Month: June 2016

Using Chopstix

| Flower Roberts

I went out in the garden early this morning with my chopstix.

I’d been using knives, but there were issues.

NO,  I wasn’t eating sushi for breakfast.

I was marking my daylilies.

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I use plastic knives with the names engraved on the blade.

These have been stepped on and broken by a certain blundering gardener.

If it is muddy, I  have to wipe off the knife blade to read the name.

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So my new plan is plastic chopstix with the name engraved on the top.  Then use a Sharpe marker to fill in the scratches and wipe the rest off with 91% alcohol.   Isopropyl alcohol people!

I sat down with my list and Dremel tool last night.

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I made a whole new batch of markers.

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I chose blue and green to be inconspicuous.  Maybe I should have gotten red instead.

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We will see how this works out.

I only broke one this morning.

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Now if I can just read my writing!

Follow the forgetful FLOWER.

Mystery Solved with Banana Nut Bread

| Flower Roberts

I used to use the old sandbox as a plant nursery.

When the bunnies moved in, I had to hurriedly move all the little plants out to safety.

In my haste,  many were moved without their identification.

Among the many refugees was this plant.

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I was considering posting it here for help with identification.

No need now.

I stopped by some friends’ house to deliver fresh loaves of banana nut bread.

What did I spy in the yard?   This very plant.

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They had given me some seeds.  (My bad for not remembering.)

Its common name is “Mole Plant”,
also known as Caper (DO NOT EAT) Spurge or Gopher Spurge.IMG_0503

It is a Euphorbia lathyris and all parts are POISONOUS.

It was used in orchards to repel rodents.

Thank heavens I moved it out of the bunny yard before my nibblers could snack on it.

The symmetry is perfect.

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The blooms are tiny and yellow.

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Whew!

Who knew you could learn so much from banana nut bread.

Follow the baker.

Crazy for Callas

| Flower Roberts

These Zantedeschias are stealing the show away from the daylilies this week.

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Calla is the Greek word for beautiful.  They are living up to their name.

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The bloom is really a spathe(bract)

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and spadix with tiny blooms.

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The point on the spathe holds a drop of dew in the morning.

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The variegation of the ‘Hot Chocolate’ leaves looks silver and is really clear spots in the leaves.

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The colors of the spathe of ‘Captain Romance’ shift from green to pink.

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These are not really lilies and they don’t come from bulbs.

Their round rhizomes are poisonous, so be careful where you store and plant them.

I always take a few in over the winter, but leave most of them out.  I am in zone 7.IMG_0335

Follow the FLOWER.

 

I Want the Faith of a Vine

| Flower Roberts

I want the faith a vine has

when it grows up to the height of its trellis

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Bleeding Heart Vine/Clerodendrum thomsoniae

and reaches up toward the sun.

Growing past all support.

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Passion Flower Vine/ Passiflora hybrid ‘Blue Crown’

Its only mission is to get to the light

which gives it life.

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Love in A Puff/ Cardiospermum helicacabum

No turning back.

Hoya carnosa 'Chelsea'

Follow the Light.

My Pet Blob

| Flower Roberts

We inadvertently left a rope dangling in the water over the winter.

It became home to a colony of bryozoans.

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These are tiny one-celled organisms that live in a colony called a zooid.

Since I didn’t think my new pet would enjoy a boat ride,

we cut the end of the rope off.

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I wanted to get to know my new pet, so I measured it and took a small sample.

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Here are its little cells. In microbiology red and green make brown.

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Then we tied it to the pier.

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Unfortunately, due to rope length, it is now floating upside down.

I feel like Horton with my own wet and slimy Whoville.

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I will be measuring my Zooid periodically to check it’s growth.

I have had many stray dogs and cats wander up, but this is my first pet blob.

Such excitement!

Follow the BLOB!