The July 14th garden party menu was in place. A few more details and we would be ready for the day. Captured by the beauty of the dragonfly, our theme quickly developed around this unique and fascinating creature. Invitations, nametags, garden stakes, decorations, and even cookies were all bearing a strong resemblance to the winged wonder. (And how appropriate that one of the interns even came wearing a dragonfly necklace!)
Dallas in July usually means that our gardens are full of cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, lemon verbena, basil, pineapple sage, and more. All this and a few surprises became part of our menu.
Who could resist a chunky piece of fresh peach pound cake? Of course, the difficult part was deciding whose peaches should go into the cake batter. Which area would receive the honor? Parker County peaches, East Texas Lorings, or maybe even a few from the Texas Hill Country. Why not just give them equal standing and use a little of each? Talk about a flavor explosion!
And those luscious lemon verbena thins, light as a feather and topped with sweet goodness, disappeared in a flash.
But the real crowd pleaser had to be the melt-in-your-mouth but almost too pretty to eat yummy little dragonfly sugar cookies.
Ah, yes, we were treated to a delightful show of nature in all her glory. Did 87% humidity stop anyone from savoring every moment of our time together? Of course not! As any true gardener will tell you-gardening isn’t for sissies.
And so, after months of anticipation, we proudly proclaim that the class of 2012 is now fully initiated, ready to “dig in and get growing!”
We wish them all a very successful and meaningful start to a lifetime of gardening adventures.
Linda
DALLAS GARDEN BUZZ 