Velvet Cream and Garlic
This past week feels like Spring has arrived, and with it comes longer and brighter days with warmer rays of sun. Seasonal glory, natural spectacles and simple joys. I’m enjoying the sights sounds and scents of September.
It’s taken me a while to identify which Michelia there is in the garden. I suspect the original owners had planted the Michelia’s as a hedge mainly for privacy, but they don’t grace the whole of the side border of the main garden which is near the top woodland area, they just stop after the big Oak tree which is quite odd. Thanks to PlantNet and World Flora, with some background reading and research, identified the Michelia as Michelia yunnanensis ‘Velvet and Cream.’ They’re part of the Magnolia family, a compact evergreen tree admired for their richly highly fragrant creamy white satin flowers, and there are six maybe more mature ones. Michelia’s are Spring flowering trees here in New Zealand, and like many Magnolias, on a still day, you can smell their rich scent. We have Rosella’s, brightly coloured broad-tailed parakeets in the garden. They like to feed in the trees, but the other day, I noticed one pesky Rosella enjoying itself pecking on the flower buds and flowers, leaving a showy carpet beneath the shrubs.
There is a profusion of creamy white satin blossoms gracing the side borders, with shades of dark green glossy foliage, creating an impressive display, a true embodiment of natural beauty. The Michelia’s are graceful in form, compact and add an elegant touch to the garden. They also make for good cut flower displays in any vase. I have about eight long stems on the table in the dining room. The dining room is cool and light, so hopefully, Velvet and Cream should last for about a week or so. Even when the blossoms drop, there is year round glossy dark green foliage.
Carpeting the borders of the woodland area are dense clouds of white star-shape flowers filling the air with a very pungent intense aroma of garlic. The leaves are broad, pointed, soft and bright green. Wild garlic, wild onion, ramsoms, cowleekes, onion grass, bear’s garlic, call it what you may, is abundant at this time of year. The bulbs hibernate for a good part, and then when your back is turned, they burst forth in Spring creating a dazzling sight. Bees and other essential pollinators love them. The borders are humming! This delicate beautiful flower, is a delicious treat, and I imagine is any forager’s delight when the bulbs are plump and full.
I like to pick only what is needed, just the leaves and flowers, leaving the bulbs in the ground which are small and quite fiddly. Wild garlic can be used to make butter or pesto to flavour pasta, salads, soups, stews, and breads. The whole plant is edible, and I reckon it’s one of the food joys of Spring. Here’s a very easy and quick recipe for Wild garlic pesto. It’s gluten free, vegetarian and dairy free, and only takes about 10-15 minutes make:
150g wild garlic leaves (thoroughly washed)
50g finely grated parmesan
1 finely chopped garlic clove
½ lemon zested and a few squeezes of juice
150ml olive oil
Rinse and chop the wild garlic leaves. Blitz them in a food processor with the parmesan, garlic clove and lemon zest to make a paste. Season and add almost all of the olive oil. Taste, season again and add a few squeezes of the lemon juice. Transfer the pesto to a sterilised jar and top with the remaining olive oil. The pesto should keep in the fridge for around two weeks.
Thanks for joining me ‘up the garden path.’ Please feel free to ask a question or leave a kind word in the comment box below. I’d love to hear from you! Until next week.
