Flower for the Day Oriental Lily 7-22-21

Just when I had given up on the oriental lilies this beauty showed up with multiple blooms.

They were in a difficult to access part of the gnome garden so I wonder if the deer have been munching the others.

Haiku of an Oriental Master

Petals I amass
with such tenderness
prick me to the quick.

―Kobayashi Issa, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Flower for the Day Hydrangea 7-20-21

In the green garden there are several hydrangea bushes. One produces white blossoms only.

Another has produced no more than one blossom for several years. This year it has produced multiple blossoms of many colors.

In most species the flowers are white but in some species, especially H. macrophylla can be blue, red, pink,

 light purple, or dark purple. In these species, floral color change occurs due to the presence of aluminum ions which are available or tied up depending upon the soil pH. For H. macrophylla  the flower color can be determined by the relative acidity of the soil: an acidic soil (pH below 7), will have available aluminum ions and typically produce flowers that are blue to purple, whereas an alkaline soil (pH above 7) will tie up aluminum ions and result in pink  flowers. This is caused by a color change of the flower pigments in the presence of aluminum ions which can be taken up into the plants. Lowering the pH of potting soils or mixes usually does not change the flower color to blue, because these soils have no aluminum ions. The ability to blue or pink a hydrangea is also influenced by the cultivar. Some plants are selected for their ability to be blued, while others are bred and selected to be red, pink or white. This does not explain why my hydrangea was able to produce app these colors. 

Hydrangea Influence

Hydrangea Influence Pull of gravity drawn on the senses, hydrangea scent 

Fragrance bliss, orgasmic burst, flowering forth 

Explains beauty one petal at a time in naked white 

Flavors come on nasal whiffs in flight 

Fragile buds nod to blossoms under the glacial moon 

 Delicately delicious invisible friends seen once again 

Spread up ahead on garden paths 

On wings of spring 

Past the river, nature at its best begins 

When growing wild in the woods 

Blossoms form, born perfect just in time 

 Birth of aroma, breath inhales, forgets to let it go 

 Love on the stem and leaves fill up imaginations 

Displayed on gray days, nature dances, pollen laughs 

Garden mesmerized, on its knees, satiated under breeze 

Earth submits, to the tease, seasons color strokes 

 Memory knows flowers from the dirt 

Moves the Earth to drink it in 

Discerning, blown open, flirting with the wind 

Without a voice without a sound on softer ground Spoken only on the breeze in leisure 

Tranquil undergrowth abounds 

 Honey layered, thick as lust 

Purer than a woman's womb 

Thrusting forth perfumes 

Hydrangeas fill the need of spring 

Shimmer under moon light in naked white 

Light up mid night for those who want to know 

 Aromas are not allowed to lie in flower beds 

They seek out noses on their own and spread 

Hydrangeas know exactly what to do 

 While filling up exhausted souls, exhaling truth 

Before the beauty, love comes first

 Earl Schumacker  2015

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Flower for the Day Cleome 7-17-21

We came upon cleome (Cleome brassleriana) in a nearby garden more than thirty years ago. We both fell for it and have had some in our front garden ever since. It is also known as spider plant,spider weed, and bee plant. DNA studies have moved the plant into the Brassicaceae family.

Cleome is useful in the botanical study of carbon fixation as it participates the evolutionary change from C-3 to C-4 carbon fixation in

photosynthesis. You will remember that photosynthesis includes conversion of light energy into chemical energy for plant metabolism.

Sorry - none of the cleome poems made the cut. My  aim is for a poem to stop you in your pursuit of life and add to its

magnificence.

Flower for the Day Red Hot Poker 7-15-21

This red hot poker (Kniphofia uvaria) is in the lily family (Liliaceae) and is also known as poker plant and torch lily. The plant starts out 

orange or red and gradually turns yellow. They have narrow grass like leaves and the plants produce spikes of upright, brightly bi-coloured flowers well above the foliage. The flowers produce copious nectar. 

The Cowladder Stanzas

Not from a weather direction

black cockatoos come crying over

as unflapping as Bleriot monoplanes

to crash in pine tops for the cones.

 

Young dogs, neighbours' dogs

across the creek, bark, chained

off the cows, choked off play, bark

untiring as a nightsick baby, yap

milking times to dark, plead

ute-dancing dope-eye dogs.

 

Red-hot pokers up and out

of their tussock. Kniphofia flowers

overlapping many scarlet jubes

form rockets on a stick.

Ignition's mimed by yellow petticoats.

 

Like all its kind

Python has a hare lip

through which it aims its tongue

at eye-bursting Hare…..

Les Murray

Flower for the Day Monarda 7-14-21

Monarda is a native wild flower in the mint family and is endemic to North America. Common names include bee balm, bergamot and oswego tea. The genus was named by Spanish botanist Nicolas Monarde in his 1574 book describing plants of the New World. Here are some early flowers.

The flowers are tubular and bilaterally symmetric, with a narrow upper lip and a wider lower lip. The wild flowers are single. They are hermaphroditic, with male and female structures in each flower. 

Kiss of a Tulip

kiss of a tulip

lavender and bee balm too 

garden winked her song

Carol Krutsinger, 2020

Don's Blog Purpose 7-13-21

When I retired some years ago I stopped doing appointments (and some responsibilities). It drove my wife nuts. I learned very soon that
rearranging the house would not be a good idea. This 'freedom' didn't last very long, so I wrote down what my purpose in life was.
I recently found the note:
Purpose
To lead a loving, joyful, and productive life, dwelling in the present moment
and empowering others to achieve their dreams.

After 'lo' these many years I would like to report there is great if transitory satisfaction when
I follow my purpose - when I don't - not so much.

Don

Flower for the Day Tiger Lily 7-13-21

Although my oriental lilies did not show up this year we had a huge stand of tiger lilies. Jan got these lilies when we

first moved back from Anchorage in 1970. They have moved to many places in the garden and they thrive if I can successfully keep the deer from eating the young pods before they sprout.

It is currently known as Lilium lancifolium but more commonly has been Lilium tigrinum. Its orange blossoms with black spots make it my favorite lily.

If you get that dark brown pollen on your clothes it is permanent.

In Japanese the name for tiger lily is "down facing lotus". Because of this the tiger lily is not easy for me to photograph.

Flower for the Day Oriental Lily 7-12-21

Most of my oriental lilys just plain disappeared this year. I only had one or two.

This white beauty was spectacular but wondered where all its family went.

We'll plant more next year.

"Fresh tears stood on her cheeks as does the honeydew upon a gathered Lily almost withered." ~William Shakespeare, "Titus Andronicus," Act III, scene 1 (1594)

Flower for the Day Showy Milkweed 7-11-21

Showy milkweed (Asclepias speciosa) is a tall plant with large green leaves.

Showy milkweed is specific to monarch Butterflies as a source of nectar for the adult butterflies and providing food for the caterpillars which

grow on the underside of the leaves. The  flowers occur in dense umbellate cymes. Their corollas are reflexed and the central flower parts, five hoods with prominent hooks, form a star shape. The flowers on my plants do not last very long.

Milkweed And Monarch

As he knelt by the grave of his mother and father

the taste of dill, or tarragon-
he could barely tell one from the other-

filled his mouth. It seemed as if he might smother.
Why should he be stricken
with grief, not for his mother and father,

but a woman slinking from the fur of a sea-otter
In Portland, Maine, or, yes, Portland, Oregon-

he could barely tell one from the other-

and why should he now savour
the tang of her, her little pickled gherkin,
as he knelt by the grave of his mother and father?

*

He looked about. He remembered her palaver
on how both earth and sky would darken-

'You could barely tell one from the other'-

while the Monarch butterflies passed over
in their milkweed-hunger: 'A wing-beat, some reckon,
may trigger off the mother and father

of all storms, striking your Irish Cliffs of Moher
with the force of a hurricane.'
Then: 'Milkweed and Monarch 'invented' each other.'

*

He looked about. Cow's-parsley in a samovar.
He'd mistaken his mother's name, 'Regan, ' for Anger';
as he knelt by the grave of his mother and father
he could barely tell one from the other.

Paul Muldoon

Friday, October 14, 2005                  

Flower for the Day New Daylily 7-9-21

This new daylily appeared in a section of the garden where the daylilies were either deep red or orange. I am assuming it is a crossbreed

of those. It is the only one of its kind. That is my non scientific opinion based on a series of one.

I like the new color a lot.

Flower for the Day Field Coreopsis 7-7-21

Field coreopsis (Coreopsis tinctoria) is a favorite because of the depth of its colors. It is also called plains coreopsis, golden tickseed, and calliopsis. It is endemic to canada, the US, and northern Mexico.

It is delicate and striking.

Plains Coreopsis Poem

Wonderment

Sitting on the window
sill new flowers
ones I'd never seen

Yellow petals flowering
out from within dark
maroon hearts invisibly beating

I stare at the starbursts
in the flowerbox wondering
how they arrived on my sill

Stray seeds perhaps flying
over the Great Plains
winds helping them along

Until gravity finally brought
them down to earth
like fallen stars to rest

Precisely in my window
box sleeping quietly
waiting for the right moment

To open greet me
Invite me over
For a cup of sweetness

Laure Pena

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Flower for the Day Horsemint 7-6-21

I'll try again.

Well its back to my garden regulars. Horsemint (Monarda punctata), also called spotted beebalm, is a wild mint  that showed up in my front garden several years ago. Its getting very close to invasive but is very easy to pull out. It is a monarda that draws in the bees and butterflies.

Unlike the most familiar Monarda species that have a single flower head on a stem, Monarda punctata has flowers that are stacked up the stem with bracts radiating from the stem, under each flower. Varying in color from light pink to white, the bracts are ornamental longer than the flowers, whereas the flowers spots are visible only at close range. Until I read about it I didn't even see the spots.

Anoint Me

Serenade me with the

stutter of Jake brakes on coal trucks

traveling down mountains.

Anoint me with the pickled tang

that hangs heavy

around the red bubby bush.

Lay me down in horsemint

and hemlock shadows,

shallow valleys, hallowed hills.

Let us love beneath the gaze

of mourning doves and silly larks,

in crow-specked, deer flectedfileds of green.

Let me forget these towns

stitched tight with thick black thread

and dread for madmen in mines.

Neva Bryan

 

Flower for the Day Horsemint 7-6-21

Well its back to my garden regulars. Horsemint (Monarda punctata), also called spotted beebalm, is a wild mint  that showed up in my front garden several years ago. Its getting very close to invasive but is very easy to pull out. It is a monarda that draws in the bees and butterflies.

Unlike the most familiar Monarda species that have a single flower head on a stem, Monarda punctata has flowers that are stacked up the stem with bracts radiating from the stem, under each flower. Varying in color from light pink to white, the bracts are ornamental longer than the flowers, whereas the flowers spots are visible only at close range. Until I read about it I didn't even see the spots.

Don's Blog And the Rains Came

We are at the lake for the 4th and it has been raining for more than a week. This morning

Lake Aspen has what is  called  "The Overflow".  The beach and the seawall have disappeared.

The sea wall is way under water.

If you want to come for a picnic today you will need to take your shoes off.

The good news is that the lake recedes quickly.