Flower for the Day Day Liliy II 6-30-2020

Here are some more day lilies.  They just keep blooming.

THE FIRST OF MY SUMMER LOVERS 

   Just out of the shower 

   Wearing only lacy dew 

   She has arrived early 

   Voluptuous, steamy.

   

    She is no coy one 

   Her petals spread open 

   Waiting for mating. 

   

   Comfortably naked in the sun 

   With her soft creamy skin 

   and dark inner lips 

   She has come for adulation, 

   Sex and sun. 

   

   Confident , she winks  

   At me with those dark eyes 

   Saying ,come, adore me. 

   

   Embarrassed, I have forgotten 

   Her name... Misty Maude I believe. 

   

   Undulating in the wind 

   She whispers, 

   Come closer,closer 

   

   Love me, love me.

   Quick now, skip the foreplay.

   

   We haven't much time you know. 

   I'm only passing through, 

  Just here for one day. 

  Stan Thawley,2009  

Flower for the Day Day Lily I 6-30-2020

We interrupt this wildflower splurge by showing some of this year's very successful day lily crop.

As you know day lilies only bloom for a day. Jan has found that if you take some buds in and put them in a vase that they bloom in about three days.

The Summer Day

Who made the world?

Who made the swan,  and the black bear?

Who made the grasshopper?

This grasshopper I mean—

the one who has flung herself out of the grass,

the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,

who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down—

Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.

Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.

I don't know exactly what a prayer is.

I do know how to pay attention,  how to fall down

into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,

how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,

which is what I have been doing all day.

Tell me,  what else should I have done?

Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?

Tell me, what is it you plan to do

with your one wild and precious life?

Mary Olliver

Flower for the Day Deptford Pink 6-29-2020

This is my favorite miniature - Deptford Pink (Dianthus armeria). It is so striking that I can still remember

the sites where I have found it. Each time I see it I have the same excitement as the first time.

The floor head is 8-10 mm in diameter. It is rare - it is a short lived perennial which lives for about 2.5 years.

Flower for the Day Penstemon Digitalis 6-27-2020

  Penstemon digitalis (Foxglove beardtongue) is a common wildflower on the edge of the meadow. On its stem it is a slightly messy group of flowers (called a panicle).

Up close they feature an interesting two-lipped flower head with a prominent infertile stamen. The name beardtongue comes from the hairs on the stamen.

Once you have seen them up close you will then start recognizing them surprisingly often.

Don's Blog Early Morning Visitors 6-26-2020

Looking out my window this morning I saw that the kids are growing up. At least they were munching on the grass and not the wildflowers. It will be interesting to see how their growing from young bucks to adults will be handled in this settled neighborhood.

Flower for the Day Verbena 6-26-2020

Verbena is a perennial in the gnome garden. Its amazing small flowers grow on really tall stems.

Its also called vervain and Tears of Isis.

  Anthropocene Pastoral by Catherine Pierce

   'Sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry'……

   In the beginning, the ending was beautiful.

   Early spring everywhere, the trees furred

   pink and white, lawns the sharp green

   that meant new. The sky so blue it looked

   manufactured. Robins. We'd heard

   the cherry blossoms wouldn't blossom

   this year, but what was one epic blooming

   when even the desert was an explosion

   of verbena? When bobcats slinked through

   primroses. When coyotes slept deep in orange 

   poppies. One New Year's Day we woke

   to daffodils, wisteria, onion grass wafting

   through the open windows. Near the end,

   we were eyeletted. We were cottoned.

   We were sundressed and barefoot. At least

   it's starting gentle, we said. An absurd comfort,

   we knew, a placebo. But we were built like that.

   Built to say at least. Built to reach for the heat

   of skin on skin even when we were already hot,

   built to love the purpling desert in the twilight,

   built to marvel over the pink bursting dogwoods,

   to hold tight to every pleasure even as we

   rocked together toward the graying, even as

   we held each other, warmth to warmth,

   and said sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry while petals

   sifted softly to the ground all around us.

Flower for the Day - Lanceleaf Coreopsis 6-25-2020

Lanceleaf coreopsis (Coreopsis lanceolata) is a  Missouri native perennial. It features a flower with eight yellow rays which are toothed at the tips and flat yellow center discs. At the base of the plant are narrow hairy lance-shaped leaves. It is also called tickseed because it's seeds resemble the dreaded tick.

Well, tiny flower

your mother was unprepared.

Yellow shock of light.

Haiku by Ryan Marie Rettew of Pennsylvania

Flower for the Day Golden Ragwort 6-24-2020

As you can see we have moved from exotic Asiatic lilies to native wildflowers. Here is one that was on a nearby trail - Golden Ragwort (Packera auria). It is a perennial forb with a pleasing flower and rounded leaves that stay green all winter.

Flower for the Day Sweet William 6-23-2020

Sweet William (Dianthus barbarous) is a real favorite in the wildflower garden. They were

planted on the south side side and through the many years have moved north. Their spice is their variety. 

I think they are very incestuous.

Fair Margaret and Sweet William

by Anonymous

Sweet William he would a-wooing ride,
His steed was lovely brown;
A fairer creature than Lady Margaret
Sweet William could not find.

Sweet William came to Lady Margaret's bower,
And knockèd at the ring,
And who so ready as Lady Margaret
To rise and let him in.

Down then came her father dear,
Clothèd all in blue:
"I pray, Sweet William, tell to me
What love's between my daughter and you?'

"I know none by her,' he said,
"And she knows none by me;
Before tomorrow at this time
Another bride you shall see.'

Lady Margaret at her bower window,
Combing of her hair,
She saw Sweet William and his brown bride
Unto the church repair.

Down she cast her iv'ry comb,
And up she tossed her hair,
She went out of her bower alive,
But never no more came there.

When day was gone, and night was come,
All people were asleep,
In glided Margaret's grimly ghost,
And stood at William's feet.

"How d'ye like your bed, Sweet William?
How d'ye like your sheet?
And how d'ye like that brown lady
That lies in your arms asleep?'

"Well I like my bed, Lady Margaret,
And well I like my sheet;
But better I like that fair lady
That stands as my bed's feet.'

When night was gone, and day was come,
All people were awake,
The lady waked out of her sleep,
And thus to her lord she spake.

"I dreamed a dream, my wedded lord,
That seldom comes to good;
I dreamed that our bower was lin'd with white swine,
And our bride-chamber full of blood.'

He called up his merry men all,
By one, by two, by three:
"We will go to Lady Margaret's bower,
With the leave of my wedded lady.'

When he came to Lady Margaret's bower,
He knockèd at the ring,
And none were so ready as her brethren
To rise and let him in.

"Oh is she in the parlour,' he said,
"Or is she in the hall?
Or is she in the long chamber,
Amongst her merry maids all?'

"She's not in the parlour,' they said,
"Nor is she in the hall;
But she is in the long chamber
Laid out against the wall.'

"Open the winding sheet,' he cried,
"That I may kiss the dead;
That I may kiss her pale and wan
Whose lips used to look so red.'

Lady Margaret died on the over night,
Sweet William died on the morrow;
Lady Margaret died for pure, pure love,
Sweet William died for sorrow.

On Margaret's grave there grew a rose,
On Sweet William's grew a briar;
They grew till they joined in a true lover's knot,
And then they died both together.

Flower for the Day Bellflower 6-22-2020

Many years ago the entire gnome garden was filled with bellflowers (Campanula).

Recently the garden has been invaded by ox-eyed daisies. When I cleared the garden 

there was only one bellflower left. An interesting phenomenon.

They have always been quiet. That is probably why they did not signal the they were being choked to death by

this seemingly innocuous invader.

Flower for the Day Horse Mint 6-17-2020

This appeared the front garden several years ago. Horse  mint is a monarda and it comes back for about  a month every  year.

Up close it looks much like the other bee balms.

Flower for the Day Magnolia 6-11-2020

During these tumultuous times our natural surroundings are comforting. John and Gerry, the previous owners of our home, planted this magnolia tree by the garage. It blooms every year in June and its red berry fruit shows up in the fall. It has a wonderful fragrance. So far the tree has survived several antler rubs and continues to thrive. 

1960 Grassy Ridge III 6-10-20

 The Frank Lloyd Wright house can be seen from the south west corner. I have a nice little sunny garden for perennial wildflowers on the edge.

Looking back to the east. 

We can see the back decks and several hammocks.

Walking further toward the street we can see the from top the house from the south.

Here are the two gnome gardens from the driveway. The boys love this time of year.

 

Another view looking to the meadow.

After going around the house perimeter it may be time to get in the hot tub.

1960 Grassy Ridge Rd II 6-10-2020

Looking back at the house the ferns are flourishing in the green garden. The new stone path leads to a small back patio with a swing and another path past the Lily of the Valley goes towards a hammock. Jan loves hammocks so we have many.

Towards the north west side of the lot is a small garden plot. It was our vegetable garden before the deer ate

it to the ground many years ago. Now it has some out flowers.  The meadow is ringed by wildflower gardens on the west. The deer come out and graze and lie down as if they were cattle. Even pellet guns are banned.

The shasta daisies are starting to bloom.

Looking south shows the back (west) side of the house. The periwinkle beds are ringed by creek rock. 

Heading for the south east side of the meadow we get to another wildflower garden. I use the Buddhist prayer flags as a wind gauge.

This is a fairly peaceful refuge. Trails start to the right and go through the woodland. In the background to the south is another large meadow for the Frank Lloyd Wright house in the county park.

This looks back at the meadow towards the north.

Flower for the Day Asiatic Lily II 6-10-2020

With warm weather (sometimes hot) and rain the asiaitic lilies are really popping. 

It is amazing to me that if the deer don't eat them they come back for 5 or more years and longer. The deer love to eat the small buds but do not eat the mature flowers. I spray the buds with 'deer off' which usually works. What works even better is to plant them in the middle of the black eyed susan patch. The susans are shorter now so the lilies show well in a sea of green leaves and as the lilies disappear the susans grow taller as they bloom.

1960 Grassy Ridge Rd I

The house is a rustic contemporary with cedar siding and a cedar shake roof (for about another month) with high ceilings, four bedrooms,  a two car garage and a large mostly finished basement where Jan has her studio. The house is on a 1.5 acre pie shaped lot with several more acres of reclaimed common ground in the back and about 10more acres of mostly exclusive common woodlands with a creek bed and multiple trails which I maintain. In the southwest area is a St Louis CountyPark and  a Frank Lloyd Wright House which is open by appointment only.

The gardens surrounding the house are ringed with Missouri creek bed gravel. This image shows the front of the house which faces east. There are hostas on the left and a long bank of azalea bushes which bloom with pink/purple flowers in May. The front porch has chairs and a swing as well as an outdoor rug essentially adding a room mornings and evenings. The front garden has perennials (tulips, allium, lilies and celosia as well as some annuals and dahlias.

On the north side of the house is my "green garden" which includes hostas, hydrangeas and ferns with a vinca minor (periwinkle) base.

Further to the north west there are wildflower gardens encompassing a large meadow.

These wild flowers on the north side of the meadow are starting to bloom. There are walking paths behind each of these wildflower gardens.