Month: May 2016

Let them be Just Poppies

| Flower Roberts

We humans like our symbols.  It allows us to make the complicated simple.

An icon conjures up more than just an image.

It’s bad enough that we have done this with flags and rainbows, but leave the flowers out of it.

Poppies are just poppies.

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Papaver paconiflorum/Peony poppy/Double red

Lovely and tall with nodding buds

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and fancy fringe petals

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and shaker-top seed pods.

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Let them be just poppies;

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Not a source of opium or the cause of an addiction.

Not the crop of desperate farmers in a war-torn land far away,

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Not a field of lost souls from a foreign war long ago,

Or a magical cause of sleep sent by a wicked witch.

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They are just poppies.

Beautiful poppies.

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Nothing more.

My Deer Delicatessen

| Flower Roberts

I have opened a very popular eatery.

On Monday night the favorite was Hosta on the Hill.

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The buffet line was totally cleaned out.

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The Tuesday night special was Daylily Delight. Only one juicy Whooperee flower left.

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Yesterday evening, I prepared for last night’s feasting

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by adding some stinky Society Garlic as a side.

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If you are expecting  jokes about getting a gun and making venison,

you will be disappointed.

You see I once was a bear,  pregnant with twins.

NO, I am not crazy.  I am a biologist.  I took PROJECT WILD training.

In one of the activities, we were assigned an animal role.

I was a bear pregnant with twins.  I had to capture at least three times more food cards than the others.

One total let me live, a higher total let one cub live and the highest total let all three of us survive.

At the end of the “game” I was exhausted and sweaty.   I did my best.   My totals weren’t high enough.

PAUSE…

Let that that sink in.  Who got to survive you ask?   If you are a mother, you know it doesn’t matter.

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One of the munching deer is pregnant,  that means at least one more “mouth” to feed…

And we have coyotes.

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Mother Nature is my mother, too.

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Flowers are Edible.  Bring it Mama!

Asiatics fill the Gap

| Flower Roberts

Here in North Carolina, the bearded iris show off in April and early May.

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The daylilies don’t swing in to action until late May.

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To fill the gap are the Asiatic Lilies.

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May is their month to shine.

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These are my daughter’s lilies.  She’s a flower, too.

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Follow the FLOWERS.

Add a Little Magic

| Flower Roberts

I love tiny plants.

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Fuchsia Rosella , Shadow Dancers

I love fairies.

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‘Star Double Pop Star’  Dianthus

I think tree roots are fascinating.

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Calibrachoa, Sun Kiss, Conga

Put them together.   It’s magic!

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The fairies like their new hang out.

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Mexican heather and Jessop

Even a toad dropped by while I was working.  (Not pictured)  Was he really a prince?

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We shall see. One never knows what may happen.  When there is magic in the garden.

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Even if it is just a little magic.

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Follow the Fairies!

 

 

Blame It On The Oaks

| Flower Roberts

Danger has come to the bunny yard.

I blame it on the oaks.

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They dropped too many acorns this year.   Millions of acorns.

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The vermin feasted and propagated.   No foraging necessary.

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Now,  there are too many little squirrels and baby chipmunks and mice.

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The snakes come for lunch. The hawks come for dinner. The owls come for a midnight snatch.

Whoooo else came in the night?

Something big and strong.  Something that bends wire and tears fences from their posts.

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I am mending my fences and locking my low windows.

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Afraid of this danger that has smelled my bunnies’ scent and wants to join the feast.

I blame it on the oaks.

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Follow the FLOWER to the root cause.

UPDATE: Tracks photo from inside the bunny yard today.

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Coyote?

 

Busy and Not Busy

| Flower Roberts

I don’t have to look to know who is Busy and who is Not Busy in the bunny yard.

Where ever I hear noise, I know I will see a blur of black fur.

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Then I must peer under things to find my barley brown bunny,

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quietly napping or watching the trees.

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Charlotte is usually on the move or moving dirt.

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Barley can be found quietly meditating.

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Usually, they only spend time together while eating

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or snuggling.

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But one day Not Busy made the mistake of napping too close to Busy during an excavation.

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Busy dug dirt and kicked it behind her.  Not Busy got dirty.

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Busy bulldozed dirt away from the excavation site.

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Not Busy began to disappear under the soil.

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Busy disappeared into the hole.

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Busy continues working. Not Busy continues meditating.

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They both stopped to pose for a picture. I think he’s smiling.

FLOWER fills in lots of holes.

Mothers shouldn’t have favorites, but…

| Flower Roberts

Since my flowers can’t read, I can tell you

that I prefer the poisonous Digitalis

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above all my other flowers.

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They make my heart race.

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I have a weakness for their

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spots and spires.

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I try not to stare at them, but they are hypnotic.

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They self- seed and I let them grow where ever they wish.

I can’t get enough of these lovely foxgloves.

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Happy Mother’s Day

Follow the FLOWER!