The Queen's Tea, June 2012

This past Sunday we joined in the celebrations taking place across the pond in Great Britain and in tea rooms and living rooms here in the United States in celebration of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee honoring sixty years on the throne, an accomplishment she shares with Queen Victoria.  Our annual Queen's Tea featured a variety of Afternoon Tea selections suited for a queen, including a sampling of the Coronation Chicken Salad said to have been served at the 1953 Coronation luncheon of Queen Elizabeth II.  Our guests received a free sample of Coronation Tea, a blend created by The Metropolitan Tea Company.  This special tea is a combination of black teas and delicate camomile flowers that yields a full flavored tea with a hint of muscatel and honey like flavor from the camomile.  A Champagne toast to the Queen announced the beginning of our celebration.  Long live the Queen!

Eating Royally Pear and Walnut Salad
Parmesan Balsamic Dressing, from a Palace Kitchen

Olde English Sausage Rolls
Diamond Jubilee Veggie Confetti
Roast Beef with Tarragon Horseradish Butter on Pumpernickel
Tomato and Bacon Sandwich with Parmesan Butter
Piccadilly Curry and Marmalade Tea Sandwich Rounds
Coronation Chicken Salad

Kensington Palace Scones
Claridge Hotel, London Scones
Sweet Cream, Orange Curd, Raspberry preserves
Fresh Sliced Oranges and Cantaloupe

Earl Grey Petite Cupcake
Buckingham Palace Garden Party Triple Berry Tartlets

Champagne to Toast the Queen
‘Long Live the Queen!’ ‘God Bless the Queen!’

Celebrating!

Tending shop, 1973

It's a special day around here! 
Be sure to wish Susanna a Happy Birthday as she celebrates today!

Is it a rose? Or is it?

Our visit to the Morris Arboretum, included this little puzzle.  As we first wandered upon this plant my initial thought was "I have never seen a Rose so huge".  Then I looked closer and thought that isn't a rose -- but yes, it is definitely a rose blossom,  but not rose leaves.....

Mystery solved! It is a climbing rose in a crab apple tree.   So clever.  Reminded me of something you might find in Alice in Wonderland.

Weeping Beech

This European Weeping Beech (Fagus sylvatica f. pendula) is 60 feet in height and has a 90 foot spread.  It was an original tree planted in the early 1900's at the Morris Arboretum.  That is the brown part in the middle.  It is slowly aging and decaying, however its legacies live on!  Where ever the branches have wept down and touched the ground they have formed roots.  As the roots grow, the tree sprouts upward and forms a new ring of trees around the "parent".   And the circle of life continues.

Morris Arboretum

While the Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania, located in Philadelphia, originally began as a tree collection in the early 1900's it has expanded its collections to include ferns, herbs, rock garden plants, roses and more. Known as the Official Arboretum of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, it is a destination for horticultural display, educational resources, conservation, and research.










And, if you walk the grounds, you'll discover fun surprises such as a human size birds nest or a garden railroad.

 Here are a few images from our most recent Traveling Herb Seminar to the Morris Arboretum.  Our next trip is to "Garden State Gardens" in New Jersey. 

It was a beautiful day to stroll the grounds, enjoy the gardens, savor a picnic lunch prepared by Sweet Remembrances and simply relax in the creative Adirondack chairs.

Of small note, today's post marks 1000 posts

 since Susanna and Nancy started blogging about herbs and tea!

Take a Seat! Adirondack Chairs Project

During our recent Traveling Herb Seminar to the Morris Arboretum, one of the featured exhibits was of the favorite summertime Adirondack chair. Thirty different artists were asked to re-interpret the classic chairs. This link will provide additional information about this fun garden art:
Take a Seat! Adirondack Chairs reinterpreted

All styles, shapes and colors were represented, including the Mosaics  below.


The landscape scene on the chairs to the right reminds me of the old French Masters.  And below, the towels, blankets and parasol are made from recycled garbage bags.

It was such fun to stumble upon a new set of chairs as we wandered through the large arboretum.  Nice to have a place to sit for a moment too!

Simpson House Tea Room

While on a Rosemary House traveling herb seminar, our group recently enjoyed an evening tea at the Simpson House Tea Room in Chester Springs, PA.

 This pretty tea room is located in an 1890's Victorian farm house, complete with resident ghost. Our herb and tea enthusiasts appreciated the welcoming hospitality of the owner, her mother, and staff, as we sat down to enjoy a delicious evening meal.

 

   


A selection of hot teas,  or iced tea (sweetened or not) was offered to each guest.  The hot tea, still steeping, was brought to the table with a timer and small plate to decant your tea when the time was up.

The first course featured a choice of two soups, either broccoli and cheddar or creamy potato soup accompanied with crackers.The entree was a crustless Scottish quiche, fresh mixed greens with a raspberry dressing, and two slices of a sweet nut bread.

Following our meal, there was an opportunity to procure treasures in the gift shop.  Tea cups, tea pots, loose leaf tea, and assorted pretties were purchased by the shoppers in our group.

The neighbor's yard

We live in town and one of our next door neighbors is a rental house with very little grounds to maintain, or not.  Allowed to grow at whim, this is what it looks like.  Please understand, that I am not complaining, in fact I am THRILLED to be able to gather so many wonderful weeds just outside my gate.  Here you'll find plantain, daisy fleabane, dandelion, celandine, wood violet, and recently stinging Nettles appeared.  It's all organic, no doggies find this little patch, so these weeds are quite healthy and so convenient for us to gather.

Calycanthus - Sweet Shrub

Adding to the sweet smells in the herb garden are these flowers. A native American plant it has been on the property since our parents purchased it in 1968.  I suspect this shrub is 75 years old or more!   When I was growing up this was such a common bush that everyone just called it "Shrub".   As more and more gardeners are consciously planting Native plants - this sweet shrub is growing in popularity and I notice it is now being referred to more by its Latin name -Calycanthus.   It reminds me of the child that goes by Susie for 40 years and grows up into using her full name as an adult!  My mother always told me that as a school girl she would take one of these sweet flowers and tie it into the corner of her hankie on the walk to school so she had a fragrant pocket sachet for the day.   I find the fragrance of the flowers only really lasts for the first day or so that they are open but fortunately, in the spring when it is blooming there are many flowers!   Calycanthus floridus drops all its leaves in the winter time, is extremely easy to take care of and will live a long time.   It is not a showy shrub but when it does bloom it is fragrant.

Viburnum - Snow Ball Bush

This old fashioned bush is always a show stopper when it is in bloom.  Not many plants produce this many flowers or flowers this large!  They really do look like snow balls and let me tell you they throw like snow balls too!  Fortunately they aren't as cold as snow balls nor do they hurt!

 As the flowers drop it even looks like we have some snow on the ground.  It looks like a messy bush but really it isn't. These white flowers dry out and turn to compost quickly when it is done blooming. 

 When it is in bloom almost everyone who visits the garden asks about it.  This is another one of our shrubs that came with the original property plantings.  My guess would be this bush is 70 or more years old!  We cut it fairly hard when it is done blooming and yet it easily grows to 10 feet in height.   There are many varieties of Viburnums but I love this one and it is the perfect backdrop in the far corner of the garden.   Nestled underneath this shrub, amongst the ferns is a fairy house designed and crafted by artist sister Marj.

Textile Garden at Landis Valley

The textile garden features a variety of plants used in textiles.  Flax is spun into fiber,  teasel is used to tease the wool. Many of the plants are used to achieve color by dying the wool.   Below is Broom, which yields a beautiful green color.

Hostas, Iris, Celandine, Lungwort and others were used as "dye plants" to bring color to cloth.

Landis Valley Museum

Landis Valley Museum is a museum that honors farm and village life of our Pa German Heritage.  This living history museum features a village, general store,  hotel, leather work, school, blacksmith, and a variety of styles of homes and barns from the 1700's through the 1800's.  It is part of our Pennsylvania Historical Commission.

Every year on the Friday and Saturday before Mother's Day, Landis Valley hosts a Herb and Garden Faire with a huge variety of plants and herbal products.   In addition to vending at the faire, I always enjoy the opportunity to walk around the museum and explore a different section.   This year Angelica, my horse girl, came along so we spent our time not in the village but out on the farm with the horses.

Above is the larger vegetable gardens from the mid-18th Century.  

Below is the smaller typical German Four square garden where four large beds were created to grow herbs, medicinals, and vegetables, flowers and berries.   The four paths went around the raised beds and the idea is that you can reach into the garden from all directions without having to walk on your beds and then compact the soil.