Midsummer garden

At this time of a year, the garden gives a steady harvest everyday: tomatoes,zucchinis, peppers, and strawberries. The herbs are not good these hot days: the cilantro quickly turns into flowers and the basil grows slowly underneath the tomatoes.  

Everyday I make a salad with tomatoes, strawberries, cucumbers, rice vinegar, and some sesame oil. I am not a fan of "organic" food, but the naturally ripened tomatoes really taste better than those I buy in the grocery store. They are sweet, soft, juicy, and meaty as the same time. They remind me of growing up when we ate only seasonal and locally grown vegetables and the memories of summer. 

Steady harvest

The zucchinis in the photo were giant because I forgot to pick them up for a few days. Using three of them and some shrimps, for the first time I made gyoza. It was super delicious and "creamy". 

Last is a big green worm on the tomato plant.  

Epiphyllum flower

Epiphyllum

My boss gave me several epiphyllum leaves of two kinds: red and white. I have had them for two years and propagated them into 4 and 1/2 plants. I assume 3 and 1/2 of them are the red or pink epiphyllum, but they haven't bloomed yet, and thus I am not sure. When I moved them one day, I broke one healthy leaf, so I left it on the fern tree in the yard. Guess what happened? It survived and it now has new growth. I count it as 1/2. My explanation is that the epiphyllum can be grown as an air-plant (the kind of plant growing in the air, Florida has a lot).


The last one is white. I know it for sure because it has bloomed several times. It bears the little buds that get longer and longer in a few days. The next morning it suddenly withers and falls. It happened several times, leaving me so much regret. 


One morning I was watering the plants as usual. All of a sudden I saw this large, spectacular flower with numerous petals hanging from a leaf. It was so white, a little milky. It was so beautiful that I even forgot to smell its fragrance. 


To see a world in a grain of sand
And a heaven in a wild flower
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour.