More random things around the garden to start out the week. Not the garden today, or yesterday, since it's too smoky to go out. There was one decent morning, I think it was Saturday, when I did manage to get out and water some, and take a few pictures.
The Virginia creeper is coloring up for autumn. I tried to rid myself of it after I'd lived here a short while. Can't do it!
The wild grapes are plumper and getting splotches of purple. The vine hasn't had fruit before, and I expected them to slowing turn purple, not like this, which looks like paint smears.
The Moonshine yarrow heads loos kind of pretty with the blooming strawberry mint. Both need to be cut back after the flowers on the mint are gone. Tiny pollinators are still flocking... flying to it.
The last of the backyard daylilies, a Ruffled Apricot. I do expect May May to reappear though, she's usually blooming until frost. I think of May May as a "she" since May is a feminine name! Ruffled Apricot though, for no reason at all, I picture as a "he."
I got these old seeds from the Goodwill Bins. They'll be a good test as to how long seeds are viable. Germinate rate will be down, but some should grow. After all, seeds found in ancient tombs grow! I still need to plant one of the date seeds my mother saved from one of her first dates (ha ha, dates on a date) with my father. It was the first time she'd had dates, the fruit.
A crab spider on a blanketflower. Sometimes the petals are folded like this, but it's not a variety that does it, just a now and again mutation. I think there are plants that are supposed to do this all the time, but I think they revert back.
On my other blog, a poetry blog, there was a prompt to use kigo words in our syllabic poetry. Kigo are seasonal words or phrases in haiku or other Japanese forms, used to replace the words such as "spring," " autumn," etc. The poems should suggest, allude to, the season, but not outright use the word. I'll post it here too since it is garden related. It's a haiku sequence, and not titled, since haiku have no titles. Haiku is often assumed to only be 5/7/5, however 3/5/3 is also common.
stay inside
thick smoke blocks the sun
pray for rain
wildfire smoke
snakes under the door
dog sneezes
scorched garden
withered Brandywines
uneaten
©Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved
My son took some photos of weeds and teasel at the edge of a nearby creek. I thought I might use them to illustrate the poem. I did end up using one I filtered.
I think teasel is quite pretty this time of year.
My front yard has some pretty dried seed heads too. These were taken through the dirty front window. I'm not going out in the smoke. The tall round ones are Turkish sage. The tall thin ones are blazing star.
The other part of the front yard still has a lot of color. Coreopsis, dianthus, Red Riding Hood pensetmon, blanketflower, even three daylilies, Grape Magic, May May, and Lullaby Baby. Most of the purple is Persian catmint, but hidden in there is a Blue Jeans Baby Russian sage.
Have a nice week.
I know you won't eat that squash if it grows, so I volunteer. You can do the germination test, though.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sacrificing yourself to eat summer squash!
DeleteI guess there are things that just seem more masculine or feminine. When I took French in school, I had the worst time learning articles because everything was either masculine or feminine, and I couldn't keep it straight.
ReplyDeleteI took Spanish. I never learned it well. I lived in Spain in 8th grade, and when I registered for high school they must have thought I could speak it, as they put me in Spanish II. I took III the next year and I don't know how I passed with Cs! Cars are usually feminine, but I've only "known" one that were "boys"! My grandfather's was Billy.
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