Choux pastry, also called pâte à choux ('pot-ah-SHOO'), is a light pastry dough used to make dumplings, éclairs, cream puffs, beignets and a number of other ethereal French pastries. While puff pastry calls for tiring amounts of rolling, the consistency of choux lends itself to amenable malleable manipulation. So “rise” to the occasion and follow this easy recipe by our very own Chef Manu for pâte à choux.
Is your garden looking a bit dull? High temperatures have taken a toll on just about everyone’s garden. But no one needs to finish out the summer with drab outdoor surroundings. There’s a wonderful group of plants that provide late summer color (and into fall) that are not only beautiful but drought tolerant too. Keep in mind when planting any perennials, trees or shrubs at this time of year, no matter how drought tolerant they may be, you’ll need to provide regular watering to get them established. After they have rooted in, you can gradually cut back on watering.
Mosquitos are an issue in Hampton Roads every summer. This year, with the dangers surrounding the Zika Virus, McDonald Garden Center has taken action to find the solutions that will help our customers enjoy their normal gardening and outdoor activities. Here’s what we discovered:
Linger outdoors a little longer thanks to the mosquito plant! If you love being outdoors in the summer, make sure you pick up a few of these! Nicknamed the mosquito plant, the citronella geranium is a drought-tolerant, vigorous grower, with thick, lacey-green leaves that give off the fresh scent of citrus. Some believe that mosquitoes will avoid the strong citrusy scent at all costs. It is grown more for the foliage and the scent, not the flower, although in spring you will see small, lavender flower bloom.
