**BREAKING NEWS**

I JUST ATE THE BEST MEATBALL EVER.

I had not planned on posting twice today but I had no choice. I’m talking that good. And I consider myself a meatball connoisseur.

I arrived home from work this evening and when I stepped into the house, BOOM, I was hit with the smell. A smell that made me forget about my day. I immediately got my bib, tucked it into my shirt and went to town. I ate like a king. I’m talking three bowls of spaghetti and meatballs with the meatball total nearing 10-12. I am 6 ft 3 and 215 pounds so I  can handle it without a problem.

I asked my wife how she constructed these beauties and her response was, “I just kind of winged it.” I love her.

Well the “winging it” was a home run and I’m still in the afterglow of the experience. I think the actual recipe will now have to be kept under lock and key and maybe, just maybe, she can hand it down to my daughter. But only when she is old enough to handle the responsiblity.

But because we are all friends here, I will share with you a few tips I managed to squeeze from my wife:

• The zest of one entire lemon was used
• Instead of breadcrumbs, she used sliced bread soaked in milk
• The onion and garlic was grated into olive oil and then used to saute the meatballs
• Turkey was used 

That’s all I got but trust me, this was life changing.

Until next time
ONG           

My soil conditions stink … I’ll give you a moment to provide your sympathy … OK, thanks, I appreciate your support.

The truth is, I have very poor draining clay soil (which I’m sure many of you do) and I am surrounded by herds of deer who venture closer to the gardens each year. The threat of my dog (well not really a “threat” since she is a labrador retriever) is no longer a concern for them.     

While this has limited many plant choices for me, it has also taught me a lesson to appreciate what the garden gives you and to “work with what ya got.” I have leaned heavily on native plants and they have proven to be very successful over the years.
 
Today’s featured perennial, Lobelia siphilitica (Blue Cardinal flower) was a new edition in the spring of 2010 and so far I have been pleased with the results.    

A few quick facts on this beauty:

• Reaches a height of about 24″-36″ with a spread of about 24″
• Survives in zones 4-9
• Prefers light shade but can handle full sun (or so I’m told, we’ll see, I have them in partial shade and full sun).
• Has an intense blue bloom from late summer to early fall. The hood-like blooms start from the bottom of the spires and work their way up.
• Can handle wet conditions (woo-hoo) and can re-seed heavily (woo-hoo again)
• Is a butterfly and hummingbird magnet  (I can confirm the butterflies)
• The siphilitica name comes from it’s supposed ability to cure syphilis back in the day 

As I mentioned before, this is a relatively new addition for me so I’m hoping to see big things in year two. I’ll be able to compare how they perform with different light conditions and to see if I can keep the deer away again (fat chance, but I’m determined to give it all I got.)    

Here are some additional photos from last summer: 

 
Thanks for reading.
ONG

This weekend was the tale of two vastly different weather days. We had a high 60’s day on Friday and that led to what I am officially deeming “The Great Melt of 2011”. I think two feet of snow disappeared in the course of a few hours and damn if that wasn’t needed. Here is an example:      

Friday afternoon

Thursday afternoon

I greeted my Yucca ‘Golden Sword’ with open arms and was even OK with gashing myself as I tried to hug her. Seriously, the blades are sharp as hell. I dare any of the deer to just try and give it a bite. On another note, I am so glad I finally gave these a try. What a welcome sight in the winter, just hope they continue to work well with all of their neighboring plants.  

I know I will look back on the following photo and say “Really, was that blog worthy? A little bit of green and you act like it is an award worthy shot.” Well, eff it, it’s the best I got right now and I’m going to savor it.”  

Saturday rolled around and it was like Friday never happened. We are talking some serious winds (upwards of 60 mph) and back to the nasty cold temps. Overnight, a hockey rink was constructed in our back yard. I even got a call from the New York Rangers asking if they could use the backyard as a practice facility. 

Regardless of the weather, my wife and I dropped the kids off for the night with their grandfather (can I get an amen?) and headed into New York City (or as we call it in the metropolitan area, “The city”). Even though the winds were brutal, there is no energy like there is in NYC and we could have cared less about the weather. We were “adults” for a day and enjoyed the hell out of it. We saw the musical “American Idiot” based on the Green Day album of the same name and absolutely loved it.    

I have the album ranked in my top 10 of all time so I was like a school girl screaming the entire time. The lead singer had a part in the play which made it even that much more exciting. I highly recommend it.

After the show, it was drink time and a chance to just chill along with the other couple who came with us. It was fantastic, I can’t get enough of drinks with fresh herbs in them, but hot damn was it expensive. Not that I should be surprised, but a $120 bar bill for only eight drinks is seriously insane. Oh well, what can you do, when in Rome …    

We then had an actual adult dinner at a finer NYC establishment at a very leisurely pace of about three hours.

We headed home after dinner fully satisfied and reminisced about what it was like before children. We love them to death, but it is pretty sweet to dump them off sometimes and do our own thing. I think they need it too, a chance away from evil mom and dad.

Sunday was a chance to chillax and we did just that once we were reunited with the little ones. I don’t think they missed us one bit, but that’s OK, we felt the same way (I kid). The weather was still awful and I spent most of my day longing to get out in the yard. That wasn’t going to happen, so pathetically, I just stared at the soon to be blooms on my Meyer lemon tree.          

 
We’ll get there soon, right?
ONG

I will incorporate even more natives into my landscape: 

I won’t plant shrubs in the dead of summer:

I will grow my own strawberries so we can enjoy strawberry and goat cheese bruschetta more often: 

I won’t neglect the soil quality when growing tomatoes:  

I will remember to take more photos after a rain, even of simple foliage:

I won’t allow my yard to be a nice resting place for the deer:  

I will remove my uninspiring weeping cherry tree … finally:

I won’t panic when an unexpected freeze hits and the hydrangeas react like this:

I will improve in the art of “thinning” new seedlings:

I won’t ignore the need to use gloves:

I will use more cool season ornamental grasses so the foliage fills in sooner each spring: 

I won’t give up on my Mets no matter how bad the situation may be:

I will up my creativity when it comes to design:

A PSA for you today.

PSA being a “Public Service Announcement”, or maybe a better description is “Please See what Anna has done yet again”. 

Anna Looper, author of flowergardengirl.com and the creator of Best Garden Blogs, and Guinness Book record holder for least amount of sleep over the course of a six month period, has just put the finishing touches on Toil the Soil, a new online garden magazine.

 

This is an exciting time of year to get mail. There is sure to be a plant/seed catalog received every other day and reading them gets the creative juices flowing. Not to mention the bank account flowing. I love them all, but there is one that takes it all to another level. One that makes me consider selling all of my baseball cards or renting out my kids as cheap labor. Here she is:     

RareFind Nursery is located in my home state of New Jersey (Jackson) and I’ve been purchasing from them for about five years now and THEY KICK ASS. The funny thing is that they are best known for their rhododendron and azalea collection – and I have no interest in either. Rhodies because they die instantly with my poor drainage and azaleas because I have bad childhood memories of them. OK, that might be an exaggeration, but all I remember are the hideous and obnoxious azalea blooms in May each year. Anway, if you like rhodies and/or azaleas, this place will truly blow you away.

Here are some of the plants I’ve added to my online shopping cart. I’ll let them sit there and marinate for a while until I can scale the list back enough and not have to get a second job to pay for them:               

The bark on this Acer Griseum (Paperbark Maple) needs no further explanation.

I might struggle to find a companion to match the bloom color on these Baptisia ‘Midnight Prairieblues’ but hot damn they are phenomenal.

A variegated River Birch (Betula nigra ‘Shiloh Splash’)? Um, yes please!

As usual, I am a sucker for the foliage shape and color of this Cercis canadensis ‘Hearts of gold’ (Redbud).  

I do not own a Hamamelis (witch hazel) and I’m still a bit sketchy on them, but there is no denying their unique blooms, color and most importantly, the fact that most bloom this time of year. There was a Hamamelis festival at RareFinds this past weekend and one of these year’s, I’ll make it.  

More foliage love on this Oakleaf Hydrangea ‘Little Honey’. Of course, I do need some more shade for these and will have to get creative.  

Ninebark ‘Coppertina’ has been on the must list for a while now.  

You friggin kidding me? A viburnum (‘Park Harvest’) with that foliage color? Color me impressed. 

There are so many more to check out and I’m sure my list will grow longer. The true fun is in the planning and dreaming.

ONG

A recent conversation I had with a “friend” via Facebook:

Friend – “What’s with all the flower stuff you post all the time?”
Me – “I write a gardening blog.” 
Friend – “LOL, Are you serious?”
Me – “Yeah, although it is more like a … landscaping blog.” 
Friend – “Oh, like about your lawn and stuff.”
Me – “Um … yeah.”
Friend – “Cool.”

I was annoyed that I had to dumb down the explanation of my blog and make it more “masculine”. It just seemed like an easier way out of the conversation I didn’t want to have in the first place.  

It also got me to thinking about the concept of a male actually liking flowers. Let’s face it, there is a stereotype that exists when any man likes flowers. I’ve heard them all; some times very bluntly and other times just implied. And as is the case with almost all stereotypes (and don’t I know living in New Jersey), they are frustratingly naive and an easy way to put people into nice clean boxes.

The truth is, I like this:
               

As much as I enjoy this:

Why can’t I enjoy both equally without it being questioned? Hell, I have Sade and System of a Down on my Ipod. They each represent different aspects of my personality. 

I didn’t know that liking a colorful and fragrant flower made you that much less of a man. After all, is there anything more powerful than watching a plant survive the winter, thrive through it’s ensuing growth of foliage in the spring and then reach it’s peak when the flower blooms in all it’s glory? C’mon now, that is the circle of life at it’s finest. Not to mention, flowers are the result of getting your hands dirty and full of callouses. Pretty masculine if you ask me.      

When I took the picture below so it could be used for my Facebook page and for my Twitter avatar, I intentionally set it up to represent me and my varied interests:   

The execution of the photo may be off a bit and not so obvious, but that is me (with a god awful cheesy smile by the way) holding a shovel as if it were a baseball bat. With that, I hope that I can bring a unique perspective to garden writing and even help dispel the notion that men can enjoy flowers without it seeming odd or god forbid, even feminine. 

Almost everyone I work with has no idea that I write a gardening blog, let alone that I have a strong interest in plants and flowers. I can’t tell you how much fun I have when I do get a chance to spring a little nugget on them out of the blue.

Coworker – “I grow this catmint stuff and it’s beautiful until June and then I want to rip it out.”
Me – “If you cut it back drastically in early June, you’ll get a second flush of bloom and the foliage will look fresh”
Coworker – “What is “flush” and how do YOU know that?”
Me – “I’m cool like that.”   
 
They don’t know whether to take me seriously or not and I couldn’t love it more. Always fun to keep ’em guessing.
 
So in conclusion:

• I love flowers 
• I don’t care what others think about that 
• I despise the stereotypes that go with it.
• I need to not smile in pictures any more  

ONG