Wils. Tigersette ‘Wild Court’ AM/AOS Orchid

  I headed out to our greenhouse this morning to fertilize my orchids,(especially my Paphs as they begin to bloom end of Jan, beginning of Feb.) and to my surprise I came across this beautiful blooming orchid mixed among my husbands nepenthe's.  I thought it was a beautiful sight and so natural looking.  And on this rainy December day, I need a "tropical feel."

   This orchid is called "Wilson Tigersette ‘Wild Court’ AM/AOS".  It's an easy to grow Oncidium .  

 I have done little maintenance with this plant, other than water and fertilize it and it continues to flourish.  My husband has moved it several times and it seems to like wherever he moves it in the greenhouse.

 

If you ever want an easy to grow orchid, this would be one of them.

 

 



Syncline Viognier

 

As you can tell I like viognier. The Syncline Viognier tastes completely different than the Maryhill Viognier.  Whereas the Maryhill Viognier has a peach and somewhat sweet flavor, Syncline's Viognier is  crisp with mineral or earth flavors. However, if I read the flavors on the bottle, Syncline says it has a peach and gardenia aroma with bright lemon zest and peach flavors and subtle hints of minerality.  I don't have a very refined palate, but I would say the lemon zest overpowers the peach flavor and that produces the crispness. ( I know you are probably going "duh"- remember I am a novice.).

  I make my own viognier from juice. I buy at a wine and beer shop and my viognier taste more like the Syncline.

       I decided to check out what the original viognier was supposed to taste like from Europe and this is what I discovered:

   According to  Wikipedia, the origins of the viognier grape is unknown. It is believed to have come to the Rhone Valley with the Romans via Croatia. Through disease and war the viognier grape was almost annihilate. In 1965 there was only 8 acres that were planted.

 It has since rebound and become a more popular wine.  It has grown dramatically here in the USA and is very popular in Virginia. ( Next time I am there I will have to try some of their viogniers)

According to Wikiepedia,"Viognier wines are well known for their  floral aromas,  There are also many other powerful flower and fruit aromas which can be perceived in these wines depending on where they were grown." 

Viognier is best consumed when it's young. Although the aroma  suggest a sweet wine, viognier tends to be a dry crisp wine, however late harvest grapes are often used to make a sweet dessert wine.

  So depending on whether you like a crisp drier  white wines or fruity white wine may will determine which viognier wine you will reach for.  Personally, it depends on my mood, whether and who I'm enjoying a glass of wine with.

  By the way, that's a picture of my mother and I taken years ago.

Columbia Crest Winery

Columbia Crest Winery

 Over Labor Day weekend, Andy and visited Columbia Crest Winery.  As you can see it's a beautiful winery.  I didn't get a picture of it, but there is also a nice pond with shade trees where you can have a picnic.  Andy and I brought  along lunch and after wine tasting we bought a very good Horse Heaven Hills, Sauvignon Blanc to go with our lunch.  It was sooo good that we bought another one.  I am composing this blog 3 months after we went, so the smell and exact flavor escape me, but I remember it having a slight fruit flavor.  The bottle says it "delivers aromas of grapefruit and lemongrass with delicate gooseberry, mineral and fresh pineapple flavors, and a balanced fruit flavors."  I am sure my novice taste and smell did not pick up those nuanced  flavors.  I certainly don't remember grapefruit and what does lemongrass taste like?
 If I ever come across it in our local stores, I will certainly pick up a bottle.

 

The empty bottle. 

                                                          

Roses

                                     The Roses are Blooming

The picture on the left is the beginning of my rose garden.

 The picture on the right is taken shortly after the leaves came out on my newly planed roses.
 

My first rose to bloom was the Raspberry Swirl. After seeing the roses in Rochester, New York, I knew I wanted a pink and white rose.

My mother's favorite rose was a Peace Rose and she grew them beautifully. When I decided to start my rose garden, I knew I had to include a Peace Rose. My Peace Rose was okay.  It wasn't as vibrant as my I remember my Mom's. The pinks and yellows were more muted.  Also it was very susceptible to powdery mildew in our humid climate.

This is one of my favorite roses. It's called Cabernet Sauvignon.  (Gee I wonder why I choose this one). Despite the name, it made my favorite list because of the smell and the way it unfolds as it blooms. It is quite fragrant and it turns a lavender color as it matures.




Perfect Moment and well named and also a Gold Medal winner. It deserves it. It is my other favorite. The intensity of the yellow and oranges reminds me of either a beautiful sunrise or a tequila sunrise.  I would recommend that every rose garden have this rose.

 

 

 

 

Sangria is the name of this rose. The cut rose in the jar below is more the true color of it. It was the latest blooming of my roses and was very prolific, but the blooms were not real big. The blooms start out with a apricot color and then slowly changes.

Maryhill Viognier





Maryhill Viognier

 
My wine this week is Maryhill's Viognier.

Several years ago some of my friends took me to Maryhill Winery for my birthday. Which, by the way, if you have never been to Maryhill Winery, you should put it on your bucket list. The winery overlooks the Columbia River and the patio/arbor is a great way to spend a warm, sunny, summer afternoon exploring  great wines and enjoying the beautiful Columbia River and surrounding desert. Bring food or snacks.  Although they have a small deli/snack shop, you may need more nourishment then they provide, especially if you get caught up in the atheistic of the area and end up sharing more then one bottle of wine, which is exactly what happened to me. Back to my birthday ( interesting I can't remember which birthday number it was)our drink of choice was Maryhill Viognier. We enjoyed the wine and went through many bottles and you know the rest of the story. So for several years I could not bring myself to drink it. Last week I decided to try it again.

I remembered the wine having a oak taste and only slightly sweet. I don't know if they have changed their flavor or if I have gotten better at tasting wine, but the Viognier I bought had a peach flavor and smell and it was almost as sweet as a reisling.   It was a very good flavor and reminded me of the Viognier I had tasted from Southern Oregon area, which is their specialty.

I would highly recommend this wine if you like a lite fruit flavor and a hint of sweetness. Also it maybe a wine you want to drink on a warm summer day.

 

In Pursuit of Sun

                                                              In Pursuit of Sun

  You northwesterner know how rainy March was, it broke the record for being the rainiest March ever, so we were ready for some sun.  Also in January I had a physical and my vitamin D was low, so I have been pursuing the allusive sun ever since.  Since it's spring break we decided to head to Central Oregon and  the Deschutes River.  As Andy and I say our souls belong to the Deschutes River and it has never disappointed us when it comes to sun- wind and fish- yes, but never sun.  I booked a room in Maupin with a view and we headed out Thursday morning leaving behind a cloudy , drizzling day. However, when we reached central Oregon the sun was not to be found.  This was our greeting-snow, wind and cold. 

The glare at the top of the picture is the sun

     Before leaving we had decided that we would do a short hike down the White River canyon which is a tributary of the Deschutes River.  It has some nice falls on it.  Although is was cold and the weather threatening we stopped at the White River Park and Andy wanted to check out the trail condition with the camp host. The camp host, a somewhat shady guy, suggested we go down to the Deshutes River, hike up the trail that follows the river to the mouth of the White River and then hike up the White River Canyon.  Thinking that the camp host should know the area, we decided to follow his advice, so we drove down to Deschutes River and preceded to try and find the trail. All I can say is its a good thing that it was cold because I climbed over many a rock that housed rattlesnakes under them.  The only trail we could find was the railroad tracks. I was not going to walk and mile and half on railroad tracks ( We actually found out later it was 2 1/2 miles), we decided to go back and hike down the trail from the park and have lunch beside the river.

White River falls in all its springtime glory,

Are we having fun yet, Andy?

Oh look ,one of my wines washed up
on the shore, how convenient.

          







 Of course just as we decided to head into Maupin the sun decides to show itself. Maupin is like a tree. It's a busy little rafting/fishing town when the leaves are out, but when the leaves fall off the trees, Maupin becomes a ghost town and not until the leaves return is there much happening.  I believe we were the only guest that night at the Imperial River Co. and lodge/motel.  We were told there was one  restaurant where we could eat that night and in the morning the would have a continental breakfast , but they do not serve breakfast, lunch or dinner during the week.

The view from our room.

Our balconey, just need the wine and
cheese and we are ready to enjoy.

  The next morning with the sun shining and only cumulus clouds in the sky, Andy informed me he was not eating a breakfast of bread and coffee, so we drove around Maupin all of 5 minutes trying to find a resturant open of which there were none.  So it was a bread and coffee, however we got lucky.  We discovered a Jimmy Dean sausage, eggs, cheese biscuit breakfast in the freezer. And with instructions to pop into microwave for 1 minute 30 sec. and it would be ready to eat.  After many months of trying to convince my taste buds that vegetarian sausages taste like the real thing, my taste buds were in seventh heaven, my veins however were screaming.



  After  breakfast we decided to make it a car trip day.  I had been fighting a cold/virus all week and it had taken a turn for the worse and I was feeling pretty miserable, so we leisurely drove down to the mouth of the Deschutes and hiked up the mouth a ways and enjoyed the son.

Deschutes River and blue sky.

Oh look my shadow

 













Since we were only a few miles from The Dalles and Andy's favorite mexican food place we stopped in for a very late lunch at the Casa El Mirador and then headed back to Vancouver.

Happy-mexican food and a dos equis in
  a coors light glass.

                                                 


  Not only did we finally find the sun, but tricked it into coming back with us for 2 days!!

An old fruit tree in bloom, left over from one of the
homesteaders.

Orchids in bloom

The cattlaya is called Lc. Persevilis Splendor x Lc. Starting Point Unique.




 Fanaticum

Macabre

These are my Paphiopedilum and also be called Lady Slippers.  I find myself drawn to the Paph.  They are not a fragrant orchid but I love thier colors and formations.  Their blooms last several weeks to about a month.  I think the more vigilant you are the longer they will last. I tend to take my orchids for granite.  The bottom two Paph, I bought last year at a orchid sale.  They have a wax look to them which I found unique, but the Macabre and Fanaticum remain my favorite. The Macabre is a cross between Fat Boy xVoodooMagic  "Dr. Bombay". I love the name and conjures up magic, voodoo and the intense purple reinforces it.

Fragrance wise this orchid cannot be beat.  It's an Oncidium   called  DGMRA. Memoria Jay Yamada 'Kauai" .  When it is in bloom you can walk into the greenhouse and smell it.  I cannot begin to describe the smell, but if I have too, I would call it a musk smell. It's a very pleasant and soothing smell.  This orchid blooms at least twice a year.  Once in the warmer month and once in the cooler months.  I am a novice, when it comes to orchids, but I swear it is more fragrant in the cooler months then the warmer months.