My GREAT Birthday Card

Final Flower for the Day 2011

The garden has wound down and the Flower Guy too. Its time to take a break.

I hope you enjoyed the fourth year of our flowers. My Flower Girl is as feisty 

as ever and grows in beauty with maturity. 

She wins the Golden Garland.

Note: All of the Flower for the Day entries for this year can be found at:

www.donsessions.blogspot.com - under the Blog Archive go to:

The Blog of Don Sessions 2011

 

Russell Kraus: Panel IV

Stained Glass in a Mahogany Screen - Dafodils

 

Nature Intervenes

Basking in the glory of his World Series win Cardinal

Man got literally carried away by the wind.

"All the King's horses and all the King's men couldn't

put him back together again."

Unfortunately this greatly decreases the possibility

of a repeat.

 

Russell Kraus: Panel III

Stained Glass in a Mahogany Screen - Daisies

 

Russell Kraus: Panel II

Stained Glass in a Mahogany Screen - Jonquils

 

Russell Kraus: Stained Glass in a Mahogany Screen

Panel I  Iris

During his later years we commissioned our friend and neighbor, the artist Russell Kraus to do a work for us.

Russell was a multimedia artist but for his day job he designed and created stained glass windows for churches.

We requested that he do four stained glass panels of flowers to be placed in a sturdy and spectacular mahogany

free standing screen that we had acquired several years previously. Initially he took measurements and designed 

the panels using flowers of his choosing and added a personal touch - a small colorful butterfly with three

dimensional antennae for each panel.

Russell and I went to a nearby stained glass studio where we selected the different colored pieces of glass. The 

studio then created the four panels with each piece of stained glass assembled by color and shape according to 

Russell's design specifications. Six weeks later Russell and the studio expert completed the work by installing

the panels into the screen.

Because of its size and our space considerations the four panel screen has been separated into two two panel

scfeens. Both screens are upstairs in separate rooms.

In no way do the images come close to the magnificent colors chosen by Russell. Photographing a stained glass

work is challenging.

 

Japanese Anemone

  Anemone hupenensis var. japonicum. In the

buttercup family (Ranunuculaceae), this hardy perennial is closely 

related to the pasque flower. Anemone is Greek for daughter of the

wind. Season specific anemone bulbs can produce blooms 

throughout the growing year from early spring to late fall. Cut flowers

provide up to 9 days of vase life. This was a gift from a friend.

 

 

Cosmos in a Vase

Cosmos in an earthen vase. The lambs ear leaf is for tactile gratification.

 

A few survivors

As the sun descends toward the fall solstice and the nights grow colder only a few miniature flowers remain.

 

 

 

Fall weather comes to the garden as Cards win

The boys in the gnome garden were complaining about the cold nights and wanted to come into the garage for the winter.

 

One gnome , however,  told us last week that he had to stay outside until he had helped to win the World Series. I told him that it was highly improbable but he stayed outside and the Cardinals did come through with a win. Sometimes it is not all 

bad to be wrong.

 

Cardinals Win 11TH World Series

All I can say is that it is exhilarating and exhausting! I need to take off a couple of weeks to recover!!!

Mexican Hat

Longhead Prairie Coneflower which has begun to bloom again because of favorable weather. Ratibida culumnifera.

Also mexican hat. This flower has strikingly rich color. 

  GO CARDS ! 

 

Sweet Alyssum

  Lobularia maratima.  This is an annual whose seeds  got mixed in with some cosmos that I planted.

They have been growing underneath the cosmos for months. I didn't know what they were so I had to look them up. It is a member of the mustard family.

 

 

Aster III

These are the last of my asters. They grow tall in the wildflower garden and 

have a different flower head and color altogether,

 

 

The Russell Kraus House

The Russell Kraus House - To the south and west of our gardens lies the house of our deceased neighbor and friend Russell

Kraus. Russell and his soon to be wife Ruth commissioned this house to be designed and built by the great American architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Russell bought a four acre plot on the western edge of the old railroad town of Kirkwood from the descendants of Frederick Clamors. It had been a farm and at the time it was purchased a  peach orchard was still producing. Russell contacted "Mr. Wright" (Russell always spoke of him as Mr. Wright) who agreed to design the house.

The design was done in 1951 and the house was constructed over the next seven years. It took another three years to complete the inside furnishings. The house materials are tidewater red cypress, local brick, and concrete. Built in Wright's Usonian style the 1900 square structure is designed on a series of 60 degree-120 degree parallelograms and the triangles and hexagons that come from subdividing them. There are only two right angles in the entire design.

One day Russell planted a series of holly trees near our boundary line and announced that unfortunately there would soon be 15 houses surrounding his treasured house. But instead with perseverance and commitment,   Russell was able to sell the house and grounds to a newly created foundation which has lovingly cared for and rehabilitated for this landmark estate.

The grounds are owned and maintained beautifully by St. Louis County Parks and the house is under the management of the foundation which is named The Frank Lloyd Wright House in Ebsworth Park.

Built into the hillside, the house is famously difficult to photograph. Recently the late afternoon fall lighting allowed me to take these images. The house has always been hard to grasp or take in as there are so many angular focal points.The foundation has done a remarkably professional and loving job of recreating this architectural masterpiece.

For us Russell's pervasive spirit is always present as we look down the hill through the holly trees at our neighbors "house".

For although he thought he was going to have to sell to a builder for a new subdivision one of his first thoughts was that by planting the holly trees he could help maintain some of our sacred privacy. I still remember him carrying buckets up the hill to hand water his holly seedlings.

 

Aster II

These asters are in a field circle. They are tall and feathery and a light lavender.

 

 

Aster I

This is aster week. These dark purple asters are on a path in the gnome garden.

They are perennial and did well out in a field circle except they turned out to

be like candy to the deer.  I went out to check the buds one day and all had 

been leveled as if done by a careful weed whacker.  I have transplanted the

remnants to the front garden.

 

 

White Heath Aster

 Aster ericoides.  These aster bushes fill the lower wildflower

garden every Fall and are striking from afar and up close.

 

Cosmos

 These purple/pink beauties are thriving on the edge of the field.

 

 

Chrysanthemum

 In the Aster Family. This is an old flower - it was first cultivated 

by the Chinese in the 15 TH century BC. Linnaeus named it from the Greek 

for "golden flower". I have found it difficult to find truly "hardy" mums that 

return perennially. This rust brown three year old mum is my only current

perennial survivor.

 

Sedum

 The sedum blooms in the autumn every year. Because it is not in direct 

sunlight its stems are not strong enough to hold up the blooms but I like where 

it lives so there it will stay. Close up, its blossoms are muted and sweet to the 

honey bee. 

 

Gaillardia

Also blanket flower. It is not surprising that these flowers showed up

in the front garden since they are in the Aster Family and this is the aster time 

of the year.

 

 

Russian Sage

 This plant has beautiful purple flowers and delicate feathery 

leaves. It is fragrant to the touch and is very hardy. It is heat and drought

tolerant and deer resistant. It lives up front by the mailbox.  

 

 

Celosia

 In addition to the brilliant color of the flower, the leaves of this plant are edible, 

reportedly tasting like spinach.

 

Dahlia

The dahlias are approaching "plate" size which is the reason that I obtained them.

The buds are continuing to bloom.  

Tickseed

 Bidens cernua  Also smooth beggar tick, bur marigold, and black

jack. It is in the Aster Family and the Coreopsis Tribe. Bidens refers to the

archene burrs in the seeds which stick to your clothes. I have been pulling

these burrs off for several weeks now. 

 

Goldenrod

 Solidago. The fields are full of goldenrod currently. Thomas Edison 

used goldenrod leaves as a source of rubber which he hoped could be used for

Henry Ford's tires but it was not economically feasible. 

Persimmon

Persimmon  In the ebony tree genus Diaspyros which comes from the ancient

Greek word  for fruit of the gods. Persimmon comes from Powhatan, an Algonquin

word for dried fruit.  This tree is just outside my bedroom window. Immature persimmons are unpalatable because of a high

level of tannins. Very cold weather hastens a bletting process of cell wall breakdown

so they are more tasty after the first frost when they are soft. 

 

Sunflower

 Helianthus giganticus. This very tall

sunflower grows in one of the field circles and thrives

on the cooling weather. 

 

 

Lariope

  Also lilyturf and monkey grass. This grass

lines a path in the back and has beautiful little purple

flowers this time of year