Young crowned orb weaver / korsedderknopp (Araneus diadematus) spiders on the house wall will catch many insects during the summer!
Monthly Archives: May 2021
Tonight’s pizza greens
were….
Purple sprouting perennial kale broccolis
Allium scorodoprasum leeks (bendelløk)
Good king henry / stolt henrik flower buds
Common gull commotion
Common gulls (fiskemåke) nest on houses around here, but never on my roof. Filmed this little interaction between 3 birds on 21st May.
May 2021 Extreme Salad
The Extreme Salad Man was asked last night to make a salad…..but he only managed 55 in total. He blames the fact that he was only given an hour. Nevertheless, all were pleased with the result. He hopes you like it too! A full list of plants can be found at the bottom below the pictures.
Cowslip / marinøkleblom (Primula veris) hybrids (red and yellow flowers)
Himalayan water creeper (Houttuynia cordata)
Hosta sieboldiana (blanched shoots)
Allium humile (white flowered Chinese species)
Crow garlic (Allium zebdanense)
American land cress (Barbarea verna); flowers
Pink flowered dandelion / rosablomstret løvetann (Taraxacum pseudoroseum)
White flowered dandelion / Hvirblomstret løvetann (Taraxacum leucanthum)
Sea kale / strandkål (Crambe maritima); flower heads
Prairie bluebells (Mertensia lanceolata)
Tall bluebells (Mertensia paniculata)
Perennial kale / flerårige kål (Brassica oleracea); white flowered
Perennial kale / flerårige kål (Brassica oleracea); yellow flowered
Orpine / smørbukk (Hylotelephium)
Bistort / ormerot (Polygonum bistorta)
Curled dock / krushøymole (Rumex crispa)
Patience dock / hagesyre (Rumex patientia)
Sorrel / engsyre (Rumex acetosa) “Abundance” and “Belleville”
Egyptian onion / luftløk (Allium x proliferum)
Fragaria “Lipstick”
Great waterleaf (Hydrophyllum appendiculatum)
French sorrel (Rumex scutatus) “Silver Shield”
Ramsons / ramsløk (Allium ursinum)
Caucasian spinach / stjernemelde (Hablitzia tamnoides)
Cress / karse (Lepidium sativum)
Spiked rampion / vadderot (Phyteuma sativum)
Lady’s mantle / marikåpe (Alchemilla spp.)
Spring Beauty (Claytonia virginica)
Sweet cicely / spansk kjørvel (Myrrhis odorata)
Douglas’ onion / Douglas-løk (Allium douglasii)
Perennial honesty / månefiol (Lunaria rediviva)
Few-flowered leek (Allium paradoxum var normale); flowers
Chicory / sikkori (Cichorium intybus)
Jack-go-to-bed-by-noon / geitskjegg (Tragopogon pratensis)
Korean Ligularia / koreanøkketunge (Ligularia fischeri)
Common wintercress / vinterkarse (Barbarea vulgaris)
Moss-leaved dandelion / mosebladet løvetann (Taraxacum sublaciniosum “Delikatess”)
Garlic mustard / løkurt (Alliaria petiolata)
Mustard greens / sennepsalat (Brassica juncea) “Giant Red”
Ground elder / skvallerkål (Aegopodium podograria)
Garden orach / hagemelde (Atriplex hortensis)
Allium karataviense; flower shoot and bud
Chives / gressløk (Allium schoenoprasum) “Black-Isle Blush”
Large-flowered wakerobin / stortreblad (Trillium grandiflorum)
Anise-root (Osmorhiza)
Sea sandwort / sandarve (Honckenya peploides)
Mints (Mentha); 3 varieties
Allium nutans
Hosta spp.
Wild marjoram / bergmynte (Origanum vulgare)
Honesty / judaspenge (Lunaria annua)
Cuckoo in the garden
One of the “problems” with being aware of nature is that I often sleep lightly. I was first woken at about 2 am by distant cuckoo (gjøk) song and then a short burst of song in the garden, the first time I’ve recorded this species in song here and I made the video below (I was bleary eyed which is probably why it’s not in focus!). I hear song from mid-May to early June most years but mostly in the distance and usually just for one day. I suspect that most of these are stopping over on the way north. Although I thought of cuckoos at one time as birds of the English countryside, my time in Scotland taught me that they were equally at home in the mountains and here in Norway they are widespread breeding birds throughout the country including the high mountains and the arctic tundra in the north. I’ve clipped in a sequence showing the sunrise in the north east at the same time.
Shelduck feeding
When I woke this morning at 6:30, I noticed what looked like a goose in the field below the house. Zooming in with my camera, it was a shelduck (gravand), probably only the second time I’ve seen this species in the field!
Today’s view
Broad bean (fava) pakora
A little over a year ago we made pakora (Indian fried vegetables) with 65 perennial vegetables to celebrate my 65th birthday (see https://www.edimentals.com/blog/?p=25405)
I made the following comment: “Just wish I’d had broad / fava bean (bondebønne) flour available for the pakoras rather than gram flour (chick peas)…next time I hope :)”
Well, my wish came true and a Swedish guy kindly sent me a packet (sorry, I forget your name, but I think he produces this great slow food product; see http://svensk-fava.se).
(I don’t have the equipment to grind my own broad beans). So here you are. The album below shows the flour, the pakora mixture, the 30 veggies used (list at the bottom) and the final delicious product, a dream come true, something I’ve wanted to make and talked about for years!!
The veggies:
Ostrich fern / strutseving (Matteuccia struthiopteris)
Horseradish / pepperrot (Armoracia rusticana) – blanched
Stinging nettle / brennesle (Urtica dioica)
Topset onion / luftløk (Allium x proliferum)
Common wintercress / vinterkarse (Barbarea vulgaris)
Giant ulleung celery / kjempe ulleung selleri (Dystaenia takesimana)
Allium hymennorhizum
Garlic / hvitløk (Allium sativum)
Himalayan water creeper (Houttuynia cordata)
Oca (Oxalis tuberosa) yellow and red varieties
Ground elder / skvallerkål (Aegopodium podograria)
Patience dock / hagesyre (Rumex patientia)
Gomchwi (Ligularia fischeri)
Common sorrel / engsyre (Rumex acetosa)
Pink-flowered dandelion / roseløvetann (Taraxacum pseudoroseum)
Victory onion / seiersløk (Allium victorialis)
Sweet cicely / spansk kjørvel (Myrrhis odorata)
Welsh onion / pipeløk (Allium fistulosum)
Hogweed / bjørnekjeks (Heracleum spp.)
Parasenecio hastatus
Udo (Aralia cordata) – blanched
Douglas’ onion / Douglas-løk (Allium douglasii)
Bistort / ormerot (Polygonum bistorta)
Ramsons / ramsløk (Allium ursinum)
Pacific onion / Stillehavsløk (Allium validum)
Devil’s club (Oplopanax horridus)
Sea kale / strandkål
Caucasian spinach / stjernemelde (Hablitzia tamnoides)
Great waterleaf (Hydrophyllum appendiculatum)
Moss-leaved dandelion / mosebladet løvetann (Taraxacum sublaciniosum “Delikatess”)
Marie Gaden RIP
I was very saddened to hear that Marie Gaden has died at 91. I learned so much from Marie about gardening and I have so many plants that originated from her. She was from England and married a Norwegian just after the war and had a fantastic garden up in the hills above Trondheim and Jonsvatnet. I remember that she grew seed at one time for UK seed company Thompson and Morgan. She belonged to various international seed clubs like the Alpine Garden Society and Scottish Rock Garden Club and tried many new plants from seed each year!
One of the plants I got from Marie was a Maianthemum racemosum, which grows vigorously in the garden in a really dry spot under a large birch tree. I call it Marieanthemum and I mention this in my book:
Her husband died and she sadly had to leave that fantastic garden and downsized but still had a small garden crammed full of perennials and her living room table and chairs were as ever full of seed packets, seed catalogues and reference books! She was a wonderful generous woman! RIP Marie. You are here no longer but your plants and memories live on :)
Marieanthemum racemosum lives on in my garden (picture taken this week):
Fasciated dandelion- udo- sea kale salad
Not something I can make very often as I don’t find fasciated dandelions very often! A simple salad was put together, made fascinating with a fasciated dandelion.
The blanched udo (Aralia cordata) was ready:
I harvested some blanched sea kale (Crambe maritima) too and I found a fasciated dandelion to decorate the salad
The udo was peeled
…and the salad was put together with the fasciated dandelion flower stem cut into strips and mixed in with a sesame oil – soya sauce dressing: