Flower for the Day Phlox 4-17-25

My first introduction to phlox (Phlox sublet) was at Stulicks on Ogden Avenue near my home in La Grange, Illinois where I grew up. Mr. Stulick was a wonderful friendly old Eastern European man who spoke 'broken English. In his store he had a beautiful rock garden with cascading phlox. Stulicks was also the source of our turtles and gold fish - a wondrous place. 

My phlox are a poor substitution but they do flow over time worn rocks. It is also called creeping phlox, moss pink and mountain phlox. As a native it thrives during the growing season and winters well.

Phlox is from the Greek word for flame. According to legend, Odysseus and the sailors, descending into the underworld of Hades, held flickering torches in their hands, which illuminated their path. When they got out of the dungeon, they threw the torches on the ground. They sprouted and turned into phlox flowers in memory of the brave Odysseus.

These blooms have lasted more than a month.

Their beauty increases exponentially when you  see them up close.

Influx
it is the nature
of the phlox to spread throughout
any flowerbed
those who bemoan humanity
act like only humans takeover

 Symmantha Renn

Don's Blog The Wonders of the Heartland II 4-16-25

On my meanderings to the clearwater stream in Warren County the other day

I noticed an interesting phenomenon. I was looking for early wildflowers but initially did not see any.

The trail was at the edge of meadow and woodland. I bent over and wildflowers previously unseen appeared in abundance. From few to many, were these magical miniatures. When a new one was seen it was surrounded by many.

Here are some that seemingly came from nowhere until I looked closely.

Wild blue phlox (Phlox divarica)

Spring beauty (Claytonia divarica) 

Common blue violet (Viola sororia) -the meadow was filled with violets.

Ground ivy or Creeping charlie (Glechoma hederaceae)

Southern chervil (Chaerophyllum tainturei)

One of my blog participants (Doug) turns yesterdays blog descriptions into 

almost a poem.

Spring Stream

Clear water, the staff of life. 

See the magenta ghost before your eyes.

Hear the murmur of the flow that

Accompanies your solitude.

Sense the unity 

that cancels thought

and the need for doing.

There is no you here.

Being is more than enough.

Don and Doug

Flower for the Day Mayapple 4-14-25

This eponymous apple arrived a month early. The mayapples (Podophyllum peltatum) are out in abundance.

They are also called American or wild mandrake and ground lemon. They are woodland plants, typically growing in colonies derived from a single root. The stems have palmately lobed umbrella-like leaves with deeply cut lobes. 

The flowers appear later and in order to see them you have to lift their skirt. I'll be lifting.

          Mayapple Flower

Beneath the twin umbrella leaves that fold

with gentle curvature like praying hands,
hides a single flower, white and gold,
like shreds of linen in Egyptian sands -
a mystery - the prelude to a treasure.
Approach its beauty like a priest in the night -
a priest who serves the doleful goddess Pleasure -
and kneel to see the blooming gold and white,
a living jewel fed by the ancient root,
and shrouded by the two dark-spreading veils.
In time, the flower will become a fruit.
But it is dark, and you'll  forget these trails
(although you whisper now that you will not).
The blissful gem will ripen, fall, and rot.

  alatos

Flower for the Day Tulip 4-11-25

I  do not major in tulips (Tulipa) but do put them in each year. Tulips are in the lily family.Their flowers are usually large, showy, and brightly colored. They often have a different colored blotch at the base of the tepals internally. The flowers are usually actinomorphic (radially symmetric) and hermaphroditic (contain both male  and female characteristics) and are arranged usually as a single terminal bloom. Here is an early tulip from earlier this month.

The changes on the leaf tips are from my always hungry white tail deers munching. The bloom is an outstanding 

as a cut flower. This one has lasted for over  ten days.

My experience is that the current bulbs do not last more than a year requiring  

newly planted bulbs yearly.

When in the winter nights snowstorms

tear at the cabin and one morning the

landscape is hushed in its blanket of

snow  .  .  .  .

                    Thinkings saying would be stilled in

                      its being only by becoming unable

                     to say that which must remain 

                     unspoken.

                    Such inability would bring thinking

                      face to face with its matter.

                    What is spoken is never, and in no 

                      language, what is said.

                    That a thinking is, ever and suddenly—

                       whose amazement could fathom it?

       

       Martin Heidegger

This is the last excerpt from Heidegger's poem, "The Thinker as Poet".

The second to last verse is my all time favorite.

Flower for the Day Redbud 4-10-25

Each year at this time a miracle occurs. Redbud (Cercis canadensis) blossoms appear on the branches 

of the tree transforming it into a lacy magenta wonder. These flowers are showy, light  magenta pink in color, appearing in clusters on bare stems before the leaves, sometimes on the trunk itself. The entire heartland lights up. We all know that the dogwood blossoms will arrive momentarily.

 

When the mountain brook in night's

stillness tells of its plunging 

over boulders  .  .  .  .

          

                The oldest of the old follows behind

                    us in our thinking and yet it

                    comes to meet us.

                That is why thinking's holds to the 

                    coming of what has been, and

                    is remembrance.

                To be old means: to stop in time at

                    that place where the unique 

                    thought of a thought train has

                    swung into its joint.

    Martin Heidegger

Don's Blog 'The Quandary of New Technology' 4-9-25

Here is my Missouri Medicine  editorial from November of 1991.

Flower for the Day Muscari 4-7-25

We have had grape hyacinths (Muscari neglectum) for more than thirty years. These bulbous perennials produce spikes of dense blue urn-shaped flowers resembling bunches of grapes. Muscari refers to the plant's scent.

I love the white edge of the urn.

 When on a summers day the butterfly

   settles on the flower and, wings

   closed, sways with it in the 

   meadow breeze  .  .  .  .

                            All our heart's courage is the

                               echoing response to the 

                               first call of Being which

                               gathers our thinking into the 

                               play of the world.

                           In thinking all things

                               become solitary and slow.

                           Patience nurtures magnanimity.

                           He who thinks greatly must

                               err greatly.

 

Martin Heidegger

Flower for the Day Spring Beauty 3-4-25

Spring is officially here with the appearance of Spring Beauty (Claytonia virginica). It is a native wildflower and has multiple names: Virginia spring beauty, fairy spud, good morning spring, and grass-flower. The vitamin-rich leaves can be eaten raw or cooked, and the tubers can be prepared like potatoes. The tubers are really small so don't plan on a big meal.

 

In early spring, dense racemes of star-shaped, pink-tinged white flowers appear and last for about a month.

They grow on the edge of the woods.

   When in early summer lonely narcissi

    bloom hidden in the meadow and the

    rock-rose gleams under the maple  .  .  .  .

         The splendor of the simple.

         Only image formed keeps the vision.

         Yet image formed rests in the poem.

         How could cheerfulness stream

           through us if we wanted to shun

           sadness?

        Pain gives us its healing power

           where we least expect it.

   

    Martin Heidegger

              

Flower for the Day Lesser Celandine 4-3-25

This lesser celandine (Ficaria verna) is a new wildflower in my creek bed. It has been there for about two years now. It has many other names: fig buttercup, Figwort, marsh pilewort, and fig crowfoot. It is in the buttercup family (Ranunculaceae). It is a low growing hairless perennial which is a harbinger of spring.

The flowers have bright glossy yellow petals. It is toxic so don't eat it.

When the little windwheel outside

the cabin window sings the

gathering thunderstorm  .  .  .  .

                  When thought's courage stems from

                  the bidding of Being, then

                  destiny's language thrives.

                  As soon as we have the thing before     

                  our eyes, and in our hearts and ears

                  for the world, thinking prospers.

 

Martin Heidegger

              

Don's Blog Waking Up 4-2-25

Begin forwarded message:

From: Don Sessions <donsessions@aol.com>

Subject: Don's Blog Waking Up 4-2-25

Date: April 2, 2025 at 10:04:45 AM CDT

Here is my Missouri Medicine  editorial from October of 1991.