.

Topgraphically/geologically, it was an interesting ride, through the very level farmland of Clermont County -- lots of corn and soybeans, a little tobacco, until the land forms changed dramatically. The area around the mounds has never been glaciated -- much steeper terrain, with pockets of sandstone that create shelf-like formations, and also areas of limestone -- there are caverns maybe 15 miles from here. Saved for another trip!

Cincinnati Museum Center

2006-10-27T15:43:00.000-05:00

We took advantage of last weekend's cold weather to spend some time indoors -- at a truly remarkable museum. And we only saw a little bit of it.

The Union Terminal train station is an Art Deco marvel, completed in 1933. It consolidated multiple, independent rail lines into one grand central station, on the west side of downtown. Since then, I-75 has pretty much cut off that part of town from downtown, so we found it a little tricky to reach. But, at 10 stories tall, the half-domed building is easy to see from a great distance.

About 15 years ago, a group of museums took over the essentially abandoned building -- it's officially Cincinnati Museum Center, and includes a history museum, natural history & science museum, children's museum, Omnimax theater, and the grand terminal itself.

We were surprised and delighted by how huge the local history museum is -- it takes advantage of several levels of the tunnels that that used to route car, taxi, and bus traffic through the terminal. The web site describes it as one of the largest urban history museums in the country, and I don't think it's overstating.

The first exhibit is a huge model of downtown, as it appeared in the early 1940s -- Carew Tower, the tallest building in town, is 7 feet tall. Trains and trolleys whip around on tracks, and the models are remarkably accurate. Separate displays show the hillside neighborhoods, with working models of the five inclines that made it possible for people to move out of the central basin, up to the hilltops.

The topography is way too steep for horses to manage (tough to pull loads up roads that steep, harder to keep from getting run over going downhill.) The inclines were engineering marvels -- sort of outdoor elevators on tracks. A trolley car would enter the platform at the bottom and the top, to balance the load, and drop or be pulled up on a cable.

The Mt. Auburn incline was 960 feet long and climbed 312 ft. , and I don't think it was the tallest!

The museum traces the city's history, from the native Americans to the present day. There's a huge street filled with shops and a re-creation of the Public Landing, with a 94-ft riverboat. (Think Mystic Seaport, but indoors!)

Lots of every day artifacts from the 18th and 19 century, including a pair of spurs so tiny, they'd barely fit a child today, but belonged to a soldier. People were a LOT smaller 200 years ago. Which I guess makes George Washington's 6' 2" stature even more remarkable.

Great technology exhibits -- how quickly flatboats (which had no power, and went downstream really fast, but not so good trying to haul them back to PA) were superseded. And how important the river was to the development of the city. There was a 19th century machine tool shop -- the sort of thing that Connecticut really ought to have, and doesn't.

Although we didn't have little kids with us, there are lots of exhibits they can play in and on, scattered around.

Absolutely first rate museum.

Ugly politics

2006-10-26T11:44:00.000-05:00

I'm about ready to stay home on election day. ... the campaign ads are such drivel, I don't care to vote FOR anyone...

All the ads are about why not to vote for an opponent, usually dredging up some small factoid devoid of context. I haven't seen a single piece that says, "Hi, I'm so-and-so. Vote for me because I will do X, Y, and Z for Ohio." [update 10-27-06: retired Sen. John Glenn is appearing in ads for three Democratic candidates, and he insisted he will only do ads that are positive, not mud slingers. I'm sure I'm not the only person who's grateful.]

The editorial cartoonist for the Columbus paper had a great cartoon in USA Today last week... at first I thought it meant the whole country was being flooded with these negative campaigns -- but then I saw that the piece came from Columbus. So maybe it is just here. ... Voice from the TV: "My opponent is an idiot and I approve this message."

That's basically the level of what passes for "discourse"... I'd try to link to the cartoon, but it appears to be available only in Flash, as one of a series of toons.

I will vote, because there are two smoking initiatives on the ballot: one, a constitutional amendment supported by RJ Reynolds et al, and another (law, not amendment) supported by the American Cancer Society et al. Gee, wonder which one gets the Yea from me?

Another case of deceptive advertising, at least on the part of the tobacco companies, which make it sound like the amendment will restrict smoking. Although smoking may be restricted to smoking areas by some communities, there is no statewide ban in place. Yet. Sure hope the ban passes, since it would make restaurants and bars a lot more pleasant. For us non-smokers, of course.

Bye Bye, Basil

2006-10-16T08:22:00.000-05:00

Hello, Fleece.

And heavy socks, turtlenecks, sweatshirts. We've had record-setting cold temps the last few days (and especially nights) here in the midwest. Of course, in Cincinnati, we consider ourselves lucky, watching Buffalo emerge from the heavy, wet snow that accompanied this cold front farther north. It's been cold enough for a heavy frost on the cars in the morning, but our brick building is a real heat sink, so it radiates just enough at night to keep the area within a few feet of the house above freezing. Farther out in the suburbs, there have been hard freezes -- 28° last night.

On Wednesday, I harvested the last of the basil, pulled the rosemary indoors (it would survive a few degrees of frost, but I want it inside for the winter, so it was time), and pulled the Brugmansia 'Snowbank' inside for the night -- in hopes that when it warms up, we'll get to enjoy flowers from at least some of the dozen buds that are visible. We've hauled in it and out every night since then, but fortunately, the temps are warming up, so that exercise is done. Until it's time to cut the plant back and tuck it into the basement for the winter, in hopes it will survive dormant until next spring.

I tucked the Society Garlic (Tulbaghia violacea 'Variegata') next to the front door, under the porch roof. I hate to lose the plant prematurely to frost, since it's been blooming for more than two months, and getting fuller and more beautiful every day... except for the smell. It's really AntiSocial Garlic. I tried pulling it indoors about two weeks ago, thinking it might do as a houseplant. But Tomahome (our incorrigible, none-too-smart black cat) bit off the tip of one leaf -- and the reek filled the entire apartment. It smells like rotting garlic, truly putrefying. Yech... so, back outdoors it went.

This is the variegated variety, with leaves edged in pure white. It's grown from two tiny clumps in June to nearly fill the pot. And it's been blooming non-stop since August. Tulbaghia is an evergreen, that never really goes dormant, so I don't think the plant will survive the winter banished to the unheated garage. Ah well, meant to be enjoyed in the moment.

Back online

2006-10-15T15:20:00.000-05:00

A flicker in the power Wednesday evening knocked the computer out -- it was the leading edge of a cold front, which didn't worry me much until I heard thunder about 5 p.m. I was frantically trying to shut down programs so I could turn off the computer when the lights blinked off -- only for an instant, but long enough to cause some byte somewhere to bite the dust.

It turns out computer docs who make house calls is a growth industry -- I was surprised at the number of businesses in the yellow pages. And, of course, I was using that old analog resource because Google was only a memory. I called several, and finally found one who could visit the same day... A+ PC Handyman in Mason. (no website, looks like.)

The technician thought the hard drive was fried but fortunately, it turned out to be a bad sector affecting the boot routine, and pulling the tower out and loading it into his car -- and unhooking everything we've got hanging off this one (scanner, ipod jack, camera jack, external ZIP drive -- remember ZIP drives? -- and a third mystery jack) was enough to get the computer purring again.

Then we were able to use Google to research UPS -- no, the other UPS: uninterruptible power supply. Another technology that has made huge strides since the last time we were in the market... How does anyone keep up with all this stuff?
Anyway, we now have a very large, very heavy battery sitting behind the monitor. Made by APC, it has software called PowerChute, which can switch instantly from house power to battery ... and, we've programmed it to perform an orderly shutdown if power is out for more than 45 minutes. How cool is that? And we found it at Circuit City, so no need to order online.

Although (knock wood) this part of Cincinnati seems not to be in tornado alley (which runs west to east, about 20 miles north of here), we do get fierce thunderstorms that play havoc with the power. So it's worth the $129 investment, and will (we hope) save us future computer doc house calls.

whale of a tale

2006-10-11T12:11:00.000-05:00

grayson by Lynne Cox

Short but inspiring. The action takes place over a few hours very early on a March morning, in the ocean off Los Alamitos, CA. Lynne Cox was 17, and in training for a big swim -- she had already swum the English Channel (twice) and the Catalina Channel. While swimming alone, in the pre-dawn darkness, she notes strange behavior of schools of fish, and begins to think she's being accompanied by a great white. But her companion is no shark -- it's a baby gray whale. Somehow separated from his mother, he latches onto the much smaller Lynne as a companion. The baby will die without his mother. Can Lynne find her and reunite them, before the cold and exhaustion claim her? Of course, you can guess the answer (or the book would be a real downer), but it's still a charming read.

Lovely, evocative language places you in that cold, dark water, observing sea and bird life. You can feel the cold and smell the salt. And marvel at the communication between human and whale. Also amazing that an athlete so young could be so determined to pursue such a lonely sport as long-distance swimming.

Tall Stacks' Last Day

2006-10-08T17:28:00.000-05:00

Today, we went on a house tour in Newport's East Row Historic District, and then climbed up to the top of the levee on the Kentucky side for a last look. Ed shot the Belle of Louisville (pronounced loo-ville in these parts), with the Purple People Bridge in the background, and the skyline of east side of downtown Cincinnati.

Only a few blocks from here, there is a large residential neighborhood of homes built in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Although some parts of it are still down at the heels, whole streets have been resurrected with wonderful house restorations and lovely little town gardens. We went on a garden tour in June and jumped at the chance to get into a few of the houses today.

Tall Stacks

2006-10-08T16:28:00.000-05:00

Tall Stacks is the river version of the Tall Ships -- a rendezvous of riverboats. Held every three or four years, the festival that began as a Bicentennial celebration has evolved to five days of boats, music, and food -- a great combination.

This year, 16 boats participated -- ranging in size from little tour boats to 375ft giants. Most are reproductions of classic 19th century designs. These are the boats that transported people and freight in the days before the Civil War (when access to the Mississippi was cut off for years) and the advent of trains. To someone used to tall ships, riverboats seem a bit ungainly -- only about a foot of freeboard, if that, amidships (more fore and aft). Very topheavy, with decks stacked up. In fact, when the river rose 4 feet on Friday morning because of heavy rains the day before, the boats had to remain tied up for the morning, because the currents/chop were judged too unsafe.

However, they do have their charm -- lots of room to move about, and they do look glorious lit up at night. Don't they?

One, the Natchez, is steam-powered. It even had a steam-powered calliope! Charming to listen to from shore, but I was just as happy we hadn't chosen that for a dinner cruise... I think the repertoire would have gotten old real fast. But great fun to watch. Every time the Natchez went under the Purple People bridge, it would let out great blasts of steam that would rise up through the grating.

The Purple People Bridge? Yes, it's painted purple, and no cars allowed -- just pedestrians. It links Newport on the Levee to the Cincinnati waterfront. People are also allowed on top of it -- there are guided tours where you can walk up along the top of the superstructure. At the peak, you're 140 feet above the river. Fabulous view, although I confess we have passed up the opportunity. If you look reallllly closely, you might be able to make out dots on top of the bridge in the shot below -- those are people on the Purple People Bridge-climb. In this light, the bridge looks more gray -- but trust me. It's really painted purple.

We hadn't managed to find it in earlier outings, but Cincinnati does have some great public spots for watching the river. There's a park east of the Purple People Bridge, and the neatest feature is the levee. When it was rebuilt, it was constructed as a series of giant steps down to the water -- wide enough to sit on and still have room for people to walk behind you. Instead of being a straight line, though, the steps undulate along the river. You can't actually see the whole thing from any place on it -- you'd have to be up on the bridge, I think. Called The Serpentine Wall, it's a terrific feature.

Access to the water was roped off for this event -- too many people, too many kids, too many possibilities for someone to be pushed or slip into the river. However, I think it may be open at other less crowded times.

On the river side of the Great American Ballpark, there is a paddlewheel -- which we thought was a piece of sculpture, but turns out to be a real salvaged wheel. There are historic markers along the route to the park, and a spot where stacks are arranged in a kind of sculpture garden that spouts steam.

We opted for a dinner cruise Saturday night, on the Belle of Cincinnati. Built for river gambling, the Belle has been based here for cruises (no gambling) since 1999. It seats 1,000 people on three decks. A little jostling to get on -- I think 9 p.m. is a very late dinner hour here. It's the only time I've seen people even the tiniest bit cranky here. Afterwards, we went on the upper deck to enjoy the harvest moon and the cruise downriver.

We didn't hear much, but there were absolutely terrific bands here all five days. Roots music -- country, bluegrass, alt country, soul, blues, alt rock. And loads of food tents. ... Cincinnati was founded by Germans, and that heritage is still very strong in the food. Brats and metts (mettwurst, available in mild to spicy incarnations, with a texture like hotdogs, but much more interesting flavor) are the fast food of choice. Hamburgers and pizza are the also-ran here, not the first choice, and I didn't see any pizza among the dozens of booths, and only one serving burgers. There was also a booth featuring Sauerkraut Balls, Jalapeno Sauerkraut Balls, and Limburger Cheese sandwiches. Um, we passed...

I found links to photos of the Paddlewheel and also a photo of a part of the Serpentine Wall -- taken on a not-very-busy day when the water level was up. You have to scroll down both pages a bit to see the photos.

Angel's Trumpets

2006-09-27T19:10:00.000-05:00

Higher elevations have already had an early frost, and the equinox has passed. At last, the gorgeous variegated Brugmansia has decided to bloom. The first flower of 'Snowbank' unfurled this evening as the sun went down. I spotted three more buds, so the show's not over. Although our night-time temperatures have gone into the 40s, they're usually more in the 50s, so I think we still have some time.

'Snowbank' has been worth growing for the foliage -- the variegation is bold and beautiful. Even the calyx is variegated -- a neat green and white stripe.

Terra Nova's official description says the flowers are peach -- but this opened pale yellow. The tips of the buds show a peachy color. Intoxicatingly sweet fragrance -- alas, we're not out and about in the evening to enjoy it so much this time of year. [UPDATE: 9/30/06 -- the bloom matured to a soft peach color, and still looks gorgeous today. The one that barely shows to the left opened Friday evening.]

The plant was in a 5 or 6in nursery pot when I spotted it at Burger's Farm & Garden Center in nearby Newtown in June. I tranplanted it to a 12in pot, along with an edging of sweet alyssum. However, I think I'll need to transplant this to a bigger pot next spring -- there was a lot of foliage burn, which I've just read is because of lack of water. We also had a mini invasion of potato beetles in mid-summer, which chewed large holes in some leaves. I occasionally squished the larvae that munched the undersides of the leaves -- I know, yucky. But it's a very effective, non-toxic technique.

How many styles can you fit into one building?

2006-09-26T18:59:00.000-05:00

Lots, apparently.

For over-the-toptitude, the prize has to go to the Netherlands Plaza Hotel in downtown Cincinnati. Built in 1930 as part of the Carew Tower, the tallest (still) building in town, the Netherlands Plaza evidently spared no expense in its creation at the beginning of the Great Depression. In 1929, the banks didn't agree to fund the building, so the owner cashed out -- before the Crash. So he had the cash to build his dream, and kept a lot of folks employed at a time when jobs were scarce.

The workmanship is exquisite -- the heavy cast brass and bronze that were the standard fare in the 20s, that cannot be reproduced.

The designers and builder also seem to have had a great time, rummaging through historic styles and picking their favorites. Lots and lots of favorites.

You've got your:

faux Louis XVI murals (milkmaids and shepherds in formal 18th century dress)
brass medallions of mermaids (a tip of the designer's hat to Classical Greece)
Bronze and brass everywhere -- fabulous medallions, handrails, etc. In Art Deco glory, mostly floral and leaf motifs
Marble, terrazzo.
what looks like Lalique glass around the bar
AND, since Cincinnati is the home of the Rookwood Pottery, you've got your Rookwood.

One end of the massive Palm Court is anchored by a huge Rookwood Pottery fountain (photo above), with a ram's head that looks vaguely Egyptian. Enormous columns, lined with what might be more Rookwood, flank the fountain. In front of the columns are a pair of Rookwood "seahorses"- maybe 5 ft tall, Egyptian-looking horses with beautiful webbed feet, and crowned with five-tier brass fountain-like lights.

Ed took some natural-light shots, with very long exposures, so they're a little grainy. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any photos of the seahorses or fountain online -- just banquet rooms, etc.

The Netherlands Plaza is on the National Register of Historic Places, and the public spaces were meticulously restored in 1981.

Silver Falls

2006-08-30T09:04:00.000-05:00

Dicondra 'Silver Falls' is a fairly new annual that's perfectly named. It does indeed cascade, and looks like a river of pure silver. It grows at least several feet long, so it's best in a very tall container, or one perched on a column—we're growing it both ways. If you were uncharitable, you might call the growth habit droopy—gravity wins. If you prefer silver that arches and is self-supporting, try one of the Helichrysums. They're more susceptible to fungal diseases, however, so I don't know how well a Helichrysum would perform in the extended bouts of summer heat/humidity here in southern Ohio. I saw only a single Helichrysum at the nursery where we found 'Silver Falls', but I don't know if that's because we had to shop late this year, or because it's not stocked.

'Silver Falls' seems resistant to heat and the occasional missed watering. The plants are all gorgeous. Dicondra looks like the sort of plant that could be a pernicious weed in its native, warmer environs. Evidently, it's recommended as a substitute for grass in more tropical areas that don't support lawns. The usual plant is green, so I'm sure some sharp-eyed gardener or grower was delighted to find this silver version.

One plant in a small pot on the front stairs is working its way down—wonder if it'll get to the bottom before frost?

Great new kitchen gadget

2006-08-22T16:39:00.000-05:00

I know I said we're downsizing, and that every tool has to earn its place in our new, smaller kitchen, but I've added a gadget that is perfect for summer. At first glance, it looks like just another old swivel-blade vegetable peeler, but this one, from Oxo, has serrated blades. It is unbelievably sharp, and easily removes the skin from a dead-ripe tomato or peach (or thumb, if you're not very careful). No more pots of boiling water to skin tomatoes! woohoo!

I first read about this in Cooks Illustrated, and -- frankly -- thought they were being a wee bit silly. It's just a vegetable peeler, for heaven's sake. But when I saw this at Cooks Wares (a terrific kitchen supply place in Cincinnati) I could see that the blade is very different from the usual one. So I sprang for the seven bucks... This photo, the from Linens n Things web site, has the best view of those awesome teeth.

It made very quick work of a dozen fresh Roma tomatoes for Gamberi al Pomodoro e Rucola (Shrimp with Tomato and Arugula), a simple but delicious recipe in Cucina Rustica by Viana La Place and Evan Kleiman. The subtitle is "Simple, Irresistible Recipes in the Rustic Italian Style." That says it all. I'm working with a library copy, but this is going onto my Amazon wish list.

But back to Oxo -- the peeler also is great for skinning peaches, plums, or any other thin-skinned fruit. So much faster and easier than boiling a big kettle just to submerge 4 peaches for a little dessert. This doesn't replace the regular veggie peeler for tough-skinned vegetables like squash. But it's a super addition to the batterie de cuisine.

Tomato time

2006-07-28T17:40:00.000-05:00

May was cooler than average here, so tomato season is a bit later than usual. But it's still earlier than Connecticut. The local farmer's market has had their own heirloom beefsteaks for about two weeks.

We started our container plantings in late May, (late for Cincinnati) but still managed to snag a couple of plants of Sweet 100, for my first experiment with tomatoes in pots instead of in a garden. We picked the first ripe ones today, and they are still every bit as good as the first time I tried them, when Michael was a toddler (about 21 years ago). Although tomato plants will never win a beauty contest, they don't look bad trained up a bamboo tripod, with a terra cotta finial holding the tripod together. I added 'Moonlight' trailing nasturtiums, but they aren't very happy -- too moist for them, perhaps? The goal was to have nasturtiums cascading over the rim of the 14in pot, but doesn't quite look as though that's going to happen.

Although fresh summer tomatoes are perfect with just a bit of salt and basil, there are other ways to serve them. I attended a cooking class Wednesday at Cooks Wares, a fabulous local cooking supply store, with Marilyn Harris, a local cook, cookbook author, and teacher. With the assistance of two sous chefs, she whipped up six delicious ways to serve tomatoes.

The best is her Tomato-Dill Soup

Heat 2 tablespoons butter and 3 tablespoons olive oil in a heavy pot. Sauté 1 1/2 cups chopped onion until translucent. Stir in 6 large ripe tomatoes (peeled, seeded, coarsely chopped), 3 cups chicken broth, and 1 tablespoon honey. Bring to a boil; lower heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Purée in a blender, or using an immersion blender. Add 1 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 teaspoon cayenne (or to taste), and 1/4 cup chopped fresh dill. Stir, taste and adjust seasonings.

Serve with a large dollop of sour cream and a sprinkle of dill.

Welcome to Erie Ave

2006-07-04T17:48:00.000-05:00

Parsley, sweet basil and cilantro in the lower left, with some Wave petunias and purple verbena, silver dicondra, coral zinnias, and whatever else looked interesting at the garden center. Lots of controlled-release fertilizer and hydra gel, in hopes of keeping all the plants alive all summer. So far, so good!

More garden views

2006-07-04T17:45:00.000-05:00

We have a matched pair of Guy Wolffe pots on the pillars at each end of the terrace, with apricot verbena, white cascading petunies (yet to see the "cascade," though), coral zinnias, purple sweet potato vine, and touches of silver.

Garden Transplant

2006-07-04T17:37:00.000-05:00

Our garden is in pots this year, not in the ground. But we haven't given up gardening entirely. After seeing the beautiful south-facing terrace that is our front entrance, we packed up all our biggest containers (except for the faux concrete ones that went to East Greenwich with Rhona) and planted them with showy annuals. There are some terrific garden centers in the area, with well-grown plants.

A couple of pots have herbs -- the usual suspects: parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme, plus basil, oregano, cilantro, and one little pot of Candy Mint -- great to pick for lemonade and iced tea. We went shopping late this year -- the weekend before Memorial Day, which is about a month later in the growing season here than in Connecticut. But I still found a couple of plants of Sweet 100 cherry tomatoes, which so far are growing like weeds in one of the faux terra cotta 14in pots.

We have a row of small pots going up the stairs, medium pots atop the pillars at each end of the terrace, and some big pots at the entry.

New House, Old Furniture

2006-07-01T13:21:00.000-05:00

This is the fourth home where we've used this living room furniture, and it fits better here than anywhere since Starr St. ! (our second house)

The entrance to the dining room is just off camera to the right, by the wing chair. The fireplace (modified to a gas one) is to the right. I'm standing in the entry to take the photo.

We Have Kitchen!

2006-07-01T11:14:00.000-05:00

We've downsized a lot, moving from a 10-room house to a 6-room apartment (sans pantry, attic, 2-car garage, garden shed and full basement). We love the apartment, but every object has to earn its place here, or it's off to St. Vincent de Paul (or the dump). The kitchen has been one of the bigger challenges. It has great appliances, but has less than half the cabinets and counter space we're used to. I gave up my garden shovels, spades, and rakes, but can't part with most of my cooking tools.

It's taken weeks to assemble all the pieces from multiple sources, but we've managed to maximize a few square feet along a mostly empty wall and turn it into:

storage for all the pots, pans and lids
feeding and watering area for cats (under the pot racks)
storage for step ladder (needed because these are very tall cabinets -- I can't reach the top shelf without a stool). We took it off the kitchen door for the photo, but that's where it hangs when not in use
storage for herbs and a few cds
seating for two (which doubles as extra counter space)
TV and radio display (off camera to the left)

Not bad!!

Sources:

Enclume pot racks. Sur la Table . Ideal because the brackets are separate, so they can be positioned over studs, and the rack can be placed a little off center if needed. They don't appear to have these on the web site, but there's a local retail store with them on display. Had to be special ordered and took a couple of weeks to arrive. The brackets are wide enough to hold a 1 X 4 as a shelf for the lids.

Butcher Block table. John Boos, via kitchensource.com It was really hard to find a table small enough to fit, and took several tries (our first choice was discontinued by a different manufacturer). These are made in Indiana. The table was clearly made to order, by hand (pencil notes on the bottom of the shelf and the top; Ed could tell the screw holes for the shelf were drilled by eye, not on a jig). It was oiled just before they wrapped the pieces in kraft paper. Nicely made, and easy to assemble with only a couple of tools.

We found the bar stools locally -- I didn't want to order on the web, because the price ranges were all over the map, from less than $100, to $800 for what appeared to be almost identical pieces -- and it was impossible to tell the quality without hefting the piece. These are very comfortable. They came from a modern furniture store, Abode, in Covington, KY.

Our departing upstairs neighbor gave us the herb storage piece, which came from Pottery Barn.

Strawberry Time

2006-06-16T12:47:00.000-05:00

We're still getting used to the seasons here in southern Ohio. Wild orange daylilies are blooming by the roadside -- at least 3 weeks earlier than I ever saw them in Connecticut. But, like Connecticut, June is strawberry time here. Newtown Farm Market, about 8 miles away, down in the Ohio flood plain, had gorgeous, dead-ripe berries yesterday. They're very dark red, and looked overripe -- but aren't. Still firm, fragrant and delicious! Made 11 little jars of jam before Ed got home, but still had plenty of berries to have with Graeter's vanilla ice cream -- and more for breakfast. The jam's in the freezer, ready to pull out when Michael and Rini visit. (Their favorite part of our garden.)

Graeter's is a phenomenal local ice cream -- made in very small batches, so it's unlike most premium ice creams. Super dense and very rich. There's a Graeter's ice cream parlor down in Hyde Park Square -- a very popular place every afternoon and evening. My favorite flavors so far? A tossup between the black raspberry chip and strawberry chip flavors...

Books

2006-06-13T20:15:00.000-05:00

So many books, so little time.

The Cincinnati Public Library is amazing -- something like 43 branches, with a terrific collection and great resources. Their web site is excellent, well designed, and lightning-fast -- the books I looked at are annotated, if you want to be sure this is the title you're looking for. It's quick and easy to request a book for delivery to my local branch, which is all of 3 blocks away.

They've started a blog, "Turning the Page," with lots of staff picks and ideas. The blog is set up so you can keep a list of titles that intrigue you.

The web site offers lots of lists. Lots of lists -- so there is no lack of ideas for new books. And old books I haven't discovered yet. Every branch has a book club -- or two -- so I'm looking forward to meeting some new people that way.

Cincinnati is also home to some thriving independent bookstores. Joseph-Beth Booksellers is only two miles away. They offer frequent author talks -- there were 4 last week! And they have a café, for lunch or dinner, or tea. They've also got a book club.

Our first Reds game

2006-06-11T16:24:00.000-05:00

The rain held off this afternoon, as we got to see our first Reds' game. We're both Yankee fans from birth, and that won't stop (we kept checking the score on the NYY game... very conveniently posted directly across from our seats) but we can adopt the hometown guys. Fortunately, our Hellion shirts are red. :-)

The Reds are in the National League, where the pitchers are in the batting rotation -- or "real baseball," as Ed says.

The Great American Ballpark is stunning -- it's only a few years old, and state of the art. We had great seats, behind home plate, in the second tier up. Too bad our guys lost ... but it was still a fun way to spend an afternoon. Excellent peanuts, btw. The food and the service were terrific. ... I'm still in culture shock after my first month -- people in Cincinnati are generally very friendly, polite, say hello, are considerate drivers... all those things that are a dim memory in Waterbury, and Connecticut in general.

The ballpark is downtown, on the Ohio River -- we could see fans walking over from Kentucky on the two nearest bridges. One of those is the Roebling Bridge -- a suspension bridge that looks like a baby Brooklyn Bridge. It was the proof-of-concept for the Brooklyn Bridge, completed in 1866, when Cincinnati was the 6th largest city in the U.S.

As part of adopting our new city, we bought a lovely photo last weekend of a night-time city skyline shot, with the Roebling Bridge in the foreground. I found a similar view online here

This photography site also has a lot of images of Hyde Park, our new neighborhood. But that's for the next post.