Flower for the Day Henbit 4-8-24

For years I have been pulling out an early spring weed called Henbit (Lamium amplexicaule).

Here are some closeup images of the flowers. To my surprise the blooms

of this plant are spectacular and exquisite.

With the cold weather don't you just want to crawl in and close the hairy lid.

Interestingly it is also called Fairy Horn. If you put 4 or 5 stalks to your lips and blow

it produces a whistle sound. After that you can actually eat it. You can make tea from it or put it in a salad.

It reportedly contains iron and Vitamins A, K, and C.

Weed or wildflower - I don't know. 

 
 

Flower for the Day 4-5-24 Grape Hyacinth

The grape hyacinth (Muscari) are blooming amidst the chaotic weather.

The inflorescence is composed of little urn shaped flowers with white edges.

 Covertly

If, 

I was not afraid of, 

the thing, but the signature

strike of a copycat

in the art of dismantling. 

You, 

try to pull down brick

by brick, the

jeopardy. A dead premises

 becoming alive.

How,

will you,numb with pain,

explain the poetry of victim's trail,

becoming a Buddha ? 

Can you find a bo tree for me ?

 

The,

 

grape hyacinth, I still

carry your globular blue

eyes, chasing my

 

kisses. Why in the evening ? 

          Satish Verma, 2017

Flower for the Day Virginia Bluebells 3-3-24

On the edge of the woods is a small stand of perennial Virginia bluebells. (Mertensia virginica). They

bloom early. They are subtle and I smile as I see them each year as if it were the first time ever.

The colors are pleasing,

and it is fun seeing them in early stages.

               early dawn rises 

          bluebells elegantly chime

            breeze awakes petals

             Poetic  T

Flower for the Day Lily for Easter 3-31-24

Sorry. I noticed that this was to be sent out yesterday.

Here is a Lily for Easter. It is not an Easter Lily but rather a white striped Amaryllis.

It so beautiful who cares? Have a great Easter.

In the Springtime

Hand in hand, we fluttered like two butterflies

among the fragrant flowers of the field and meandered,

 singing songs, along a stream. 

No agendas to keep to; no schedules to curtail the pure pleasure 

that we took in consuming every lovely hour of our Saturday. 

With our picnic lunch, we sat down on a blanket. 

Later we lay looking up at clouds. 

Transported to the wonderland of our imagination, 

we named them fluffy mountain ranges, bunnies, sheep, 

and Easter lily petals until they morphed into lopsided bearded faces, 

huge white polar bears and cotton-breathing dragons. 

Unexpectedly, the clouds grew dark, and suddenly, 

we saw and felt large raindrops splatter on our skin. 

We fled our happy field, arriving home - two children, 

wet and laughing, just as the spring shower let up. 

How were we to know in the springtime of our lives 

that the field and the rain from which we fled 

I'd one day write about as metaphors for youth.

Andrea Dietrich,2013

Flower for the Day Pansy Viola 4-1-24

The pansy viola comes in various colors. It is a true miniature.

Imagine my entire meadow filled with these beauties.

……..

the cautious breath of a friend,

presumably, also up,

in the dark of his house,

who alike hears your thoughts,

wondering; that is a true meeting in eternity.

Not this petty worry

about days, months, proximities

to warmth. There are always fires

on earth, that burn immortally.

John Wieners

Flower for the Day Good Friday 3-29-24

One of the advantages of looking carefully where you walk these days is that you get to enjoy 

the miniatures that are rising up today on Good Friday. My favorite is Tiny Bluet (Houstonis pusilla).

No frills beauty in simplicity.

         The Bluet

Of all the flowers, the bluet has
the sweetest name, two syllables
that form on the lips, then fall
with a tiny, raindrop splash
into a suddenly bluer morning.

I offer you mornings like that,
fragrant with tiny blue blossoms -
each with four petals, each with a star
at its heart. I would give you whole fields
of wild perfume if only

you could be mine, if you were not -
like the foolish bluet (also called
Innocence) - always holding your face
to the fickle, careless, fly-by-kiss
of the Clouded Sulphur Butterfly. 

Ted Kooser

Flower for the Day Redbud 3-27-24

I'm back 'from assignment, as they say in the business. March actually has done it backward coming in like a lamb and  going out like a lion. This is a great time rebirth. I love it when small red-purple buds arise from the limbs of the redbud tree. It reminds me of all those spring breaks in Florida where these buds produced enchanting color on the way home to St. Louis.

             Ode to a Redbud
        by Margaret Dornaus

   it is a serious thing // just to be alive / 

  on this fresh morning / in this broken world.

            —Mary Oliver, "Invitation"

Redbud, such a simple name for such
a complicated tree. You, with blooms so red
they're purple, fostering a crooked understory
at the edge of my forest garden. You,
doing your best all your brief life to disguise
the gnarled knot of your trunk, your brittle,
hard-knock scars with leaves that pass for teardrops
or hearts—depending on perspective, depending
on the season. You, growing without fanfare before
bursting in on early spring, an awkward adolescent, once
reviled; now kowtowed to by the sudden delicate
droop of a dogwood's subservient white petals.
O, tree of my youth, have you come to tempt me
into yesterday's fairytale of possibilities?
To sweep me off unsteady feet, take me for a ramble
in your branching arms, hold me close, heartwood
to heartwood, showering me with a hundred fascicles
of passion until I cry out, turn toward your light and beg
for mercy and the fire to believe in happily-ever-after
beginnings, if not endings today? This day, your day,
my day. This day of sweet imperfect beauty
in this broken world.

Flower for the Day Hyacinth 3-8-24

The hyacinth bulbs popped the other day. They are amazing but enjoy them while you can. They are 

short lived and disappear in a blink.

Hyacinths come in many colors.

I love the purple the best.

In Greek Mythology Hyacinthus was a Spartan prince of remarkable beauty and a lover of the sun god Apollo. Hyacinthus visited all of Apollo's sacred lands with the god in a chariot drawn by swans. So fiercely was Apollo in love with Hyacinthus that he abandoned his sanctuary in Delphi to enjoy Hyacinthus' company by the river Eurotas. He taught Hyacinthus the use of the bow and the lyre, and the art of prophecy. 

One day, Apollo was teaching him the game of quoits. They decided to have a friendly competition by taking turns to throw the discus. Apollo threw first, with a strength so great that the discus split the clouds in the sky. Eager to retrieve the discus, Hyacinthus ran behind it to catch it. But as it hit the ground, the discus bounced back, hitting Hyacinthus' head and wounding him fatally. Apollo's face turned pale as he held his dying lover in his arms.^[15] He used all sorts of herbs and even tried giving ambrosia to heal Hyacinthus' wound, but it was futile, for he could not cure the wound inflicted by the Fates.  Apollo wept for Hyacinthus  and promised that he would always remind himself of Hyacinthus through his songs and the music of his lyre. He created a flower from Hyacinth's spilled blood, the hyacinth, and inscribed on its petals the words of lamentation, "AI AI" – "alas".

Don's Blog Continued Art Presentation 3-4-24

The Art of Jan Sessions

Untitled. Collage with acrylic in canvas.

The artist continues to go beyond the edge of the canvass.

Flower for the Day February Treasures 2-28-24

There has definitely been strange weather lately. Yesterday's 84 degree sunny day morphed overnight into

todays 28 degree sunny day. The flowers are confused. Here is what was up yesterday.

More crocuses.

and some surprise miniature iris coming up in the phlox bed.

And finally many new bouquets of daffodils.

I have to go find my winter coat.