Just as the days get too short and the nights too long
and my garden outside dies from the cold,
my Schlumbergeras come into their glory
and bloom with explosive profusion
to show me that a FLOWER
can survive and thrive
inside in winter
and so shall I.
FLOWER
Illumination.
The heron, its reflection and its shadow.
Three in one: life and light and darkness.
The real thing, its image and its negative.
FLOW
I was expecting a quiet and lonely day today.
I even slept a little late, thinking I would not miss anything by sleeping in.
But sometimes life comes to you.
I turned on my computer to find a message from “Another Mother” half a world away.
I have another blog you see.
Her crying made me cry. I messaged my family, especially Rose.
Then there was all this noise. Chain saws?
I looked out my window to see a man high in a tree.
The memories flooded back to the days I climbed trees.
I can remember being high up in an oak looking at the moon.
Me up a tree. Those were the days.
So as I write this, there is a lot of noisy action going on next door.
Quiet and lonely?
I have a new friend in Vietnam and an acrobat performing out my window.
Glad I got out of bed.
I would have hated to miss all this.
FLOW
I first saw this beautiful Camellia sasanqua decades ago in a church yard.
A wise (or maybe careless) person left the plant tag on it. That’s how I learned its name.
This particular church has a big barbecue the same week as my daddy’s birthday.
My family has gone to this barbecue every year for over thirty years.
So each November, I have looked forward to eating the wonderful food and seeing this shrub in bloom.
In 1994, I found a Jean May Camellia sasanqua of my own.
I love its evergreen leaves, its white bark, its open shape and its dreamy pink blooms.
I even love when it loses its petals. It’s like pink confetti.
Jean the Party Queen throwing her own fall festival.
I am not sure of when this happened, but several years ago some well-meaning person trimmed the church’s Jean May.
I arrived at the BBQ to find a square shrub with only a few blooms visible. No confetti. No petal party.
Square shrubs make me scream.
There is such a thing as plant abuse. (Just ask a Crepe Myrtle.)
Just because there is no bite with their bark, doesn’t mean they don’t have feelings.
So my dream Jean May shrub at the church is now square.
But my own Jean May is a giant delight.
If you have a square shrub, please at least go out and cut off its corners.
You don’t want to find FLOWER in your yard screaming.
FLOW
My daddy turns 87 today.
For his birthday, I got him a new set of tools.
Not just any tools. Tiny tools.
I told him they were for working on his model planes.
He got a kick out of that.
FLOWER loves her daddy.
I tend to change the names of people, places and things.
Just ask my students and family. New names are the norm with the FLOWER.
So I call this Life Saver plant ( Huernia zebrina) by the name Starfish plant. Which is NOT its correct name.
This is not due to senility.
It’s because this plant reminds me of a starfish story I used to tell my students.
Starfish/Seastars are capable of regeneration. If they lose an arm, they grow a new one.
This is important to know if you are harvesting oysters.
You see starfish eat shellfish. They use these arms to pull open the shell and stick their stomachs inside to secret acids that dissolve the guts of the victim. Then they slurp up the goo. Yummy.
Oyster fishermen in the past tried to kill off the competition by chopping them into pieces. This only multiplied the problem, because if a piece of the central disc was left on the arms, all those pieces became new starfish.
So the lesson here is to know your enemy.
Okay… back to the plant.
The Life Saver plant likes to drop arms around.
If these land in a neighboring pot, the pieces produce new plants.
So all those arms are a way of reproducing asexually.
So the Life Saver gets called the Starfish at FLOWER’s house.
It’s no surprise that Wingrid loves this plant. It’s the extra arms she can relate to.
Anybody want some Starfish…I mean Life Saver plant parts?
FLOW
Some of my plants are too precious to leave their survival to chance.
I put my new Tiger lilies at the top of my precious list.
I know they are supposed to survive in zones 4 through 9.
I am in zone 7, so I should relax and leave them out, but…
Some winters are extremely cold, others are soggy wet.
Our soil is red clay so things rot. I have to put pebbles under plants to ensure drainage.
Why would I risk the only lily the mama deer did not eat?
These Tigers are the only lilies that came through the “deer delicatessen ” month uneaten.
So both the bulbs and the bulbils are coming in.
I removed the purple bulbils from the stems.
I immediately popped these into some cactus soil in shallow pots and watered them.
Label these babies in the pots.
Then I removed the yellowed plants from their giant pot.
I shook the damp soil off the roots.
I let these dry a few days and then knock off the remaining soil.
I store them in a cardboard box full of damp vermiculite separated be used packing paper. Separation prevents the spread of diseases.
The big, heavy, empty pot will have to stay outside.
Always keep the label with the bulbs.
If you think you will recognized them in the spring,
you are either young or very optimistic.
I always have WTF (What’s This Flower) moments in spring.
Now these Tigers , big and small, will be safe through the winter in my workshop with my hundreds of other precious plants.
The FLOWER knows she is forgetful and plans accordingly.
FLOWER in the Fall
Calling all worker bees.
It’s time to stop making honey
and fly to the polls.
Do not let the smoke confuse you.
The drones think they own the hive.
Rise up and use your voting power.
Ignore the media buzz.
Vote with your heart.
Choose love over hate.
Choose hope over fear.
There is no OTHER,
just US seeking justice for all.
This is your call to wings.
Swarm the polls.
Sincerely and respectfully,
Your fellow worker bee FLOWER
It’s been a big week for my daddy.
You have seen posts of him with his little model planes.
https://floweralley.org/2018/04/06/my-daddys-little-airport/
This week he went to see some real World War II planes.
He looked rather tiny rolling around under these giant aircraft.
The Collins Foundation brought their ‘Wings of Freedom Tour ‘ to Statesville’s Airport.
There was a B-25 Mitchell named the TonDeLayo.
Also a B-17 Flying Fortress, the Nine-O-Nine.
Daddy’s favorite was the B-24J -Liberator called Witchcraft.
We got to see some lucky folks take rides in a P-51 Mustang.
Daddy enjoyed talking with one of the pilots about the different motors used in the P-51.
He also met a Vietnam veteran whose dad, Roy E. Guy, was shot down in Germany.
Mama was a good sport during the event, as usual, despite being cold.
My sister was Daddy’s wingman, rolling him wherever he pointed.
I, of course, was the reporter, photographer and spy.
He claims that last year’s Liberator is his last model plane.
https://floweralley.org/2018/02/11/my-daddys-planes/
I hope this is not true. My daddy just loves planes. He was like a kid in a toy store.
I must include this cute little dog, who waited patiently while his daddy got up in a plane for a photo.
The FLYING FLOWER
floweralley 