Thursday, 6 January 2011
Agave leaves from ABG last weekend.
I was such a drudge today, sitting around in front of the keyboard and screen way too long. I did spend about an hour sitting in the sun by the strong-scented paperwhites, though, reading the latest New Yorker—instead of taking a lunch break.
On balance, I would have been far better off taking a walk.
Tuesday, 4 January 2011
I am always amazed at what lovely visual textures Ma Nature offers up, especially if the light is good.
Monday, 3 January 2011
Say it: orchid.
Now, say it with your eyes closed: orchid.
Listen to that word. To me, it’s a strange one.
I see from the dictionary that orchid comes from the Greek, órkhis, which in its original context apparently referred to a particular plant that had an underground tuber with a specific double-globular shape, so the word órkhis was a natural to refer to this shape from the animal-world—órkhis meaning testicle.
WikiPee agrees with my dictionary on this….
This shape concept-name may well be a common one to apply to the plant world, as aguacate, Mexican Spanish for avocado, has the same meaning as órkhis in Nahuatl (aguacate is a corruption of ahuacatl).
Or it’s a guy thing*.
* Polyorchidism is when the individual has more than two testes. Egad. (Whereever did this little wander in linguistics and natural history come from? Mystery to me; it sure wasn’t planned!)
Friday, 31 December 2010
Late last evening the paperwhites began to open and the back of the house where they sit in the sun smells heavenly. Just the right vibe to welcome the new year….
Sunday, 19 December 2010
I’m living under the influence of a pineapple express. Rain, mist, and general cool spitty unpleasantness.
So we stayed in a watched a DVD movie and monitored the wifi for irregularities—slow-downs and short stoppages that the router did not cause.
Sedate Sundays can be The Best!
Wednesday, 15 December 2010
This is a shrub in our front yard, name unknown to me. Of course these are blue (colored) berries, and not blueberries, yet still pretty.
Although our temps did get above freezing today, they’re dipping again, and it was never sunny-nice out.
Tuesday, 14 December 2010
One of my seasonal traditions is to plant a few bulbs to spark up our deepest winter, short-light days. Visually and odorously.
Today, however tardily, is bulb-planting day, 2010.
Inspired by my friend, Dr. J, I got an amaryllis* this year (the huge bulb to the right), to enjoy along with my usual—paperwhites.
Keep your fingers crossed….
* This is interesting. I googled amaryllis to find out whatever WikiPee would tell me and found out that what I planted was NOT an amaryllis, botanically, although it is commonly called an amaryllis. Instead it’s a different genus, Hippeastrum in the same family (Amaryllidaceae), which sent me back to the packaging for the bulb I bought. Aha. Both words are used, but amaryllis is given prominence. Live and learn.
Sunday, 5 December 2010
My childhood familiarity with horsetails (Equisetum spp.) did not prepare me for their use as a landscaping plant.
To me, they were in the weed category, albeit in the interesting weed subcategory, as opposed to the noxious, poisonous, ugly, or other unpleasant weed subcategory.
I remember picking stems and pulling the sections apart and marveling at the open tubes.
I still retain a bit of amazement that they are used as a decorative garden plant, even after encountering them carefully husbanded in a flowerbed over two decades ago.
And, I spoke just in time the other day about the unfrosted tomatoes; they’re now reduced to plant-mush.
Saturday, 4 December 2010
We found this Acer palmatum in a yard between here and the library. The light did me no favors, but the brilliance is still evident….
Friday, 3 December 2010
We had a winter day today, both like and not like a Michigan winter. The temps were warmer, so no ice like this (from last week), but we did have the unbroken grey overcast.
Somehow, frost got the tomatoes in the front yard over a month ago, but the protected ones in the back yard have survived. They’re not too happy, but they haven’t been frosted, either. (Remember, in their Mexican homeland, they’re annuals, or at least that’s what I was told there.)