I found its first bloom this morning.
It is as lovely as I had hoped.
What a complex flower.
I will see if the hummers find it, too.
FLOWER
Red Passion
Author: Flower Roberts
Hangin’ out with a Hummer
It has taken many quiet hours to get these little jewels habituated to my presence.
I have placed chairs in different spots in the yard,
where I quietly sit most days, just long enough to be noticed and then ignored.
I sat among the herbs in the bunny yard today to get these shots.
She even hovered in front of my face and the camera, too close for the zoom lens.
She took breaks between plants.
Today’s flower favorites were are Pineapple sage, Turk’s cap, Passion Flower hybrid ‘Blue Crown’ and Mexican bush sage.
Mr. Cardinal came to pose, too.
FLOWER is a quiet friend.
Spider in the Storm
Laugh if you wish.
I was concerned for my mama spider and her egg sac during last night’s storm.
I have been watching them both for weeks. She is a Green Lynx spider/ Peucetia viridans.
I was attracted to the head of goldenrod blooms by a peculiar object among the yellow flowers.
I saw her egg sac before I spotted her guarding it.
The color of the egg sac is a dull straw-brown, but the shape is intriguingly like a cut diamond.
It has a flat table top with crown below it and pointed bottom, like a culet.
How could a spider make such a complex shape? I wonder the same about the intricacies of webs, also.
I have been waiting for the spiderlings to emerge, so that I can examine it more closely.
The mama spider diligently guards this nest and puts her body over it when she senses my presence.
This morning I did get a better picture of the sac due to her dazed and soaking wet state when I approached.
She quickly assumed her guard post when I touched the goldenrod.
I am so glad that she and her offspring are safe and sound after the wind and torrential rains.
I am considering staking the Goldenrod so that Mama Lynx will not have to hang like that.
I know I shouldn’t interfere, but we grandmothers are very protective.
I am also afraid that “Mr. Flower” will cut it down with the weed-eater. Oh my! I’d better stake it now.
I’ll keep you up-dated about the hatching.
FLOWER
What’s Legs Got To Do With It?
What’s legs got to do with it, got to do with it?
What’s legs but a way to be in motion?
What’s legs got to do with it, got to do with it?
We need more legs when a leg can just be broken?
Why is it we love all things with two legs?
or four legs?
but if the creature has no legs,
or six legs,
eight legs
or more
we scream, run away or kill it?
I love snakes and bugs.
They are my friends.
FLOWER
Pumpkin to Pie
Pumpkins show up in my gardens due to our composting.
To show my appreciation, I eat them.
This little pumpkin will make one pie.
I used a head-sized pumpkin for this post, which makes two pies.
Cut your pumpkin in half and remove pulp and seeds.
Soak this blob in water so as pull out the seeds more easily.
Then rinse seeds in a colander. Dry them off a bit .
Toss with olive oil and salt. Spread seeds out on a cookie sheet covered in parchment paper. You should stir and re-spread these at least once during roasting.
Then place them in your preheating oven to roast while you make the pie filling.
Slice up the pumpkin into 1 inch strips. Place these into a pan with an inch or so of water. Cover an simmer until tender.
Take slices out of water and let them cool some before trying to scrape the meat out of the skin.
Mash up the pumpkin flesh. Measure it out into two-cup portions per pie.
I add one can of evaporated milk, 2 beaten eggs, and 3/4 cup brown sugar.
Spices may be one and a half teaspoons of pumpkin spice OR half a teaspoons each of ground cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg. Also, one half teaspoon of salt. My version also adds a tablespoon of flour to firm up the filling.
I used frozen crusts that roll out into the pie pan. Don’t hate me for this. I don’t do crusts.
I like to add extra ingredients for texture and zing. This can be sprinkling chopped nuts or coconut on top. Sometimes I add a half a teaspoon of orange flavoring. To sweeten them up, you can sprinkle raw sugar crystals on top.
If you add extra ingredients, you will have too much filling. Do not over-fill the crusts. Put the extra filling in a small baking dish and bake it with the pies. (400 degrees for 40 minutes)
Your family can munch on the roasted seeds while the pies bake and then eat the little extra filling while the pies are cooling.
These snacks help protect the pies you are trying to save for the company.
FLOUR
Turk’s Cap makes Fruit
My parents’ neighbor, Doris, gave me this plant many years ago.
I found fruits on it for the first time today.
The flower’s name is Turk’s Cap for obvious reasons.
It is also called Sleepy Hibiscus because the blooms never open.
It’s scientific name is Malaviscus arboreus.
The fruits look like little apples, manzanillas.
The fruit breaks up into pieces that look like tiny apple slices.
The Humming birds love the flowers.
FLOWER
My Weed
There is a whole world on one weed in my garden.
I did not kill this weed because of a hybrid I fell in love with in Tuscany.
So when I saw it growing on the bank, I staked it up to compare it with the hybrid.
What a wonderful weed it has been.
This wild Passion vine/Maypop/Passiflora incarnata has been a whole laboratory.
There are ants on the pods and stems.
The best part is all the caterpillars of various sizes.
Tiny, shiny, spiky, orange and black caterpillars of Fritillary butterflies.
I check on this plant every day and find something new.
An added bonus is a beautiful, blue morning glory that grew up into the Passion vine.
My daddy’s favorite color of blue, bluebird blue.
I have been blessed by this weed. I am so thankful I did not kill it.
Where would all those lovely caterpillars be? Nowhere, that’s where.
Follow the weed.
Hearts-a-Bustin’
I find many lovely wild plants along my driveway.
This one is especially interesting in the fall.
During most of the year it is a nondescript, wiry, open shrub.
Its only distinctive feature while not in bloom is that its stems look like green wire.
It turns into a marvel in the September when its seed pods ripen.
They burst open to expose the orange-red seeds inside.
It is also called American strawberry bush, but do not eat the seeds they are poisonous.
Its scientific name is Euonymus americanus.
Wonderful weed!
Lovin’ some Larvae
Butterflies do not just hatch from the egg with wings.
They must first go through a larval stage called caterpillar.
Then they have to bind themselves up for a while to go through metamorphosis.
While they are wrapped up(pupating) in the chrysalis (not pictured),
all their cells rearrange into a butterfly or moth. Then they have their wings.
Now everybody loves butterflies and colorful moths.
What if we went around killing all the weird and spiky worms in our yards?
Then there would be no lovely fliers later, because everyone killed them as babies.
If you don’t ” love some larvae”, leave them alone.
They are waiting for their wings.
FLOWER
