Can It Bee Possible?

I chased this bumblebee from flower to flower trying to take his picture. Each time he just buzzed away leaving me with nothing but an out-of-focus blur.  Finally he  lingered on the Baptisia long enough for me to get a picture.  Thrilled with my success I took a second shot.

When I got a look at this picture I was amazed.  How can it be possible that this fat fuzzy bumblebee can dart around from flower to flower when it has such tiny little wings?  It must take a lot of nectar to get this wide body off the ground.  It's a miracle that he can fly at all, but he can zoom.  He buzzed right off again, but at least this time I got his picture.

Grey Storm Clouds and Rainbows

Yesterday was a mixture of  clouds and sunshine.  When I went out to the garden it was hard to know where to begin. This single lemon lily flower was in an area that needed some serious help. I started there.  The sweet fragrance of this one flower enveloped the area where I worked.

I was so sure that this lavender plant was dead, but when the surrounding weeds were gone and the mushy dead plant material was removed, the plant has new growth.  It look likes it will make a  miraculous come back.

After being away for the morning, Ed joined me in the garden.  Later he was carefully weeding around the snow peas.  Only a few plants came up and we wanted to save those.  The decision was made to leave the pea plants and to plant bush beans in the large gaps.  When Ed walked through the stone square on his way to dumping his bucket of weeds,  he noticed his Salmon Star lily was quivering.  It was when he took a closer look that he saw it.   That *#$% grey rodent was chewing off his beautiful lily plant right before his eyes.  Talk about the gathering storm.  Ed is furious, it's definitely war!

In the evening dark grey clouds gathered.  This was not the most perfect double rainbow I have ever seen, but it stayed for a very long time.  The sky to our west was clear of rain clouds but filled with bright low sun light.  Rain was falling to our east and it gradually worked its way back to us.

 It gave me time to notice the dark above the rainbow and the light below.

At the end of the day it's the beautiful rainbows we will likely remember.  However, at least one grey cloud still hangs over the garden.  Rainbow or not that furry grey critter is in for a stormy time. You can count on that!

Worth a Second Look

Now that all of the flowers are open the pinxter, Rhododendron nudiflorum, deserves a second look.  It is common here to see one of these plants in the front yards of older homes.  That placement in full sun sometimes results in a weak plant that cannot compare with a wild specimen at forest's edge near damp soil.  The inside NW corner of the stone wall provides shade for the base of the plant each afternoon while the upper branches will grow into full sun.  If we provide ample water, the plant should thrive in this location.

In 1771 Peter Kalm described pinxter flowers as having some smell but that it was not very pleasant.  Later writers commonly downplay the scent of this plant.  I have always been enchanted by the subtle spicy fragrance of these blossoms.  For me, arbutus followed by clove currant then pinxter fills each spring with one delicious scent after another.

The fifteen year delay between acquisition of these native plants and first flower was the result of two factors.  I was resistant to taking these plants from the wild.  Three tiny specimens wedged between the roots of a tree were all that I would take.  Larger flowering plants were left undisturbed.  Then the three runts were placed in dry woods.  They needed more moisture and more light.  Flowers followed three years after the move to a better location.  There is no satisfactory explanation for the twelve years of neglect endured by this plant.  Two still await rescue.

The protruding business parts of these flowers are a bit brazen.  The bright pink color does not soften this visual statement.  Add in the sweet spicy smell and a compelling scene is created.

A Garden Book Review

This book is one of my treasures.  I don't think you can pick this one up at your local bookstore.  If however, you like to collect vintage garden books, this one is a gem!  How to Know the Wild  Flowers was written by Mrs. Wm. Starr Dana in 1897.   It is illustrated by Marion Satterlee.  Mrs. Dana was a friend of John Burroughs.  It's likely that it was this friendship that made it possible for her to get this book published.  As it was, she had it published using her husband's name.  It was Burroughs' idea to write a wildflower book dividing the flowers by color and  then listing them in the order of their bloom time.  The illustrations are black and white drawings that are exact enough to make good identifications of unknown wild flowers.  It is especially useful and interesting to me because the book covers wildflowers  known in 1897.

It was some years back when I discovered this unknown wildflower at the Stone Wall Garden.  I searched for some time to identify it.   I have a number of wildflower books, but it was in Mrs. Dana's book that I found this description.

 Robin's Plantain. Blue Spring Daisy,  Erigeron bellidifolius. Composite family.

"This is one of the earliest members of the Composite family to make its appearance, that great tribe being usually associated with the late summer months.  The flower might easily be taken for a purple aster which had mistaken the season..."

A link to this post and to other reviews of gardening books can be found at Roses and Other Gardening Joys.  There is little time to read  now, but it's nice to have a wish list of  books to be ready for those long winter nights when reading about gardening is great entertainment.