Flower for the Day Forget-me-not (Vergissmeinnicht) 4-29

In the wildflower garden near the Frank Lloyd Wright House, the 

Kraus house, there are large areas of Forget-me nots (Myositis genus).

 

They are a beautiful pale blue.

 

In his 1947 long poem "Notes Toward a Supreme Fiction," Wallace Stevens 

mentions the forget-me-not, using its scientific Greek-derived name:

It observes the effortless weather turning blue

And sees the myosotis on its bush.

 

Flower for the Day Wall Flower 4-28

New flowers are coming up in the wildflower gardens. These are

Wall Flowers (Erysimum allionii) in a loud orange color.

Flower for the Day Azalea 4-27

My purple azaleas have been spectacular this spring. They are over 37 years old. They seem to love where they live.

Sic Vita

A poem from my brother David's Blog:

---

Sic Vita by Henry King  Or as the flights of Eagles are; Or like the fresh spring's gaudy hue; Or silver drops of morning dew; Or like a wind that chafes the flood; Or bubbles which on water stood; Even such is man, whose borrowed light Is straight called in, and paid to night.       The Wind blows out; the Bubble dies;       The Spring entombed in Autumn lies;       The Dew dries up; the Star is shot;       The Flight is past; and Man forgot.

Flower for the Day Phlox 4-23

There are several large areas of phlox in the rock garden but through the years they have become messy and stringy so I am starting to replace them with new mounds of phlox. Phlox is Greek for flame.

They have spectacular little five-lobed flowers.

Flower for the Day Virginia Bluebells 4-18

These bluebells appeared in the wildflower garden. It is Mertensia virginica and is also called Virginia cowslip, lungwort oysterleaf, and Roanoke bells.

It flowers with five petals fused into a tube, five stamens,  and a central pistil. You may remember that the stamen is the male fertilizing organ of the flower consisting of a pollen containing anther and a filament. The pistil includes the female organs of the flower comprising the stigma, style and ovary.

Flower for the Day Tulips 4-17

I am not a tulip guy but they are pretty amazing.

 

 

 

This one is called "Ice Cream Sunday". That's SunDAY in LaGrange

but SunDA in Kirkwood. What sayeth you?

 

Flower for the Day Celandine Poppy 4-15

The celandine poppy is a Missouri perennial wildflower which has found a home in the side yard. It blooms for several months unlike the more showy flowers.

Flower for the Day Daffodils 4-13

The daffodils arise early and yearly requiring no care but always raising the question of what if anything to do with the wilted leaves after the bloom is gone.

This is my favorite - a little more lush and full bodied.

Flower for The Day Murder in the Wild Flower Garden 4-12

This is what is left of my prize Kusa Dogwood Tree that Becky and I planted over 10 years ago.

This is one of the prints left by one of the killers. Suburban gardening has become like a combat zone.

Flower for the Day Hyacinth 4-10

Hyacinthus is the name of a small genus of flowering plants native to the eastern Mediterranean. 

In Homer's Odyssey, Athena gives Odysseus "thick locks akin to the hyacinth flower" in order to win his way into the city of the Phaeacians.

Flower for the Day 4-8 The Last Amaryllis with a Twist

This is the last stalk of the last amaryllis. They get so top heavy that I have to stake them.

The twist is that this stalk has five blooms instead of the usual four.I had not seen this before.

Prying - Lana Turner Journal

 Pre-op Poem by Jorie Graham - This is not easy but small flashes of meaning come with each reading - I've read it over 10 times now. I say it's worth the effort.

http://www.lanaturnerjournal.com/print-issue-7-contents/prying

Spring

This poem is from my brother David's Blog:

April 5, 1974

The air was soft, the ground still cold.
In the dull pasture where I strolled
Was something I could not believe.
Dead grass appeared to slide and heave,
Though still too frozen-flat to stir,
And rocks to twitch and all to blur.
What was this rippling of the land?
Was matter getting out of hand
And making free with natural law,
I stopped and blinked, and then I saw
A fact as eerie as a dream.
There was a subtle flood of steam
Moving upon the face of things.
It came from standing pools and springs
And what of snow was still around;
It came of winter’s giving ground
So that the freeze was coming out,
As when a set mind, blessed by doubt,
Relaxes into mother-wit.
Flowers, I said, will come of it.

Richare Wilbur