Flower for the Day Bloomin' Garden 5-30-21

At the lake I have been trying to grow flowers in a garden in front of the house. Nothing has ever come up well. This spring I ringed the garden with 15# test fishing line for protection from the deer.With the posts showing it is not ideal but this is what has come up in the last two weeks. These are from native seeds I planted last year.

Giant Larkspur

Indian Blanket Flower and Coreopsis

Penstemon

Wild Foxglove

Babies Breath

Common Poppy

Wow Wow!

Flower for the Day Bloomin' Garden 5-30-21

At the lake I have been trying to grow flowers in a garden in front of the house. Nothing has ever come up well. This spring I ringed the garden with 15# test fishing line for protection from the deer.With the posts showing it is not ideal but this is what has come up in the last two weeks. These are from native seeds I planted last year.

Giant Larkspur

Indian Blanket Flower and Coreopsis

Penstemon

Wild Foxglove

Babies Breath

Common Poppy

Wow Wow!

Flower for the Day Creeping Thyme 5-27-21

Although critically important there is nothing more boring than garden infrastructure - until one day when I look down and see something new. I have been planting creeping thyme (thymus vulgaris) as a ground cover around rocks and stepping stones for decades. Usually there are a few flowers. This year the growing conditions were just right for blooming. I 'saw' a large pink patch near the creeping phlox and thought it was the phlox just holding on longer than usual. Then I looked more closely and it was a blanket of creeping thyme flowers, and all the other creeping thyme was doing the same.

The flowers are in dense terminal heads with an uneven calyx that has a a three-lobed upper lip.

Just another lesson in the distinction looking at and seeing.

Flower for the Day Allium 5-24-21

 We have had allium (Allium sativum)   for many years. Its in the amaryllis family. Allium is the Latin name for garlic and Allium sativum means 'cultivated garlic'. Carl Linnaeus first described the genus Allium in 1753. It is a monocotyledous flowering plant. A monocot is a flowering plant that bears a single seed leaf at germination. They are interesting from afar.

and spectacular up close.

In Praise of Allium

by Denise Levertov

 

No one celebrates the allium.

The way each purposeful stem

ends in a globe, a domed umbel,

makes people think,

'Drumsticks,' and that's that.

Besides, it's related to the onion.

Is that any reason

for disregard? The flowers – look –

are bouquets of miniature florets,

each with six elfin pointed petals

and some narrower ones my eyes

aren't sharp enough to count,

and three stamens about the size

of a long eyelash.

Every root

sends up a sheaf of sturdy

ridged stems, bounty

to fill your embrace. The bees

care for the allium, if you don't ­–

hear them now, doing their research,

humming the arias

of a honey opera, Allium it's called,

gold fur voluptuously

brushing that dreamy mauve.

Don's Blog 'The Conductor'

The Art of Jan Sessions: 'The Conductor'

Acrylic on canvass. 14"x20" A classic.

Flower for the Day Iris III 5-23-21

This has been an extraordinary year for iris. This is the one that I grew up with.

Th Siberian iris have been plentiful.

And a rare orange mainstay.

But the iris I love the most are those with profoundly dark color.

And my favorite.

                 Iris Haiku

           Iris eyes smiling

           back at the man who sees

          more than a flower

 

            Judi Walters, 2011

Flower for the Day Late Bloomers 5-21-21

Each year I take my amaryllis plant out for the summer. In the fall before the first frost I put it into the basement dark and 

in February I bring it upstairs to the light and begin watering it. It usually blooms in March. This year it didn't bloom until

late April. 

The same pattern occurred for my Easter Lily which actually bloomed after the amaryllis. They are certainly

striking. It may be time to retire these bulbs which are more than 30 years old. 

Flower for the Day Spiderwort 5-20-21

Spiderwort (Tradescantia virginiana) appears each year in April to May. It is also called spider lily. It is clump forming herbaceous perennial.

The flowers are rarely white and usually violet-blue. The flowers have three petals with yellow stamens and open up a few at a time for one day. The genus name honors John Tradescant the Older (1570-1638) and his son John Tradescant the Younger (1608-1662), botanists and successive gardeners to Charles I of England. When the stems of spiderworts are cut, a viscous stem secretion is released which becomes threadlike and silky upon hardening (like a spider's web), hence the common name.

The delicate flowers are spectacular.

What's in a name? I have hated the name spiderwort because I didn't realize that it was 'wort' and not 'wart'. Wort comes from the Old English 'wyrt' of Germanic origin, related to root. It is used in names of plants and herbs used medicinally. Wart comes from Old English 'wearte' also of Germanic origin. A wart is a growth on the skin caused by a virus or a rounded excrescence on the surface of a plant. Informally wart is used to describe an undesirable feature or an obnoxious person.

All this time when I saw 'wort' I have been hearing the meaning of 'wart'. My new understanding of the words has transformed my ability to love the name spiderwort.

Don's Blog The Arch 5-19-21

The Art of Jan Sessions: Jan creates many special postcards. Here is a favorite. 'The Arch' Watercolor on paper 4"x6".

Flower for the Day Columbine 5-19-21

Each year I have columbine (Aquilegia) in the gardens. The genus name Aquilegia is derived from the Latin word for eagle (aquila), because of the shape of the flower petals, which are said to resemble an eagle's claw. The common name "columbine" comes from the Latin for "dove", due to the resemblance of the inverted flower to five doves clustered together.

My columbines last in one spot for 2-3 years. They propagate by seed and so the wind and birds carry them to other areas of the garden. 

I like the native columbines the best but the hybrids are interesting.

Columbines have been important in the study of evolution. It was found that the Sierra columbine (A. pubescens) and crimson columbine(A. formosa) each has adapted specifically to a pollinator. Bees and hummingbirds are the visitors to A. formosa, while hawkmoths  would only visit A. pubescens when given a choice. Such a "pollinator syndrome", being due to flower color and orientation controlled by their genetics, ensures reproductive isolation and can be a cause of speciation.

Haiku: Columbines

columbines –
every petal a swan
embracing his brother

 August 22, 2019 / Isabel Caves

Flower for the Day Iris II 5-18-21

This spring the iris make me 'giddy'. Here is the big picture of iris in the gardens.

The images will speak for themselves and then a 12th century poet will comment.

Spring Giddiness

Today, like every other day, we wake up empty
and frightened. Don't open the door to the study
and begin reading. Take down a musical instrument.
Let the beauty we love be what we do.
There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.

The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.
Don't go back to sleep.
You must ask for what you really want.
Don't go back to sleep.
People are going back and forth across the doorsill
where the two worlds touch.
The door is round and open.
Don't go back to sleep.

I would love to kiss you.
The price of kissing is your life.
Now my loving is running toward my life shouting,
What a bargain, let's buy it.

Daylight, full of small dancing particles
and the one great turning, our souls
are dancing with you, without feet, they dance.
Can you see them when I whisper in your ear?

All day and night, music,
a quiet, bright
reedsong. If it
fades, we fade.

RUMI

Don's Blog Drawing 5-17-21

The Art of Jan Sessions Pen and Ink on paper. 10"x12" Could you do this?

Flower for the Day Ground-ivy 5-17-21

Ground ivy (Glechoma hederacea) ia a perennial evergreen creeper in the mint family. Commonly called creeping charlie is also known as gill-over-the -ground, alehoof, tun hoof, cats foot, field balm, and run-away-robin. 

The flowers symmetrical, funnel shaped, bluish-violet to lavender, and grow in opposed clusters of two or three flowers in the leaf axils on the upper part of the stem or near the tip. 

Despite its exotic flowers it is a really pesky grass weed which grows incessantly over rock borders and 

is difficult to eradicate because of its root system.

Flower for the Day Wild Geranium 5-16-21

Wild geranium (Geranium maculata) is a woodland perennial which is a Missouri native. The saucer shaped flowers have five petals.

The genus name comes from the Greek word geranos meaning crane in reference to its distinctive beaked seed capsules which can resemble the head and beak of a crane, hence the name wild cranes bill. It is also called wood geranium, old maid's nightcap and alum root. Maculata refers to mottling which can occur on the leaves. I have also seen this flower in Rocky Mountain National Park but in August rather than May.

The flower is striking.

Flower for the Day Dwarf Larkspur 5-15-21

Here is another new native Missouri wildflower I found by a trail last week. Dwarf  larkspur (Delphinium tricorne) is also called rock larkspur and dwarf delphinium. It is an herbaceous perennial. Each flower has 5 lavender petal-like sepals and 4 petals. The upper sepal forms a long nectar spur behind the rest of the flower; this spur angles upward and  is fairly straight. Dwarf Larkspur is shorter and blooms earlier than other delphiniums.

            born to recycle  

            born to recycle

       on spine of evolution

           a delphinium

                  liquidmindforever

Flower for the Day Garden Star of Bethlehem 5-14-21

Here is another  wildflower that is new to me. It is Garden Star of Bethlehem (Ornithogalum umbellatum). Also called grass lily, nap-at-noon, and eleven-o'clock lady,  it is a a perennial bulbous plant in the asparagus family.  It has conspicuous white flowers in a stellate pattern. The flowers open at mid day and when closed have a green stripe on the outside.

This Oracle serves as a bridge between worlds 

helping you deepen your spiritual connections 

 and awaken your soul to a higher vibration * 

United like two tipping stars you and Unity, 

 create an overpass to successful connection 

 This oracle is your sweet chariot of molten gold 

 it will protect your inner being and deliver you 

 to the bridgeable sights of an intuitive intellect 

Unity can transport you over linked thoughts 

 and help you decipher the true nature of self 

 Unity was born out of a need to feel undivided 

 with ourselves, others, most of all our Creator 

 He blessed us with the same abilities of those of 

 yonder, when the star of Bethlehem shone on us 

 it delivered us Unity, our enlightened counterpart.

Mystic Rose Rose   2021

Flower for the Day Delphinium and Jacob's Ladder 5-13-21

The verdant woods of Warren County are awash with wildflowers. Here are delphinium (the tall purple flower) and Jacob's ladder (the lavender bells) a well as some  Miami mist (the fringed white cups)  below. Delphinium is also called larkspur. Jacob's ladder (Polemonium caeruleum) is also known as Greek valerian. The steady rain and cool weather as well as increasing light has made for a real show.

Jacobs Ladder Haiku

the sky welcomes her a Jacob's ladder she climbs stairway to heaven

Marits Paper World (Blog)

Don's Blog The Art of Jan Sessions 5-12-21

The Art of Jan Sessions: Many years ago Jan purchased a ring with a wonderful odd shape. Everyone asks her about it because it is so unusual. Several years ago we were in Florida and it disappeared. We thought it was gone forever. About 6 months later I was cleaning out the center console of Jan's car. This is what I found: "Ring in a Chocolate Bar" - one of my favorite of Jan's artistic creations. Please make up your own story about how it got there and what ultimately happened to it.

Flower for the Day Slender Yellow Woodsorrel 5-12-21

I am really enjoying finding and identifying meadow miniatures in our field. About every two weeks I see a new crop of 

colored dots on the ground - get down on my knees and see flowers I have never seen before. Today it is slender

yellow woodsorrel  (Oxalis dilenii). It is a native perennial herb. The yellow flowers are typically borne in twos

with five rounded oblong petals. The sepals behind the flower are lance-elliptic, about 2/3 the length of the petals and covered with short hairs. Stalks are densely covered in very fine hairs pressed close to the stem. The leaves look very much like clover and shamrock. 

         Woodsorrel Haiku

    

     kneeling in the dark mud

I part the shoots of shamrock

    hidden sorrel blooms

Andree Reno Sanborn

Flower for the Day Dames Rocket 5-11-21

Dames rocket (Hesperis matronalis)  is in full bloom. It has numerous other names including damask-violet, dame's-violet, dames-wort, dame's gilliflower, night-scented gilliflower, queen's gilliflower, rogue's gilliflower, summer lilac, sweet rocket, mother-of-the-evening, and winter gilliflower. Whew!

For some time I confused dames rocket with phloxes. Dame's rocket has alternately arranged leaves and four petals per flower, while phloxes have opposite leaves and five petals. Phloxes bloom later in the year.

Some states including Colorado consider dames rocket as invasive. 

       "Hesperus"  by C.S. Lewis 

Through the starry hollow  Of the summer night  I would follow, follow  Hesperus the bright,  To seek beyond the western wave  His garden of delight.    Hesperus the fairest  Of all gods that are,  Peace and dreams thou bearest  In thy shadowy car,  And often in my evening walks  I've blessed thee from afar.    Stars without number,  Dust the noon of night,  Thou the early slumber  And the still delight  Of the gentle twilit hours  Rulest in thy right.    When the pale skies shiver,  Seeing night is done,  Past the ocean-river,  Lightly thou dost run,  To look for pleasant, sleepy lands,  That never fear the sun.    Where, beyond the waters  Of the outer sea,  Thy triple crown of daughters  That guards the golden tree  Sing out across the lonely tide  A welcome home to thee.    And while the old, old dragon  For joy lifts up his head,  They bring thee forth a flagon  Of nectar foaming red,  And underneath the drowsy trees  Of poppies strew thy bed.    Ah! that I could follow  In thy footsteps bright,  Through the starry hollow  Of the summer night,  Sloping down the western ways  To find my heart's delight!    Poem from Poem Hunter.com