The First Outdoor Promotion of the Year

The Great Plotnik World Headquarters held its first promotion of the year last night: Eat Outside on the Deck Night. All those attending received a meal of Farfalle with Italian Sausages and Tuscan Kale with Capers and Vinegar, a half bottle of Big Red plus a Trader Joe's Chocolate Biscotti. Plotnik and Ducknik were the only two takers, but they enjoyed the rare tropical evening immensely, followed up by a surprising attack of mosquito (one). Saint Plotniko never gets mosquito(s), so it must have been the farfalle(s).



...or the heat. The irises are up early this year. These blue and whites usually bloom first but this year the magentas beat them (see yesterday's post). What it means is a larger No Flower Zone later on, but right now it's gorgeous out there.



For the first ten years in Saint Plotniko, Plot grew a Rangpur Lime tree in a pot on the deck. But eventually it got root bound, so he moved it out to the Rear Acreage, where it immediately dropped dead. So he bought another one and planted it in the back by the asparagus tubs.

Then, Plot's neighbor decided she just had to have a Tuscan Formal Garden in her yard, which meant not only the fountain, which is nice, but huge shrubs too. Plotnik knew these shrubs would grow tall enough to place the rear of his garden in shade, but his neighbor refused to do anything about it. Then, she and her partner moved away.

He will probably take his shears and prune those shrubs one of these days, risking a confrontation with his Absentee Landlord Neighbor, but she's a friend too, if hard-headed about her garden. Anyway, a Rangpur Lime is grown for its tasty, aromatic leaves, which are used in Thai cooking, and not for its fruit, so it doesn't need a lot of sun. But it is still a citrus, and it does need some. So Plotnik decided it was time to bite the bullet, dig the little tree out of its dark closet and put it back into a pot in the sun.

Which he did. It's now next to the Meyer Lemon in the Citrus Conservatory. Mmmmm, Green Curry coming up.