Modern Rose Bowls

A new store opened in my local mall: Emmo Home.  I had a giggle over the name.  I kept imagining angst-ridden teens flocking to the store looking for something to fit their "emo" lifestyle, only to find salt and pepper shakers.  Anyway, I spotted this gorgeous rose fruit bowl called "La Rosa" designed by Emma Silvestris for Alessi.  They also have tea light sizes and various colors. 

They can be purchased several places, including here.

Happy 1st Birthday Asher!

My sister's little guy turned 1 this week.  I volunteered to make his cake.  My regular ingestion of cake shows such as Challenge and Ultimate Cake Off have instilled in me twin desires to work with fondant and stack a cake.  Here was my opportunity.  My sister and I settled on a jungle theme to match his nursery.  First I sculpted the animals. I had some trouble with the first figure, the monkey, which I now attribute to working under the heat of a task lamp. The monkey kept getting shorter and shorter while his bottom got bigger and bigger. That was remedied by moving to everything to the dining table. Then I did the flowers, butterflies, palm trees and letters. My seven year old actually made all of the light green leaves. She rolled out the pre-colored fondant and worked the cookie cutter. A budding baker!  (She also sampled much of the fondant.)

My first attempt at covering a cake with fondant did not go smoothly. I had trouble getting the folds to lay flat. In fact, I had to throw away a whole blue layer of fondant. (Bye-bye expensive pre-made fondant!) Then my fondant started to slide off the top and puff up at the sides like a marshmellow. I believe this is because I put too much buttercream frosting on the cake. The buttercream was sliding down the side.  I was able to fix it by loosening the bottom of the fondant, squeezing out the excess frosting, smoothing it down and retrimming the bottom with a pizza cutter.  Whew!  Cake saved.

Finally, I attached all of the decorations with water on a brush.  I could not get the coconuts to stick on the palm trees.  (See them there at the bottom.)  I needed something stronger than water.  I'm taking suggestions.  Perhaps some royal icing would have helped.  Regardless, the cake was a hit!

 Happy Birthday Asher!

 

The Other Side of the Arbor - 'Maid of Kent'

In my previous post, I spoke of the lovely climber Renae, which I have up one side of my arbor swing.  On the other side of the arbor is the ravishing Maid of Kent.  She blooms in large panicles of small pink blossoms.

I remember seeing 'Maid of Kent' listed in the "New Roses" section of the Heirloom Roses catalog.  She looked gorgeous, but my research indicated that she was hybridized by a nursery that had no other registered roses.  In other words, the hybridizer had no track record.  Nevertheless, I order the rose due primarily to the claim that the rose boasted outstanding disease resistance.  I do not like to see a small rose with powdery mildew, let alone a huge 12 footer. 

The next year, Maid of Kent was dropped from the catalog.  Ouch!  I worried that she had failed the Heirloom Roses evaluation process and would be a dud in my garden.  Nevertheless, patience prevailed and I gave Maid of Kent the requisite three years to prove herself in my garden.  Lo and behold, I had a rare beauty.

Her disease resistance is quite good and her beauty outstrips the catalog picture.  Here's to those first time hybridizers!

Climber: Renae

For those looking for a carefree, prolific and fragrant climbing rose, Renae is your gal.  I planted her on one side of my swing arbor six year ago.  She climbed it in three years and has been giving me a show ever since.

My favorite thing about her is not her delicate coloring or her bee-attracting stamens, it is her thornless canes.  Pruning 100 roses can squeeze the joy out of the most ardent rose lover.  But lovely Renae with her thornless canes is a breeze to prune.  Also, training her onto the trellis is wonderfully painless.

On the other side of the trellis, I planted the medium pink climber Maid of Kent.  As fate would have it, the two varieties of climbers bloom successively, giving me a long showing of flowers.  I will post pictures of Maid of Kent in the future.  Renae can be purchased from several different places, including Rogue Valley Roses and Roses Unlimited.