a gentle reminder 7-16-24

Great aerial map.

Here is a new aerial map showing our house in the very center with the tan half moon in the back yard

with the three field circles to the left.

Flower for the Day Final Oriental Lily - Stargazer 7-15-24

These stands of  Stargazer lilies (Lilium orientalis) were the last lilies to bloom and all at once.

They are spectacular.

Up close even more so.

They lend themselves to cut flower arrangements.

         The flowers beauty breathtaking  

         A star of pink fire 

         Now forever a lasting memory in my heart 

        The gorgeous stargazer lily

           Talin Ainissesthai

Flower for the Day Blackberry Lily 7-12-24

This blackberry lily (Iris domestica) is in th iris family. It was formerly named Belamcanda chinensis. 

It is also called leopard lily. The red spotted orange flowers of summer are followed by striking seed heads

that resemble blackberries. 

      Red spots on orange

      Reaching to the sky

      A pleasure to the eye

Don's Blog Always be alert 7-12-24

There is always wonder on the trail of life. This

could have been a precursor to my recent turtle blog.

So it goes.

Flower for the Day Cleome 7-10-24

Cleome (Cleome spinosa) is a flowering plant in family Cleomaceae. It is also known as spider flower or bee plant.

Cleome is a garden plant that can reach 6 feet tall. It is an annual that re-seeds easily.  It grows all summer long.

Large clusters of flowers bloom from bottom to top with attractive flowers with 3 inch long stamens giving them the name spider flower. 

CLEOME

---

         for Curt Hoffman(1945-1998)
 

So thick on the ground they look like weeds,
Cleome come up, it seems from every
Seed they sow.  Winter doesn't daunt them,
So in spring they're a small carpet spread
Between the daffodils, a soft, mild green.
Soon it's textured; some (part of some design)
Rising above the rest, so saving their lives.
Their stems grow thick as toothpicks, skewers,
Pencils, dowels over the long season.
Downy stem hairs coarsen, pricking careless hands.

All this noticing came after I'd planted
Them myself.  Before, they were only tall, feathery
Flowers in Curt's garden÷pink, shades of pink
From hot to pale to blush; elegant
Lacy globes of bloom, some a handspan full,
Small parachutes that kept opening upward,
Flowers for dreaming in, for cradling
The intricate airs, the light of the world,
And for starlight.              He taught me
The name÷clee-OH-may÷rounding the sound with
A kissing mouth, planting them
Part of the passionate universe.

Not a man's flower, you'd think, not phlox
Or hosta, or pungent marigold.
But Curt could surprise you that way.  Spiky
And strong-stemmed, he could bloom in a minute
With tenderness, hold out a delicate
Hand, invite you to dream.  Soft as petals,
His eyes would widen at the spaces his
Imagination held, the light cradled there.

My cleome came up on their own this year,
Some mixed in with the four-o-clocks,
Three in the sidewalk cracks.  One's pink, but I
Remember planting only white last year.
Likely that's accident, just seedy persistence,
Some way, through several seasons.  Or I'm just
Forgetful.
                        But maybe it's a gift
From that same passionate universe where my friend
Lives now, still teaching and naming and
Growing, at home in the surprising light.
 
   Kathleen Mullen

Flower for the Day Tiger Lily 7-8-24

This is the year of the lily. We have had tiger lillies (Lilium lancifolium) for over 40 years. This year they explode around our mailbox.

Like other true lilies the flowers are born on upright stems that are over 5 feet tall.

Tiger lilies produce bulbils in the leaf axils which produce new plants that are clones of the original plant.

    Tiger Lilies

crowd and curl,

make jolly orange faces,

defy July in the packed

corner of soil I allow them.

They never notice

I do nothing in return.

     Carol Hamilton

Flower for the Day Plains Coreopsis 7-5-24

This plains coreopsis (Coreopsis tinctorial) is in a field circle. The colors are striking because the 

there is such distinct separation.

           plains coreopsis 

   with garnet dipped center

      growing towards the sun

        Jennifer Hetrrick

Flower for the Day Red Hot Poker for the 4TH 7-3-24

I have had red hot poker plants (Kniphofia) for years in many areas of my gardens. Now they are on the edge of the meadow. They are in a genus of perennial flowering plants in the family Asphodelaceae, first described in 1794. Common names also include tritons and torch lily. The flowers provide copious nectar.

 

Happy Fourth of July -as you enjoy the fireworks you

can muse on the Red Hot Poker

Flower for the Day Day Lily III 7-1-24

The day lilies have continued to produce some beauties. 

These orange day lilies are like the group we see along the highways.

The deer have made a bed in the middle of a large patch of day lilies where I can

see their body shape indentation. Unfortunately I am asleep at that time 

of night so I cannot roust them.

These yellow day lilies were two years old when we purchased our house in 1976.

There are five stands of them and they are going strong at age 48. You can see they have that old school look.

            The Day Lily

 The magnificent perianths
Of the Day Lilies with their six
Spreading bright orange arms (funnel-formed)
Fixed in their clustered colonies
Absent of any luring scent
Still attracts the bees
And the poets aesthetic eyes.
Oblique, penetrating sunrays
Shine through the high canopied trees
Directly onto their blossoms
Seemingly glowing like embers
In a campers dying campfire;
And not unlike the fire, remain
Briefly beautiful and then die.

Albert Ahearn