This Agave americana / Century plant will bloom only once in its life.
That is Flower standing under its giant bloom stalk.
What a thrilling thing to see up-close.
Once in a Lifetime
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What’s Your Seed?
How do you take the seed of a talent and grow it into genius?
When does a skill become a craft and then a gift?
What do these seeds within us need in order to grow and flourish?
I know they need time and attention.
Talents need to be tended and nurtured.
I visited a genius yesterday.
I heard him talk. I saw his work. I felt his love for his family, art, plants, pets and pigeons.
I was overwhelmed by the beauty of his creations. So many. So diverse.
Jewelry of silk and stone,
Paintings of nature,
Gardens with plants known by name and needs,
Sculptures of wood or iron,
Bonsai like miniature worlds,
Silk scarves that speak to the soul.
Birdabodes for the spoiledest of songbirds.
So many seeds grown to fruition.
Do we ALL have seeds? What are mine?
Have I given my seeds my time, talent and undivided attention?
How does one grow a genius?
I’ve seen one. I know one. I want to make one. I want to be one.
It takes inspiration, determination and a team of support.
What’s your seed? How can you grow it? Who is going to help you?
Thank you Stephen and family for sharing your treasured time with me.
You have and will continue to inspire me.
Love grows us all.
FLOWER.
Scorned by the Trees
If you want the whole story, listen to the trees.
The flowers will greet you at the driveway.
The shrubs will show you to the door, but the trees see it all.
I went to my friends’ farm to photograph the daylilies.
It is June. They are beautiful.
I felt the trees watching me.
“More folks to see the new-comers.” they said.
The silos sighed.
“Pretty faces, shallow roots.” whispered the trees.
“They know nothing. Blooming little twits.”
“Show-offs. The weeds know more than they do.”
I felts as though I were in a museum taking pictures in the gift shop.
“The story is up here.” they said.
“We have the history.”
“We saw the boy grow to a man and his boy grow to a man.”
“We shaded the cows. We saw the storms and sunsets.”
“We watched the pastures change to neighborhoods.”
“We know the history, yet you are focusing on the flashy little trinkets.”
“All they know is a rainwand and sunshine.”
“Needy and greedy.”
“Are you shallow too.” they asked?
Follow the TREES!
Using Chopstix
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.
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.
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.
I made a whole new batch of markers.
I chose blue and green to be inconspicuous. Maybe I should have gotten red instead.
We will see how this works out.
I only broke one this morning.
Now if I can just read my writing!
Follow the forgetful FLOWER.
I Want the Faith of a Vine
I want the faith a vine has
when it grows up to the height of its trellis
and reaches up toward the sun.
Growing past all support.
Its only mission is to get to the light
which gives it life.
No turning back.
Follow the Light.
Let them be Just Poppies
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.
Lovely and tall with nodding buds
and fancy fringe petals
and shaker-top seed pods.
Let them be just poppies;
Not a source of opium or the cause of an addiction.
Not the crop of desperate farmers in a war-torn land far away,
Not a field of lost souls from a foreign war long ago,
Or a magical cause of sleep sent by a wicked witch.
They are just poppies.
Beautiful poppies.
Nothing more.
Asiatics fill the Gap
Here in North Carolina, the bearded iris show off in April and early May.
The daylilies don’t swing in to action until late May.
To fill the gap are the Asiatic Lilies.
May is their month to shine.
These are my daughter’s lilies. She’s a flower, too.
Follow the FLOWERS.
Add a Little Magic
I love tiny plants.
I love fairies.
I think tree roots are fascinating.
Put them together. It’s magic!
The fairies like their new hang out.
Even a toad dropped by while I was working. (Not pictured) Was he really a prince?
We shall see. One never knows what may happen. When there is magic in the garden.
Even if it is just a little magic.
Follow the Fairies!
Blame It On The Oaks
Danger has come to the bunny yard.
I blame it on the oaks.
They dropped too many acorns this year. Millions of acorns.
The vermin feasted and propagated. No foraging necessary.
Now, there are too many little squirrels and baby chipmunks and mice.
The snakes come for lunch. The hawks come for dinner. The owls come for a midnight snatch.
Whoooo else came in the night?
Something big and strong. Something that bends wire and tears fences from their posts.
I am mending my fences and locking my low windows.
Afraid of this danger that has smelled my bunnies’ scent and wants to join the feast.
I blame it on the oaks.
Follow the FLOWER to the root cause.
UPDATE: Tracks photo from inside the bunny yard today.
Coyote?
floweralley 