Fragmentary Blue

Plumbago auriculata. (Cape plumbago, leadwort)
Brooklyn Botanical Garden. August 2006.
(Click picture for larger view)

Fragmentary Blue
Why make so much of fragmentary blue
In here and there a bird, or butterfly,
Or flower, or wearing-stone, or open eye,
When heaven presents in sheets the solid hue?

Since earth is earth, perhaps, not heaven (as yet)--
Though some savants make earth include the sky;
And blue so far above us comes so high,
It only gives our wish for blue a whet.
~ Robert Frost (1874-1963)

Outside the cold wind is howling, driving rain pelts the windows and ten foot high waves are crashing in from the ocean. Gale and flood warnings are out through the holiday and into Friday. This wind twisting from the southeast to east to northeast, will bring an end to the fall leaves. Even now they are flying and whirling through the air and across the grass. Some settle in the pooled water at the curb while others gather in piles along the fence.

The colors of fall are fading; from deep reds and yellows to drab shriveled browns. Only the recently planted pansies and the chrysanthemums still brighten the landscape. This Cape Plumbago grew in the temperate climate greenhouse of the Brooklyn Botanical Garden, and its limbs were heavy with these clusters of light blue blooms. In the midst of a cold "Nor'easter", this picture brings sun and warmth and a touch of summer.

Submission for LensDay topic "blue". (end of post)