Flowers

GreenestBasterd

GreenestBasterd

Well-Known Member
Rurumo said:
Thanks for reminding me to order flowers guys, I've been looking through catalogues a lot the past few days. I want to plant some flashy big ones, like hydrangeas and peonies. I was thinking of getting one good one of each, then just propagating more with those. I also like the saffron crocus, and will def order those too. You all have some inspiring flowers! My comfrey patch is massive now, and it just keeps blooming, and more and more of those big black bumblebees have shown up....so now they are everywhere in my backyard, and this is the best year I've had for elderberries getting pollinated and forming well. I think it's all because the comfrey brought the bees.

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It's kind of hard to see the flowers hanging downward, but there are a lot of them. My plan was to have chopped this down already and used for compost or just mulching the surface with it, but I don't want to mess up the poor bees food source, so I'm just going to leave it.
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Have you given elderberry cordial a try? It’s one of my absolute favourites in summer. Really refreshing and the delicate floral taste is like nothing else.

I’ve never done much with the actual elderberries myself, my cousins grandmother used to make a hot syrup drink that was nice.

what do you do with them if you don’t mind my ask?
 
StonedGardener

StonedGardener

Well-Known Member
Star Dog said:
I'm not much of gardener but I've few pics I can share.

Jade in flower it flowers December to April...
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Budleigha View attachment 5155812
Coteneaster (horizontal)
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Scottish thistle.
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nasturtium
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It's name escapes me but the smell is firmly implanted in my memory.
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Another Budleigha the butterflies clearly like it.
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Peacock butterfly its colour's are spectacular.
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Great shots....is your purple field lavender ?.....awesome
 
Rurumo

Rurumo

Well-Known Member
GreenestBasterd said:
Have you given elderberry cordial a try? It’s one of my absolute favourites in summer. Really refreshing and the delicate floral taste is like nothing else.

I’ve never done much with the actual elderberries myself, my cousins grandmother used to make a hot syrup drink that was nice.

what do you do with them if you don’t mind my ask?
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I picked all the berries on all three of my bushes exactly 1 year after planting 8" plants and had enough berries to make 10 8oz jars of jam-it was my first time making jam and it turned out just incredible(not bad for 1 year old plants)! Elderberries don't taste like much individually, but when you cook them down and reduce them, they make just the best pies and jam, or at least I think so. They are on the "flowery" tasting side. The flowers are a major medicinal herb in a lot of places and are supposed to be good for the lungs, among other things-there are a lot of old time recipes that use the flowers. Elderberry syrup is a popular cold/flu season treatment-there is an Israeli company that markets an elderberry product, I think it's called Sambucus? Anyway, it's one of my top favorite bushes, just for the fast growth and masses of flowers, and the flowers smell so good too, kind of like a much milder lilac. The old timers used it to make wine too-I bet there was more elderberry wine being drunk early America than grape wine. Downside-harvesting is a pain. You really have to pick through thousands of berries to get the stems off after picking them-BUT if you have a big freezer, you can freeze the huge bunches of berries and knock them off frozen, and supposedly they come off cleaner that way.
 
GreenestBasterd

GreenestBasterd

Well-Known Member
Rurumo said:
I picked all the berries on all three of my bushes exactly 1 year after planting 8" plants and had enough berries to make 10 8oz jars of jam-it was my first time making jam and it turned out just incredible(not bad for 1 year old plants)! Elderberries don't taste like much individually, but when you cook them down and reduce them, they make just the best pies and jam, or at least I think so. They are on the "flowery" tasting side. The flowers are a major medicinal herb in a lot of places and are supposed to be good for the lungs, among other things-there are a lot of old time recipes that use the flowers. Elderberry syrup is a popular cold/flu season treatment-there is an Israeli company that markets an elderberry product, I think it's called Sambucus? Anyway, it's one of my top favorite bushes, just for the fast growth and masses of flowers, and the flowers smell so good too, kind of like a much milder lilac. The old timers used it to make wine too-I bet there was more elderberry wine being drunk early America than grape wine. Downside-harvesting is a pain. You really have to pick through thousands of berries to get the stems off after picking them-BUT if you have a big freezer, you can freeze the huge bunches of berries and knock them off frozen, and supposedly they come off cleaner that way.
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Sounds great and the pies have got me thinking and the belly rumbling.
I may let the flowers fruit and try my hand at a few pies this year.
I’ve only made the syrup/cordial and love a good pie.

In England and Europe, a lot of the older generation use or have used fishing floats from the pithy centre of the smaller branches.
It makes very tough floats.

where I grew up they grew along the rivers in abundance.

When we were children, I had a cousin that had almost white blonde hair, one day we were out walking with my dad along the river, and he grabbed a few handfuls of the berries and crushed them all into her hair, makes a great dye too!!! She was going crazy. hahahahaha.
The good old days
 
Star Dog

Star Dog

Well-Known Member
Around my area there's millions of raspberry bushes and Alpine strawberries, during the season I'm always picking a handful when I'm out and about they're so sweet and tasty, bramble/blackberry are awesome but I can never get enough of them for a good munch only a few appetisers.
 
Rurumo

Rurumo

Well-Known Member
GreenestBasterd said:
Sounds great and the pies have got me thinking and the belly rumbling.
I may let the flowers fruit and try my hand at a few pies this year.
I’ve only made the syrup/cordial and love a good pie.

In England and Europe, a lot of the older generation use or have used fishing floats from the pithy centre of the smaller branches.
It makes very tough floats.

where I grew up they grew along the rivers in abundance.

When we were children, I had a cousin that had almost white blonde hair, one day we were out walking with my dad along the river, and he grabbed a few handfuls of the berries and crushed them all into her hair, makes a great dye too!!! She was going crazy. hahahahaha.
The good old days
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Wow, I didn't know they were used for dye, that's such a vivid memory of your cousin! That is so interesting about using the wood for fishing floats too. I love these traditional multi-use plants. I'm surprised they aren't more popular just because of the awesome flower clusters. Well, and it's true they don't taste wonderful right off the branch like the popular fruits. I've always liked the weirder fruits. I pre-ordered a medlar tree for next spring just to add to my unusual fruit collection. I'm going to add a bunch of flowers next year too, including some edibles like Blue Camas which was a major cultivated crop of NW American Indians and also a very pretty flower. Oh, AND you can fry elderberry flowers! I just found out about this, here is a site that talks about it https://www.lilvienna.com/elderflower-fritters/ I gotta try this...
 
StonedGardener

StonedGardener

Well-Known Member
Star Dog said:
It’s a lovely smell right enough, honeysuckle is another I really like.
I've got it along my fence and on they calm summer nights it fills the air with a beautiful smell.
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Star Dog said:
It’s a lovely smell right enough, honeysuckle is another I really like.
I've got it along my fence and on they calm summer nights it fills the air with a beautiful smell.
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Great imagery.....I've been there....what a beautiful moment ! The ambrosia wafts in
Star Dog said:
It’s a lovely smell right enough, honeysuckle is another I really like.
I've got it along my fence and on they calm summer nights it fills the air with a beautiful smell.
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Great imagery, very evocative , one of nature's pleasures I've enjoyed my whole life. The ambrosia wafting in and taking you off guard.....what a rush, yer mind goes blank....the only thing you are aware of for a fleeting moment is the beautiful scent.
 
T

toking12am

Active Member
I threw a mixed flower packet out in this raised bed.20220716_063539.jpg
I know what most of these are however there are a couple that weren't "officially" in the seed pack. This is supposedly a sunflower. Leaves definitely support this, I just haven't seen one this small. 20220719_065410.jpg
And this guy popped up didn't see this one listed either. Beautiful though.
20220707_075810.jpg
 
StonedGardener

StonedGardener

Well-Known Member

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