Cedronella canariensis, Balm of Gilead

Cedronella canariensis
 Balm of Gilead

I have grown this small shrub on and off for years and am in love with the warm aromatic resinous smell of the crushed leaves. Being native to the Canary Islands it is not that easy to keep going in a warm humid climate like mine. It is a garden escape in California and can be seen at the San Fransisco Botanic Gardens but is otherwise not well known in cultivation other than with herb enthusiasts.This is the first time I have seen the dusty pink flowers which are held erect above the foliage. I propagate it by taking cuttings during winter and when potted on in spring they make rapid growth. The foliage is excellent for cutting and drying and retains the aroma of camphor, pine and wood smoke..... rather like a good after-shave.
2017 update: I currently don't have any plants of it.

Growing Carrots

Freshly pulled Carrots

The humble carrot is believed to have originated in Afghanistan, a place much in the news of late. The carrot made the journey to Europe in the 14th century but it was not until the 17th century that the familiar orange type was developed in the Netherlands. 'Dutch' carrots are still sold today and refer to a bunch of young carrots usually sold with leaves attached.
Last weekend in the Sydney Morning Herald, Steve Manfredi wrote about carrots in his excellent column Seasonal Cook and summed them up best by saying that they are 'indispensable in the kitchen and along with celery and onion form the trinity of flavours that are the basis of stocks and sauces.' He recommended slow braising of carrots to caramelise them and unlock their abundant sugar making them a great side-dish for a roast meal. Eating them raw, I like to julienne them and add the slender pieces to Vietnamese rice paper rolls where they give the crunch factor in contrast with the other soft ingredients. The other way I like to eat them fresh is in Moroccan style salads where grated carrot is mixed with currants, pine nuts, pieces of orange and dressed with olive oil and spices. This is inspiration from Claudia Roden's A New Book of Middle Eastern Food.
As for growing carrots , they are too easy, especially from seed as long as the soil is well dug and prepared beforehand. Avoid fresh animal manure in the soil and thus nitrogen which produces too much leaf growth at the expense of root development. I was a vegetable gardening snob before sowing this batch, pictured above, in my plot at the community garden. However having sold some bunches to an organic food store and seeing the other varieties available such as the lovely purple types I am sold and can't wait to try growing some more. Carrot seed can be sown all year but the sweetest ones are dug in spring. The variety pictured here is Nantes perhaps named for the French city? Organic seed is readily available.

Summer Savory, Satureja hortensis

Satureja hortensis, Summer Savory

This herb from southern Europe and a garden escapee in the American States of Ohio, Illinois and Nevada, is not as well known here as it should be. It is a small, to 30cm, annual grown from seed sown in spring. It has slender linear leaves which are soft to touch and tiny pink flowers which look like a dusting of powdered sugar over the stems. This is one of the sweet herbs and has a pleasant spicy fragrance and a resinous peppery taste with camphor overtones. My Italian neighbour at the community garden gave me a couple of small plants which have already grown large enough to provide some leaves for picking. The plants are normally quite top heavy and lurch sideways if not staked. For cooking this savory is a classic bean herb as its German name attests, Bohenkraut. It has a particular affinity with broad beans as well as string beans and gives an aromatic indescribable taste to them . French cookbooks refer to sarriette being blended with fines herbes, or in the final preparation either a la poulette or au lard, when it is chopped with parsley as well as being added to new peas.
Summer Savory gets a mention in all the old Herbals including Gerards from 1597 in which he recommends it as a dieting herb as well as for the flatulence one might encounter from eating beans! "It maketh thin; and doth marvellously prevaile against winde; therefore it is with good success boiled and eaten with beanes, peason and winde pulses"
The Latin name satureja means satyr's herb as a reference to its alleged aphrodisiac properties. Shakespeare perhaps had this in mind in the Winter's Tale (IV. iv) "Here's flowers for you, Hot Lavender, Mints, Savory, Marjoram"

Today's flowers

Navy Blue Sweetpeas & dark red Carnations

Callistemon 'Mary Mackillop'

Mary Mackillop will become Australia's first Saint at a ceremony at the Vatican in Rome tomorrow. This cardinal red bottlebrush was named in her honour and was introduced by Bill Molyneux of Austraflora Nursery in Victoria. It is a hybrid between Callistemon viminalis 'Hannah Ray' and Callistemon citrinus 'Splendens'. A percentage from the sale of this plant goes to continue the work of the Sisters of Saint Joseph which was founded by Mary to help disadvantaged people in the community. All the bottlebrush plants are just loving the excessive rainfall we have been experiencing.

yet another weather event

I am trying to come to grips with the various meteorological explanations for the increased rainfall patterns we have been experiencing. From what I can gather it is the result of the unusually high sea temperature in the north of Australia at the moment. When the resulting warm moisture laden winds move south and hit a cold band of air coming from further south, heavy rain eventuates and strong winds also occur. The good news is that some dam levels have gone from under 20 percent to capacity levels and bumper crop harvests are expected. Cooler temperatures have slowed the germination and planting of summer crops in the vegetable garden. My eggplant seedlings have hardly moved and the corn is shy of germinating at all. The strong wind today set me back by weeks when a sudden gust of wind overturned all my trays of newly planted seeds. Gardening life is never easy......

Farewell Dame Joan Sutherland

Dame Joan Sutherland (1926-2010)

A sad day for all Australians with the passing of Dame Joan Sutherland. A big thanks to ABC Classic FM for the wonderful day of her music.