I have over a dozen rose bushes out front, and I love to look out at them, preferring to leave them where others can also enjoy them. But a big rain is predicted (2-3″ in a couple of days), and I know that it will just beat up and ruin all the opened ones, so what could I do? I had to pick them.

Fragrant roses on my kitchen counter, before a big rain

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Just a year ago, took a quick tour of the Cactus House at Volunteer Park Conservatory, in Seattle. I hope they can open again soon. We all miss it so much. Bonus image below!

Pretty little hen-and-chick succulents (not cactus!)

Bonus image:

Stunning accordian-pleated cactus (also a succulent!). When they have more water, they expand.

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These cheerful yellow perennial sunflowers come back every year, spread in a reasonable manner, bloom when not that much is happening, and look good even under smoky conditions. Seattle’s air is not too good, but it’s better than other places for sure.

Yellow to the max!

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These darling little cyclamen plants bloom in late summer. I think this is Cyclamen colchicum. They like dry shade, quite useful in my Pacific Northwest garden.

Cyclamen colchicum blooming in September

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This is the third box of plums so far, from such a little tree! My neighbor refused an offer of some, saying they are the dandelions of fruit, that he grew up with a couple of trees of them, and was set for life. It made me laugh, but more for me.

Fresh plums, bounty from a tree

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Oh they are cute, absolutely. As long as they stay with the fallen apples and leave my vegetables alone!

Brown bunny rabbit in my yard

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Finally we’re getting some warm, sunny weather in Seattle. The tomatoes are loving it!

Early Girl red tomatoes, Sungold orange cherry tomatoes, wax beans, a lemon cucumber,  a green tomato that got knocked off the vine, and some Blue Lake string beans, with some cosmos and a chiminea in the background

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I’ve been gardening for a long time, now in the Seattle area. I add compost every year or so, and I water regularly. But I also want good vegetable production from two pretty small beds. Here’s the results of adding about a cup of Dr. Earth Rose & Flower food per plant (!) when I planted this Sungold cherry 10″ tomato start in the late spring. It’s been cool this year, so they’re just starting to really get ripe. It’s been worth the wait.

Sungold cherry tomatoes on the vine

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I’m a big fan of planting fruit trees. Even if you’re renting. Ever since I wound up living in one rented home with a huge yard for over ten years, and realized I could have had a whole orchard back there, I’ve planted fruit trees. They do take a long time, but time passes, right? This curl-free peach tree (‘Frost’) is about 4 or 5 years old. There are only a couple of dozen peaches, if that. But they are such heaven!

Fuzzy home-grown peaches, so perfumed!

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If you have never eaten lemon cucumbers, poor you. They are delicious! They are called that because when you let them (over)ripen, they appear the size and shape of lemons, but still taste like regular cucumbers. As a public service announcement I offer the correct stage to pick them. They should have just a tiny hint of yellow starting. Select ones in the store at this color; do not buy if dark yellow. The inner seeds are hardly developed at all. So tender, sweet and crunchy! Rub off the little prickly things and you can even eat the skin at this stage, but I do peel them. Let’s hear it for backyard gardening!

Harvest of lemon cucumbers picked at the perfect time, the first Sungold cherry tomatoes, and some Blue Lake stringbeans

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Our local Trader Joe’s has had magnificent peaches this year. I noticed that they are even MORE beautiful than the illustration on the packaging, which is saying something! Hope you are enjoying your summer fruit in this unusual, to say the least, year.

Heavenly yellow peaches, the best part of summer

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A box of dead-ripe peaches from Trader Joe inspired me to adapt a very easy raspberry clafouti dessert recipe.

Peach clafouti (or clafoutis) easy custard and fruit dessert

Here is my version:

Ingredients:
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour (I used whole wheat pastry flour)
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (3 ozs) sugar
• Pinch kosher salt
• 3 large eggs
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• Finely grated zest of 1/2 lemon
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (3 ozs) whole milk
• 3 cups ripe peach wedges (about 3 peaches or so), peeled and cut into wedges
• dash vanilla
• Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting
Instructions:
Step 1
Preheat the oven to 350°. Generously butter a 9-inch gratin dish or pie plate. In a bowl, whisk the eggs, butter and lemon zest until smooth. Whisk in the sugar and a pinch of salt. Add the milk and whisk until light and very smooth, a couple of minutes. Add a dash of vanilla. Whisk in the flour until no lumps. Pour the batter into the gratin dish and top with the peach wedges in a pattern from the center, or just any which way (rustic!).
Step 2
Bake for about 30 minutes, until the clafoutis is just set and golden. If using a glass pie plate, raise temp. slightly, might take extra 10-15 minutes. Let cool slightly. Dust with confectioners’ sugar, cut into wedges and serve.

Even though I forgot to do the sugar dusting, it was FABULOUS.

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