Friday

 Yes...Hibiscus Tea is made from dried red petals. I messed with H Tea this morning.  My search on goggle for recipes wanted an e-mail address.  No can do.  So, I found a little more info but not much.   Dee...what do you put in your H. Tea and still call it H Tea.  

                                         Pretty in color.  But taste?  At this point it red water!

I've read about raspberries added, mint added, honey or any sweetener added. There are never any specific directions so I'm thinking anything goes.  My morning drink with dark red blooms looked like wine but it certainly tasted like red water. I think that's what it really was.  Red water with a smidgin of clover honey. I'm certain Southern Bells would not have given my tea a thumbs up.  I'm beginning to think any summer tea, Mint, Hyssop, Bergamine or any tea choice added to the red colored water could be called Hibiscus Tea.  Mr. Southerner Dee, would a southern gentleman agree that's Hibiscus Tea?

                    Of course a sprig of mint would make this picture more appealing.  You think?

The pink with red center Hibiscus turned into a golden color tea with the same outcome in taste.  I think I need some help with the recipe. I did start with drying the flowers in the oven on parchment paper. Crumbling them up and then pouring hot water through the strainer they were in letting them steep for 5 minutes.  Then what???

That's all the TEA news I have for today!

Now the other stuff.

        So far so good.  The deer can't pull any pond plants out of the water turning them upside down.                                          Chicken wire is good for a lot of things beside chickens. 

Same old morning stuff.  I was in the garden by 7:30 with the cart, clippers and shovel.  Today is August 1st.  From the beginning of the summer till around Aug 1 it's filling spaces, chasing rabbits, snipping, digging, grumbling about deer, arranging, watering, fluffing and then more of the same all over again.  Then come August 1st and everything looks overgrown.  It's time to do something different because it really is overgrown. It feels like sausage. 

This is the after.  Before...ivy everywere, tree limb so low, things were hidden, woodland forget-me-not's hugs leaves covered a whole lot of things.  There is plenty to see now.  

Speaking of grumbling.  We have the deer family with the triplets still with spots and it is reported that there are twins much tinnier seen lately as well.  Good grief...5 babies this summer. We're over run and outnumbered.  

A picture of the garden.  More short zinnias, artemisia, dill, cannas, B E Susans, milkweed, hibiscus.                        I call this a wonderful mish mash of things.  All beautiful. This is an after picture.

Today was different.  Well, I think different.  You may think the same.  What was the same was filling the morning with work and taking it easy in the afternoon.  The different part was looking to see what plants were crowding and needed to find their way to the B Blue.  Dead Dill got pulled, some ferns got clipped, perennial woodland forget-me-nots were dug out and Ivy was yanked. I did a minor job on the dogwood tree.  And clean out happened in more than one place. A few other places are still waiting.  

        

                                                The first Black Swallowtail we've seen this summer.  

It was time to make room for air!  When plants are covering each other, nobody is happy.  Well, maybe I should say I'm not happy.  In a way, it's getting the beds ready for the rest of the summer and fall.  A snip here and there is always a good thing.  One B Blue is full.

And in between all this there was wine...really red Hibiscus "tea" water...to drink.  The temperature has really moderated, and I worked for part of the morning with a jacket to keep me warm.  

                     Straw Flowers looking pretty perky with a few daisies and a couple of zinnias. 

I haven't read any disparaging word about rabbits.  Surprise, surprise!  But if you are a bunny lover, I can report that the bigger of the two little bunnies is still with us hopping across the patio yesterday.  And there are just a few zinnia branches laying on the ground. Not many but a couple.  I think I'll have blooming big zinnias in Sept with short stems, if I'm lucky.  My little zinnias just keep on giving. Doug is grateful.  I've stopped whining. 

                    Most of the paths are lined with these little zinnias.  All planted from saved seed. 

I spent some time on the patio with the camera watching for Finch.  I took some pictures, and I think I could take more if we had another Finch feeder.  Doug feels not.  I'd like to prove him wrong.  Finch will stay through the winter.  I'd like to have a lot of them around. Maybe a trip to Wild Birds for a wedding anniversary gift could solve that problem.  Is that a good enough reason?

                                            Now who could resist another feeder?  Not me!

    Supper tonight will be a BLT repeat.  Tomorrow afternoon is Aldi's time and bacon is on the list.                                          And a few other things like getting flowers on the altar again.  

UP Pictures. 

 

Recess time at Eagle River beach.  The challenge always is...How much water can we dam up.  Most of the beaches have a small river emptying into the big lake.  I think these four boys should get an A for effort damming the biggest amount of water I've seen in a while.  I think Superior has been pretty quiet the two weeks camping has happened.  I've seen little waves but the big ones...Next year.