Monkey Flower
Fear is the fruit of attachment,
blame is the fruit of ignorance,
guilt is the fruit of righteousness.
It's fine to nurture
what you think is
"right,
but know that
thinking bears the fruit
of the distorted mind.
It is fine to perpetuate
the seeds of thought,
but consider
where your seeds
are coming from
and what they become
once you harvest them.
How beautifully ugly
your blossoms can be.
Look not in judgement,
but appreciation.
I didn't plant the butterfly bush. It grew there of its own accord,
in between the apple tree and the perennial sweet peas,
an uninvited party guest spiraling skywards like an exploded party popper.
It crowded out the garden path entirely, but I had not the heart
to cut it back – I enjoyed its honey fragrance too much,
the daily cohort of butterflies which arrived to sun themselves
on purple flowering cones; sometimes five, six, even a dozen
soft-winged creatures moving meticulously across the blooms,
nectar-drunk, dipping long tongues into each sweet-scented flower
in search of ambrosia. I could stand a palm's width away
without startling them, noticing for the first time how exquisite
their wings are when seen from underneath, how they give way to hornets
but hold their own among the bees, the way they disperse
into a flurry of petals around my head if I walk past too fast.
Now the flowers are fading, but every time I pass underneath
the butterfly bush I am reminded to move slowly, to show hospitality.
Wild and beautiful things take root in unexpected places if you let them,
and if you walk by too fast, you might scare away the butterflies.
Caroline Mellor
Yesterday They returned my golf cart after changing it to a lithium battery for power.We added a safety bar in the back.The lithium battery will take much less care and attention.It supposedly has an 8 year warranty.
Well its not a bumper crop this year but its what showed up in our Zucchinigarden this year.
Many years ago a friend gave us a small flowering tree. It is the Rose of Sharon(Hypricum calycinum) also known as Aaron' Beard, Great or Creeping St. John's Wort and Jerusalem Star. Ours was a mixture of three different plants with three different flowers.I cut it back each fall and these gorgeous flowers keep on coming.The Rose of Sharon
I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys. As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters. As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste. He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love. Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples: for I am sick of love. His left hand is under my head, and his right hand doth embrace me. I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and by the hinds of the field... that ye stir not up, nor awake my love... till he please. Soloman
Amie Whittemore
The generic name Lythrum is derived from the Greek 'lythron', meaning blood, in reference to the flower colour in some species. However, Pliny (A.D. 23–79) stated that Lythrum is named for Lysimachus, an army general and friend of Alexander the Great. Lysimachus is derived from the Greek lysis, meaning "loosing" and mache, meaning "strife".
Salicaria derives from the similarity of the leaves to those of willows or Salix species.
The English word loosestrife first appeared in written form in the 16th century. It was coined by English naturalist William Turnerin his 1548 work A New Herball, in which he states: "[The plant] may in englishe be called red loosestryfe or purple loosestryfe."[6]
Purple loosestrife was referred to several times as 'long purples' by John clare, such as in his 1821 poem The Wildflower Nosegay:[7]
"Where on the water op'd the lily buds
And fine long purples shadow'd in the lake..."
— Volume II of The Village Minstrel and Other Poems, John Clare.
