Saturday, May 22, 2010

FORGET-ME-NOTS


This name of this compact profusion of small blue flowers surely conjures romantic thoughts of staying power: "forget-me-not". Also called Myosotis from the Greek "Mouse's Ear" and legend has it that during the 15th century these were given and worn pursuasions so as not to be forgotten by ones lover. Henry David Thoreau said of Forget-Me-Nots: "It is one of the most interesting minute flowers. It is the more beautiful for being small and unpretending; even flowers must be modest". I find them lovely for pressing, and making stickers of them (for more scroll down) but I chose them as symbols to help you remember a tip or two here for this years garden season:


VOLUNTEERS

Each spring I find countless "volunteer" plants and flowers in my yard who have seeded them selves or sprouted from runners. They always seem so cheery and of course I adore them or I wouldn't have planted them in the first place, but they can't possibly stay! I used to save plant pots in my garage to share them with friends but I am so sick of clutter that I needed a plan B: newspaper plant pots. The nice thing about these is that they are fully biodegradeable and you can simply plant the entire pot without disturbing your plant. I also like these for starting plants from seeds which are fussy about being replanted like Morning Glories which would otherwise they take half of the season to flower.




SAVERS

I didn't put my garden to bed in the fall because I'm a fan of how winter frost kisses the stalks and makes moose antlers of them. Consequently I have lots of seeds right now and a plan or two for them. I printed out these seed savers to mail a long distance friend some seeds from my garden. Immediately I decided to cut out a few more and tuck them into my wallet, remembering the many times I've wanted to harvest seeds from lovely flowers encountered on outings. I think if you garden, you have done
the same so for us: Seed Savers to print and fold . I cut so terribly , with my persistant case of impatience, so when I finished my cut out seed saver origami dealy, I traced around it with a gold marking pen. I also had to refold my envy in order to have it close completely with It brought my packet into the state of diminutive loveliness I was hoping for. You can certainly feel free to use the packets as a template and trace onto papers of your choosing for a personal touch.

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Pumpkin Seed BrittleSeed
These little plant byproducts are incidently what plants live for, they are reproduction. All season flowers seduce to make seeds, well some of the reproduce by other means, but seeds are the outcome I want to discuss. We can not possible plant or share all of them with friends but some need not go to waste. So here is a forget-me-not for you that is a pretty spin on the old nut brittle. Pictured here is pumpkin seed brittle , (recipe from Epicurious) cut long instead of broken and placed in a container which I think would look pretty on a buffet of desserts. You could score the brittle using a ruler and a pizza cutter before it cools completely and then break carefully when hardened. Toasted sesame seeds, slivered almonds, poppy seeds alone or together are great alternatives to the pumpkin seeds.

I hope you found a forget-me-not here. Thanks for visiting, I enjoy it when you leave a comment (feel free to include your URL with your comment).





1 comment:

  1. Just love forget-me-nots as I have some in my back garden , and they do have romantic powers too, and your seed savers are a great practical idea as well . Lots of beaut fun ideas here to enjoy - take care , Mal...x

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