Savoring the Summer

Pete and I had an eventful weekend.  On Sunday we drove down to Eagle River for the Festival of Flavors featuring Wisconsin food and drink. I met Troy Landwehr, a cheese carver and winemaker from Appleton. He has a national reputation and his portfolio is just amazing.

Troy Landwehr with King Tut cheese head

Over fifty Wisconsin food vendors, including cheesemakers, winemakers, chocolate makers and ice cream makers gave out samples of their products.

Pete enjoyed a beer
from Capital Brewery

Beth with itty bitty ice cream cone
from Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream

The festival was held at Riverview Park - true to name, the park had a pretty view of the river.

Beth with hydrangea in
Riverview Park

Pete in the park

The night before we attended Block Party 2011 at Trig's in Minocqua. We went with some of my colleagues from work to listen to music and enjoy a really nice summer night.

Beth & Pete in front of the Leinie Lodge

Jane, Kim and Dianna

Scott Kirby Band

Our host, Tom Chandler

On Monday night we caught the last showshoe baseball game of the season in Lake Tomahawk. They've been playing snowshoe every summer in the town since 1961 and the players have it down; it's astounding to me that there are very few falls. Check out their website Lake Tomahawk Snowshoe Baseball for more information about the sport.

This is the way!

"Is this for real?"

warm-ups

behind the bench

running for first base

While we enjoyed one of the last weekends of summer the dogs stayed home to guard the sofa.

Maddie Jo and Gracie

When I'm an old woman, my dogs shall behave while I pick blueberries

Tasha Tudor picking blueberries with her Corgis

When I purchased the Russian sage at 30% off from Stoney Creek I noticed their blueberry plants were also on sale.  Both Pete and I agreed we wanted more blueberry plants and I began wondering if I could plant them this late and have them established before the cold weather.

As I looked to my Wisconsin gardening books for answers I bumped into Tasha Tudor's Garden, one of my mother's gardening books that I had never really looked at.  As I paged through the book of beautiful pictures of Tudor's rural Vermont garden I was struck by the wide variety of plants she was able to grow in the harsh climate.  When I came across the photograph of her picking blueberries I was convinced I needed to get those blueberries. I had visions of quiet mornings of blueberry gathering with the dogs, but I was dressed a little differently than Tasha Tudor in my vision.

My dogs, unlike Tudor's Corgis, do not believe in patiently watching others; they like to participate.

Maddie Jo looking for berries

Madie Jo eating berries

I decided to get the blueberry plants now and worry about training the dogs about picking etiquette later. I bought five Northcountry blueberry plants and planted them on a little hill near a few pine trees.

Future site of Blueberry Hill

Northcountry Blueberries
photo from University of Minnesota

This variety comes from the University of Minnesota and is known for being hardy in colder climates. I planted two Northcountry plants last summer and both made it through the winter just fine. The bushes grow to be between 18 and 24 inches high and will be 30 to 40 inches in diameter. They are self-compatible which means they don't need another type of blueberry for pollination - bees are the main pollenizer. The literature recommends removing flowers during the first two years to encourage growth and plant strength. They need one application of acid-producing fertilizer a year, preferably ammonium sulfate.

In a few years Blueberry Hill
will be just like this.

The berries are produced on one-year-old wood. The branches need to be strong to hold the fruit. If you prune too much the wood is weakened and the crop is reduced. The bush should be kept open by cutting out weak, older stems. Blueberries will overproduce if all the flowers are left to develop. The weak branches that have a lot of flowers and few leaves should be removed. A good balance between berry production and growth of new shoots is key.

In a couple of years our plants should be producing medium sized berries with a mild sweet flavor. If the meantime, there are loads of wild blueberries to be picked if I can get them before the deer, birds and Weimaraners.

Tasha Tudor's Blueberry Coffee Cake

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup shortening

1 egg

1/2 cup milk

2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon sale

2 cups blueberries

Topping

1/2 cup sugar

1/3 cup flour

1/2 cup cinnamon

1/4 cup unsalted butter

1/2 cup pecans

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Grease and flour a 9 x 9 inch square baking pan.
3. In a mixing bowl, cream together the sugar and the shortening. Stir in the egg, and then the milk. Sift in the flour, baking powder and salt and mix quickly. Then carefully fold in the blueberries.
4. Spread the batter in the pan. Combine all of the topping ingredients and sprinkle over batter. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes.

Blueberry picking is hard work!

Autumn Already?

It's been in the 60s during the day and in the 40s at night - too cool, too soon for me. Yesterday on the way to work I spotted a sign of things to come -  a glimpse of fall color.

Heading west on County J

This morning Maddie Jo, Gracie and I saw another tree starting to turn. We went down to Net Lake and enjoyed some time on the dock.

"Where's Autumn?"

Across the lake!

When I'm an old woman, my garden shall wear purple.

Flowers Purple, Andy Warhol
1974

I've been looking around my gardens and noticing how much purple there will be once the perennials grab hold.  I have lavender, cone flowers, violets, salvia, hosta, blueberries, chives and Russian sage. I have some pinks, yellows and whites, but mostly purples. I love how the purples look up here.

Russian Sage in bloom

I wanted to work on a particular area near the entry steps to make it look as though purple was flowing down the small incline like water.  I decided to use Russian sage for the space.  Russian sage, or Perovskia atriplicifolia, is a very hardy perennial that likes full sun and poor soil. It grows to be about three feet tall with silvery stems and small lavender-blue flowers. It blooms towards the end of the summer.


We were talking about Russian sage last night at the Woods and Blooms Garden Club meeting. We were wondering if it was really a sage and how to pronounce Perovskia.  I decided to do a little research.  Turns out it isn't really a sage, nor is it Russian.  The botanist who named the plant was Russian and named the genus after a Russian governor. The plant is actually native to Central Asia. The sage reference may have come from the similarity in smell when the leaves are crushed.

The pronunciation? 

 per-OFF-skee-uh

Future site of
Russian Sage River

I went over to Stoney Creek Home and Garden and took advantage of their 30% off sell to stock up with four Russian sage plants.  I placed them where I wanted and will plant them sometime this weekend.  Soon they will look just like the photo below taken at the Morris Arboretum at the University of Pennsylvania.

Rounding Morris' Russian Sage photo:Rusty Kennedy

I planted three Perovskia plants last summer.  They came through the winter, but they really didn't begin to rally until mid-July. I'm not sure if they didn't get enough sun or if the soil (cranberry compost mix) wasn't quite ideal.  They are only about 18" tall and are just now beginning to flower.

Russian Sage
planted last year

In reading about caring for Russian sage I learned that leaving the plant alone is probably the best thing to do.  After making sure it gets enough water the first year to establish its roots it needs very little water during a normal summer.  Pruning it back a little in the spring or early summer may encourage growth and make for a fuller plant - I will try that.





I decided to try to propagate a few plants through cuttings.  I took four cuttings, two from the new plants and two from the old, and applied a bit of root stimulator and put them into peat pots with soil.  It is supposed to take two months for the roots to appear and take hold.  I keeping them in the basement on our lighted plant racks.

Four little Pero plants

Jere Was Here

Here's Dad sporting his Ralph Lauren look while talking to Karen.  He came up from Mequon last Thursday and we had a nice long weekend relaxing, dining out and looking around the property.

After testing McGaffey Estate Bottled Maple Syrup for breakfast over whole wheat pancakes Jere gets a lesson in tapping trees from Pete.

Pete's custom made
tap

Jere & Pete looking
at one of Pete's best
producing maples

We had a nice breakfast at Voss's one morning after Jere played gold at Trout Lake.

Pete and Jere outside Voss's

Asher showed off his swimming skills at Net Lake.

Asher in Net Lake

Jere watches

The Packers played on Friday night and we scrambled to prepare.  I unpacked the Packer scarves, we had an early dinner  and geared up for the pre-season game.

Gracie waited patiently

Asher fortified himself

The game is on.

"I can't get too excited, it's only
pre-season."

Asher looks to Jere for some
more fortification - ice cream!

We explored the other side of Net Lake and showed Dad the future site of Wetzler Manor.

Hiking in from the road.

Pete explains the
layout

View of Net Lake from the
site.

We ended Jere's stay with a great dinner at Marty's Place North in Arbor Vitae.

Pete, Beth and Jere outside Marty's Place North