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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A walk though the forest.... daddy and daughter. Norfolk Botanical Garden. “Certain is it that there is no kind of affection so purely angelic as of a father to a daughter. In love to our wives there is desire; to our sons, ambition; but to our daughters there is something which there are no words to express.”
Joseph Addison (English Essayist, Poet, Dramatist and Statesman, 1672-1719)
Caught on a hot summer day... a very tall dad and his tiny, but very independent daughter on a stroll under the big pine trees at the botanical garden. She toddles, he stays close but tries not to hover. She is learning to walk on her own and seems quite pleased with herself. He is proud, protective, watchful.... ready to swoop her up at a moments notice but trying to seem nonchalant about it, especially when she glances up at him.
She is precious in her flowered sundress and tiny shoes. She doesn't have to hold his hand to feel secure, she just has to know her daddy is there. Besides, she wants to show him what a big girl she is, so she shows off her best marching gait. They are off to see the brightly colored play houses with swinging horses, slides, tea sets and toy chairs to play with. Daddy will keep her safe and push the swing.
They are the quintessential "odd couple" and yet perfectly wonderful together. I hope she will remember this day when she grows up.... or that her mom has a camera too and caught this moment.
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Carmi's Theme ~ "candid"
It's hard to mute a red, red rose. (Click picture to enlarge) "That beautiful season the Summer!
Filled was the air with a dreamy and magical light; and the landscape
Lay as if new created in all the freshness of childhood. "
~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
It was 73 degrees here today; a far cry from what my daughter Nyssa is experiencing out in Reno, Nevada where it has been snowing and the temperature is expected to be in the single digits tonight. Yes, today was a good day for grass to grow and the odd occasional rose to continue blooming. I still have one bush trying to keep blooms going. By the way... it is time to plant the tulips for flowers in the spring and this year, even though I want to wait until it is colder, I am going to get them in the ground.
This picture is of course from earlier in the year, when the rose gardens were in full bloom. I think that is why we have camera's, to capture the light and warmth of summer flowers so that we might have them wrapped around us all through the cold and drab winter. So I indulge myself... with roses so fragrant as to make one dizzy, so soft as to mimic velvet and so rich a red they cannot be equaled.... if only in my dreams.
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Ruby Tuesday
A beautiful bride with an unlimited flower budget.
(Click picture to enlarge) “The earth is like a beautiful bride who needs no manmade jewels to heighten her loveliness...” ~ Kahlil Gibran (Essayist, Novelist and Poet. 1883-1931)
The Setting: The Rose Gardens at Norfolk Botanical Garden
The Time: May through July, Any given year.
The Subject: Weddings, Brides, Love is in the Air.
Beginning in late May and extending through July, the scenes are repeated over and over. Brides flock to the Norfolk Botanical Gardens for wedding portraits and often, for the wedding itself. The rose garden is one of many venues available and is planted with hundreds of rose bushes in all shades of pink, red, yellow, orange, white, cream and everything in between. Tree roses, hybrid teas, old English roses, floribundas, fragrant and vibrant with color fill the space. Wide lush green grass walkways all lead to a central gazebo covered in tiny, yellow, delicate climbing roses. To one side is a stone building with stairs leading up to a low roof where a string quartet sits, the beautiful strains of The Wedding March and other classics wafting through the air. The large stone wall near the steps is covered completely with masses of ruby red climbing roses interspersed with leaves of dark emerald green. It is a royal place, a magic place, a perfect place for a wedding. No need for a floral budget here.... the flowers ARE the cathedral with blue skies and fluffy clouds as the ceiling and the soft green grass as the carpet. Simply add guests and the wedding party and in one simple step... a wedding.
Even if the wedding is held elsewhere, this is a favorite place for wedding portraits. On this day, I saw no less than three brides in various areas of the garden. Her photographer was set up far to my left and in front of me, posing her for a silhouette shot. I was using my long lens with no flash and was far enough away to be unnoticed by anyone. Everyone was shooting the flowers, as was I, but I thought there was a story here. Such promise in her pose. She was radiant, even without seeing her face you could tell this was so. I wondered what she was thinking. Was she simply excited, happy, anxious? Or was she taking in all the beauty of her surroundings and making mental notes to remember this day as well as her wedding day. Did the fragrance of the roses send her to the same imaginary world of perfection it always seems to send me? I couldn't help sending her candid silent wishes for a long and loving marriage filled with much happiness and joy! Oh, yes... I DO hope she got to have her ceremony right here.... no place could be more perfect.
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Carmi's Theme - "Candid"
Monarch Magic "Happiness is like a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you." ~ Nathaniel Hawthorne
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ABC Wednesday "M"
Wordless Wednesday
Anticipation of things to come. Queen Anne's Lace, Norfolk Botanical Garden
(Click picture to enlarge) "Verde que te quiero verde. Verde viento. Verde ramas."
(Green I love you green. Green Wind. Green branches.)
~ Federico Garcia Lorca, 1899-1936
Queen Anne was tatting lace and the delicate white threads transformed into those of the wild carrot, thus Queen Anne's Lace. The disagreement comes as to which Queen Anne did such lovely tatting. Some say it was Anne (1574 - 1619), the first Stuart Queen Anne, who was brought over from Denmark at fourteen years of age to be a Queen to King James of Scotland. Others think it was Anne (1665 - 1714), who became Queen after the reign of William and Mary, who had no children. She was Mary's sister and while she had fourteen children, all died in infancy and childhood, so she was the last of the Stuart monarchs. I prefer to think of Queen Anne as this later lady because my daughter graduated from the College of William and Mary that was started by an endowment from King William in 1693 making it the second university chartered in the colonies (second only to Harvard). Queen Anne's picture hangs in one of the buildings there.
Queen Anne's Lace (Daucus carota), is a biennial plant living for two years. The first year is spent in putting down roots and growing, up to 4 feet tall; the second year produces the lacy white flowers. It blooms from May to October and provides food for the caterpillars of the Black Swallowtail butterfly. Lacewings arrive to eat the aphids that love this plant, birds eat the seed and hide in the foliage. In the picture above, the plant has flowered and the fruit/seeds have curled inward to form the "birdnest" configuration that gives this plant another nickname... the Birdnest Plant.
The root of Queen Anne's Lace is edible but said to be white and almost tasteless. But be careful about the leaves and flowers... some have used the flowers to make tea; but BEWARE... Queen Anne's Lace looks almost identical to a close relative... Water Hemlock... and the flowers of that plant are deadly. Remember how they got rid of Socrates with Hemlock tea?
I love the curled in configuration and the green, lush foliage and the fact that the Black Swallowtails love this and just perhaps they might spread the wealth (eggs) and leave me a little fennel to use in cooking. So, I plan to sow some of these seeds out in the back, behind the fence in the wild preserve and give the bugs and birds much to play with. This will be another "branched" entry for Carmi's theme this week as well as another example of my stubborn determination to hold tightly to all things green and glorious.
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Carmi's Theme ~ "branched"
Branching veins of life. Japanese maple, Norfolk Botanical Gardens
(Click picture to enlarge) "And see the peaceful trees extend
their myriad leaves in leisured dance-
they bear the weight of sky and cloud
upon the fountain of their veins."
~ Kathleen Raine, Envoi
My brother has fallen in love with the Japanese Maple tree. Never mind that there are hundreds of different varieties with vast differences in shapes, sizes, growth rates, leaf configurations and colors... he loves them all. We have a large variety "Fireglow" that he just put in the yard this summer and a smaller weeping maple with thin intricate branching leaves that is growing in a huge container on the patio. There were at least two others that he "almost" got while he was here in July and August.
This specimen is my personal favorite and is in the Japanese Garden at our local botanical garden. It is large and old and forms a huge canopy that one can sit under. Its branches are gnarled and wandering, the leaves deeply and delicately branched and it retains a stunning deep red and orange color throughout the spring, summer and fall. The sun glows through the leafy layers, enhancing the dark trunks until they almost throb with the flowing water and life giving minerals. Sometimes it seems as if I could reach out and actually feel the pulsing of the branches, grasping them as I would a wrist and marking out the rhythm of a heartbeat. I never tire of viewing these trees from this perspective.
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Carmi's Theme ~ "Branched"
Ruby Tuesday
Can't let go of that mellow yellow that is Spring!
(Click picture to enlarge) "If I had my life to live over, I would start barefoot earlier in the spring and stay that way later in the fall." ~ Nadine Stair
The night air is cooling down as are most days. Yes, we expect a few more 80's days, but soon these too will be gone. My flower beds, so carefully built and tended this year are a bit ragged and I cannot get to them for a few more days (seeding of the grass and such). I need to clean them out, remove those plants that did not do well, pull out the annuals that must be replaced, prune those shrubby plants that are ready and do a bit of relocating and rethinking of the layout. I have pansies to put in hanging baskets for the fall and winter, a bit of color for the drab season to come. And then there is the pile of dirty clay out behind the fence... it needs to be mixed with dirt and compost and spread out and the milkweed seeds planted; they need the cold earth to sprout in the spring. Then there is mulch to be placed and annuals to take cuttings from and plants to be repotted and brought inside. So much to do and yet.... the yellow, sulfurs still flit around the yard and a few plants have flowers that are still hanging on for dear life and I really just want to squeeze the very last bloom possible out of all the plants I can. So, I've pulled this backlit double daffodil out of my early 2010 folder to again capture that sense of anticipation that only comes with Spring. Oh, yes... it is a bright but mellow yellow, with that spark of Tennessee orange.. almost the same color as that of my favorite teenage room... a very, very, very, very long time ago.
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Wild fennel, gourmet cuisine for Black Swallowtail caterpillars.
Norfolk Botanical Gardens. (Click picture to enlarge) "There are no limits to either time or distance, except as man himself may make them. I have but to touch the wind to know these things." ~ Hal Borland
We had rain... and more rain... and more rain. Between last Sunday and Tuesday morning our rain gauge measured 3.1 inches. Then a few hours of sun, yes, sun and more rain started. Between Tuesday night and Friday morning we had 9 inches. For much of that time the rain came in sideways sheets, blowing from the east and overwhelming the storm drains. The streets were flooded. The preserve behind the house is now filled with water that came up right to the edge of the property, and it doesn't look as if it will drain anytime soon. On Friday it was cooler and cloudy... but no rain. Saturday, the sun finally started shining... no clouds and a bright blue sky!
Sunday... more rain. I expect it will be between .5 to 1 inch when it is all over. Then, hopefully at least four or five days of dry weather. The yard people will come back and re-do some of the yard where the seed (put down between the two storms) washed off into the street. And the brick on the front of the house will dry so the roofer can come and re-caulk a couple of windows and put a sealer on the brick. Ah, yes! We had a leak in the dining room and master bath. The roofer said he had had calls all day Friday... things leaked that had not done so in 15 years. I think the combination of the very, very hot summer and the rain was just too much for the caulking and the brick. It is always something!
But at least there should be more blue skies on the way with a bit cooler weather. Time to clean up the flowerbeds and plan for next year. There will definitely be more of this out near the preserve next summer. Fennel, the preferred meal for discriminating black swallowtail caterpillars is gone now. At the height of summer, the botanical garden had large massed plantings with flower stems that grew to over 6' tall. The swallowtail caterpillar loves this plant along with parsley, carrot tops and Queen Anne's Lace which is also in the carrot family. Fennel is easy to grow and all parts of the plant are edible (for humans), including the root. There are other plants that do not grow well with fennel around, particularly rosemary, so let the rosemary grow elsewhere.
These fennel flowers are long gone... but they can still brighten a cloudy and rainy day with their little rays of sunshine.... in my pictures. So, have a bright and sunny, mellow yellow Monday!
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How many children did she have?
(Click pictures to enlarge)"You can learn many things from children. How much patience you have, for instance." ~ Franklin P. Jones
The collection of children's playhouses at our botanical gardens has been up and welcoming kids of all sizes since Father's Day. Today, Labor Day, was the last chance to see these creative and fun play areas. We have visited Jack and the Beanstalk, The Crooked Man, Red Riding Hood's Grandmother, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Old MacDonald's Farm, Alice in Wonderland and The Three Little Pigs. Now we visit the eighth and last playhouse, as well as my personal favorite, The Old Lady Who Lived In A Shoe.
I count twenty... on the mailbox.
This was a wonderful playhouse... or rather, a shoe. The kids have a ladder to get to the loft and the "inside" sliding board and on the other side of the house, a fireman's pole. When we were there the kids were lining up to slide down... I just didn't catch one with the camera. The shingles are perfectly placed and look at those shoe laces... large ropes for the children to climb. I think that this was one of the most ingenious designs and so must everyone else as this was voted "Most Creative".
Ringing the dinner bell
Out front, in full view was an item that all farmhouses in the past had. How else could the farmer's wife call him and all the kids in from the fields? My dad talks about Grandma ringing that big bell outside the old house. With all these kids and a little shoe... I wonder if she had to feed them in shifts?
Now, this is a nice looking house shoe.... rather, a shoe house.
The tour of our playhouses is complete. I visited again this past week and they have held up well over the summer, considering the remarkable number of children who have played in them. A few decals on one are peeling and some of the accessories are a bit ragged, but they still have a charm that any child of any age would love. So now, they will be auctioned off and this shoe will end up in a lucky child's back yard.
The large corrugated roof and the bright red window frame are my entry in this week's Ruby Tuesday. And since shoes are made for walking and walking is a legitimate form of transportation... it will be an off the wall entry for Carmi's weekly theme this week.
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Carmi's Theme
Ruby Tuesday
Do you really remember the story of the Three Little Pigs?
(Click pictures to enlarge)"By the hair on your chinny-chin-chin, I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house in!" ~ Wolf
The gorgeous playhouse exhibition at Norfolk Botanical Gardens closes this coming Tuesday and we have just two more houses to explore. We have visited Jack and the Beanstalk, The Crooked Man, Red Riding Hood's Grandmother, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Old MacDonald's Farm and Alice in Wonderland. Today we revisit the well-known story of The Three Little Pigs.
Lazy piggies build houses of straw and sticks.
This grouping won the "Best Representation of Story" award. After three months of rain and weather, the straw house is now looking a bit ragged, but the sticks have held up quite well. These photos were taken on our visit the first weekend in July. Do you really remember the story? I read the original and it was quite different than the sanitized Disney version I knew. The momma sow could not take care of the three piglets and sent them out into the world with the wise advice to "always work hard before you play". The first little pig was very lazy and when he found a pile of straw, he quickly built a small staw hut. His brother warned him that this would not keep out the wolf, but he was not concerned. When the big, bad wolf showed up... he huffed and puffed and easily blew his house in... then the wolf ate the little pig up. (That last part I had forgotten... in my version, the little pig managed to escape to his brother's house)
The second little pig found a pile of sticks and built a small lean-to that doesn't look as if it would keep out anything at all. Then he danced and sang... until the wolf showed up. I am not sure the wolf even had to huff or puff for this one... he could simply kick the house down... And again he had the little pig for supper.
The third little pig did a really good job!
The third little pig was wise and industrious. He found a man with a pile of brick and carefully built a framed house and built the outside with sturdy brick and mortar. It looks like he added a nice slide to play on... or to escape by. He planted cute flowers in the yard and had lovely framed windows to see who is coming up the lane. Pictures of he and his brothers are painted on the side of the house. When the wolf showed up... he huffed and puffed and huffed and puffed and could not blow the house in. The wolf tried several ploys to get the pig out of the house, but the little pig was very smart and outwitted the wolf at every turn. Finally, in desperation, he climbed to the roof of the house and tried to go down the chimney. The little pig quickly put a large pot of water on the roaring fire, the wolf fell in and the little pig had HIM for supper.
Different versions of the story can be read here and here.
What a fun and safe house... even binoculars to see that wolf long before he gets there.
I thought this was appropriate for our brush with Earl. Although we could have used a bit more of the rain, I was happy to see the wind did not materialize. We are about 18 miles inland and the outer banks of North Carolina seem to buffer the effects of hurricanes as they come up the coast.... most of the time. I think our wind gusts got up to 20 mph in the early morning hours on Friday, but this is no more than an everyday occurrence in Oklahoma. So, Earl huffed and puffed and tried to blow us away... but was unsuccessful. And now the skies are clear and the sun is shining and I have to end this post and go out to put back all of the items I secured before the storm. Have a great weekend!
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Skeletal remains of the fennel with the culprits in plain view.... black swallowtail caterpillars.
(Click pictures to enlarge)"Teaching a child not to step on a caterpillar is as valuable to the child as it is to the caterpillar." ~ Bradley Millar
August is "butterfly" month; the time of year when butterflies are in the passion of procreation at a heated pitch. Some are laying eggs to hatch and enter the chrysalis stage to overwinter and others are seeking to create the population that will migrate south. I am overrun.... with caterpillars. To date, we have had three batches of black swallowtails take flight.... total number 24. They have completely destroyed three dill plants and almost did the fennel in back in early July. The fennel rebounded after clever, or at least partially clever netting of the plant (Except for that one female that somehow found a way under the net), and by removing the eggs as soon as they were deposited. I also admit that I removed small caterpillars and put them in the bird feeder for the somewhat stupid goldfinch who can't seem to realize that they have a smorgasbord of live protein just a few feet from the thistle. Still when she moved to the parsley, I relented and we even bought parsley bunches at the store to take care of the caterpillars we brought inside.
In the last week, the swallowtails have gone nuts and I could not keep up with the monitoring and they have now destroyed the parsley, yes really, it is just sticks... no leaves. The fennel was on its last lap and loaded as pictured with caterpillars in all instar stages.
But it wasn't just the swallowtails.
Monarch caterpillar... a milkweed eating machine
To date we have had fourteen Monarchs emerge and take flight. Four are ready to emerge any morning now. The Monarchs only eat milkweed. I planted a bucket load of milkweed and different varieties. Some bloomed with orange flowers and had smaller plants and leaves. Others grew tall and almost bushy and did not bloom at all this year. Most of these I grew from seed. I put six groupings of plants in the flower beds and another three groupings of milkweed out next to the preserve. It took me most of the summer to be able to see the tiny single eggs the Monarch lays and it was not until July that we saw the caterpillars. I would look and look and suddenly there they were, large and eating up a storm. I have cut the milkweed back after they have stripped the leaves and it re-grows the leaves, but in the last two weeks the Monarchs seem to be in a frenzy, just as the others. So, I started bringing in caterpillars and setting up new houses and used an old cracked plastic fish tank and screen lid to start another and I have cut milkweed and cut milkweed and still they show up. In addition to the four chrysalides that are ready to emerge I have 18 in newly formed chrysalides and over 25 still eating. They can go through six large sprigs of milkweed leaves in one night. And still I found more and more caterpillars.
Monday it became clear that the milkweed would not make it through until the last group hatched and emerged and the Monarch left for migration. My largest patch of milkweed was completely stripped of the leaves and like the fennel, only skeletal remains of the stems were seen. Poor caterpillars were walking on the ground to try and find more milkweed. I called the Norfolk Botanical Garden and asked if they needed any.... no, but I could bring them and put them out in the outdoor butterfly garden. They had milkweed but they would have to fend for themselves in nature. I called the Butterfly Society to see if anyone else raising them had more milkweed... but no one answered my plea.
So, yesterday morning, Stephen and I went to the botanical garden. I took two containers with screened lids. I collected the black swallowtail first. They don't like to be handled so I cut the fennel they were attached to off into the container. I got them off the parsley and removed all the remaining eggs I could find. In total there were 32 black swallowtail caterpillars. Most were in the middle to late instars. Then I started gathering the Monarchs. I had told the lady at the botanical garden that I thought we had about 30 Monarch caterpillars still outside but I was wrong... really, really wrong. When I had collected all that I could find, they numbered 80.
At the botanical garden, they pointed me to the huge patch of fennel and we let the black swallowtails go on the leaves and on the ground at the base of the fennel. I think the sheer number of the Monarchs took the lady by surprise and she suggested we put them out in the wild butterfly maze. It was a different type of milkweed with large pods, native but invasive. The Monarchs are better behaved than the swallowtails and the caterpillars will walk onto your finger and then on to the plant. We tried to spread them out a bit but I know that within a few days that patch of milkweed will look dilapidated. Even though they had to endure a long moving experience and new and different tasting milkweed and even though they too have to brave the elements in their quest to become regal butterflies, at least they won't go hungry.
Of course, when I returned home, I had to clean out all the caterpillar frass (poop) from the (now) four butterfly houses in the sunroom and cut more stems and leaves to feed the ones I kept. In the process, I found five more that somehow hid away from me in the morning morning and magically appeared last night. I check every milkweed leaf for eggs and brush them off now.
Oh, some of the wild milkweed pods were breaking open, so I took some seed. The garden lady said this was "sneaky" invasive, so we are going to plant them out at the edge of the preserve... along the road and on the other side of our section. Perhaps then we will be able to handle the numbers next year.
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