Author: Flower Roberts

My Trip to Another Planet to Visit the Queen

| Flower Roberts

Okay, I was really still on Earth; but Zone 10 seemed like another planet.

Everything was bigger there in Florida… the plants, the shrimp, the hotels, the prices.

The Shrub Queen was my “Plant Identification” tour guide through the Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens.

I would ask the name of the plant I was pointing to and she would supply both its Latin and common name.

Many times I would respond with “Holy #*@, that’s a house plant.”  So even the houses are bigger in Florida.

Just joking.  These plants grow multiple times bigger in Zone 10 because there is so much more sunlight to make food through photosynthesis, also heat and time to grow.  The growing season slows in “winter” , but never stops like here. Many of our plants die back to below ground and go dormant during the winter in Zone 7.

If I had chosen the name Flower Queen, I would have to demote myself.  My little tropical plants that I have been so proud of are itty-bitty versions of these giants.

Here are examples.  My epiphyllum has been growing nicely for three years.

Here is a wild one in Florida.

I have been super proud of my Cereus which greats folks in the foyer. Here is my “monster.” Zone 10 is 10x this size. (Not pictured)

The last example is quite an embarrassment.  Mr. Flower and I had been marveling at a certain tree whose silhouette we had spotted numerous times on our journey southward. I took a photo for the Shrub Queen to identify this possibly unusual and rare species.

To my chagrin, she informed me the it was a Norfolk Island Pine.

Here are my two.  Notice how especially pitiful the smaller one is (Rachel).  I was ashamed.

So I will conclude with; The Queen knows her stuff and the Flower knows her place.

FLOWER : Zone 7

We Are Real!

| Flower Roberts

Have you ever wondered if the bloggers that you follow are real people?

Well,  I have proof that both the Shrub Queen and the Flower are both real.

WE MET IN PERSON!

IMG_8719

I went on a trip to Florida with Mr. Flower. I sent Shrub Queen a message.

I was going to be staying near her location.

She came and picked me up.

IMG_8550

We spent a lovely day at the Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens.

IMG_8607

That post will follow.

For now you can rest easy in knowing the Shrub Queen and the FLOWER are not robots.

The real FLOWER.

What’s so Great about Grass?

| Flower Roberts

We may need to rethink this fescue fetish we have here in America.

Who needs grass when you can have your own meadow and eat it too?

Bright yellow Dandelions and greens mixed with a tiny purple blooming mint named Gill-over-the-ground and violets.  Why that’s a giant salad. When is the last time you’ve eaten grass?

IMG_8301

Not only is it lovely, but Goldfinches eat the dandelion seeds too.  Recognize that yellow?

 

IMG_8295

Now you tell me how a lawn of nothing but green could beat this?

Birds and Blooms.   Just what I love.

IMG_8302

FLOWER

Cedar-apple Rust

| Flower Roberts

I am so glad I happened to have my camera during a trip to the dump.

As I was tossing recycle items into the bins, I spied orange gooey blobs on the surrounding cedar trees.

IMG_8294

(Honey you finish up here, the Flower is on a mission.)

I had not seen these orange galls/telia in about thirty years.

These are caused by a fungus, Gymnosporangium juniperi-virginiana.

The fungus uses two host trees.

IMG_8290

The red cedar shown here is one type and the other type of host is apple trees.

The galls turn from a brownish ball to a mass of orange tentacles after a rain in the spring.

 

These galls/telia release spores which catch the wind and may find their way back to nearby apples trees to cause a rust on their leaves.

You never know when you may need your camera.  Always looking for a story.

FLOWER

 

Orange

| Flower Roberts

What is it about this color?

Apricot Drift rose

Maybe it reminds me of eating Dreamcycle ice creams on the sidewalk in elementary school or orange sherbert at my grandparents home.

My daddy’s famous, homemade peach ice cream is this dreamy, creamy orange.

IMG_8448

Juicy cantaloupe is this color.  More food?   I forgot lunch again.

Delosperma ‘Fire Spinner’

My daughter’s prom dress was a peachy color.

Super Trouper Dianthus

Okay, you get it.   I love orange..and purple.

Flame azalea and Night Affair iris

It’s happy but soothing when tinted with a hint of cream.

I can’t pass up a plant with blooms that are peachy, melon or salmon colored.

Flame Azalea ‘Gibralter’

It’s one of my daughter’s favorite colors, too.

I planted this ‘Super Trouper’ orange Dianthus in her garden while she’s been away.

She is a Super Trouper, so it is fitting.

This iris is a late bloomer, worth the wait.

Jelly Roll iris

The fairy garden got this tiny Superbells Calibrachia ‘Dreamsicle’, of course.

Calibrachia Super bells ‘Dreamsicle’

Yes. I do love orange.  I would have written a poem about it, but since nothing rhymes with orange…

FLOWER

 

Loons in the Morning

| Flower Roberts

If I had not gone and fetched my camera, nobody would believe this story.

I am, after all, in North Carolina.   I do see an occasional lone Loon visiting on the lake.

But I have NEVER seen a Loon flock?  Is that what it’s called?

This morning I was out inspecting my gardens after forty-eight hours of rain.

(Good thing those ditches got put in properly!)

I heard a whoosh along the tree-lined shore.  Dozens of Loons were entering the water after roosting up the bank.

More and more kept plunging into the muddy water. I ran in to get my camera.

I could not believe my eyes. The Loons were diving and stretching their wings like they were conditioning them.   Over and over I observed this behavior. Dip and stretch.

IMG_8238

They began to align in the water, all pointing southward.  The running and flapping started in groups. Wave after wave of Loons lifted off.  Running across the top of the water,  loudly flapping their wings until getting airborne.

IMG_8239

I couldn’t take my eyes off of this noisy spectacle. I lifted my hand in solute as they departed. All I could say was,” I don’t know anything. ”  There were tears in my eyes.  Nature is one miracle after another.

If I had not been out for those brief moments, I would have missed the whole event.

IMG_8236

Had I missed this every spring? Was this flock here due to the storms pushing them inland or southward?  Was this the new normal?

All I can do is take photos and report. I don’t know anything.  But I can still learn!

FLOON

If Iris were Dresses

| Flower Roberts

If Iris were dresses, I’d have quite a wardrobe.

There would never be worries about what to wear.

I’d wear Persian Berry to the ballet

and dream that I too am leaping and twirling.

Easter Sunday would call for the bright, sunny yellow of Banana Frappe’.

For a run south of the border, I’d don Thunder Echo

and dance the Tango and Rumba in practical shoes with ruby buckles.

A skyscraper evening with sparkling drinks would require Immortality with diamonds.

For a night on the town, I would slip on Little Much, full of ruffles and sparkles.

For a trip to the seashore the attire would be Shipshape,

with matching blue flip flops and a straw bag and hat.

An evening at the symphony deserves an attire of Night Affair with amethyst earrings.

But since iris are just flowers and I just the gardener,

I’ll slip on my apron with tools in its pocket and dream in my garden,

My garden of dreams.

FLOWER

 

 

The Art of Ditch Digging

| Flower Roberts

If you have used the term “ditch digging” to mean unskilled labor,

my guess is that you have never dug a ditch.

It is an art that has taken me years of mistakes to improve.  Notice I did not say “master.”

After seeing these photos, I spotted several glitches in my ditches which must be corrected.

IMG_8184

There are so many factors involved in a good ditch.

IMG_8180

The soil, the slope, the curves, the height and the amount of water.

I start with my small shovel an then fine tune with my long handled trowel.

(If you do not have one of these, stop reading and go get one now.)

It gives you torque that you never get with a standard- handled trowel.

Removed weeds go in a bucket after knocking off the dirt and worms back into the bed.

Next, comes removing all loose dirt by hand.  Roots are cut out with clippers.

A quick spray with a hose turns our good old Carolina red clay into a sun-baked brick wall.

IMG_8173

Turns need to be dug deep on the outside, like a meandering river.

IMG_8176

All trench ends need a deep basin filled with stone to stop the water and hold it.

River rock turns lovely colors when wet.

The fairy garden required a moat due to constant flooding.

IMG_8193

(Nobody wants to mess with a flooded out fairy.)

There is one last requirement, the ditches must be perfectly bunny-sized.

Not too deep, not too wide.

I had trouble getting my work done because they kept lying in them.

2018042195151911.jpg

Lastly,  about the photo of my tool ensemble, notice the snow disk?

IMG_8172

This is what I sit on as I scoot around in the yard.

Sorry. You can’t get one of these now.

But next winter,  remember ‘The Art of Ditch Digging’ while you are shoveling snow.

FLOW

A Perfect Day for Plants and Poetry

| Flower Roberts

I guess the stars were aligned in my favor yesterday.  I could not have wished for a better day.  My dreams are small and unusual, so the odds are slim of them coming to fruition…but yesterday had its miracle moments.  Plants are my “stars” you see.

I went back to one of my alma maters for an unplanned visit to their green houses and botanical gardens. I actually bumped into my first EVER botany professor from University of North Carolina at Charlotte.  I got my master’s degree from there many years ago.

As my sister and I perused the plants on sale, we struck up a conversation with a woman carrying a bag made of bark.  Her name was Carla Vitez.

She was there to give a talk about trees that included history and poetry. She invited us on a practice run of her tour. How could we refuse?

The talk and tour occurred in the Van Landingham Glen across the street from the greenhouses.  The glen is full of many species of trees and dozens of types of Rhododendron and azaleas which are in bloom now. The sizes and colors of blooms were amazing.

My two favorites were a white rhododendron ‘Bellringer’ and a red ‘Vivacious.’

Rhododendron ‘Bellringer’
Rhododendron vivacious

We got a condensed version of “In the Company of Trees.”  We were spellbound.  She eloquently quoted the words of Donald Culross Peattie as she stood by the featured trees.

We heard the parts of her talk about the White Oak, Pawpaw, Bigleaf Magnolia and Shagbark Hickory.  When she talked about the Beech trees and nuts and the, now extinct, Passenger Pigeons, I teared up.

Carla Vitez will be giving the talk and tour again on Sunday at two o’clock.  It may be full all ready.  If you wish to hear it, you may need to call. Maybe they can add another tour in sometime soon.  Carla  perfectly mixed art and nature, present and past, to include her audience in a time travel through the trees.

I will share two more little miracles on the tour. A bench honoring my wonderful friend “The Genius”, Steve Baldwin.

https://floweralley.org/2016/06/18/whats-your-seed/

and a quote from the tomb of a much admired woman, Bonnie Cone, who started UNCC.

Flower is always searching for her place you see.  My people have been here and thus I belong here also.

I will share photos from the greenhouses in another post.  Some of my little stars in the yard need my attention today.  That was another part of my perfect day yesterday. I acquired some more green little friends.  Introductions must wait. They need to get settled.

FLOWER