Still building that dream garden. I would love to have lots of plants that I could pass along. Maybe I’m just dreaming that someone would pass all of these along to me and then I could pass them along 🙂 I’ve been told you should not thank someone for a pass along plant (bad luck or something) but show gratitude by passing it along as well. What a wonderful idea! Anyway, I love the old fashioned flowers that you can pass along by dividing, gathering seeds or with cuttings. Here is some of what I would have:
Bee Balm – I love the pretty, spiky blooms and the lemony smell. In another house where I have lived, I had bee balm that was passed to me. It grew prolifically and I passed it along to several of my neighbors.
Black-Eyed-Susan – who doesn’t love these cheerful flowers?
Day lilies – So many varieties and so easy to divide and so easy to grow.
Irises – Like the day lily so many varieties. I used to have one that I loved that bloomed all summer and had a great fragrance.
Blackberry lily – One of the favorite old-fashioned pass along plants.
Lily of the Valley – my mom gave me some of these and I had them for years before I moved. These will take over if you are not careful.
Violets – These can take over as well if you don’t watch them. But, they are so cheerful and easy to grow and fun to pass along. I had a friend in Master Gardeners who thought it was un-kind to pass along violets. If you pass these along, maybe it should be with a warning, lest someone is taken over by the pretty little plants.
Coleus – I have a big pot of coleus that was given to me as cuttings. I just rooted them in water and then planted them. That was two years ago and I think they will soon be at a point that I can pass them along.
Sweet Potato Vine – I got some of this with the coleus plantings and it has just done beautifully. A great pass along plant.
I can see this garden is coming along beautifully. What is your favorite pass along plant?
Today’s Lagniappe: Amish Friendship Bread
In the spirit of passing things along, here is a recipe for a pass along bread starter and bread recipe. This actually takes more patience than I’ve got right now. Maybe if I made it I would develop more patience!
1 pkg. active dry yeast
1/4 c. warm water (110 degrees)
1 c. all purpose flour
1 c. sugar
1 c. warm milk (110 degrees
STARTER FOOD: (every 5 days)
1 c. all purpose flour
1 c. sugar
1 c. milk
In small bowl, soften yeast in water for about 10 minutes. Stir well. In a 2 quart glass, plastic, or ceramic container. Combine flour and sugar. Mix thoroughly or the flour will lump when milk is added. Slowly stir in warm milk and softened yeast mixture. Cover loosely and let stand at room temperature until bubbly. Refrigerate. Consider this Day 1 of a 10 day cycle.
Days 2-4, stir with a spoon.
Day 5, to feed, blend flour and sugar in a small bowl. Slowly mix in milk with a spoon, whisk or hand mixer. Stir mixture into starter. Return to refrigerator.
Day 6-9, stir.
Day 10, (which becomes Day 1 for the next series) feed again.
NOTE: Consider the 10 day cycle a guide. It doesn’t need to be followed exactly. If you need more starter, feed it more often. The starter is yeast culture and will grow when fed. To hasten growth, leave starter at room temperature for several hours.
BASIC FRIENDSHIP BREAD:
2 c. all purpose flour
1 c. sugar
1 1/4 baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
2 c. Friendship starter
2/3 c. vegetable oil
3 eggs, slightly beaten
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1-2 c. optional addition (see below)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 9 x 5 inch loaf pans with shortening.
In a large mixer bowl, sift or thoroughly mix flour, sugar, baking powder, soda, salt, and cinnamon. Add starter, eggs, vanilla, and mix well. Stir in optional ingredients and divide batter between the prepared pans. Bake about 55 minutes (exact time will vary because of differences of optionals). Cool in pans on racks 10 minutes then turn out of pans and cool.
Optional Additions:
Raisins, chopped pitted dates, nuts, dried cherries, mashed ripe bananas, blueberries, coconut, canned pumpkin, chocolate chips, chopped apples, grated carrot, grated zucchini.
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