Final Flowers for the Year 10-31-12

These are some of the few flowers still blooming after the frosts. Its a good time 

to call it a year.

I hope you have enjoyed the flowers and the comments. Have a great winter. The seeds

you have sewn will come up in the future.

Flower for the Day 10-30-12 Final Days for the Dahlias

The dahlia flower heads are all that remain after two nights of frost. This Dahlia is named Jean Marie.

This one is called  Mystery Day and the flowers

are seven inches and more. 

Flower for the Day 10-30-12 Burning Bush

Our burning bush (Euonymous alatus) has finally matured and produces  
fiery red leaves in the late fall.

Flower for the Day 10-29-12 Dahlia

This is my new favorite dahlia. Its colors are nuanced and change over several days as the flower head matures. Its name is Pretty in Pink.

It ends up like an ice cream sundae.

A trail in the woods to the creek 10-27-12

Over the last few years I have been making trails in the woods 

behind our house. This trail goes down from the northern wildflower 

garden down to a small creek that is normally dry.

Through the years the rains have washed the topsoil off so that the floor of the creek

is bedrock. There are pools of water which are surrounded by large limestone boulders.

In one area there is a small spring which puts out a small trickle of water from the crack

throughout the year.

The leaves are almost all off the trees.

It is a quiet spot within life's turmoil.

  

When there are sustained rains the leaves and detritus are carried down stream.

 

Water from the creek ends up in Sugar Creek south of the Frank Lloyd Wright House.

Persimmons 10-26-12

Persimmons (Diospyros) With all the leaves off the tree the persimmons have shown up in variousstages of maturity. The berry is ripe and edible when it is soft and the skin is beginning to split. At this time the calyx is easily plucked out. When ripe it has lost its tannin content and is sweet due to a high glucose content.

Diospyros is Greek for divine fruit or more literally the wheat of Zeus.

  

Flower for the Day 10-26-12 Field Coreopsis

Field Coreopsis has bloomed again. The depth of color is striking.

  

Flower for the Day 10-26-12 Night Blooming Cereus Finale

Begin forwarded message:

All that buds doesn't bloom. Unfortunately three of the six buds literally fell off to the floor.Two buds bloomed while I was away for the weekend.  I returned to this beautiful flower which slowly opened by 10:30 at night. Its always a knockout. As usual the most striking aspect is the pleasantly pungent odor which fills the room.

Montage from Front Rock Garden at the Lake House 10-21-12

Frog from Andrea Lieberman

Emergence

Angel with "precious" stones

Flower for the Day 10-24-12 Sedum

Sedum is a succulent ,with water saving leaves, in the stonecrop family. Its branches 

cannot hold up the flowers so they drape along the ground with the flowers perking

up at the distal end.

The delicate flowers have five petals.