Flower for the Day Peony 5-6-25

This is my favorite peony of all time. Growing up it lived right outside my bedroom.

It is the richest red color ever and the cup is filled with gold.

                           Peonies

Grandma called them pineys, and I don't know why.

They smelled so good , the full lush petals crowded thick,

the whole flower heavy on its stem,

the leaves dark and rich as Chautauqua Woods

where each spring i hunted for violets.

What could there be to pine for on this earth?

Now I think maybe it was Missouri she missed,

and maybe that was what somebody she knew called peonies there,

before she travelled to Ohio, a sixteen year old bride

whose children came on as fast as field crops and housework.

Her flowers saved her, the way they came up year after year

and with only bit of care, lived gender and pretty, 

each kind surprising, keeping its own sweet secret:

lily of the valley, iris, the feathery leaved cosmos,

lilacs in their white and purple curls, flamboyant sweet peas 

and zinnias, bright four o'clocks and delphinium,

blue as her eyes, and soft peony flowers edged deep pink.

In her next lifetime I want my grandmother to walk slowly

through the gardens of England and Kyoto.

I want to be here when she recognizes the flowers and smiles,

when she kneels and takes the pineys in her hands.

Jeanne Lohmann

Flower for the Day May showers 5-5-25

Late March and May showers have continued an amazing production of flowers in the heartland.

Here are some favorites that have bloomed in the last 10 days.

Spanish hyacinth (Hyacinthoides hispanica)  is distinguished from the common bluebell by its paler and larger blue flowers, which are less pendulous and not all drooping to one side like the common bluebell, plus a more erect flower stem, broader leaves, and little or no scent.

More iris

 Dames rocket (Hesperis matronalis) is an herbaceous flowering plant species in the family Brassicaceae. It has numerous common names, including  damask-violet, dame's-violet, dames-wort, dame's gilliflower, night-scented gilliflower, queen's gilliflower, rogue's gilliflower, sweet rocket, and mother-of-the-evening. It is prolific in several places in the gardens.

   Dames Rocket

Rising straight as canes

around the older farms, the hairy leaves

little arms, the seed for jays,

the fragrance a marriage

of lilac and rose.

They say it came with the early whites

before escaping,

as ornaments may,

the farmyards and gardens

for what's left of the prairie,

congregating sometimes in ditches,

or among century hedgerows,

outliving towns

called Empire and Cicero.

James Nathan

Flower for the Day Lily of the Valley 4-29-25

I have had Lily of the Valley (Convallaria majalis) all my life. At home we had a small patch right outside the dining room window and watched it grow all year long. It is a woodland flowering plant with sweetly scented, pendent, bell-shaped white flowers borne in sprays in spring. It is native to North America.

These perennials form extensive colonies by spreading underground  rhizomes. New upright shoots are formed at the ends of stolons in summer. The flowering stems have two leaves and a raceme of five to fifteen flowers on the stem apex.

The flowers have six white tepals, fused at the base to form a bell shape, which is  sweetly scented.

After the rain the drops form exquisitely on the leaves.

                   Spring blossom budding,

                   A lily of The Valley,

                   Pale beauty aglow.

                    ELaM  

Flower for the Day Celandine Poppy 4-29-25

The celandine poppy (Styloforun diphyllum) is a native plant with bright yellow flowers. Celandine is the common name for three species of flowers. Earlier this month we showed the Lesser celandine (Ficaria verna) in the buttercup family.

Second is our celandine poppy which is in the poppy family. I do not have the third, Greater celandine (Cheilidonium majus) which is also in the poppy family.  

Our celandine poppy is not in the poppy family. Also called the wood poppy, I have had it for many years. It taught me an important lesson. I planted it in several spots where it did not do well. But finally I put it on a hill by some stairs and it is thriving. If you put plants (and maybe people) in the right spot under favorable conditions they will be fruitful and multiply. 

The leaves are pinnately cut and lobed. They grow from the base of the plant, and in a pair at the top of the flowering stems. Apart from its normal sap, it produces a yellow orange latex which has been used as a dye.

The flowers have 4 yellow petals, two soon falling sepals, many yellow orange stamens, and a single knobby stigma.. 

Tucked on a hillside

A smile of Spring

Waving a yellow celandine smile.

From James A. George

Flower for the Day Mayapple Bloom 4-28-25

I have been looking under their skirts and the mayapples have bloomed. 

This year I have multiple blooms.

Flower for the Day Mayapple Bloom 4-28-25

I have been looking under their skirts and the mayapples have bloomed. 

This year I have multiple blooms.

Flower for the Day Iris I 4-25-25

Excitingly we have our first bearded iris (Iris x germanica). There are many iris of many colors that will start blooming in earnest next week. I hope you do not feel inundated with the many flower blogs recently. Historically I started the blog in 2008 to show my flowers as they bloomed using a new camera. So the many posts mirror what is happening in the gardens and meadows and woodlands.

It was first published and described as Iris germanica by Carl Linnaeus in his book  'Species Plantarum' on page 38 in 1753. It has since been shown to be a natural hybrid involving a cross between two other European species (Iris pallida and Iris variegata) rather than a true wild species of Iris, with both parent species having the same chromosome number (2n = 24) as the hybrid offspring. The 'x' denotes its hybrid status but as noted above this is a natural hybrid rather than man made.

This iris is always the first to bloom each year and was a gift f®om our artist friend Shirley. As you can see it is surrounded by many incipient buds in the gnome garden. The gnomes prevailed on me to take them outside early this year so they could enjoy the horticultural explosion of their garden.

 

We are all readers and I thought you might enjoy this deeper insight into the action involved in reading. It was 

sent to me by my friend Sharon.

In his study of aesthetic experience, Peter de Bolla argues that "Literary works of art are produced in the activity of reading." I love the verb produced here—it seems to suggest that the reader renders the text fully alive, that the life of the text continues inside the reader's mind. De Bolla goes on to say that though it seems logical to read a text first, and only subsequently develop an aesthetic response, "this is impossible given that the reading and the response are interactive; that is, one develops in the shadow and in step with the other." Word by word, line by line, we metabolize what we read, and our singular reactions organically unfold. We question. We discover. What we read changes us. 

Maya C Popa

Flower for the Day Azalea 4-24-25

We have had azaleas for more than 35 years. We have a combination of Karen and Herbert and these flowering shrubs bloom for several weeks. They are in the Rhododenron genus of the Ericaceae  family. We had to treat for lace bugs for several years but are currently bug free. They need a lot of water and timely fertilization. But they become like family.

Up close the are amazing.

And up closer even more so.

Azaleas

Karen and Herbert blooming

Spring is here

Flower for the Day More Miniatures 4-22-25

I love miniatures. I have an entire meadow behind our house that is full of common blue violets (Viola sororia).

They are so small that to see them in detail you must get down to their level. This is a common flower

but up close it is amazing. It is also called common meadow violet, wood violet, hooded violet, and wooly blue violet. 

This perennial has purple flowers with white throats. The lower three petals are hairy and the stem of the flower droops slightly.

At this time of year they are surrounded by winter's leaves, a natural blend

life and death.

The wild pansy (Viola bicolor) is about 2/3  smaller than the wild blue violet. From where you stand it is reminiscent of the bluet. It is also called field pansy, and Johnny jump-up. It employs several survival strategies which have allowed it to thrive. It is able to self-pollinate and it forms a symbiotic relationship with mycorrhizal fungi enhancing its nutrient uptake.Its seeds equipped with elaiosomes attract ants which facilitate seed dispersal.

The flowers are solitary and lateral. They appear on aerial stems with more or less long internodes. The sepals are never larger than the corolla. The corolla refers to the the petals of the flower which enclose the reproductive organs.  The corolla of the wild pansy can be purple, blue, yellow or white. It is most often two-tone, yellow and purple. Up close it is spectacular.

THERE ARE MOTIONS of the heart 

that occur only in quiet rooms, 

in the splendour of solitude 

where nothing and everything exists at the same time. 

Being and becoming have their confluence 

in these moments of touching your essence. 

You feel yourself a part of the great wheel 

of creative, nurturing, loving benevolent energy 

that is spinning around us all the time. 

This is what it means to be spiritual-

to feel your spirit moving. 

Take to quiet places, then. 

Immerse yourself in them. 

Feel your energy merge 

with that timeless, eternal energy 

and be made more.

Richard Wagemese

What's Happening In Kirkwood 4-21-25

We have had deep rains and amazing thunder for the last 4 days. I suspect that our 

aquifers are filled. Here is our beautiful creak bed.This is fresh rainwater runoff over 

bedrock behind our house

The dogwoods (Cornus florida) are in full bloom.

The last of the daffodils are winding down.

And the first of our columbine (Aqualegia vulgarisms) have appeared.

There is a quiet explosion of color.

IN THIS STILLNESS, I am the trees alive with singing.

 I am the sky everywhere at once. 

I am the snow and the wind bearing stories across geographies and generations. 

I am the light everywhere descending. 

I am my heart evoking drum song. I am my spirit rising. 

In the smell of these sacred medicines burning, 

I am my prayers and my meditation, 

and I  am time captured fully in this now. 

I am a traveller on a sacred journey through this one shining day.

Richard Wagamese