Grin for the Day

As an Otologist in a former life, I had to share this.

Don's Blog A SPECIAL DAY 11-21-2020

I was born 85 years ago today. I don't remember a thing. I am proud of my blog which began in 2009.
You can visit it at this link:

https://donsessions.blogspot.com

Final Flower for the Day Celosia 11-4-2020

We had a big freeze several days ago so most everything is wilted. My last offering is celosia which is an ornamental plant in the Amaranth family. Celosia is from the Greek word for burning referring to the flamelike flower heads. It is also called wool flower, velvet flower and cockscomb. 

Celosia spicata has distinctive flower spikes.

Celosia cristata has a crested inflorescence much like a cockscomb.

It becomes a luxuriant velvet.

Celosia is an annual which re-seeds itself yearly.

HAIKU
"Before the Garden"

Cockscombs--
I'm sure there are at least
Fourteen or fifteen stalks.

Masaoka Shiki
trans. Donald Keene

According to Beichman:
The headnote of the poem indicates that Shiki was on the veranda looking out at the garden. The poem is a comment on the cockscombs-- he has tried to count them and this is his estimate.

Shiki wrote the poem at a haiku meeting attended by eighteen of his disciples on September 9, 1900.

And according to Keene:
...ignored by most professional haiku critics for years, [this haiku] is now often acclaimed as his masterpiece…

"Every masterpiece is a flower on a precipice to be picked only with spiritual danger. The risk is life itself. It is too much to hope every poetry-lover will unfailingly grasp all subtleties of the creative act, but no artistic masterpiece exists without the danger of its being misunderstood. It is a tremendous assertion for the poet to have said, 'There must be fourteen or fifteen stalks of cockscomb.'
' After we read this poem we cannot imagine the possibility there could have been more or fewer cockscomb than fourteen or fifteen."
[end of excerpt]

And finally Greve comments

In a recent documentary about the life of Shiki, I saw the cockscombs in his garden, a flower he liked very much. When he could not move around any more, his sister, who cared for him lovingly, planted the flowers a bit closer to the veranda. Later, when he had to be in bed all the time, she re-planted them again so that he could still see them when he uplifted his upper body, holding on to a crutch under his arm. Counting the blossoms was one of his daily joys in his sickbed.

Flower for the Day Chrysanthemum 10-26-2020

For years I tried to have chrysanthemums in my garden. They just never came back the next year.

I got tired of digging the dead bodies out in the spring and admitted that just putting them in a container 

worked for me.

Chrysanthemums are in the aster Family. They are related to all my favorites: dahlias, sunflowers, marigolds, zinnias, and cosmos. Each bloom is made up of hundreds of tiny flowers called florets.

                 Haiku

              gentle rain

scent of the seedbed turning

           a deeper brown

Katrina Shepherd

from Before the Sirocco (NZPS,2008)

Flower for the Day Marigold 10-24-2020

In mid August I bought and planted seeds from  an original Burpee 1950's heirloom which they brought back. 

I realized I was nuts but I loved the package - Mission Giant Yellow Marigold (Tagetes erecta). Only one of the five seeds came up and last week it finally bloomed. 

Marigolds are in the sunflower family and this one has large chrysanthemum like flowers.

This bumble bee had no trouble finding it.

Marigold Haiku

A soft burning glaze
Upon golden Marigolds
Of diamond sun

Savita Tyagi

Thursday, February9, 2017

Flower for the Day Russian Sage 10-23-2020

This bush of Russian sage (Salvia yangii) was here when we moved into our house more than three decades ago. It is a very hardy beautiful bush. The only thing I have done with it is to occasionally trim it back. I love its silvery gray foliage and its purple flowers and its herbal fragrance.

The flowers bloom from June through October. The small flowers are arranged in pairs. Each flowers sepal is

purpled is densely covered with purple or white hairs.

Haiku

russian sage

this day begins…

swarm of bees

 By haiku mind

Aug 29, 2016

Flower for the Day Bristle Leaf Sedge 10-22-2020

Bristle leaf sedge (Carex eburnea) is a native grass which grows well in the shade even in poor soil.

It is also called ivory sedge and ebony sedge. Soft, thread-like, green leaves form a porcupine-like clump  6-10" tall and as wide. Whitish-green flowers on spikes in spring are insignificant. 

I like its delicate look and feel. This plant is two years old.

Flower for the Day A Question 10-21-2020

This hanging fruit was by a woodland trail. Any idea what it is?

10-21-2020 Herd Immunity

Our deer herd continues to grow. There is one huge buck who is always alone.There are two young bucks

that still stay together and there is a herd of younger deer. At first I saw four.

And then six 

And then eight - but I could only get seven in the image.

We have never had so many.

Deer Haiku

Petals on the porch
Half wet with a full day's rain
Deer in the bushes

Calvin Olson

May 25, 2017

Flower for the Day Self Heal 10-19-2020

The other day I was on my knees on a trail in the wildflower garden taking a photo of oriental lady's thumb when I noticed a t-tiny flower nearby. It is self heal (Prunella vulgarism), a herbaceous plant in the genus Prunella. It is also called heal-all ,woundwort, heart-of-the-earth, carpenters herb, brownwort, and blue curls. It seems that some little known flowers have multiple names. The leaves are lance shaped on a square stem.

The flowers grow from a whirled cluster. The flowers are two lipped.The top lip is a purple hood. The bottom lip is lavender with three lobes and the middle lobe is larger and fringed upwardly.

 

Self heal is reportedly edible: the young leaves and stem can be eaten raw as a salad and the whole plant can be boiled and eaten as a leafy green like spinach. Finding enough plants in my garden would make this idea fanciful at the least.

Flower for the Day Oriental Lady's Thumb 1-19-2020

For years in the late summer and fall I have seen this flowering plant in the grasses of the field and trails.It is Oriental Lady's Thumb (Persicaria longiseta) which is in the buckwheat family. It reminds me of my old arctic friend bistort which is in the same family.

It is also called bristly lady's thumb, Asiatic smartweed, long bristled smartweed, Asiatic water pepper, 

bristled knotweed, bunchy knotweed, and tufted knotweed. Which is your favorite?

The inflorescence (main branch with flowers) has many pink flowers.

The leaves are lance shaped.

It is great fun to find the name of an old friend that I have known for many years.

Haiku

Did you ever see yourself
a breathing skull
looking out the eyes?

Allen Ginsberg - Collected Haiku

October 1976

Flower for the Day Goldenrod 10-12-2020

This plant is called zigzag goldenrod (Solidago flexicaulis) and grows in small stands in the shaded part of  gnome garden.It's broad, coarsely toothed leaves and erect clusters make it pretty unique among goldenrods. 

Its flowers have 3-5 petals

As you can see it is very different from the more common goldenrod, also in the genus Solidago which

is found in all my wildflower gardens.

Goldenrod Haiku

now the goldenrod,

earthward, begins its bending,

the year to its end

Neil E. Das

September 19, 2016

Flower for the Day Sedum 10-8-2020

Our sedum is a small bush in partial shade. It is also called stonecrop but is mostly called sedum which is its genus in the Crassulaceae family.It was a gift from a friend and has out lived her by forty years. During all that time it has not enlarged from its original size.

Its leaves are succulent which means they store water, but its charm is the clusters of star shaped flowers.

They are exquisite.

Sedum Haiku

August begins bloom
Long lasting through November
Bumble bees delight

 PamelaWLucas 9/5/17

Flower for the Day Aster 10-5-2020

The asters have been blooming for more than a month. We have two types of aster, Tatarian aster and

New England aster. Tatarian aster (Aster tatericus) grows in a field circle.

It is a real draw for butterflies and can grow to over six feet tall. This year despite all efforts the deer have been eating the leaves and the buds so I have a small crop and they are only four feet tall. Several of my neighbors have six feet tall tatarian asters which grow in areas sheltered from the deer.

The other aster is New England aster (Symphotrichum novae anglia) and is located in multiple areas of the garden. It is a deeper purple color.

Both the deer and the rabbits love this aster but by placing them in multiple areas I do get successful growth.

Butterflies love it.

When the asters show up we know fall is on the way. We had a mild first frost last night.

Flower for the Day Dahlias 10-2-2020

This is a great time of the year for dahlias. I have some that have been blooming since May. They wintered over successfully but it is chancy. Most I put the tubers in brown paper bags in the basement. When they are re-planted they don't bloom until August but then go go on until the freeze. I don't like to stake them so they need room to spread out. They bloom much better if they are regularly dead headed. We love them as cut flowers and their colors just make you want more.

Haiku

How much can I fit

Into a haiku format

Oh no I'm out of

Saved by Jessica Lake

Toothpaste For Dinner.com

Labor Day Innsbrook Fireworks 2020

Because of the pandemic the Innsbrook Fourth of July Fireworks were postponed to the Labor day weekend.

Since you missed it here are a few random shots. The really big ones were shot off the dam to our right and were mostly blocked from our sight line. There were six barges in the lake itself and these images are from them.

Flower for the Day Fall Flowers 10-1-2020

These are a few flowers still blooming in the front garden as the weather changes. 

Cosmos

Zinnia

Rose of Sharon

 

Moon Flower

Dahlias and Celosia to come.

Flower for the Day Wingstem 9-30-2020

Wingstem (Verbesina alternifolia) is a perennial forb (herbaceous non-grass  flowering plant) that is in the sunflower family. It is also called yellow ironweed. It is messy and wild.

Its claim to fame is that it grows and grows. These are 8-9 feet tall.

Flower for the Day Spotted Touch-Me-Not 9-29-2020

Here is another new flower which we found on a recent hike. It is a colorful wildflower which lives on a large bush, a spotted touch-me-not (Impatiens capensis). It has orange flowerhead with red spots. It is

is also called orange jewelweed, common jewelweed, spotted jewelweed and orange balsam.

Impatiens is Latin for impatience which refers to the seed which bursts on touch when ripe. This is called explosive dehiscence or ballistochory and results in its name touch-me-not.