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A Crutch and a Shovel

| Flower Roberts

For the past two weeks, I have had to use an extra tool.

I have needed a crutch to get around.

My left knee had too much Charlestion. Not the dance, the city.

I just had to see every plant on every plantation.

By Sunday, I could not walk. Thank goodness for rolling luggage.

For over two weeks, I have walked up and down my hills with a crutch under my left arm and a shovel in my right hand, for balance and digging.

It has been such a blessing.  This crutch. I have learned a lot from it.

I have learned to be grateful for the right tool at the right time.

You see, I could NOT have walked.  I would have been stuck  inside looking out my windows

at the weeds that needed pulling and the mulch that needed spreading and the bunnies that needed chasing…

This dirty crutch gave me my freedom.  What if I had not had it?

Yes, I have a bad knee, but I also have a crutch and a shovel.

( No photo. It is 4:00 AM and I left it in the car after seeing my doctor. That is in Part Two.)

FLOWER

Underground Growth

| Flower Roberts

Just because you don’t see something, doesn’t mean it isn’t there.

I have an example of a White Peruvian Daffodil/Hymenocallis festalis.

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I planted one bulb last year.

It grew.  It bloomed.  Then it sat there all summer… I thought.

It is hardy to 10 degrees F, so I figured I had better bring part of it in for my stock plants.

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Surprise!

I dug it up today.  There were 23 bulbs.

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The other shocker is, I dug half of it up last month.

One bulb to 40+ within one year.

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Just because you don’t see something, doesn’t mean it’s not there.

Sometimes you have to dig a little.

Pay attention. A lot goes on underground.

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flower

 

 

Seeds for Tomorrow

| Flower Roberts

No matter how you feel today, you must plan for tomorrow.

Winter is coming.

Your plants know this.  They are setting seed.

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Hibiscus seed pod

What are you going to do?  Let them fall to the ground to rot or be eaten?

No. You are going out there and collect those seeds to save and share.

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Four O’clock seeds

There is no use buying the same type seeds next spring.  They may not be the exact hybrid.

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Flying Saucer seeds
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Flying Saucer Flower

It takes only minutes. Take envelopes with a marker.

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Butterfly Weeds pod
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Butterfly weed seeds

Write the name of the plant on an envelope and put a number of seeds in it.

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Bind weed
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Bind weed seeds

I take requests, so I save many seeds from some plants to share.

I even save weed seeds that I like to plant along my driveway.

Think forward, now that winter is coming.  Prepare for tomorrow.

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FLOWER’s seed bank. I will share.

Get ready gardeners.  Think spring!

FLOWER in the fall.

S’more Spores

| Flower Roberts

It’s the time of year when plants get ready to go dormant here in North Carolina.

This means in addition to losing leaves, plants set seed or form spores.  This hopefully ensures another generation of plants.

This November is a little unusual because it has been so warm that we still have flowers blooming and bees buzzing.  I have even had second generation seeds germinate and flower this season.

I will take you on a tour of s’more spores.  Seeds will follow in another post.

Sensitive fern/Onoclea sensibilis sends up its own spores on a stick.  These are referred to as beads.

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Its fronds are sterile, i.e. do not produce spores.

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Chain fern/ Woodwardia areolata has a separate spore bearing structure, also.

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Its fronds do not produce spores either.

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The Japanese Holly fern/Cyrtomium falcatum has a sporadic spore arrangement.  No pun intended.

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Its fronds are evergreen.

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Here is one sorus from the Japanese Holly fern under the microscope.

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Stay tuned for seeds.

FLOWER

Spore Surprise

| Flower Roberts

Well, I intended to do a post on fern spores later, but the spores had other ideas.

I picked a frond off my Autumn ferns to bring in to my work space yesterday evening.

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I took photos of the lovely sori lined up two-by-two down the leaflets.

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I meant to take the frond back outside to the compost pile when I finished.

Over night, the frond dried up and shot spores all over the table.

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I was amazed at the range the tiny sporangia catapults had.

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While we are on the subject of spores, may I remind you that they are NOT seeds.

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Sporangium(catapult) heads slung with spores from a dried up sorus.

Each spore germinates into a tiny gametophyte that allows an egg and sperm join

then germination takes place and a new sporophyte/fern plant grows.

The tiny green structures (pin-head sized) in this jar are gametophytes grown from Dragon’s Tail fern spores.

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If my snacked on baby fern (‘Disappearing Fern’ post) doesn’t survive, maybe its progeny will.  Sniff, sniff.

Ferns come, ferns go, ferns come again.

FERN MAMA/FLOWER

 

A Trip Back in Time

| Flower Roberts

Middleton Place is located along the Ashley River near Charleston, South Carolina.

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There are many separate gardens with each its own special features.

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There is a large camellia garden and a formal rose garden and many water features and statuary.

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I especially enjoyed the area that is the working part of the plantation.

There are carriages and display shops of blacksmiths, coopers, carpenters and candle-makers.

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The icing on the cake is the barnyard and barns with animals.

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I made friends with a one-horned Water Buffalo

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and a horse, of course.

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Both beautiful and fascinating.

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Middleton is marvelous.

FLOWER

An Orange and a Rose

| Flower Roberts

I found two treasures while touring Magnolia Plantation in Charleston, South Carolina.

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The first is a hardy orange tree called Chinese Bitter Orange.  Its scientific name is Poncirus trifoliata.

It has long, tough thorns.

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The fruit is not edible alone, but may be used in marmalade or condiments.

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The second is called Confederate Rose. It is a tree hibiscus also called Giant Rose Mallow.

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Its scientific name is Hibiscus mutabilis.

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There were thousands of plants on this lovely plantation.

These two were my favorites.

FLOWER

 

The Magical Magnolia Plantation

| Flower Roberts

It was my great joy to attend a wedding at this lovely setting over the weekend.

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Magnolia Plantation has belonged to the Drayton family since 1676.

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It is located near the city of Charleston, South Carolina along the Ashley River.

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The house has a lovely wrap-around porch for entertaining and viewing the property.

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The house walls are covered with a stucco-like composite called pebbledash.

This is a combination of phosphate, lime and river mud. It has a rough texture due to shells and pebbles in the mix.

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Pebbledash wall behind the beautiful bride and bridesmaid.

The Bald Cypress trees hung with Spanish moss surround various sizes of ponds and seemed to make little dams with their knees.

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Several lovely bridges allow you pause and peer into the waters.

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There are many camellias and azaleas on the grounds.

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I will share two unusual plants from Magnolia Plantation in my next post.

Stay tuned.

FLOWER