Baskets of bright purslane (also called portulaca) are my favorite summer annuals. They thrive in our hot sun, brighten the patio, and don't mind (too much) if I skip a watering. We also have a native species that doesn't bloom as vividly as those that come from the nursery. The leaves (high in Omega-3) taste lemony and is used extensively in soups and salads throughout the Mediterranean area. The Russians dry it for the winter. In Mexico it is called verdolaga and is eaten in an omelet or as a side dish, rolled in tortillas, or used as a thickener in soups and stews. The plant has been put to a great many medicinal purposes. Don't you love it when something this beautiful can also be useful?
Book report. I've gone back to the beginning of The Darling Dahlias and the Naked Ladies and am working forward through the text, cleaning up, picking up loose plot threads, etc. Hoping to finish the book before we go to Illinois for a family visit at the beginning of next month. The first book in the series got a starred review from Booklist, which is a huge compliment and a big boost for me. The reviews are coming in now, and so far, have been positive. And I'm still basking in IHA's choice of Wormwood for the 2010 Book Award.
Garden note. Zukes, tomatoes, and green beans coming on. Have been putting in the sweet potato slips that I've started on the kitchen window sill. Planted more pole beans, using cane poles cut from the canebrake Bill planted about 20 years ago by the creek. Very nice to have those sturdy poles. I cut them green, and notice that one of them is actually sprouting! Still lots of wildflowers in the meadow, with coreopsis, monarda, Indian blanket, and basket flower in bloom.
Very serious stuff. I'm glad to see that Obama will be addressing the nation on Tuesday night. I'm sure you'll be in front of your TV, as I will. But my hope is that he will also address the issue of oil depletion. There's a Peak Oil Primer here, if you're not familiar with the idea. Better get used to it: it's something we will all have to face in the next decade--and are in fact facing now. BP and others wouldn't be drilling in deep water if there were adequate quantities of oil easily available. But we have already used up almost all the cheap, easy stuff. We must accept the Gulf oil disaster as evidence of (among other things) resource depletion. The tragedy can provide us with a teachable moment, with a prod to break our addiction to oil and move toward renewable energies. I'll be disappointed if the president doesn't use it fully and forcefully.
Reading note. In the foreseeable future we shall feel more and more thwarted and subject to capricious manipulation by forces we cannot control, not necessarily because there will be more tyrants or unscrupulous profiteers, but principally because there will be more people, more resource-hungry technology, and more man-made substances crowding a world of fixed size.--William R. Catton