Author: Flower Roberts

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!

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!