Showy Milk Weed 7-31-23

Showy milk weed (Asclepias speciosa) is a milky-sapped perennial plant in the dogbane family. The striking flowers occur in dense umbells. Their corollas are reflexed and the central flower parts, five hoods with prominent hooks, form a star shape.

Monarch butterflies lay eggs that form caterpillars on the back of its leaves.These caterpillars are monophagic - they eat only the leaves of showy milk weed. We have seen very few monarchs this year so far.

Creeping Thyme 7-28-23

One of the wonders of a garden is not just looking at it from afar but rather actually walking through it. In some of our gardens this is enhanced by a living garden infrastructure. One of my favorite ‘steppable’ plants is creeping thyme (Thymus serpyllum). It grows well around the stepping stones.

Creeping thyme is a flowering subshrub in the mint family. The oval evergreen leaves are 3-8mm long. The scented pink-purple flowers are 4-6 mm long. It is a hardy plant that tolerates pedestrian traffic. It forms manlike plant that too from the nodes of squarish stems.

The leaves are in opposite pairs, nearly stalkless, with linear elliptic round-tipped blades and untoothed margins. The plant sends up erect flowering shoots in summer. The flowers have a tube-like calyx and an irregular straight-tubed, hairy corolla. The upper petal is notched and the lower one is larger than the two lateral petals and has three flattened lobes which form a lip. Each flower has four projecting stamens and two fused carpels.

Spiderwort 7-24-23

Despite its name Spider wort (Tradescantia Virginiana) is a beautiful sensitive bloom.

It comes in several colors.

It is a herbaceous clump-forming perennial in the dayflower family. The plants spread by underground stolons forming clumps and grow 2-3 feet tall by 1 foot wide. It can be found in moist prairies, fertile woodlands, open woods, meadows, hillsides, stony bluffs, and stream banks. Holding Court with Spiderwort The three petaled purple flowers with tiny gold tipped sepals ascending from their centers leaves him feeling as if he stands before a host of kings and queens, scepters in hand waiting for him to bow. Acknowledging as much he kneels before the assembly to winnow weeds from between their long straw-like stems, providing room so they may prosper. Therein he pays homage to the spiderwort. A wildflower worthy of adoration. He first gave deference while shortcutting down a tree farm road; rushing to make a job-related meeting. He saw purple crowns rising above dust created by the swirl of tires. Morning sun highlighting them over the cloud. He looked at the clock, paused, stopped. Approaching with the only tool he had, a tire iron, he came to their side and knelt in the dirt prying a dozen or so loose as he thrust the iron beneath their roots. Not knowing if he was stealing; he left. He received no understanding, when he arrived late to the meeting with dirty hands and dusty knees. Still, he took the wet paper towels used to clean himself and wrapped them around the roots of his prize. The job he kept waiting is gone now. He never much liked it but was good at it. Good enough that he could risk irritation from those who would never appreciate that being late was worth companionship of the purple flowers that now thrive in a shady corner at the front of his house. Kenny Charnell July 18, 2023 © Jul 16, Kenny Charnell

Peony 7-19-23

Since early May I have taken almost no images of my flowers. I will show a few that were taken. The weather was really great for peonies this year.

A really healthy plant.

Don's Blog Breakfast in the Meadow 7-13-23

Well, you may have noticed that I disappeared in May. I had some octogenarian issues but am

on the mend. We have had some extraordinary flowers in the mean time. And my local white tail

deer herd has been eating them as they bloom. 

Here is the view from our deck from this morning.

Its hard to stay mad at our family.