Flower for the Day Cosmos 6-28-22

Cosmos is a genus of annuals with feathery leaves in the sunflower family. We re-seed them every year in the front garden.

The flowers are produced with a ring of broad florets around a center of disc florets.

I like their unique colors.

Swaying in the breeze

A bright and cheery — Ohayo!

Cosmos makes my day

  Lucy King

Flower for the Day day Lily II 6-27-22

We are in the midst of the garden doldrums. Here is the next batch of day lilies.

The morning after these were taken this is what my day lily bed  looked like. Instead of bursting with new flowers and 

buds it was totally stripped by the deer.

If that doesn't produce the doldrums nothing will.

Flower for the Day Larkspur 6-21-22

On this solstice day enjoy the beautiful native larkspur (Delphinium elatum). It is in the buttercup family and its striking 

purple color draws the eye. The flowers are bilaterally symmetrical with many stamens. There are five petal-like sepals which grow together to form a hollow pocket with a spur at the end. Within the sepals are four true petals. Larkspur is poisonous so don't put them in your salad.

Here is a white one with a few tinges of blue purple. The spur is on the top flower.

purple and blue hue

gather morning drops of dew

bloom so delicate

 Allison Wonder

Flower for the Day Day Lilies I 6-20-22

With the asiatic lilies winding down we begin weeks of day lilies. These bulbs are mature and require minimal care - water and sun. This is Stella de Oro (Hemerocallis) a real re-bloomer.

Here is the first of many hybrids. Their colors are great but I love the ruffled edges the most.

The First of My Summer Lovers

Just out of the shower

Wearing only lacy dew

She has arrived early

Voluptuous,steamy.

She is no coy one

Her petals spread open

Waiting for mating.

Comfortably naked in the sun

With her soft creamy skin

and dark inner lips

She has come for adulation,

Sex and sun.

Confident, she winks

At me with those dark eyes

Saying, come, adore me.

Embarrassed, I have forgotten 

Her name… Misty Maude I believe.

Undulating in the wind

She whispers,

Come closer, closer

Love me, love me.

Quick now, skip the foreplay.

We haven't much time you know.

I'm only passing through,

Just here for one day.

   Stan Thawley, 2009

   (I miss you Stan.)

Flower for the Day Summer asters 6-17-22

Our heat wave (108 Heat Index for days) has been broken by a gorgeous rainstorm with 

delicious thunder boomers. These spring/summer flowers are all in the aster family.

Blanket flower (Gaillardia pulchella) is also called Indian Blanketflower, fire wheel and sundance. It is thriving in the front 

garden.

Coreopsis (Coreopsis lanceolata) is also called calliopsis and tickseed.  I love the toothed tips of the flowers.

Golden crown beard (Verbena ecelioides)  is also called cowpen daisy and butter daisy. It grows over five feet tall. This image was taken at eye level. 

This is early plains coreopsis (Coreopsis tinctoria) is also called golden tickseed.

    sunset aster

 

   more than pretty

   a little wild…

      Ben Strauss

Flower for the Day Asiatic Lily II 6-16-22

The asiatic lilies are winding down. The depth of their color this year has been astounding -  a  feast for your eyes.

Feel free to share them.

Flower for the Day Sweet William 6-15-22

Sweet William (Dianthus barbatous) is a herbaceous biennial perennial in the Caryophallaceae family. As they were thinning out I have re-seeded. They will return in volume next year as the take two years to begin blooming. The variegation of colors is amazing

.

      You sweet William

      bowl me over with fragrance

      heady sweet like cloves

            Lucid Gypsy

Flower for the Day Foxglove beard-tongue 6-14-22

Foxglove beard-tongue (Penstemon digitalis) is in the plantain family. It grows three to five feet tall with shiny green opposite leaves on slender purple stems.

The two lipped flowers have tiny hairs on the tongue. The bees  disappear into the partially opened globe

leaving only their rear end showing, back out quickly, and head for the next globe. That pollen is magnetic.

Praise common

names
the call to mark to glorify
to lead memory down its garden path
bellflower and flowering spurge and fake boneset
tickseed and foxglove beardtongue
lovegrass tidy tips pussytoes
bedstraw hairy woodmint
greenthreads
heal all
that clasping cornflower
common arrowhead
that nodding onion
that bishop's cap and bloodroot
those lady's tresses
Dutchman's breeches
those mad dog skullcaps
those doll's eyes jack in the pulpit
bird's foot
deerhorn
that farewell to spring

  Jeff Shiff

Flower for the Day Poppy 6-13-2

In the side yard in the shade of a large tree is a 'field' of poppies (Papaver).Each year it gets larger. Poppies are herbaceous

plants with beautiful colored flowers which have 4 or 6 petals, multiple stamens forming a conspicuous whorl in the center of the flower and an ovary of from 2 to many fused carpels. The petals lie flat before falling away. 

        A Poppy Blooms

I write, erase, rewrite

Erase again, and then

A poppy blooms.

Katsushika Hokusai

Flower for the Day Downy Wood Mint 6-11-22

Downy wood mint (Blephilia ciliata) is also known as Downy Pagoda plant, horsemint, and sunny wood mint.

Carl Linaeus (1707-1778) described the downy wood mint as Monarda ciliata, before George Bentham  gave it its current binomial name. This horse mint grows in the front garden. It grows so well I have to remove some so there will be room for my favorite annuals.

Up close it has delicate spotted lavender flowers and hairy leaves.