Everything About Gardening

Although I love fresh roses in my house, growing them always seems like too much work–as in maintenance intensive–both labor-wise and chemical-wise. It may be a matter of perception, but growing roses organically seems like less work.

Roses seem to be plagued by a number of diseases, black spot for instance, and unfortunately if they arent sprayed with chemicals, then the roses will eventually die. Several years ago the British Association of Rose Breeders (BARB) held what was called the Rose Trials in which no chemical sprays were used. What they discovered is that roses grown by Kordes, a German nursery, tended to be the most hardy, and with good reason. The nursery stopped spraying their roses in 1976. Most of their roses succumbed to disease but a few survived and its these roses that they now grow, quite successfully. Read more…

Espresso connoisseurs have now the privilege to choose with the Lattissima Plus. DeLonghi launched the second generation of its successful capsule coffee machine, Nespresso Lattissima. Developed in cooperation with Nespresso, the small and compact Lattissima Plus employs DeLonghi patented milk frothing system, already standard in the fully automatic espresso machines.

The Lattissima Plus capsule coffee machine uses the optimized steam jet technology and the new milk/steam ratio that create fewer bubbles. The density of the milk froth makes it bond perfectly with the coffee and produces an even creamier froth on cappuccino and latte macchiato.

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2 WAYS TO ENLARGE!Click directly on the photo to enlarge in a pop-up, or click HERE to see this image, larger, in a new browser window.

Today’s photos are from Terie Rawn in Newfield, New York. Terie says, “In ’89 we moved back to my hometown so our family could be raised in a smaller community. After clearing a small section of trees we nestled a newly built home just inside woods edge to face farmland hills and a distant view of Ithaca, New York. Every year since my husband and I have expanded the landscape to include many gardens, various paths, and a woods pond. For our 30th wedding anniversary Ray built a ‘Stepback Garden Cottage’ for me to play in. Much to my delight, it has served to host tea parties, garden guests, and grand daughters’ play time. I am so grateful to be a temporary part of this little heaven on earth!

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Botanists have discovered that the origin of Tahitian vanilla (Vanilla tahitensis), an orchid that when pollinated yields the most delectable vanilla bean on the planet, actually had its origins in the Mayan forests of Mexico and Guatemala. Whats interesting about this finding is that the Tahitian vanilla orchid is found only in cultivation and not in the wild.

Using DNA and ethno-historic analysis, Pesach Lubinsky, a postdoctoral researcher and Norman Ellstrand, a professor of genetics in UC Riverside’s Department of Botany and Plant Sciences, appear to have traced Tahitian vanilla back to its evolutionary beginning as a pre-Columbian Maya cultivar. Modern day Tahitian vanilla appears to be a hybrid between V. planifolia, a species cultivated for commercial vanilla that is primarily grown in Madagascar and Indonesia, and the never cultivated V. Read more…

This compact 60cm wide Siemens steam oven, the HB25D5L2 is a quite visually appealing built-in oven, made of shiny black glass and stainless steel. An innovative operating concept with direct selection mode, beautifully laid out controls, black and white display, and a blue confirmation indicators project design sophistication and high level of technology.

Similar to the HMT85DL53 Bosch steam oven, the 22-litre Siemens steam oven comes with 0.9 litre water tank, LED light and integral cooling fan. It is operated with the help of electronic retractable rotary knob and push buttons.

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2 WAYS TO ENLARGE!Click directly on the photo to enlarge in a pop-up, or click HERE to see this image, larger, in a new browser window.

Happy birthday to us!! The GPOD was “born” exactly two years ago today, on January 4th, 2010. Whew–that’s more than 500 posts! I kinda need a nap… Take a minute to go back to the beginning. It’s interesting to see how much we’ve changed! We started with one, maybe two photos per day, without a lot of detailed information. Today I think the blog is a lot richer, with multiple photos a day (not always), lots more info, and most exciting, lots and lots of reader submissions. I’d love to continue the trend, and feature more of your gardens. Send me some pics, whydontcha? Email me (be sure to introduce yourself and tell me a bit about your garden and the photos) at .

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