Garden Travels
This spring Ann Marie had the pleasure of visiting two of her favorite public gardens, The Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, Arizona and Reiman Gardens on the campus of Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa.  These gardens are always inspirational and educational.  The Echinopsis thelegona (at left) is a native of Argentina whose sprawling stems may be up to three inches in diameter and six feet long.  We were fortunate to arrive at the garden early enough to see the majestic blooms before they faded in the heat.

Reiman Gardens has a number of "garden rooms" including pond areas, a children's garden, a wildflower garden with striking bunny head statues and a large collection of roses developed by the late Dr. Griffith Buck.

 

An ISU Alum admires a special summer 2007 train display in the children's garden.  The display included replicas of landmarks from the Iowa State campus.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Cordia boissieri
This small ornamental tree is a member of the Boraginaceae Family.  In Texas it may be found by two common names, Anacahuita (This name is also occasionally used for another member of the Borage Family, Ehretia anacua) and Mexican Olive.  Despite the fact that it is only reliably hardy as far north as San Antonio, Ann Marie has seen a lovely specimen growing in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Austin.  She has planted one in a protected area of her home garden, Horsetail Haven, and will keep her fingers crossed during winter freezes.  It is a drought tolerant, fast growing tree with large, coarse textured leaves and extremely showy clusters of trumpet shaped flowers with slightly ruffled petals and yellow throats.  The blossoms appear from late spring to mid summer and are followed by olive shaped one inch fruits.  In Trees of Texas by Stahl and McElvaney it is reported that the fruit are eaten by wildlife.  They also note that consumption of the fruit may cause dizziness in humans.

The Veggies
The surplus of rain and below normal summer temperatures in Austin have yielded a bounty of eggplant, green beans and Asian long beans.  (Tip from Ann Marie, for great green beans, cook chopped onion in oil until softened.  Add bite sized pieces of beans and cook two minutes, stirring constantly.  Add 1 teaspoon of molasses, stir, add water to cover and simmer until beans are tender.  The long beans seem to require longer cooking times)  The tomatoes have not been plentiful at Horsetail Haven but now that hot weather has arrived yellow cherry tomatoes are gaining flavor and sweetness.  In the pepper patch there have been some habanero, jalapeno and sweet Hungarian peppers, but thank heavens for an abundant supply at the farmer's market.  We are eating more than we can grow this summer!  The basil patch has been lovely and pesto a staple at the dining table.