Onions – Cynthia Reyes

Every so often, I wish I had a well-behaved garden.

The kind where everything does what I want, when I want.

Where flowers don’t stray into lawns and lawns don’t stray into flowerbeds, and the strong wind didn’t break one of the arches on the arbour my dear husband so carefully built.

But this I know:

Real gardens offer up surprises each week, each day and sometimes, each hour.

Like flowers blooming in unexpected colours.

And interesting visitors.

Like this large bird in the apple tree.

And wild rabbits.

Cleaning themselves without a care in the world.

Like this mother duck, with her ducklings.

She must have squeezed herself under the fence.

This ant, dragging a dead moth many times its size. It took the moth way across the verandah.

This beet, expected to be dark red, is somehow orange.

A single squash. It’s from a vine that strayed from our neighbours’ squash plantation.

“It’s yours”, he says. The thing will grow to almost half my height. No kidding.

These onions, because they delight and surprise me each late summer.

And the garlic, just because the sight of them when newly harvested always surprises me.

The sight of our daughter’s little doggie, coming around the corner at full speed. Well, sort of.

And this shadow “selfie”, which I didn’t know was there till I downloaded it and nearly jumped in surprise.

Gardens: places of surprise and discovery.

Dedicated to all gardeners, everywhere.

My blog has received its first complaint.

Seems I’ve produced fine stories about fine people and fine flowers.

My crime is that I’ve completely ignored the fine herbs and vegetables growing in my husband’s gardens.

Like the fragrant apple mint, which we use to flavour drinking water and in delicious mint jelly too. We also chop it up and mix with fresh blueberries and sliced mangoes, for dessert.

But I digress.

Husband is complaining. Reminding me that: “You can’t eat flowers. At least, not most of them!”

And along comes Vito, for reinforcement.

Yes, the vintner-gardener-historian of our neighborhood who turns up repeatedly in A Good Home, turned up at our garden gate this morning. That same Vito who believes only vegetables and herbs — and wine grapes — have a right to exist in a garden.

As if my husband needed any reinforcement….

But I digress.

Since one does not wish to upset the finest cook ( some may say the only cook) in this household, I’ve decided to make amends.

We’ll come back to the vegetables one day soon. For now, I hope you enjoy these photos of the herbs which my husband tends more faithfully than the flowers in our garden.

I cannot say they are the most interesting photos I ever saw. Take this parsley.

And this French Tarragon. For a plain-looking herb — exemplifies uber-exuberance. N’est-ce pas?

Not that I’m complaining. Herbs taste very good in the dishes my husband makes. Basil, for example, goes well with tomato dishes.

Some herbs grew from last year’s seeds. We got lots of re-seeded dill, which goes well with fish, especially salmon. Cilantro, below, is great in salads. And goes well with avocado, shrimp dishes, etc.

But I digress.

My issue: Herbs tend to have small flowers, and most of them are white. Why aren’t some red or blue or yellow? This onion flower would look great in red.

Not that I’m complaining.

Chives, above, go well with omelettes and scrambled eggs.

And did you know you can eat garlic scapes? Great in a vegetable stir-fry.

And did I say that garlic is easy to grow? If you let the scapes go to seed, then drop the seeds in a small part of your garden, and lightly cover with soil, you’ll have garlic next year.

Not that I know anything about such stuff, of course.

I’m a flower garden person.

Photos by Hamlin Grange