By Carol Cichorski, on July 7th, 2011 Raspberry Lemon Muffins
Taste of Home, Annual Recipes 1999
A favorite recipe of my neighbor Lynn. And just where does Lynn get her raspberries? See 1 Bucket Raspberry Bush + 7 Years = ?.
2 C flour
½ C sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
2 eggs beaten lightly
1 C (8 ounces) lemon yogurt
¼ C butter or margarine, melted and cooled
1 tsp. grated lemon peel
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1½ C fresh or frozen raspberries
In a bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Combine eggs, yogurt, butter, lemon peel and vanilla; mix well. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in raspberries. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups three-fourths full. Bake at 400 °F for 18-20 minutes or until muffins test done. Yield: 1 dozen.
By Carol Cichorski, on July 4th, 2011 We started our 4th of July celebration with a red, white, and blueberry delicious breakfast, enjoyed of course, outside in the yard. These things just seem to happen. I’m making breakfast, and Mike casually says something like ‘If you add some bananas and blueberries to the watermelon you’re cutting up, bet you could make it look like the 4th of July’. Next thing you know, this happens…
Then this…
And eventually, this…
My life is like that. I plan short, sweet, simple. I’m not good at short, sweet, simple.
Breakfast turns into a photo shoot with Mike, Regine, and I transporting the masterpieces to the table, and Kevin putting in a command performance as the photographer.
Or I go to a flower show at Mike’s urging and we have to move to a house with a bigger yard for me to garden in.
Then there is the mosaic. You’ve seen the mosaic. The garden and garden gate has become my signature, gracing the front page of this blog. Lynn thought we should take a mosaic class. I did. Others made a tray or trivet. Mine, 3′ x 8′ on the kitchen wall.
I just love it when ideas fall out of my head (even if someone else officially plants them there) and they land on fertile ground!
By Carol Cichorski, on July 1st, 2011 Edith Holden, today you have been pre-empted for an important message from one Miss Gracie Meitzler. Edith, I have enjoyed posting religiously on Muse Day from your “Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady”, but not today, not this Muse Day. Today belongs to Gracie.
Gracie and her mom, Carrie, gave my garden TLC while I was in Orlando for two weeks. My granddaughter’s second birthday party was at our house the day after I returned. Thanks to Carrie and Gracie, my garden was gorgeous.
Gracie, inspired, took pen (well maybe not literally a pen) in hand to bless me with this:
GARDEN
Place of pleasure, beauty and love
Brainchild of the gardener
Where God’s creation clearly shows
All this is the garden.
Reds and greens to blues and whites
the colors of the rainbow show
God made each and every one
With paintbrushes, He had some fun
Then the peace of a job well done
Brings beauty and love into one
As God and man work together
all things grow with help from weather
The beauty of the garden shows
even through the rains and snows
Enchanting
Grace Meitzler
Whereforth cometh the inspiration to wax poetic? Garden Bloggers’ Muse Day, where Carolyn Choi of Sweet Home and Garden Chicago, invites bloggers to share our favorite poems, songs, verses and quotes about gardening on the first of the month.
By Carol Cichorski, on June 28th, 2011 I’m definitely not in Disney World anymore. In Disney World I would not have to pick between soffits/fascia and a brick patio. The soffits and fascia would be beautiful on my castle, the surrounding patio and grounds would be gorgeous, and Prince Charming would be awaiting my return from my recent business trip.
Alas, reality strikes and we will choose the soffits and fascia over the brick patio. Fortunately, I do get to keep my Prince Charming. And the grounds are gorgeous.
 We’ll save our 1500 bricks for next year, collecting up ideas in the interim. In my quest for ideas, I came upon the Sunset website – you know, books and magazines. The tab on Patios had some inspiring pictures. I know this one isn’t brick, but it captures the essence of my thus far unformatted design plan.
I want to use a mixture of materials. The very rough plan incorporates bricks, pavers, plant materials, mosaic, and Allie’s footstep in a stepping stone. Eclectic, informal, fun, like me. And judging by the expected cost, I’ll have plenty of time to plan a project that will again challenge every brain cell and every muscle in Mike’s body.
Dream on, Princess Carol. Dream on, readers. Peruse the Sunset website for ideas on Garden-to-table guide to tomatoes, Front yard makeovers, Earth friendly, Creative small-space gardening, and 41 gorgeous garden paths. Did I just say garden paths? Hmmm. Could those be made out of brick? Gotta run now. Research time.
This article is a continuation of We’re Planning a Patio and Oh No, The Patio. There will be more.
By Carol Cichorski, on June 25th, 2011  In the ‘Nobody Does It Better Category’, our nominees are: (drum roll please)
Disney,
Disney,
Disney,
And last but not least, Disney.
The winner is: (drum roll please) … Disney!
It’s no surprise that Disney’s creativity and attention to detail are unsurpassed. Well, there is One who I’d give a bigger and better award to, but I’m limiting my entrants to mere humans. In this world that God created, the Disney experience is Perfect World as opposed to reality.
I present to you exhibit one, two, and three: Topiaries from the Epcot Flower & Garden Festival this spring, compliments of my friend Bette.
 There were great gardens everywhere, but she and Don especially liked the topiaries. Bette calls it ‘Disney Imagination at work’.
The topiaries are constructed on a framework by the Disney horticulturalists, and then plants that are living or have been living (such as leaves for color on faces and rattan or bamboo for some parts of the sculptures) are added.
The Epcot Flower & Garden Festival is a two month annual spring event. April is a great month to go to Disney World because it is not 95 degrees in the shade, and children aren’t running all over the place.
The Festival and cooler weather were both long gone by the time I came to Orlando for business in June, so my Disney experience was Typhoon Lagoon. Creativity and Perfect World were still at Disney, as were some topiaries, like this one at the awesome Disney Marketplace.
Now, if only my return flight home hadn’t been delayed by 3 hours because of a Florida storm. Let’s put Disney in charge of the weather and the Orlando airport, because ‘nobody does it better’.
By Carol Cichorski, on June 19th, 2011  Florida is not zone 5. All that sun and heat makes a difference. The Marie Selby Garden proves it. You walk in through the greenhouse, but don’t really notice when you leave it, because the outside is every bit as tropical as the greenhouse itself. It was 95 degrees on the June day we visited. Believe me, if felt tropical. Fortunately, the peaceful Selby Garden is quite shaded, providing a respite from the heat for a few hours.
Marie Selby’s is an estate garden in Sarasota, FL. I like those even better than huge botanical gardens because they are so personal. My favorite is Dunbarton Oaks in D.C. Ahh, but that’s for another day. Today, I am at Selby with Bette and Don. Bette was the vice-president of the Elk Grove Garden Club when I was president. She and Don have since retired to Florida, where I’m on a business trip.
Selby is in a residential area on 12 acres, with a lovely view of the Sarasota Bay.
Selby is perhaps best known for its living collection of more than 6,000 orchids.
Selby is also an established authority on other epiphytes including bromeliads, gesneriads, and other plants. These banyan trees fall into the epiphytes category. The banyan is a fig that begins its life as an epiphyte when its seeds germinate in the cracks and crevices on a host tree. As mature trees, they develop aerial roots that strengthen into prop roots to support heavy limbs. These large fig trees were planted by the Selbys in the 1920’s. Very impressive, and very shady!
It doesn’t matter what kind of fern this is. I can’t grow it back home, so you don’t get to know what it is.
Selby Garden also hosts special events, like the upcoming Fourth of July Celebration 2011 and the Garden Music Series. Sarasota is an easy 2 hour drive from Orlando. Just a bit further are the lovely beaches of Siesta Key that we also visited. We got to Crescent beach around 9:00 to get a parking spot. It was already warm enough to swim in the 85 degree water. (No, that is not a typo.) Then, as the heat intensified, we headed to the shaded garden.
Yep, business trips to Orlando are tough, but I think I’ll survive this one. Next, Disney World!
By Carol Cichorski, on June 15th, 2011 Has there ever been one of those plants that you want year after year but just refuse to spend the money on? There was for me. It was the globemaster allium. Every spring I’d see them in other people’s gardens, and I’d say to myself ‘This is the year I’m going to pay the ridiculous price and get those’. Then when the bulbs came into the nursery in the autumn, I’d look at the $8 – $10 price tag for one bulb and I’d say ‘I am not doing that’.
 As you can see by the pictures, I found a way to get the globemaster bulbs. Even better, I found a way to get them without paying for them. My birthday is in October. I don’t know why it took me so long to ask for them as a present. I guess I couldn’t see anyone else spending that much for a bulb either. Last year, I finally broke down. Not enough to buy them myself, but enough to have my kids spend their money.
So was it worth it. Oh My Gosh – Yes! They are huge. They are also lasting well. I bet it’s been 3 weeks and they are still going strong. To make it even sweeter, Jim Kassner stopped over and said his 3 globemasters have turned into 12. Yes 12. I can hardly wait for next year!
I can even repurpose my alliums in the autumn. Take a look at this cute allium haired scarecrow that Cathy sent me a picture of last year. Kinda makes you want to start saving your pennies, doesn’t it? Or maybe just lie about when your birthday is.
What else is blooming in the June garden? To see what other bloggers have blooming on the 15th of every month, visit May Dreams Gardens for our Garden Bloggers’ Bloom day entries.
By Carol Cichorski, on June 12th, 2011 As we continue our garden tour, let’s move outside the garden gate. There was no point in trying to keep grass out front. Oh darn, guess I have to live with this instead.
We are on a corner lot, so we get to garden the side of the house as well. I tried to get Mike to let me have someone design it. He was sure I could do it. It is evolving, and you’ll soon see that I’ve made progress since this picture was taken in 2004. Even the fence is different now, but this picture does give you an idea of how big just that one part of the yard is.
Here it is now, in two sections. The weeping cherry is absolutely stunning in early May when it blooms. The rest of the year its form is still eye catching.
More of the side yard…
I have been working on this hosta area for years. It is finally coming into its own.
You’ve now seen all that I’ve willing to show. Like the articles of grand gardens in magazines, I’ve shown you the parts I want you to see. We aren’t going to look at the area by the back porch. Or those bricks for the patio. Or even the dahlia gardens (yes that was meant to be a plural). And certainly not the garbage can area! One day though, I hope to make all of those areas pretty. Surprisingly, on a good day, you can see the potential of the garbage can area. You’ll just have to come back to see how our garden grows.
Do you want to see Part I of this article? Here it is.
By Carol Cichorski, on June 8th, 2011 Aren’t you just a wee bit curious about what lies beyond the garden gate? Well, come on in and see what all the excitement is about.
We moved here 13 years ago. The entire yard was grass except for this pine tree area. The grass doesn’t have a chance against us – the yard is becoming garden, garden, and more garden.
Looking out our back door to the left is the first garden area we’ll look at. We call this the ‘Front 40’. Kind of like the Ponderosa.
Behind that is the main dahlia garden. We aren’t even going to go there now. Let’s move on to the ‘Back 40’ of our little Ponderosa.
Believe it or not, there’s more. Here we have the ‘Outback’.
Rounding the corner to the right side of the yard is the barn-shed that Mike rolled on logs (really!) from a neighbor’s yard.
Getting close to the house again is the berm. The berm is one of the prettiest parts of the yard, and its even low maintenance.
That’s all for today. But wait you say, I want more. Oh, OK, but you will have to give me some time. I didn’t show you everything. We haven’t even stepped outside of the garden gate. After all, I didn’t call this Part I for nothing. And then there are the areas I don’t show you. Lets call those the ones with ‘promise’. Please come back to see what ideas God plants in my head for those!
Do you want to see Part II of this article? Here it is.
By Carol Cichorski, on June 5th, 2011 Sorry Kitty. I know its going to pain you to have your queen sized kitty cushion taken away. Warm weather has FINALLY come to Chicagoland, and with it comes a lighter blanket on the bed. Kiss the comforter goodbye till autumn.
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