Betty Ward in her beautiful back yard.

I love German Chocolate Cake. But it can never taste a good as a memory. I remember my mom’s was the best.

My Mom’s German Chocolate Cake recipe.

Germans Chocolate Cake photo by Kraft.

Original BAKER’S GERMAN’S Sweet Chocolate Cake

1pkg. (4 oz.) BAKER’S GERMAN’S Sweet Chocolate
1/2cup water
4eggs, separated
2cups flour
1tsp. baking soda
1/4tsp. salt
1cup butter, softened
2cups sugar
1tsp. vanilla
1cup buttermilk
Coconut-Pecan Filling and Frosting

HEAT oven to 350°F.

COVER bottoms of 3 (9-inch) round pans with waxed paper; spray sides with cooking spray. Microwave chocolate and water in large microwaveable bowl on HIGH 1-1/2 to 2 min. or until chocolate is almost melted, stirring after 1 min. Stir until chocolate is completely melted.

BEAT egg whites in small bowl with mixer on high speed until stiff peaks form; set aside. Mix flour, baking soda and salt. Beat butter and sugar in large bowl with mixer until light and fluffy. Add egg yolks, 1 at a time, beating well after each. Blend in melted chocolate and vanilla. Add flour mixture alternately with buttermilk, beating until well blended after each addition.

ADD egg whites; stir gently until well blended. Pour into prepared pans.

BAKE 30 min. or until toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean. Immediately run small spatula around cakes in pans. Cool cakes in pans 15 min.; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Spread Coconut-Pecan Filling and Frosting between cake layers and onto top of cake.

Let’s admit it, this cake is really all about the frosting.

Coconut-Pecan Filling and Frosting

4 egg yolks

1can (12 oz.) evaporated milk

1-1/2 tsp. vanilla

1-1/2 cups sugar

¾ cup butter or margarine

1 pkg. (7 oz.) BAKER’S ANGEL FLAKE Coconut (2-2/3 cups)

1-1/2 cups chopped PLANTERS Pecans

BEAT egg yolks, milk and vanilla in large saucepan with whisk until well blended. Add sugar and butter; cook on medium heat 12 min. or until thickened and golden brown, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.

ADD coconut and nuts; mix well. Cool to desired spreading consistency.

This cake and frosting are on Kraft foods recipe site. Why mess with perfection? It is one of the very few recipes I do nottweek, add a little something or change in some small way.

When I was a kid, my Mom was famous for her German Chocolate cake and her pecan pie. When I wanted to know her secret, she showed me the recipe on the Original BAKER’S GERMAN’S Sweet Chocolate package.

pecan pie. photo by Karo

Her secret pecan pie recipe – the one every body wanted her to make on Thanksgiving – was the recipe on the Karo Syrup bottle. click Classic Pecan Pie

Oh, yeah, she said. “They’ve got big test kitchens. Why would I want to try and make up something else?”

Quick to fix. Grandma's Chocolate Sheet Cake. What a surpise to find out that it was also called Texas Sheet Cake. photo PBH

There are dozens of variations on this rich chocolate sheet cake. I think it is so enduring because it is simple, makes a big, affordable, sheet cake that is quick to fix and, uses common kitchen ingredients.

Pre heat oven 350 degrees, set the oven rack to mid level. Toast and chop ½ cup pecans. Watch carefully or they will quickly burm. Let cool.

Coat a 15 x 10-inch jelly-roll pan with cooking spray, and dust with 2 teaspoons of cocoa powder or flour.

To Make Cake:

Sift together first 5 ingredients. Set aside in large mixing bowl.
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt

Add water, margarine and cocoa to a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Remove from heat. Pour into flour mixture. Beat until well mixed and smooth.
3/4 cup water
1 stick margarine
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa

Add final three ingredients. Beat until well mixed.
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs beaten

Pour into prepared pan. Tap pan on counter to release big air bubbles. Bake for 30 – 35 minutes. (It’s exactly 33 minutes in my oven.) Toothpick test to check if it is done.

While cake is baking, make icing.

Icing:
1 stick margarine
1/3 cup milk or buttermilk
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
While you bring to boil in medium sauce pan while you combine next three ingredients.

Pour hot boiling margarine, buttermilk and, unsweetened cocoa over next three ingredients.

3 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup chopped pecans, toasted
Mix together, add

1 teaspoons vanilla extract
Mix until smooth. Pour warm icing over warm cake. Allow cake to cool before cutting. Otherwise, half of this cake will disapear before before dinner. Strange, I know. But it happened to me.

Great for picnics or covered dish suppers. photo PBH

Cake Ingredient List

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup water
1 stick margarine
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 large eggs beaten

Icing Ingredient List

1 stick margarine
1/3 cup milk or buttermilk
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup chopped pecans, toasted
1 teaspoons vanilla extract

½ cup chopped toasted pecans

350° oven until a tooth pick inserted in center comes out clean.
About 20 to 25 minutes for the 15X10-inch pan. (Happens to be 22minutes in my oven.) Or bake in a 13X9 cake pan for about 30 to 35 minutes.

GBBD April 2012 Show stopper in my front yard, Dream Catcher™ Beauty Bush Kolkwitzia amabilis

Double Play® Gold Spirea Spiraea japonica and Lily of the Valley are highlighting the colors of spring.

I love these tiny little bells, and am always surprised by the sweet fragrance.

Columbine is showing up everywhere. They are multiplying in every crack in the in the sidewalk and edging. I pull up dozens of the plants every year and still have more the following spring.

Inspired by the words of Elizabeth Lawrence, “We can have flowers nearly every month of the year,” Carol of May Dreams Gardens started Garden Bloggers Bloom Day. On the 15th of every month, garden bloggers from all over the world publish what is currently blooming in their gardens.

Syringa vulgaris ‘Krasavitsa Moskvy’

White lilac with double blooms and very fragrant. Flowers have a touch of pink, turning white in full bloom.

Bred in Russia by hybridist Leonid Kolesnikov.
Said to be very resistant to pests and disease. Reaches 15′ high and spreads 6-12′ wide, though I’ve had mine for 3 years and it is just a whispy stick or two.

The photo is the total bloom production for the year.

pink buds open to bright hite fragrant.white lilac

Ideal for zones 3-7. this lilac takes full sun to partial shade.

If you are looking for deer resistant shrubs, choose a lilac.

Peaches

Someday soon this will be loaded with Saturn or donut peaches.

Magnolia

Short bloom time for this slow grower.

Daffodils are naturalizing. Naturalization also means Take Over The World. But that is OK, it's a short bloom time.

This is my circle garden, a reclaimed space in a neighborhood circle drive. Some day soon it will be the potager, or a kitchen garden filled with herbs and vegetables.

Inspired by the words of Elizabeth Lawrence, “We can have flowers nearly every month of the year,” Carol of May Dreams Gardens started Garden Bloggers Bloom Day. On the 15th of every month, garden bloggers from all over the world publish what is currently blooming in their gardens.

I’m really excited about the return of the American Queen: She’s Back! The American Queen Steamboat Returns

Cool, cool Taneycomo trout lake just below the Table Rock Dam. Best trout fishing in the state!

Branson’s Table Rock Lake

Table Rock Lake highlights include : a gorgous State Park  offers Marina Discounts for Table Rock Campers, the Table Rock Dam tour and the Shepherd of the Hills fish hatchery.

< This is Taneycomo. Good place to be during a hot summer day.

My next travel adventure is to Chicago. I will see the Flower, Lawn and Garden Show

Come see me at Striped Pot Featured Writer for March 2012

Superbena Royale Iced Cherry Verbena hybrid and
Superbena Royale Peachy Keen Verbena hybrid

New, Superbena® Royale Iced Cherry, a verbena hybrid

Verbena are easy care choices for containers and hanging baskets.

If you are looking for a pop of color that will last all season, consider these bright annuals. Last spring, Proven Winners sent these two Superbena verbena hybrids to me for evaluation. This spring they are on the market and easy to find.

Butterfly magnet, Superbena Royale Iced Cherry Verbena hybrid

What I enjoyed was the low maintenance, easy care plants that just seemed to thrive in the full sun and summer heat. I planted these verbena in hanging baskets. They would be a good choice for a low growing pop of color in a flower bed or container.

Talk about easy care, these Superbena do not need deadheading, no trimming or pinching. Container plants are always dependent on us for water and I did regularly water them.

My plants were in full sun all day with only slight shade in the late afternoon. They were a good choice for the  patio, bold, nonfading flowers that attract butterfies. There was no sign of pests or disease. What could be better?

Peachy Keen Verbena

I would grow these Proven Winners Superbena hybrids again. They were a great choice for my humid, zone 6A, Southwest Missouri garden.

By the way, the Proven Winners site also has a tab showing Closest Proven Winners retailers (on the left side of the screen.) It sure makes it handy for finding and supporting local, independent retailers, the folks who are our neighbors. These are the knowledgable experts with practical hands-on experience and the best advice.

These faithful flowers come in several colors. One that caught my attention is this lavender Superbena® Royale Silverdust Verbena hybrid. See all your color choices at the PW site. Click here or just type in the name Superbena Royale Iced Cherry Verbena hybrid.

Superbells Sweet Tart
Superbells Cherry Star
Superbells Grape Punch

Superbells® Sweet Tart - Calibrachoa

Calibrachoas are related to petunias. But they are a new type of plant that can take the fierce drought and continue blooming through the first light frosts of early fall.

Hundreds of continuous  blooms were visited daily by the humingbirds.

If these sweet flowers sound familiar, I couldn’t wait to tell you about them this past summer. A First Look. The bright little trumpets were tumbling over the side of the the container.

Superbells Cherry Star Calibrachoa photo: Proven Winners

This summer, I’m going to plant Superbells in hanging baskets because these are bright, attention getting colors. Hummers and butterflies love them.

And here is an interesting observation. These Superbells® Calibrachoa are still alive and green. The containers are sitting on my patio. Perhaps they will be as beautiful this summer as last. I’ll keep you posted.

Proven Winners sent these Superbells to me as a trial last summer. They will be in the garden centers this spring. The colors are intense, fadeproof, and do not need to be deadheaded. These little bells are fuss free.

I am buying these plants again. I can recommend these new flowers and suggest you look for these three Proven Winners:

Superbells® Cherry Star – Calibrachoa hybrid

Superbells® Grape Punch – Calibrachoa hybrid

Superbells® Sweet Tart – Calibrachoa hybrid

I like that you can find local retailers on their web site. Just type in your zip code find out where to buy this plant.

Superbells Grape Punch Photo: Patsy Bell Hobson

Frankly Scarlet is a rebloomer. photo: All American Daylilies

from All American Daylilies. A daylily that is not to be ignored, with 4″ diameters and sun-fast red blooms standing tall above the dark green foliage.

Being a daylily enthusiast, I have quite a collection. Even though the blooms only last a day, the plants produce several blooms, lasting for weeks. With so many varieties blooming at different times, there is a daylily of some type blooming in the front garden all summer long.

Daylilies require little care once established, but demand attention for their brilliant fade resistant colors. This Frankly Scarlet gets a little late afternoon shade. And, who can’t appreciate a bit of shade during the heat of Missouri summers?

This daylily has been in my garden for 4 years. It’s time to dig and divide. Frankly Scarlet daylily will have even more hardy blooms once once it is divided and has a little more room to grow.

• Heat and Drought Tolerant;
• Good for Erosion Control; Salt Tolerant
• Excellent Rust Resistance

This lovely flower bloomed like the star she is and then continued to thrive during last summers drought. I suggest you buy one of these rebloomers. In no time you will have dozens.

Frankly Scarlet has won awards as a landscaping plant. They are truly beautiful in a broad swath of color, perfect for a border or lining a sidewalk. Daylilies are also ideal for erosion control or planting on hill sides too steep to mow.

Dragon Wing™ Red Begonia
The Biggest Success in my garden last year was Dragon Wing™ Red Begonia. I have these begonia plants in a big 14” hanging basket. It took a couple of weeks and the basket was ablaze with pure red flowers. They bloomed all summer giving the patio a big burst of color.

These exotic looking Begonias have loose clusters of Red stop-and-look-at-me blooms. Glossy green, wing-shaped leaves support the beautiful Chinese red flowers. My plants are healthy and thriving in a full sun environment, but they will take part shade. Everybody looks better and does better with a little afternoon shade in summer, including begonias.

This trial plant has made me a convert. I am now a great fan of begonias thanks to Dragon Wing Red Begonia. You should know, if a plant survives the summer at my house, it must be hardy and thrive on neglect. Sure I plant them (home of the famous $10 hole for the $5 plant) and irregularly water. I fertilized these plants once during the summer.

Last summer was hell on most plants. Even the tomatoes stopped produccing. Much to my delight, the Dragon Wing™ Red Begonia was non stop blooms all summer. Thanks to Dragon Wing™ Red Begonias, there were always a lot of flowers but no deadheading is needed.

The mail box planter is in the full sun all day. They are bright, beautiful, and attracting attention with their red floppy flowers. These Dragon Wings are thriving  on the heat and humidity of my zone 6a southeast MO patio and mailbox planter.

Ball Horticulture sent this plant to me for evaluation last spring. Dragon Wings are a no fuss, low maintenance plant. I would use Dragon Wing Begonias again as an informal bedding or border plant. It’s one of the prettiest begonias I’ve seen.