Butterfly for the Day Monarch 10-21-26

This has been the year of the zinnia and the celosia. Many of the plants grow over five feet tall.  Flowers like this always have bumble bees.  But the most frequent and magical visitor in the last month has been the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexus) which is the best-known butterfly in North America.  Monarchs are known for their long annual migrations. In North America, they travel long distances south in the fall, and north in the spring. They start to migrate south in about August. They must get to frost-free areas. Freezing will kill them. A migration towards the north starts in the spring. No single individual makes the whole round trip. The migration north spans the life of three to four generations of the butterfly. A longer-lived "super generation" flies from the northern-most parts of the butterfly's range in Canada all the way to Mexico. It overwinters in the south, and breeds in the spring to start the next generation flying north. As the flower is nearly at eye level it allows for close observation.  And here is a classic poem for a friend who is experiencing what the rest of us have known for some time. Forgetfulness The name of the author is the first to go followed obediently by the title, the plot, the heartbreaking conclusion, the entire novel which suddenly becomes one you have never read, never even heard of, as if, one by one, the memories you used to harbor decided to retire to the southern hemisphere of the brain, to a little fishing village where there are no phones. Long ago you kissed the names of the nine muses goodbye and watched the quadratic equation pack its bag, and even now as you memorize the order of the planets, something else is slipping away, a state flower perhaps, the address of an uncle, the capital of Paraguay. Whatever it is you are struggling to remember, it is not poised on the tip of your tongue or even lurking in some obscure corner of your spleen. It has floated away down a dark mythological river whose name begins with an L as far as you can recall well on your own way to oblivion where you will join those who have even forgotten how to swim and how to ride a bicycle. No wonder you rise in the middle of the night to look up the date of a famous battle in a book on war. No wonder the moon in the window seems to have drifted out of a love poem that you used to know by heart. Billie Collins

Flower for the Day Sex and the Night Blooming Cereus 10-20-26

> > The night blooming cereus has a spectacular display of sexual organs. The flower sits on a long curved green floral tube. The perianth of the flower is made up of large creamy white inner petals surrounded by outer pink tinged sepals > that form a wide star-like blossom. > > And now to the sex. The male organ is composed of numerous yellow stamens which are arranged in a ring or cluster in the center of the petals, each consisting of a slender filament topped with a pollen bearing anther. The female organ is located in the center and features the long obvious style atop which is a multi-branched star-like stigma. The style leads down to the inferior ovary. >  > As you can see we have cut the flower to see it more clearly. It is not simple to take images of the once a year night blooming flower. After cutting it is huge. >  > In order to enjoy it longer we put it in water in the refrigerator.  > > The scent lasted three days and here is the gorgeous blossom at five days. What a year for the Queen of the Night.  > What a year for the Queen of the Night. >

Flower for the Day Sex and the Night Blooming Cereus 10-20-26

The night blooming cereus has a spectacular display of sexual organs. The flower sits on a long curved green floral tube. The perianth of the flower is made up of large creamy white inner petals surrounded by outer pink tinged sepals that form a wide star-like blossom. And now to the sex. The male organ is composed of numerous yellow stamens which are arranged in a ring or cluster in the center of the petals, each consisting of a slender filament topped with a pollen bearing anther. The female organ is located in the center and features the long obvious style, atop which is a multi-branched star-like stigma. The style leads down to the inferior ovary.  As you can see we have cut the flower to see it more clearly. It is not simple to take images of the once a year night blooming flower. After cutting it is huge.  In order to enjoy it longer we put it in water in the refrigerator.  The scent lasted three days and here is the gorgeous blossom at five days. What a year for the Queen of the Night.  What a year for the Queen of the Night.

Flower for the Night Night Blooming Cereus III 10-16-26

> > Right on schedule the second and last flower on the night blooming cereus plant bloomed. > Here it is beginning to open. >

> > > The bud comes right off the leaf edge. >

> > > It is called the Queen of the Night. >

> > > And here is the Queen of it All with the Queen of the Night. >

Flower for the Night Night Blooming Cereus III 10-16-26

Right on schedule the second and last flower on the night blooming cereus plant bloomed. Here it is beginning to open.

The bud comes right off the leaf edge.

It is called the Queen of the Night.

And here is the Queen of it All with the Queen of the Night.

Flower for the Night: Night Blooming Cereus II 10-15-6

> > Last night our night blooming cereus (Epiphylum oxypetalum) bloomed for the first time since last year. > It was a nice evening and I was able to enjoy the blooming process which took a little over an hour. >

> > > And there is one more bloom for tonight. >

> > > It is magical to see the flower open. >

> > >

> > > What a privilege. > >

> > > I have been watching this happen for over eighty years. My folks used to have NBC Opening parties > at our home in La Grange Illinois. They got really good at estimating when the flower would bloom > and invited friends and family for the occasion. > The flowers bloom once a year, open after dark and close and die with the morning light. They have a > magnificent pungent scent which is easily identifiable (and should be a perfume). > > Well, one more (probably tonight) and then the wait for next years bloom begins again.

Flower for the Night: Night Blooming Cereus II 10-15-6

Last night our night blooming cereus (Epiphylum oxypetalum) bloomed for the first time since last year. It was a nice evening and I was able to enjoy the blooming process which took a little over an hour.

And there is one more bloom for tonight.

It is magical to see the flower open.

What a privilege.

I have been watching this happen for over eighty years. My folks used to have NBC Opening parties at our home in La Grange Illinois. They got really good at estimating when the flower would bloom and invited friends and family for the occasion. The flowers bloom once a year, open after dark and close and die with the morning light. They have a magnificent pungent scent which is easily identifiable (and should be a perfume). Well, one more (probably tonight) and then the wait for next years bloom begins again.

Flower for the Day Celosia 10-14-26

> > Celosia is a small genus of ornamental plants in the amaranth family. Our come as spikes (Celosia spicata) and crested cockscombs (Celosia cristata). >  > > The cockscomb can grow quite large and it can do quite well as a dried flower sometimes > lasting years. >  > > Before the Gard > > Cockscombs… > > Must be 14, > > Or 15 > > —Masoka Shiki > > I loved this haiku from the very first time I read it. Although I had never seen cockscombs, > > I had some vague notion of what they looked like merely from the name: bright red flowers > > resembling a rooster’s comb. … > > What I had missed about the cockscombs all those years was the feeling of their reality, of their > being fully present in the world. And connected, to every other life, by the season and the feeling > of a single moment happening now. > I knew then for the first time that the true significance of Shiki’s cockscombs lay in the flowers > themselves, and not in the some other, metaphorical meaning, however apt or true. > It may take a lifetime to come to an understanding which is clear, direct, and very simple. > But the primary work of haiku is always a restoration of the world. > The famous modern critic Kenkichi Yamamoto once wrote: > Every masterpiece is a flower on a precipice… It is a tremendous assertion for the poet to have said, > ‘There must be fourteen or fifteen stalks of cockscomb.’ After we read this poem we cannot imagine > the possibility that there could have been more or fewer cockscombs than fourteen or fifteen. > Clark Strand > > >

Flower for the Day Celosia 10-14-26

Celosia is a small genus of ornamental plants in the amaranth family. Our come as spikes (Celosia spicata) and crested cockscombs (Celosia cristata).  The cockscomb can grow quite large and it can do quite well as a dried flower sometimes lasting years.  Before the Gard Cockscombs… Must be 14, Or 15 —Masoka Shiki I loved this haiku from the very first time I read it. Although I had never seen cockscombs, I had some vague notion of what they looked like merely from the name: bright red flowers resembling a rooster’s comb. … What I had missed about the cockscombs all those years was the feeling of their reality, of their being fully present in the world. And connected, to every other life, by the season and the feeling of a single moment happening now. I knew then for the first time that the true significance of Shiki’s cockscombs lay in the flowers themselves, and not in the some other, metaphorical meaning, however apt or true. It may take a lifetime to come to an understanding which is clear, direct, and very simple. But the primary work of haiku is always a restoration of the world. The famous modern critic Kenkichi Yamamoto once wrote: Every masterpiece is a flower on a precipice… It is a tremendous assertion for the poet to have said, ‘There must be fourteen or fifteen stalks of cockscomb.’ After we read this poem we cannot imagine the possibility that there could have been more or fewer cockscombs than fourteen or fifteen. Clark Strand

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

> > The night blooming cereus (Epiphyllum oxypetalum) plant. is so named from Ancient Greek for upon leaf. The exotic flowers arise from the edge of the leaf. Our plant has been outside all summer. >  > > We recently identified five buds and currently have two very healthy ones. >  > > They should bloom fairly soon. > > I ask for nothing > > I only offer thanks > > Richard Wagamese