Wednesday, January 31, 2007

A BIT OF COLOUR

A BIT OF COLOUR
Aside

At last a bit of colour in the garden.  Most of the year I curse this Japonica as I constantly have to hack it back to stop it obscuring the family room window, but now it’s blooming all is forgiven.  I particularly like this one as it is a beautiful scarlet instead of the usual orangey pink.  At the end of the season it sheds a few fruits – quince I think – but I have yet to do anything with them.  They look like a small yellowy green apple.

Tomorrow I am off to Bristol.  Back on Friday.

12 comments:

Unknown said...

Pat, quince jelly is lovely.

Pat said...

Thanks john.g - I'll have to give it a go.

granny p said...

Am about to agree with John. One of the best things he doesn't mention; the colour. Bristol is all right too.

Pat said...

granny p: I have a feeling it is honey coloured?

kenju said...

There is a quince in full bloom in our neighborhood, Pat, but they have to hack it back too, because they planted it to close to their driveway and the street. It's a shame they have to butcher it, because it is gorgeous in bloom.

Re your comment: a copperhead is a very poisonous snake, and a very agressive one.

Pat said...

Judy: I've butchered it so much there probably won't be enough fruit for jam. (sigh of relief!)
It must be frightening to live where there is dangerous wild -life but I suppose one gets used to it, and you probably benefit with a better climate. Wish I'd paid more attenton to geography at school. It's really very interesting.

Dr Maroon said...

The Owl and the Pussycat. Didn't they take a quince to sea?
Scurvey. Very good for it.
Have a good trip. Have a kir! Go on, you've earned it.

Pat said...

Doc: I remembered they took some honey and plenty of money wrapped up in a five pound note, but you of course were right!
'Dear pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling
Your ring?' Said the Piggy, 'I will.'
So they took it away, and were married next day
By the Turkey who lives on the hill.
They dined on mince, and slices of quince,
Which they ate with a runcible spoon;
And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,
They danced by the light of the moon,
The moon,
The moon,
They danced by the light of the moon.

Nightie night. Hope the bugs don't bite!

Pat said...

Doc: I remembered they took some honey and plenty of money wrapped up in a five pound note, but you of course were right!
'Dear pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling
Your ring?' Said the Piggy, 'I will.'
So they took it away, and were married next day
By the Turkey who lives on the hill.
They dined on mince, and slices of quince,
Which they ate with a runcible spoon;
And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,
They danced by the light of the moon,
The moon,
The moon,
They danced by the light of the moon.

Nightie night. Hope the bugs don't bite!

test fish said...

sliceable quince! that'd be quince paste, which is lovely, but takes forever to make. even longer than tomato paste, and that's interminable... although with a dehydrator, the process might just be bearable.
hmmm.... dehydrator....
i'd completely forgotten about the owl and the pussycat, so it was nice to be reminded of it again... although what a strange story!

Pat, i think your quinces might be ornamental? either a Chinese Quince or an east Asian flowering quince? i put in white-flowering one over winter, but i put it in in a bad spot, so it's a bit traumatised and struggling. yours is beautiful.

eating-quinces are more of a tree, and have white or pink flowers and hard fist-sized fruit. completely inedible raw, but good stewed, as jelly, or as paste.

test fish said...

oooh, i should remember to scroll-down... it looks like you have an east asian flowering quince, and the fruits are edible once bletted... or you can make a marmalade out of them!

Pat said...

amy: thank you for those links. Looking at the photograph Chaenomeles Looks the nearest - pity it is more difficult to say than japonica. The fruits ate very sparse - just one or two lying on the ground. Maybe because we have to keep hacking it back. When I took the photograph it wasn't in its full glory. Now it is.
Now if you go making quince paste your store cupboard is going to be full again:)