Yellow rose of Virginia.... sorry Texas.“'Twas a yellow rose, By that south window of the little house, My cousin Romney gathered with his hand On all my birthdays, for me. save the last; And then I shook the tree too rough, too rough, For roses to stay after.” ~ Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Aurora Leigh (bk. VI)
In Victorian flower language, a yellow rose meant or was used to convey jealousy. However, in the western U.S., the yellow rose came to symbolize a familiar, native and humble love, including feelings of home and domestic happiness, joy, and friendship.
Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) in my yard 
"Thou pretty herb of Venus’ tree,
Thy true name it is Yarrow;
Now who my bosom friend must be,
Pray tell thou me to-morrow.”
~ Halliwell’s Popular Rhymes
The old Myth concerning the yarrow's name sake, Achilles, states that his Mother made a strong tea of yarrow and, at his birth, dipped him in it, thus making him totally invulnerable except for the heal that she held him by, the Achilles Heal. Another bit of yarrow lore declares that if you sew a bit of yarrow into a flannel pouch, place it under your pillow, and say this poem before going to sleep; you will learn the name of your future bride or groom in your dreams.
Placed in the garden it discourages beetles, ants and flies! If a handful is added to the compost it will speed up the breakdown of the plant material. In the garden it is a very good companion plant improving the health of all plants around it.
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ABC Wednesday ~ Letter "Y"
Unruly Urchin.... makes me utterly upset!!! "In such a strait the wisest may well be perplexed, and the boldest staggered." ~ Edmund Burke, Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents
I spoke too soon! This unruly urchin and his union of urban outlaws have gotten the upper hand again. The ultrasonic device I urged folks to use is utterly useless and unproductive in its appointed undertaking. OK. I really cannot think of many more "U" words and it makes my head ache.... my thesaurus is about to go up in smoke. I recommended an ultrasonic squirrel and animal repelling machine by a company called Bird-X. At first, it seemed to be unbelievably (I did it again) effective and thwarted the critters for over a week. But then, I re-filled the bird feeders and they simply came back. Occasionally, I see where they have knocked it over to a face down position and other times, they simply stand in front of it and laugh hysterically at me watching them from the window. But now it is WAR! I caught one on the deck munching on one of my small tomatoes.... I am afraid that my brother is right...these squirrels have to depart, scram, vamoose... one way or the other.
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ABC Wednesday ~ "U"
Nature's Notes
Purple hyacinths with yellow pansies.“If, of thy mortal goods, thou art bereft,
And from thy slender store two loaves alone to thee are left,
Sell one and from the dole,
Buy Hyacinths to feed the soul”
~ Muslih-uddin Sadi
Pink hydrangea.
Hydrangeas
Dragoons, I tell you the white hydrangeas turn rust and go soon.
Already mid September a line of brown runs over them.
One sunset after another tracks the faces, the petals.
Waiting, they look over the fence for what way they go.
~Carl Sandburg
Rose...spicy...Honey Dijon
"They are not long, the days of wine and roses:
Out of a misty dream
Our path emerges for a while, then closes
Within a dream."
~ Ernest Dowson, (1867 - 1900)
Purple Heliotrope...the scent of vanilla.
"Perfumes are the feelings of flowers." ~ Heinrich Heine
To honor the coming of Spring and the changing of the hours, I look back at the wonderful flowers of last year with their heavenly fragrances and their handsome blossoms and I hope their beauty will soon honor us with their presence again.
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ABC Wednesday ~ Letter "H"
Nature's Notes
Gaillardia aristata 'Sunburst Scarlet Halo', Blanketflower."Each letter of the alphabet is a steadfast loyal soldier in a great army of words, sentences, paragraphs, and stories. One letter falls, and the entire language falters."
~ Vera Nazarian (The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration)
I can whole heartedly recommend this plant... Gaillardia or blanketflower. It is magnificent. I planted these in late April last year, already having blooms. Through the rest of Spring and Summer and on late into the Fall, they bloomed and bloomed and bloomed. All I had to do was deadhead the spent blossoms and more appeared. They finally faded in mid-November. Eights months of glorious, glowing color. And it will come back again this year, on its own with no additional planting... a true perennial. There are many varieties, most with varying amounts of crimson red and fiery yellow in the petals; but there are also those with flowers a gorgeous shade of garnet. Try them out... you won't be disappointed.
Groovy, garden gnome... with mushrooms!!
Enchanted Forest ~ Norfolk Botanical Gardens)
I wrote about this past Summer's display of wonderful children's playhouses in the Enchanted Forest section of Norfolk Botanical Gardens. Small clearings in the wooded area provided meeting places for the children to have short classes and explore the trees and to build gnome houses... yes, the Enchanted Forest is inhabited by groovy, garden gnomes. Look, under that bush or over there... beside that tree trunk... you never know where they will turn up. This one is adorable, but... what is that vine around him.... groundcover? Oh, I do hope it is Virginia creeper and not that nasty poison ivy stuff.
Green glass water globe.....
I learned a new word today... gelid...and adjective meaning... very cold; icy. Greens and blues are the cold or cool colors.. while reds and yellows are hot and glowing. You see where I was going with this now... right? Anyway, this is one of those contraptions that helps with watering the plants... it is filled with water, inserted in the soil and as the plant needs water it is absorbed and air replaces the water; or at least that is the general gist of it. It works well for the hanging baskets that are difficult to reach.
Gardenia...the flower meaning secret love, purity and joy.
This is my gardenia, variety Chuck Hayes... planted one year ago and bloomed deliciously this past Spring and early Summer. The scent was glorious and filled the yard with sweetness that could be sampled as soon as one walked through the back gate. Gardenias are one of my favorite flowers, in fact, they were the centerpiece of my bridal bouquet back in the dark ages. I love the deep and dark leaves and the pure white blooms and that fragrance... oh, my....indescribable!
A little touch of Geography.... Geneva, Switzerland.
Finally, aren't you glad I'm about to go? Just a little geography lesson... a little bit of the old world.... Geneva... no, not Illinois, Ohio, New York or the other six Geneva's in the United States... this Geneva is in Switzerland and this picture was taken by my globetrotting brother, Stephen Gould. This was a hard one... not the pictures... but the words. OK... I'm gone.
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ABC Wednesday ~ The Letter "G"
Yes, this is a quiz...... get your pencils ready!
(Click picture to enlarge) “Educational television should be absolutely forbidden. It can only lead to unreasonable disappointment when your child discovers that the letters of the alphabet do not leap up out of books and dance around with royal-blue chickens.” ~ Fran Lebowitz (American Writer and Humorist, b.1950)
ABC Wednesday is here again and the letter this week is "F". I figured that a pop quiz is in order, having never posted one before. So, I collected a few of my favorite pictures for you to match with descriptions and the answers will be below. Just fit the descriptions with the letters in the picture mosaic. So, have fun and don't fake it. Enjoy. Ready? Begin!
- Foreboding Forest ________
- Fragrant Flowers _________
- Fuzzy Flyer _____________
- Friendly Face ___________
- Filigreed Fern___________
- Fanciful Fuchsia _________
- Fabulous Flutterby _______
- Frilly Foliage____________
- Fluffy Feline ____________
- Feisty Finch _____________
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ABC Wednesday Cycle 8 ~ Letter "F"
Answers: 1. f; 2. i; 3. b; 4. j; 5. c; 6. g; 7. a; 8. d; 9. h; 10. e.
Echinacea purpurea (Purple coneflowers)... not just purple any longer. "When you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it is your world for the moment. I want to give that world to someone else." ~ Georgia O'Keeffe (American Painter, 1887-1986)
Well, this is a day late and a dollar short but the color infusion is a blessing and much needed in February. And days like today with balmy temperatures and that blast of Spring that is in the air.. well, I am looking forward to seeing if these beauties survived the winter and if they are truly able to multiply and grow stronger in their second garden go round.
These are all Echinacea purpurea or purple coneflowers... which is fine, except they are not purple! The purple variety are the native wildflowers that grow in the central plains. They derive their common name from the prickly cone shaped central disk that towers over the daisy like petals. These days an explosion of color has appeared as cultivars that range from bright sunrise yellow through hot orange to tomato soup red. Whites and even lime green varieties along with double rows of petals and fragrant flowers have been added. So the purple coneflower is not your great-great-grandmother's coneflower.
A derivative of the tap root, Echinacea has been touted as an enhancer of the body's immune system... great for colds. It was used by Native Americans for a variety of disorders including toothaches, sore throats and coughs. Some proponents insist that this is great for preventing or shortening colds and other research indicates that it has no effect at all. Ah... the power of placebo suggestion.
So, I don't really know the answer to the "medicinal" uses.. but if you let these gorgeous blooms fade in the garden and leave the central cones to dry and turn brown.. well, yes, it doesn't look that neat and pristine... but the seeds in those cones are simply bliss for the small birds in winter, particularly the finches. I have seen them perch on the sturdy but dead stems and graze to their little hearts content.
So, this (late) ABC Wednesday is the letter "E" and that stands for Echinacea... an efflorescence of exquisite elegance, easy on the eyes as well as an edible entrée that endows essential energy to our fine feathered friends. (Just thinking about next week)
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ABC Wednesday Cycle 8 ~ The Letter "E"
Daughter Nyssa with Dottie....1989"Those are the moments that I think are precious to a dog - when, with his adoring soul coming through his eyes, he feels that you are really thinking of him." ~ John Galsworthy
"D' is for dogs, among others in our life have been a trio of divas named Dottie, Dixie and Daisy. Two came into our lives over twenty years ago, they stayed through ups and downs and provided times of joy as well as extreme angst.. and then within a span of six weeks, both were gone. Daisy came into our life just over two years ago and though she is more elderly than we thought, she quietly shares our space and lives to be with "her" people. All three were rescued...
Dottie was found while we were looking for a lost dog... another beagle, Barney. He dug out through the thick red clay of our Oklahoma yard and with his nose to the ground.. he ran, right into a car and was found four days later in a deep ditch several houses down from ours. I had plastered his picture all over the place, even at the local SPCA as he lost his collar in the escape. We saw Dottie, a small beagle pup who had been dumped at the side of a road, when we went to pick up Barney's picture at at the SPCA. It was the first of July and a long holiday weekend coming. I learned that the puppy's time was up and she couldn't be held over the weekend so the euthanasia was set for that evening... and I couldn't take that. So, Dottie came home with us. She grew and grew and ate and ate and eventually became one of the fattest beagles I have ever seen.
Dottie was a master at escaping as well but not that great at finding her way home. How many times did we search the neighborhood after the move to Mississippi... until she and her partner in crime.. Dixie.. came running out of the woods.. happy as clams. The end was quick... a tumor in her chest, ascites in her abdomen that made it hard for her to breathe... she only showed signs of her illness for a few days. I remember that she looked serene and grateful as she took her last breaths in my arms and licked my hand. Fifteen years together.
Nyssa and dachshund Dixie...1989
Dixie was Dottie's partner in crime most of the time... if she wasn't trying to start a fight with her. Two females together, even if no hormones were involved.. just caused friction at times. It wasn't always so. But I get ahead of myself. Dixie was wandering the streets of our Oklahoma neighborhood looking for her person, the one who took all her tags off a too small muddy leather collar and left her on her own. She was afraid of men and boys.. always. She would run up to my truck and then see that it wasn't who she was looking for and run away. Finally, the hunger overcame the fear and she came home with us. She became Barney's best bud and the night he was killed, she must have seen it happen. She came back into the yard and I found her sitting at the back door, wailing when I got home from a meeting. After we found his body, she sat on his grave and cried. Then Dottie came and she had a friend again.
Dixie followed Dottie everywhere, even after the day of the "big fight". As with all fights, it was over something small.. getting paw prints in the new concrete dog patio. After that it was a bit touch and go with them... sometimes they would feud for days and make us think they would never be able to live with each other again and while we thought it best to feed them in separate areas from then on, in their air conditioned/heated doghouse... they peacefully got along.
I always thought Dixie would leave us first. She started showing her age and lost her hearing and then her sight started to go. Dottie became her guide. But Dottie died first and Dixie was suddenly lost, frail and blind and unconsolable. She gave up eating and walking and six weeks later, it was hard, but time. Sixteen years together.
Nyssa and Daisy... 2008
Daisy is my current darling doodlebug. After losing another rescue cocker, Max to cancer in 2007, I was never going to have another dog. But partly because I missed having a dog and partly because my mom was thinking about getting a tiny miniature type of dog that I could see being stepped on or tripping her or my dad... well, I started looking. Daisy is my internet dog... rescued from a gassing shelter in South Carolina with only a half hour to spare.. sent north to the B.A.R.K rescue group in Richmond and to a foster home and then posted on the internet. I put in the application and then drove to Richmond to visit with Daisy and another cocker, Simon. Simon was lively and loving and Daisy was quiet. Simon was interested in the other dogs... Daisy only had eyes for the humans. I sat down to visit and she climbed in my lap and put her head on my shoulder.. and as they say "that was that". She chose me. Oh, Simon also got a home that day.
I have discovered that the nestling of the head on the shoulder is her thing with most people she meets. She loves elderly people, sits quietly beside them at the nursing home, patiently waits for pats and offers her paw. She doesn't bark. She can bark, I've heard her on occasion when she chases squirrels, but it has been a year now since her last vocal bark and it would probably scare me to death if she did. She is older than they first thought and her energy is low.. good for a home with two 80+ residents... and she has some heart failure but is perfect for we couch potatoes. She doesn't mind baths, loves the cats (that love is not reciprocated) and isn't bothered by my snoring. I hope several more years together.
As for the daughter, well.. she has grown up. In the pictures above, Nyssa was three and a half (that "half" always seemed so important when we were little didn't it?). She grew up with Dixie and Dottie. Now, she is almost 25 and off on her own. Daisy arrived after Nyssa left for graduate school... she calls the dog "her replacement". And now Nyssa has her own rescued pup... but her name doesn't start with a "D".
So, "D" is for daughters and dogs and for the daily doses of delirious delight and the occasional dastardly distress that come with them. I couldn't live without either.
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ABC Wednesday Round 8 ~ "D"
Pink Camellia, formal double bloom. Norfolk Botanical Garden. "The flowers of late winter and early spring occupy places in our hearts well out of proportion to their size." ~ Gertrude S. Wister
I have officially cracked up, gone crazy, become a real cuckoo.... I thought it was Tuesday, all day until about 5pm. I lived through Tuesday, but it was obviously a day to simply forget. So, now I am a day behind on everything, at least in my mind.
It is ABC Wednesday and today's letter is "C". I bet my faithful friends and readers who know me thought I would post pictures of my cats..... the crew....but I have been saving this picture since last February. Today, "C" is for camellias. Camellias are the winter's color with delicate petals and yet cold hardy. Norfolk Botanical Garden is home to the Hofheimer Camellia Garden contains around 750 different types of camellia bushes and the garden overall, contains more than 1700 individual camellia plantings and is one of the largest collections in the southeast. All shades of pink, coral, red, lavender, white and variegated blooms cover the bushes at this time of year. Nestled beneath the tall pines, they seem to love or at least tolerate the shade. The mass plantings are not far from the garden's Bald Eagle nesting site.
Speaking of the eagles... they have built a new nest and the Eagle Cam is in full swing for 2011. Each year they band all the eaglets and typically attach a small transmitter to one of them. It allows the scientists to follow the wanderings of the young ones until they mature and find a mate, building their own nesting spot. Eaglets with the transmitter are named and it just so happens that last year's is named "Camellia".
ABC Wednesday is brought to you this week by the letter "C". Our camellia will also be seen at Nature's Notes... and don't forget to check out the eagle cam... it is amazing to watch from January to July.
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Blue Anise Sage, Salvia guaranitica 'Black and Blue' "Flowers and plants are silent presences. They nourish every sense except the ear." ~ May Sarton
Summer breezes and sun warmed soil produce these lovely blooms. I have never seen such a rich and dark blue in a flower, nor stems and flower bases so dark... really a black color. Most often the "blue" flowers are really more lavender or purple tinged and any flower labeled "black" turn out to be a very dark burgandy. These flowers and the foliage are both fragrant and hummingbirds are said to love them. I'm not sure the hummers found these last summer; it was the fist planting after all. They did like the other salvia species I planted elsewhere and it was fun to watch them hover over the flowers and gently probe for nectar. The winder has been really cold and the ground feels frozen, but only near the edge of the flowerbed, so I am hoping they will return for a repeat engagement this spring and be more dense and lush as well. What a great welcome mat for the bees and hummingbirds!
So my offering for the letter "B" is "black and blue"; not a bruise... but, a beautiful bloom to begin this cycle of ABC Wednesday. Oops! "Cycle" doesn't begin with a "B" and I am late to post... again... but, better to be a blog behind than blank.
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ABC Wednesday Round 8: "B"
Flying south in autumn's golden light. (Click picture to enlarge) "Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns." ~ George Eliot
"A" is for Autumn now past and that particular glow of light in the afternoon. It is a light not seen in any other season of the year; warm, glowing and yet, with just a hint of frost and the coming cold. Winter light is more often than not a harsh gray and even when the sun shines brightly in blue winter skies, it doesn't warm the soul. The trees are asleep; the flowers hibernate. In Spring, the light teases the earth and the soil and speaks to the bulbs and seeds below... whispering for them to wake up, wake up. Spring's light feels airy and green.. but pastel in character. The light of Summer is bold and hot and burning... it does not beckon to the plants and trees, it commands them to grow and demands that they stand up straight and bloom. The trees respond and work to form a dense thick canopy for us to hide beneath. Yes, the Summer light is almost too intense... too much heat. But the Autumn light is golden and bronze and amber and perfectly made for the backgrounds of orange, yellow, red and russet leaves of the trees. It reflects off the Canada geese in flight and they become glowing embers in the sky. So.. "A" is for Autumn... always awesome....absolutely alluring....almost perfect.
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Needed this winter? A zest of color.
(Click picture to enlarge) "You'd be so lean, that blast of January
Would blow you through and through. Now, my fair'st friend,
I would I had some flowers o' the spring that might
Become your time of day."
~ William Shakespeare, The Winter's Tale, Act IV Scene 4.
The clouds have morphed from gray to fluffy cotton ball white and bright blue sky shows through. Sunshine has melted most of the thin ice layer and sublimation has revealed most interesting crystal patterns in that ice which remains. Tiny shards of ice are scattered all over the concrete driveway and on the deck, almost as if miniature icicles were blown apart by the west winds. It is still cold. Again, our forecasters were overly optimistic about that.. it did not reach 40℉... almost, but not quite and here we sit again in the 30's.
Even though the skies are blue and the sun shining yellow.. we could use more color in the flower beds. Right now the bulb and seed and plant catalogues are arriving and I must be content with these.... and the pictures from last summer. So, my submissions for the letter "Z" form a "zest" of color. The "zinnia" pictured were an afterthought. I had tilled up the edge of our no man's land between the fence and the preserve with its creeping rhizomes of wild cane and extra clay mixed with sand and dirt had been dumped there from the excavation of the most recent dry well. Not wanting to deal with the army of ticks that patrol that wilderness, I simply scattered a box of very old wildflower seed along the edge and covered it with a light dusting of leftover compost. The zinnia were the only flowers to germinate and grow, though looking quite scraggly, they grew and bloomed... and bloomed... and bloomed, well into October with bright yellows, deep reds, hot pinks and Tennessee orange petals. They finally succumbed to the cold north wind of November, but it was the first snow of December that finished them off.
The zebra swallowtail visited the zinnia, as well as the other flowers in our garden. Its cousins, the black swallowtail and tiger swallowtail were more commonly sighted; perhaps we can include some of the "zebra's" host plants this year.
"Z" was a hard word... I haven't been to a "zoo" recently to see any "zebra" of the horse family, although sometimes it feels like we have our own "zoo" right here, or perhaps it should be called the "Ziegfeld" follies!
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