Hibiscus – richwrapper

“Amends*”

First I have to make

a hatchet, find a shovel.

Oh, where to bury?

*(A complete mystery to me: first penned June 22, 2015, pre-WordPress. I suspect it was a broken big topmost branch on a prized (by my Sister-in-Law Jeanne) variegated single AND double-blooming red hibiscus. Both ends had splintered when broken off by a falling Queen Palm frond during an evening windstorm. I hauled out the 14-foot stepladder and bow-sawed the in-ground half flush to minimize infection, and, because I am lazy and forgot where I hid the tomahawk, I finally find the big single-blade axe and truncated on an angle the free-floating half. With some rooting compound and homemade potting soil and a 25-gallon empty, pebble-filled-bottom plastic pot I soon had the new two-foot tall hibiscus transplant attempt completed, blue-watered and moved into the shade. Now it resides at Jeanne’s home out East of Sanford so I do not have to watch her eyes mist over each time she stops by. Something about not willing to leave her hands in any dirt that doesn’t pay out big bucks long enough to get green. I wrote this as a mystery play because the hatchet-angle was too appealing so not to do. I found the tomahawk, complete with a modern nail-puller ensconced near the shaft on the underside of the head, whose reverse is a hammer. Such modernity. It throws good, though.”

November 22, 2016November 22, 2016 by richwrapper Categories: Crime And Punishment, Garden, Gardening, Haiku, Hibiscus, J Richards, Poem, PoetryTags: 'Twas A Truncated Hibiscus, And Not a body in need of disposal, Took Awhile But I Found Out I Am Not A Murderer!, Whew! 1 Comment

“How Many Murdered-While Sleeping Hibiscus?”

Three hundred Forty

hibiscus blooms: three gallons

of Jamaica Tea!*

*(dehydrate, of course, the flowers: several recipes found appended to Tanka 347)

November 15, 2016November 16, 2016 by richwrapper Categories: Haiku, Hibiscus, Hibiscus Tea, J Richards, Jaimica Tea, Poem, Poetry, Sleeping, Tea

“How Many Murdered-While-Sleeping Hibiscus?” – Tanka 347

Three-hundred Forty

hibiscus blooms: three gallons

of Jamaica Tea!

cup sugar and cup key lime –

double each – freeze granite!*

*(In one quart or half-gallon depending on non-reactive glass or enameled baking dish, one more cup of sugar (or stevia or other sugar-substitute) and one more cup of Key Lime juice, fresh best but Nellie’s Key Lime – bottled – fine, and fork-stir every fifteen minutes or so in freezer makes a very fine and loose-textured granite treat. The dehydrated hibiscus blooms are rehydrated in just-boiling water of 12-quart or better size heavy non-reactive pot: when pushed in and under the water and brought back to a hard simmer, turn off the heat and let sit 20-30 minutes. Add sugar and lime juice while hot and stir – with the wooden end of the spider which other side will be used to fish out the now-limp blooms. Reserve a few for a special tangerine-hibiscus juice-and frozen strawberry salad (or fish!) dressing! The remaining blooms go into a colander over a glass bowl for draining. Compost the resultant drained flowers or bring back to heat for a diminished run of Jamaica tea, called agua fresca by Mexicans. I cut the original run by one-third water – after sampling some of the tea hot, but it can be cut by up to 24 more quarts for agua fresca or by just 12 for a tasty but more fruity and substantial drink. I take mine mostly cut by just enough to make three gallons. Enjoy