Musings

Pop of color coleus. [Just darned pretty.]

Already! The seedy season is here.

Posted at 8:36 PM | Comments Off on Vegetation is art

Like gardenias and camellias, I was unfamiliar with caladiums when I moved to the deep south. I’ve never grown caladiums, although one time I planted them at the new house of friends.

Posted at 9:26 PM | Comments Off on Does that count, kinda?

I mentioned dahlias two days back; here’s one from the R-garden over in Athens. Yup, we took a wee road trip—great fun and many laughs.

Posted at 9:49 PM | Comments Off on A tonic-visit

Seeking words to add to this photo, I discovered that coneflowers (Echinacea) are native to eastern and central North America. That surprised me…in a good way. I often figure (erroneously) that pretty garden flowers are from elsewhere, like Asia and Africa.

Bonus: dahlias are also New World—from the Basin of Mexico area, as I understand it.

Posted at 9:36 PM | Comments Off on Where are you from?

Every once in a while, I visit the BBC/Scotland webpage (link), and scroll down to find a selection of readers’ pictures from the week. Some are artistry in heightened saturation, some are long-lens captures (puffins are a favorite), a few are closer to snapshots, and some are of fabulous sunlight or sky moments. The ones I linger on the most tend to be patterns in nature. This is a mediocre example, but you get the idea.

Posted at 9:41 PM | Comments Off on Grass = green

I have read that some folks eat lily bulbs or use them for medicine, but I’m sticking to enjoying merely looking at the flowers. Besides, if you consume the bulbs, that means no flowers next year.

Posted at 10:01 PM | Comments Off on Nicely pale yellow

I could write something about fall-blooming anemones, that is: nice flower-talk….

Otherwise, I’ll get into the non-existential (or is it existential?) crisis of the Southern Ocean’s potential transition toward persistently reduced sea ice coverage resulting from rising salinity. Is the latter (link) too boring? Too hard to grasp? Possibly; you have my sympathy—but such salinity shifts and the attendant oceanic changes are way toooo important to dismiss. Important as in global climate change. Bonus: follow the link and you’ll read about polynyas—I’m betting it’s a new vocab word!

Posted at 8:54 PM | 2 Comments »

When I think of viburnums, I think of these snowball bushes. Turns out Ötzi, the mummified fella found in 1991 emerging from melting ice on the Austrian/Italian border in the Alps, was carrying arrows with viburnum shafts. Of all things.

Posted at 9:44 PM | Comments Off on Genus: viburnum

Right now, I’m finding the furled petals charming.

Posted at 6:35 PM | Comments Off on Furled or curled?

Some days are just a blur; today was one. I’m good, though…leftovers make it easy (for example).

Posted at 8:15 PM | Comments Off on One foot in front…