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2012 A Year of Flowers & Gardens Part 2
After editing lots of photographs and cleaning out my computer files I realized how many photos we’ve taken this year. As the year 2012 draws to a close, we are taking stock of many projects from the past year, including container gardens, landscapes, vegetable gardens, floral arrangements and more. Sit back, relax and enjoy some of the sights from The Antique Garden and remember Spring 2013 is just around the corner. Take some time to dream of next year’s gardens…..
This rooftop garden is all about containers filled with herbs, vegetables and flowers. Perfect for those with a compact yard or urban space.
We changed out the Black Eyed Susan plants for the autumn to a Pumpkin Planter Box.
More Planters….
Washington County Museum of Fine Arts Urn
Dried Pepper Wreath, SOLD, a creation of our abundant veggie garden!
Winter Urn Garden
Holiday Arrangement
More Thanksgiving planters full of the bounty of our harvest….
Winter Arrangement with fresh pineapples, artichokes, chili peppers and winter berries. A neo-modern twist with inspiration from classic, traditional Williamsburg, Virginia. This is Christmas decorating, using fresh, real fruits and vegetables. 
Near the street, we have two urns decked out with pine, magnolia, boxwood and other “cuts” from our yard. 
Here is our front rocking chair porch, at the Parsonage, decorated with festive greens and winter berry sprigs in the window boxes.
From our porch to yours, happy gardens to all!
Jenn at The Antique Garden
21501 Leitersburg-Smithsburg Rd
Hagerstown, Maryland
Email: antiquegarden@myactv.net We would love to hear from you!
2012 A Year of Flowers & Gardens: Part One
After editing lots of photographs and cleaning out my computer files I realized how many photos we’ve taken this year. As the year 2012 draws to a close, I thought we’d take a stroll down memory lane and show the highlights of the year. From one of my favorite flowering shrubs the hydrangea to the wonderful “Fairy Garden” we made last spring and the countless others, sit back and enjoy this visual recap of the gardens we created in 2012 at The Antique Garden.
Hydrangea Madness in March!
Sedum wall hanging and new water feature
Bogart’s Container Garden
Arts in Bloom, Hagerstown Garden Club members Betsy Hardinge, Margaret Waltersdorf and I created a floral replica of this piece of Murano Art Glass in the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts in March. 
Formal Urn Arrangement for Prep School Alumni Week-end
Whimsical Fairy Garden
Blooming Garlic is a beautiful sight in the garden!
Daylilies and lots of them in the garden border~~~
Pond Frog! 
Wild Flower Queen’s Anne Lace looking elegant in the alley behind the store! Mother Nature is awesome.
The incredible Moon Flower, a night-blooming plant, is closing up for the day.
We said good-bye to dozens of our fish in 2012, as a wicked Blue Heron ate most of them. I know they aren’t flowers, but I’m still venting….ah Mother Nature….
Small Container Water Garden
Our front porch planter box is filled with Black Eyed Susan’s, the Maryland State flower.
Part 2 to be continued tomorrow, as we wrap up the year with holiday flowering arrangements. Happy Gardens Everyone and may 2013 be blooming!
Jenn at The Antique Garden
21501 Leitersburg-Smithsburg Rd
Hagerstown, Maryland
Email: antiquegarden@myactv.net we would love to hear from you!
Mummer’s Parade Party Cheese Ball Recipe
I’ve decided to leave my large Kitchen Aid mixer out on the counter for the holiday season. 
With Halloween almost here, this officially means things around here won’t get back to normal until 12th Night in January. Hopefully this will encourage me to make all kinds of delicious treats all the way until the new year. So far I’ve managed to make cookies and yesterday I tried out another new recipe for a party we were attending in town for the annual Mummer’s Parade in Hagerstown, Maryland. Supposedly the largest night time parade east of the Mississippi.
I’ve honestly never made a cheese ball before. After seeing a recipe online, from Family Fresh Meals, I tweaked it as I usually do and made my own version. I actually think this is pretty easy to make and everyone seemed to like it. The stand mixer did make this easy to whip up. Here’s the ingredient list for one cheese ball.
16 ounces cream cheese at room temperature (2 packs)
2 cups cheddar cheese, finely shredded
3 tablespoons red pepper jelly
1 teaspoon cumin
1 cup roasted pepitos (pumpkin seeds out of the shell)
Top of 1 bell pepper for stem garnish if you want to make this look like a pumpkin
1. With mixer on low add cream cheese, 1 ½ cups cheddar cheese, jelly, cumin and ¾ cups pepitos. Turn up speed and combine until well blended.
Turn out on plastic wrap and shape into ball. Wrap well and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
2. Remove cheese ball from refrigerator and unwrap. Roll in ½ cup shredded cheddar cheese and remaining pumpkin seeds. Top with pepper stem. Serve with crackers and cut up veggis.
I can imagine making this with salsa instead of pepper jelly and different types of roasted nuts. 
Perhaps for Christmas roll in green herbs and serve with slices of red pepper. The cheese ball held up well and was nice and firm but not too hard.
As we get into the fall and winter season it is fun to try out new recipes don’t you think?!
Happy Gardens!
Jenn at The Antique Garden
About Us
About Us
In case you are wondering who we are, let me introduce ourselves. We are Jennifer and John Thomas owners of The Antique Garden, Inc. located in Western Maryland in a small rural village named Leitersburg. 
Located just outside of Hagerstown, Maryland we are about an hours drive to Baltimore and Washington D.C. John has been in the plant business for nearly 30+ years and has an artistic touch that is evident in his landscapes, water features and container gardens. 
I buy and sell collectibles and antiques (and what ever else catches my fancy) and also teach Intro to Visual Arts at the local college. We met about 10 yikes years ago while he was freelancing for Motif Designs, an interior design company and the Folia Company, the manufacturer of Ralph Lauren fabrics, in New York. He brought me back to Maryland and I fell in love with the countryside of the Cumberland Valley, not to mention John, and we purchased the old 1895 General Store in Leitersburg. Historic Leitersburg, Maryland is on the Civil War route as General Lee retreated from Gettysburg right down our street. After completely restoring our aged building and grounds we are proud to be opening up shop.
Services include: full landscape design and installation, specialty plants and specimens, water features and ponds, container gardens for your home or business that can be changed seasonally onsite. We feature a selection of dried flowers, urns and pots, baskets and my collection of primitives and antiques. We also love to cook and grow almost all our own pesticide-free vegetables in our gardens. You’ll notice lots of recipes on this blog, that are tried and tested by us. Our farm stand, opening in this spring, will be filled with fresh veggies like: beets, peppers, tomatoes, potatoes and my canned relishes, jams, pickles and herbal vinegars. If you’re nearby or want to take a country drive, please join us at the Peach Festival in Leitersburg, Maryland in August. You can contact us at antiquegarden@myactv.net
Thanks for checking us out!
Jenn at The Antique Garden
I Made Watermelon Salad, a True Story
Once upon a time there was a seedless watermelon that was lonely….and a hot day, a very hot day…THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BALTIMORE MD/WASHINGTON HAS ISSUED A HEAT ADVISORY-IN EFFECT FROM 11 AM THIS MORNING TO 9 PM EDT THIS EVENING. * HEAT INDEX VALUES-AROUND 105 DEGREES THIS AFTERNOON. * TEMPERATURES-AROUND 100 DEGREES. * IMPACT-RISK OF HEAT EXHAUSTION OR OTHER HEAT-RELATED ILLNESS FOR THOSE WITHOUT AIR-CONDITIONING OR THOSE SPENDING TIME OUTDOORS FOR AN EXTENDED PERIOD. No joke! This recipe is the perfect thing for a hot day.
I have been reading a lot of recipes on pinterest for this terrific summer salad that to some faint of heart would seem downright weird.
Here is a version from down under, that adds sunflower seeds and pepitas…….Press here for this unique version.
It passed the test in my household and we all loved it, or at least liked it very much. I didn’t make the fancy one, all cut up into neat cubes, that would be perfect for a dinner party, but made a easy simple version. 
press here for the above recipe
Ingredients in order of importance and quantity:
Watermelon
Avocado
Feta cheese
Mint
Scallions
Pepper
That is it! I, a salt fanatic, didn’t even need it, because the Feta added the salt element. 
Dice all into bite size pieces and place in a serving bowl. Sweet melon and salty cheese, mint and avocado, pepper and scallion, perfect combo. Impressive too, this is going to be a new regular at my homestead.
Summer Solstice Garden
The Summer Solstice , marks the first day of Summer and it is the longest day of the year. Let’s check out the progress of our garden. 
Summer is definitely here and with perfect timing, it is also the hottest and longest day of the 2012 season. Let me show you the garden……
By 9am it was already getting warm and the veggies have had lots of growth from earlier this spring. This is what happens to lettuce that is not picked and eaten.
No this is not a view of the new addition at the Louvre, but a trellis system for cucumbers, or any other climbing plant. 
We got a late start on the cucumbers as you can see. All our tomatoes are lined up in a row, with full southern exposure. The snowball hydrangea are doing their thing, being spectacular. 
I finished picking more raspberries and harvested beets for supper, they are bursting out of the ground. 
I love the look of these top setting onions. 
I also made bundles of fragrant lavender , the smell is incredible. 
One of the highlights of my day is this. Yes a 2 pound, 32 ounce, roll of butter. I know it’s not on my garden tour, but just looking at this fat roll makes me smile….and it will be used for serving ….vegetables!
I bought it at the Mennonite store and it’s my inspiration to create herbal butters. I’ll let you know how that turns out. Can butter make one happy? I better get out of the heat! Happy Summer Solstice everyone and happy gardens! A cool bath with some of the herb Comfrey would be soothing….
Lush herb border
Jenn at The Antique Garden
Ample Sufficiency Raspberry Jam
I named this raspberry jam after my Grandmother, Betty Kakerbeck, because after a big meal she would always say, she’d had an ample sufficiency. It almost became a family joke, as she was such a lady, and would never be vulgar enough to say she was plum stuffed. When we have a bumper crop of anything in the garden, we could certainly say we have an ample sufficiency. 
Bombom would be proud, yes that’s what we called her, don’t ask. This year we have lots of our pesticide free red raspberries in the gardens that have early, big, fat berries, perfect for making jam. 
With this jam I can make one my Grandmother’s favorite special desserts, the old classic Peach Melba. She would take a scoop of vanilla ice cream, a peach half and store-bought Melba sauce, which was made from raspberries, and serve it on special occasions. You know, it was good, very good. Did you know Peach Melba was named after a famous opera singer and created by the famed chef Escoffier?
For the jam, I followed the basic recipe from this web site which has very good detailed instructions for home canning, aswell as the Ball Blue Book recipe. I liked the lower sugar recipe using the pectin that calls for no sugar and the results were perfect. You can decide for your self if you want to strain the seeds out or keep them in. Here’s the recipe:
4 cups fresh red raspberries-washed and picked over
4 cups sugar
1 box plus 2 teaspoons more, no sugar needed Pectin-a natural thickener read more at that web site I was telling you about
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest
Combine raspberries and sugar in a large pot. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Stir in pectin. Return to a rolling boil. Boil hard for one minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Skim foam if necessary. Ladle jam into hot jars, leaving 1/4″ head space. Adjust two-piece caps. Process in a boiling water bath canner for 10 minutes. This batch produced 4 half pint jars, plus a little extra for my Melba Sauce.My batch came out thick, sweet and yummy, perfect for that Peach Melba dessert or even toast. Jams and jellies always should be made in small batches for best flavor. So when YOU have a ‘ample sufficiency’ try making raspberry jam or any of the other wonderful canning recipes. As always Happy Gardens!
Jenn at The Antique Garden
Name That Plant?
Can you identify this strange-looking plant?
No it’s not a strange mutation or genetically engineered vegetable. 
To give you a hint, yes it is in the onion family. Did you guess? According to www.jungseed.com it is called a 
Multiplier Onion. Friend, artist and fellow gardener Harold Shapiro gave me a few plants several years ago. The Multiplier Onion is a top setting onion that is a perennial heirloom variety. Also called ‘tree onions or ‘walking onions’, they form clusters of small bulbs or sets on the tips of the stalk. An established plant looks like a clump of scallions. Harvest the sweet scallion part in spring and small ‘pickling onion’ tops in the summer. Remember to leave a few bulbs to reseed for a permanent onion bed. Hmmm… I’m going to have to try to pickle my onion tops, sounds like another canning project in the works. 
For more information on the Multiplier Onion check out this site, which has all the details. There are so many unusual plants, I’m thinking of doing Name That Plant occasionally, what do you think???
Happy Gardening!
Jenn at The Antique Garden
Canning Fest 101 Pickled Pepperoncini
So I made this recipe yesterday and my husband declared that I was the first person in America to can peppers this early in the season! 
I don’t know about that but I do know this canning recipe is a winner. (I know this because I scarfed down half a jar already.) Here is the recipe from eHOW for Pickled Pepperoncini. I especially like this recipe because I wanted my peppers to be like those jarred Italian peppers you buy in the supermarket. This recipe has NO sugar, is low in salt and has just 4 ingredients. You don’t even have to seed small peppers or take off the tops, just slit the sides and they will be as tender as can be. Perfect for a bruccheta with a little olive oil and salt. If you don’t grow these small, mildly spicy peppers check your local farmer’s market, plant your own, or stop by for a taste. Very easy canning recipe is suitable for the beginner and the finished product will make a wonderful gift for the pepper lover. Recommended reading is the canner’s Bible, the Ball Blue Book.
Instructions
Things You’ll Need
2 quarts small pepperoncini peppers (1 quart =4 cups so about 8 cups)
Sterilized canning jars with new lids and rings-yes! ALWAYS use NEW lids.
Kitchen towel
Knife
2 cups vinegar
2 cups water
2 tsp. salt
Water bath canner
Rinse the pepperoncini thoroughly under cool running water. Gently rub off any dirt or dust. Dry the peppers gently with a kitchen towel, then cut them into your preferred shape. You can leave the peppers whole if you wish, but make two slits in each if you do so. This will allow the liquid you use to pickle the peppers to get inside. Place the peppers into your sterilized canning jars, packing them in fairly tightly. Do not pack the peppers in forcefully.
Mix the vinegar and water into a saucepan. Heat the saucepan over medium heat until the liquid begins to simmer gently. Pour the hot liquid into the jars, filling each jar to ½ inch from the top. Tap firmly on the jar several times to get out excess air, then top up the jars with more brine if necessary to leave only ½ inch of air at the top. Add the salt, dividing it evenly between the jars. Place a lid onto each canning jar and screw into place with the accompanying ring.
Process the closed jars for 15 minutes in your water bath canner. Remove and cool undisturbed. Store in a cool dark closet and refrigerate after opening. If you enjoy peppers then you will love these. Perfect for salads, sandwiches, pizzas and bruccheta. PS I got about 4 pints from this recipe. Enjoy! Happy Gardens….
Jenn at The Antique Garden
Sunny Sedum Window Project
The Sedum wall hanging John created last month is really starting to grow. Lots of people who stop by our garden shop ask how they are created. It seems that sedums and succulents are very popular this year and for good reason. Drought resistant and perennial they tend to spread and multiply year after year. 
First find an old vintage wood framed window, the shabby chic kind with lots of chippy paint and no glass. I’ve always loved the look of these, but never knew what to do with them. Make a frame to fit the corners and a piece of wood on the back and voila you have the makings for a Sedum wall hanging, really a work of art. Fill with a good mix of soil and start planting away with different sedums. 
Try to get different textures and color through out. Use a lot of plants because sedums are slow perennial growers. Staple on some chicken wire to secure your plants. I like the way this one looks like a real window on our shed that is filled with plants. 
What do you thinko –like it, yes, no, whatever? Let me know!
Tomrrow I begin my canning fest that will last all the way into October. The peppers are ready a few weeks early this year as are the raspberries. John told me yesterday that I was the first person in the USA to have already canned peppers! I found a great, easy, low salt recipe for canned pickled pepperoncinis that I’ll share tomorrow. Happy Gardens!
Jenn at The Antique Garden
D5 Creation