We finally got some cool weather along with a bit of rain. Not much, but a good start and just enough to start up a fire. Rain and a good fire reminds me of the restaurant scene in Harry met Sally. Yes, yes, yes!
With the cooler weather and shorter days, you need to be adjusting your sprinkler system like crazy to allow for the reduced water needs of your landscape.
If you haven’t already, fertilize your trees and shrubs soon for a healthier sleep through winter and an quick start in spring.
We just changed back to standard time. Some of you have battery operated sprinkler timers and now is a good time to change the batteries in those if we haven’t already done it for you recently.
Want a fall adventure but can’t get away for a trip? Take an afternoon and drive up to Wrightwood. The road is short and uncomplicated and the drive is worth it! Beautiful pines and fall trees and crisp air. Lots of cute little shops and tasty restaurants to temp you. Go up on a Friday afternoon and stop by the Farmer’s market. I got some terrific organic apples there and made some amazing no sugar apple butter with them.
CRAFTY? While you are there, pick up some pretty fall leaves. Spray one side of the leaves with some spray adhesive and stick to the inside of a quart Mason jar. Place a battery votive candle inside and voila! Instant Thanksgiving table decoration.
“Every leaf speaks bliss to me
Falling from an autumn tree”
Emily Bronte
Fall is for FOOTBALL!
Football season means Sundays are casual. Have some soup and some chips and dip. Get your onion fix.
Homemade Onion Dip
( no comparison to store bought)
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 ½ cups diced yellow onions
¼ tsp kosher salt
1 ½ cups sour cream
¾ cup mayonnaise
¼ tsp garlic powder (not garlic salt)
½ tsp ground pepper
½ tsp kosher salt
Saute oil and onions and salt in a fry pan slowly over medium heat until they are caramelized (not burnt). This will take about 20-30 minutes. Set aside to cool. Mix the rest of the ingredients and then add the cooled onions and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight. Mix again and serve with your favorite chips.
Redskins and Onion Soup
3 Tbl olive oil
1 ½ lbs of white onions, chopped
¾ lbs of Redskin potatoes diced into ½” chunks
5 cups chicken broth
Salt and pepper to taste
In a large soup pan add oil and onions and saute on low until translucent but not brown, about 30 minutes.
While onion is cooking, place potato cubes in a steamer and steam potatoes until soft about 10 minutes. When onions are ready, add the steamed potatoes and the chicken broth to the soup pan with the potatoes and heat through. Puree soup in several batches if necessary in a food processor or use a stick blender and blend right in the pan. Add salt and pepper to taste and heat to serving temperature. Ladle in bowls and top with chopped tomato or shredded cheese and serve with warm french bread and butter.
“Eating is a necessity, but cooking is an art”
Did you know that studies of comparable houses with and without trees place a markedly higher value on the homes whose yards are sheltered by trees? Trees help clean our air. Trees provide shade that can reduce air conditioning costs as much as 15%. So get planting! Fall is the best time.
By Cindy Poore
Where did the time go? It is almost fall. I long for fall the way a kid longs for Christmas. (that’s just around the corner too!) Fall is my time. The time for shorter, hopefully cooler days. Time to regroup and plan that last frenzy of activity you just HAVE to get done this year before the weather goes to heck. We are busy planning and planting some awesome new landscapes to get in before fall right now.
Fall is the BEST time for planting. Even in Wrightwood where winters are cold and frosty. Who doesn’t love a frosty morning, sipping something hot while sitting in the chill air outside and gazing on a beautiful scene in your yard?
So you are going to the nursery to buy some plants? Go with knowledge. I haunt the nurseries. It is like Disneyland to me. I want to take one (or more) of everything home. I was just at a big box store yesterday and saw some lovelies I would like to own.
These beautiful Morning Glories would be a great choice! They will look great,
until they don’t when it gets cold and then they will sleep until spring and decorate your yard next year.
Just as amazing are these hibiscus and particularly, the YELLOW hibiscus which seems uncommon. Unfortunately, hibiscus will not tolerate temperatures below 30 degrees and will die come winter unless extreme measures are taken to protect them all winter long.
So why do the nurseries up here sell these guys and temp us with this contraband? Just to make money off us? Well not entirely.
People forget that plants are living things and do not live forever. Both large and small plants and trees. If we keep in mind that everything has a place and time, we can enjoy all the world has to offer.
Plants, are just like everything else in your life, such as places, opportunities and especially people. They come into our lives and decorate them. But not forever. Appreciate this. Embrace this. Enjoy what you have while you have it.
~
“Gratitude Changes EVERYTHING”
August Garden Tasks
August is the peak of the garden season. Wonderful harvests from your fruit trees and veggies are pushing out produce like little mad scientists. Pick them quick or they will morph into something a bit unusual. Or the birds or squirrels will get them. You reap what you sow, so now is the time.
` Problems with worms in your apples or pears? I’m sorry to tell you that this is a MAJOR deal! Coddling moth is no joke. You should rip every one off the tree right now and pick up the ones on the ground and throw them away. Sad but necessary. Then for sure, apply dormant spray in winter. When leaves are gone but before new buds show up. This will help, but may not cure. Other treatments for Coddling Moth are expensive, repetitive and have to be timed expertly. Do this at a minimum. Don’t let fruit or plant debris sit on the ground overwinter.
`Idea for your next evening party? I’m just so into tea lights. Put some pretty tea lights into a quart Mason jar the light with long wooden matches and place on tables and little spots here and there in the garden. Want to hang them? Get some sturdy Florists wire and wrap several times around the mason jar just under the threads and create a “handle” out of the wire. Make the handle long enough so the heat from the flame is not a problem. Hang from branches of trees or hooks on your patio cover. Instant ambiance.
` Divide Iris July is best, but it is not too late to divide your iris now. Go out and multiply!
` Plant seedlings of fall crops such as broccoli, cabbage and Brussels sprouts now. Sow, carrots, green
` Harvest herbs for drying right now. Keep from direct sun and place between two screens to air dry.
`Drought Priorities. Drought is everyone’s problem. You invested a lot of time and money into your landscape. Don’t loose it all because of crappy weather. Managing your yard’s watering system is critical! Our priorities for water for your landscape is to wean your plant off too-often watering. PLEASE work to manage your watering schedule so you will have healthier plants and a smaller water bill. Water your plants deeply and less frequently. If you have slope areas, water shorter multiple times with some time between waterings so water can sink in instead of rolling off. But you should not be watering multiple times and every day unless your landscape is brand spankin new! Call us and we will help you manage your water, not waste it.
Let Us Help You With All Your Landscape Needs
(760) 868-6104
My Favorite Recipes
Get your GRILL ON!
Keep grillin. Summer is not over yet! Try these for a tasty vegetarian snack or side dish at your favorite BBQ party. You can leave out the chopped kale or substitute fresh spinach or other green. I just try to incorporate more healthy greens into our meals when ever I can.
Cheese Stuffed Peppers
1 cup (8 oz) cream cheese room temp.
½ cup (4 oz)Shredded Parmesan
¼ cup Kale ( chopped fine)
4 mini bell/sweet peppers
4 Anaheim chilies
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
Take several wooden tooth picks and soak in water while preparing dish. In a small bowl, combine the cream cheese, parmesan, and kale if desired. Salt and pepper to taste.
Wash peppers and with a sharp knife, cut ¾ the way through the stem end near the top. Gently fold back the stem end being careful not to separate from the chili and scrape the seeds and membrane from the peppers. Fill peppers with the cheese mixture and replace top. Secure top if needed with a wooden tooth pick soaked in water. Brush with olive oil and grill on a hot grill for 5 to 7 minutes just until pepper skin blisters and cheesey mixture starts to melt.
Yum. Enjoy with a glass of tea or wine!
By Cindy Poore
Yes, I know. You all have been wondering what has happened to our newsletter. No, you aren’t unsubscribed, as if that could happen. We have been wrapped up in a bittersweet time.
Some of you may not know that Darrell and I have been helping a good friend who has been ill. Betsy was diagnosed with early onset dementia last year. She bestowed on us, the role of financial controller and generally to be in charge of her life.
We took the job to heart and have managed literally everything for her for more than a year now.
Not an easy task to take someone who is so full of life and wonder and such a gift to everyone who knew her and watch her decline in that way. Betsy passed away early in May. She was 64.
And while still in the management and grieving process, we are trying to get our lives back to some kind of normalcy.
Betsy left us with a great many lessons. One of the really important ones is to prepare for the unavoidable (death) and the unthinkable ( the horrible disease of dementia.) She left a will and a trust and clear instructions on what to do with her stuff. (lots and lots of stuff! LOL). It makes our job tremendously easier.
I love writing this newsletter because I love to help people. So I am saying this because I want to help you.
“Get your butt to an attorney and get your trust, will and advance directive
done right away. Call to make the appointment today!”
There may not be as many tomorrows as we might hope. Talk to your loved ones about your wishes so they can make the decisions you want for YOU. If you love them, show them, with this final gift.
More Transition!
Some really great things have happened too. My granddaughter Taylor just graduated high school and she is going to Perdue University in Indiana to work on her life goal: to make environmentally friendly fuel for the world’s vehicles. We are so proud.
With just as much enthusiasm, we welcomed our 7th grandchild, Landon Wolf McDaniel into this world on May 27th. So our lives have been quite full the last few months and we hope you understand if we haven’t seen you recently. We are looking forward to seeing you again. We are just a phone call away if you need us.
Summer Garden Tasks
I didn’t mean to turn this into a Christmas letter in July so let’s get on with the garden stuff!
`Summer is here and the watchword for this season is WATER. Check your drip and sprinklers frequently. Increase the length of time your drip or sprinklers run before adding days. (As long as they are not on a slope). I’d love to see plants and lawns whose root systems are healthy enough to have a day between waterings. You do your plants no favor by watering them every day in the summer. Unless it is over 100° try to avoid watering every day. Deeper less frequent watering will result in healthier plants. Call us with any questions.
` Mow your lawns a little higher 3” or so in the summer to help shade the roots for more resistance to drought and wind.
`Idea for your next evening party? Put a large shallow bird bath on the patio and fill with water to just cover the bottom. Place a dozen or so small tea lights in the water for a simple but dramatic touch to your evening party.
` Weeds in your lawn? August and January are the months to put weed pre-emergent down for those nasty grass weeds. If you have crabgrass now, January is the time to apply weed pre-emergent. Most people mistake Bermuda grass for crab grass. It you have Bermuda grass, that’s a whole different story.
If you had Poa Annua last winter, August is the best time to apply the pre-emergent to prevent that little guy from coming back. Prevention is the key. What is Poa Annua you say? It is an apple green grass called Annual Bluegrass (not the good kind) that produces seed heads profusely making it difficult to get rid of and making your lawn look unkempt. Hard to get rid of a grass in a grass, so pre-emergent is the best way to go. Don’t spend hours pulling them out. It is useless. Call us we can do it for you.
` Remember to deadhead blooms on your roses, annuals and perennials to encourage new blossoms.
`Stop watering garlic and onions and wait a month before harvesting.
Let Us Help You With All Your Landscape Needs
(760) 868-6104
My Favorite Recipes
What makes a summer? Why ice cream of course. What better to top off a hot summer night with? I make a simple vanilla ice cream and top with fruit (or chocolate when I’m being bad) but you can add lots of things to yours. I have a wonderful variation below that will just transport you to your favorite vacation spot in Hawaii.
Cindy’s Not Really Plain
NO COOK Vanilla Ice Cream
2 cups heavy cream*
2 cups half and half*
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup sugar
1/8th tsp salt
Mix well until sugar is dissolved and put into ice cream freezer and freeze according to directions. I love my Cuisinart ice cream maker! So easy and no salt to deal with.
*You could use 4 cups of low fat, no fat or full fat milk or a combination to cut the calories. The difference is in the mouth feel. And then of course it’s not ice cream, it’s ice milk. Make it the original way and then experiment. I haven’t yet made it with almond milk and Stevia for the sweetner but thinking of giving it a try.
Variations:
Island Dream!Top your vanilla ice cream with pineapple topping, chopped macadamia nuts and shredded coconut. Don’t forget the cherry!
Nuttylicious!
Add ¾ cup of peanut butter warmed until just of pouring consistency and 8 oz of milk chocolate chips to cream before freezing. Top with chopped nuts to serve. YUM!
- Staying Home May 31, 2020Staying home has new meaning since the tragic and crazy world of COVID-19. While most are keeping a low profile at home, Perfection Landscape knows that we are essential for helping our clients care for their home environments. We continue to do maintenance for our regular and new clients keeping with social distancing guidelines for […]
- Weeds are Back! March 10, 2018Is your yard Exploding with weeds ? You may think a few weeds here or there aren’t much to worry about, but did you know most weeds are capable of producing over a thousand seeds each? Rain and the warmer weather that will follow will make conditions just right for hose little land mines […]