BHG Editors' Favorite Finds: What We're Loving in July

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As temperatures drop and summer leaves change colors, outdoor physical activity becomes enjoyable. There are many ways you and your family can get active during the fall season.

WE TALKED HOSTAS MONTHS AGO, in the dead of winter, when they were just twinkles in a gardener’s eye, or images pulled from color catalogs and memory.

SHE LOVES ME, SHE LOVES ME NOT.Andre Jordan seems to keep hoping for the best, despite a few well-documented cases of rejection (as in, loc. cit., The Girl I Love With All My Heart. Caveat emptor: Deliciously not PG!).

THE OFFICIAL STATISTICS-DRIVEN all-time best-of list—the 50 stories you clicked on most since I launched A Way to Garden in March 2008—is all well and good, and actually a great place to get acquainted with this site.  But I have my own list of stories I loved the most so far.

Colocasia ‘Mojito’ (Zone 7b-10), like all its cousins that we call elephant ears or taro, is a heat-loving plant that’s also hungry and thirsty. I grew it in a bright spot in a potting soil with lots of compost, and stood a big, deep saucer underneath—something I wouldn’t do with most other plants outdoors for fear of rotting them off. I don’t use chemical fertilizers, but I mixed in some all-natural organic formulation at planting time and occasionally added fish and seaweed emulsion to the water I gave it.In food production, prevalent in Asia, the Pacific and the Caribbean, it’s the starchy tubers that are the thing—bigger is better. In ornamental horticulture, the above-ground portion is where it’s at, and here’s where the tricky part comes in about overwintering some of the most spectacular new taros—including ‘Mojito,’ and the better known ‘Black Magic.’ They don’t produce big tubers that can be lifted, like you might a canna or some of the elephant ears, and stashed dry in the cellar.

I make about eight batches of red sauce late summer until frost, stashing it in the freezer for a year of enjoyment.  It isn’t much prep work, at least not the way I cook. Each “batch” constitutes a spaghetti potful of fresh, raw ingredients before it cooks down to less than half that, enough for 5 or 6 freezer containers of 12-16 ounces each. If you’ve got that last glut of tomatoes in need of processing, or see a bargain bushel of seconds at the farmstand, this lazy-person’s recipe for red sauce might be just the thing.Again, I don’t take the time to peel or seed the tomatoes (to you purists, mea culpa; I’m a whole-food type…and also a bit manic when I cook). The sauce is the tiniest bit more bitter, perhaps, but think of all that fiber (and time saved).Lazy Woman’s Tomato SauceIngredients Enough paste-type or other tomatoes to fill a spaghetti pot 1 head garlic Extra virgin olive oil Fresh basil Fresh parsley, preferably Italian flat-leaf Salt and pepper to taste; small amount of sugar optionalWash tomatoes and cut off stem ends and any blemishes

This Japanese woodlander spreads to create thick mats of scalloped, blue-green, fuzzy foliage, from which erupt (and I think that’s exactly the word) orchid-pink flowers in early spring on 6- or 8-inch stems. It is never shy, and given part shade and a humusy soil it will romp…but in the nicest way.Arrowhead Alpines Nursery sometimes sells it. Once you’ve got it, there will be plenty for a lifetime (and friends). I’ve read a

AFTER WINTER SPENT UNCEREMONIOUSLY IN HEFTY BAGS IN THE BASEMENT, the non-hardy bulbs at my place are striking up a chorus of Elvis’s “Love Me Tender,” trying to get through to me that they want a kinder, gentler life than the one I offer here at A Way to Garden.

You’ll notice that I said sweet potato-greens soup in the headline, though Anna Thomas’s original has it the other way round, with the greens first. I suspect her soup is greener in color than mine comes out, too. That why I say mine is an adaptation (that, and the fact that once I read a recipe and follow it the first time, I rarely look again, and just keep on adapting).my version of sweet potato-greens soup with sageNote: This soup freezes very well, but as with all soups, I refrigerate it for a day first to let the flavors meld.ingredients1¼-2 pounds sweet potatoes (Anna recommends 1¼; I use about 2 to shift the flavor and color balance) 1½  tsp. sea salt 2 to 3 Tbsp. sage leaves chopped 1 bunch kale 1 bunch chard 8 cloves garlic 3 cups vegetable broth 3 cups of water 2 large yellow onions 2 Tbsp. olive oil black pepper really good olive oil for garnish stepsPeel and cube the sweets, and put them w

You’ll hear me say “wow” and “oh!” and “that’s crazy” and “amazing” a lot in the audio version of this interview—because it all is.I see a lot of birds in my garden, but my experience their offspring is limited, frankly. This year’s phoebe is incubating her clutch on the back porch, atop a stereo speaker as every spring, and when pruning a white pin

Julie and I spoke recently about her eight-month relationship with beloved Jemima. The special bird opened up many subjects for her, such as elusive patterns of blue jay movement and behavior that Julie began to grasp once she learned to recognize individual jays, including Jemima, by the markings on their faces. She got insights into topics like why and when birds molt, what molt patterns reveal about their genetics, and more. Julie even shared her recipe for a winter feeder-bird treat called Zick Dough Improved.Read along as you listen to the September 9, 2019 edition of my public-radio show and podcast using the player below. You can subscribe to all future editions on iTunes or Spotify or Stitcher (and browse my archive of podcasts here).Important note: The quality of the phone line for this episode was unusually spotty, and we apologize, but the transcript is complete and includes every detail of my