Know the Name

| Flower Roberts

I am a gardener, but I’m also a biologist.
Because of this,I want to know the name of the plants I find.
If you have ever used a dicotomous key. You know that you can answer one question wrong in the series of many questions and end up with the wrong class and family name. This means you have to start all over again to find the actual species name.
In other words, you can’t get there from here.

Manual of Vascular Flora of the Carolinas
Manual of Vascular Flora of the Carolinas

I have a dicotomous key for plants in the Carolinas that is rather large. I have used it quite a bit over the years. There are also keys on-line associated with universities or companies that can be used. I struggle with these when I have to back-track.

There’s a new way to help find the name of a flower. It’s an app called Like That Garden. I have this on my phone.

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I have tested it out on plants at home that I know. You take a picture of the flower. The app scans the photo and comes up with a list of possible names and photos of those choices.  I think color is the main searching factor because several times a totally different shape of flower would appear as a choice, but the color was true to my mystery flower.

You then confirm that the apps’ picture is a match and it stores your pictures and location along with its data. I used this app to identify two wildflowers in Volterra, Italy.  Now my data is part of the information bank.

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The app keeps track of the plants I have identified in my phone with the date and their location.

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If you are like me in needing to know plant names, you will love this app. It has a huge bank of photos at your fingertips. You won’t need a ruler or to know the leaf venation nor arrangement. You just need to find a match for your photo. I even took a photo of a flower on my computer screen to see if it could identify it.

It’s like having a new toy.

Follow The Flower

Fresh Flowers for Sale in Italy

| Flower Roberts

I have been reminded of a book about the flower industry this week
I have photographed many flower shops.
The book is Flower Confidential.
I will be doing a post about it soon.
Here is a glimpse at some high-end offerings available to city-dwellers who need their “flower fix.”
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These lovely flowers are like living jewels.

Follow la Flower.  I have been Italicized!!!!!

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Wild Wandering

| Flower Roberts

“I’d rather be a tall, ugly weed.”

This is the last line of Julio Noboa Polanco’s poem, Identity.

Many of my posts have been about cultivated plants and flowers,

purposely bred, raised and carefully tended.

In Julio’s poem this type of plant is described as “watered, fed, guarded, admired, but harnessed to a pot of dirt”

Harnessed to a pot of dirt.
Harnessed to a pot of dirt.

I have chosen to give some attention on Wednesdays to the wild plants

that are sometimes called weeds.

Not all weeds are wild and not all wild plants are weeds.

Weed is a term used to refer to a plant growing where it is not wanted.

Weed is also used as a verb referring to the removal of the unwanted plants.

This is not the case when using the slang term Weed to refer to marijuana/Cannabis/hemp.

It is possible to weed weeds while smoking weed. If you confuse these three you may end up in a bit of a jam.

So today, I will show you some tall weeds on the Alley farm the are far from ugly.

Mr. Alley and Mr. Alley taking a walk out back to see the
Mr. Alley and Mr. Alley taking a walk out back to see the “weeds” and butterflies.

These may be called wild flowers by people who appreciate their beauty.

A former post  “Weeds are the Champions” highlighted the resilience of weeds.

I would like to tweak that to say “Wild is the Champion” for this post.

Scollid wasps on Goldenrod.

These lovely plants were neither planted nor tended.

God is the best gardener.

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Strong and free Ironweed.

I have nothing in my garden that compares to this vine.

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Wild pea vine is not praised, handled nor plucked.

The butterflies love this tall Joe Pye Weed.

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I was a bit jealous that I wear myself out taking care of my “harnessed hybrids” ,

while all this beauty was totally maintenance free.

Spider having snacktime.
Spider having snack time.

Follow the Flower.

Noxious and Invasive Foreigner

| Flower Roberts

Mulberry weed, Fatoua villosa, is the worst weed-foe that I have ever encountered. It is a survivor.

Mulberry weed
Mulberry weed

It has alternate leaves with spiked, microscopic hairs as well has hairy stems. Little “stemlets” and blooms come from the nodes where the leaf emerges from the stem.

If you break off the top of the plant, the stem “medusas out” and it comes back up as a little bush.

multiple stems from being broken off
multiple stems from being broken off

The tiny white flower clusters ripen into purple pod clusters full of tiny seeds.

seed pods ripened purple
seed pods ripened purple

The seeds shoot out of the dried pods as you pull up the plant. You must get it before blooms ripen into pods.

“hairy crab” seed pods

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Do not throw these weeds on your compost pile.  If you do you will plant them next year. Even the tiny plants can set seed.

different sizes
different sizes

It is an import from Asia that piggy-backs into your plantings from nursery stock.

It is suspected of coming to the USA with the troops and equipment after WWII.

alternate leaves and blooms at the joint
alternate leaves and blooms at the joint

It is described as noxious and invasive. These are not terms of endearment.

I usually try to find attributes for my local weeds, but this is an imported pest that ranks right up there with Kudzu.

Follow the FLOWER. Return next Wednesday for another visit with a WEED.

Weeds are the Champions, My Friend

| Flower Roberts

I’ve planted my seeds

time after time.

I’ve done the digging.

I’ve committed the time.

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Made some mistakes.

Planted some brutes.

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I’ve had my share of seeds blown in my face,

But I’ve come through.

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And I could go on and on and on and on because…

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Weeds are the champions, my friend

but I’ll keep on weeding ’til the end.

Weeds are the champions

Weeds are the champions

No space for hybrids

“cause weeds are the champions of the WORLD.

FOLLOW the FLOWER for “WEED Wednesdays” for a new take on what we call weeds.

Morning Light

| Flower Roberts

Morning light is different.

Super bell full of sunshine.
Super bell full of sunshine.

The low angle of the sun’s rays causes the subject  to cast vertical shadows on itself.

Crape Myrtle bark
Crape Myrtle bark

It gives a three-dimensional effect that you can’t get any other time of day.

Hot Chocolate Calla
Hot Chocolate Calla

I got up early this morning and let the sun’s rays spotlight what I should photograph.

Apricot Drift Rose
Apricot Drift Rose

I paced up and down the eastern side of the garden waiting to see what lit up next.

Oakleaf Hydrangea
Oakleaf Hydrangea

It was like being lead on a treasure hunt.

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Blackeyed Susans

Look closely for rays and shadows.

Acidanthera Orchid Glad
Acidanthera Orchid Glad

Let the light guide you.

Shining spider web
Shining spider web

FOLLOW the FLOWER.

STOP! It’s RED

| Flower Roberts

Why do we use the color red to signal stop?

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Mandevilla Sun Parasol Garden Crimson

Red has longest wavelengths we can perceive with our eyes.

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Turk’s cap/ Malvaviscus arboreus

Longer wavelengths are infrared waves, microwaves and radio waves.

We can’t see these longer waves, but can we sense them?

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I often wonder if we can feel red somehow.

Petunia
Petunia

When it is mixed with other colors it demands our attention.

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Morning glories and Cardinal Climber Vine

When it’s bright and big it makes us pause.

Charisma Amaryllis
Charisma Amaryllis

What does red light beaming at us feel like subconsciously?

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Why does it universally mean stop?

Red Hot.

Jalopeno peppers
Jalopeno peppers

Red Devil.

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“Lucifer “Crocosmia

Do we all have an ancient memory of blood red danger?

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Bleeding Heart Vine

Does red make some of us blush and make others feel angry?

Hummingbird Vine
Hummingbird Vine

How does red make us feel?

Sweet 1000's
Sweet 1000’s

I wonder…

FOLLOW the FLOWER.