Showing posts with label asiatic dayflower. Show all posts
Showing posts with label asiatic dayflower. Show all posts

Monday, June 17, 2013

the tiniest flowers are sometimes the most ornate

when is white campion not white campion?

DSC_0749

when it’s pink.

the rhododendron flowers are all done. a few forlorn bees buzz around, making sure they haven’t missed anything.

DSC_0752

on the side of the road, a smattering of asiatic dayflowers.

DSC_0765

I’d wade into the weeds more, but the poison ivy threatens:

DSC_0778

remember deertongue, from the other day? here’s how those wriggly spermies break free of the stalk:

DSC_0780

let’s have another look at those teensy flowers:

fancy magenta headdress (stigma?)

DSC_0783

 

...dangling little slippered feet (anthers?)

DSC_0785

just so we’re clear about this, that whole structure takes up less than half the length of my index finger’s nail.

this is the last of the golden alexander that’s still golden...

DSC_0803

 

most of it looks like this by now:

DSC_0794

 

and now for today’s new (to me) species...drumroll please...

DSC_0813

wild garlic!

the jack-in-the-pulpit report: still green.

DSC_0823

...whereas the false solomon’s seal berries are partway to red. they don’t start off bright green like the jacks – more of a pale greeny yellow, followed by rusty speckling, like so:

DSC_0831

 

some sort of panic grass. I am loathe to speculate on species – I’m not even completely sure it’s a panic grass.

DSC_0848

OK, time to suck down some of the library books that have all been released from the purgatory of On Hold to my hot little hands, at the same time. Ready – set – go!

Monday, August 13, 2012

15 minutes x 15 square feet = plenty to see

Part One: They are not called day lilies for nothing.

While we were traipsing around Pittsburgh last week, the day lilies at the side of the house were going great guns, leaving us only one flower, and one bud, to enjoy upon our return

DSC_0683 (4)

Yesterday.

DSC_0689 (4)

Note the weird extra stamen thingy seemingly attached to the edge of a petal.

DSC_0693 (4)

Today. All shriveled up! Just like that!

DSC_0697 (4)

That extra stamen thingy is poking out. Still hoping to get lucky, I guess.

Part Two: Camouflage and Ambush

I sat in the grass just outside the front door, hoping to lure crickets or grasshoppers near me with the sheer innocence of my intentions. That didn’t happen. I figured if I trained the macro on some nearby tiny daisies, maybe I’d be happily surprised.

DSC_0704 (3)

Indeed, I was. A spider!

DSC_0706 (4)

Might there be others, on nearby flowers? Why yes!

A fly came in for a landing. 

DSC_0785 (3)

Within a nano-second s/he was waving its legs menacingly at it. I wasn’t fast enough to get the fly on camera.

DSC_0787 (4)

Unsuccessful, it backed around to the underside of the flower.

DSC_0717 (4)

Better luck next time, sweetie.

Part Three: Speaking of Lunch

While all this was going on, I was also admiring some sort of long damselfly-type fly resting on the tip of a blade of grass. I got closer and closer.

DSC_0715 (4)

It was when I saw little legs waving around futilely that I realized there was more going on here.

DSC_0738 (4)

I watched them wrestle for a while.

DSC_0744 (4)

To the tune of several dozen photographs, which I’ll spare you.

Part Four: Back to the Mysterious Asiatic Dayflower

They’re back! This time, I swear, I shall pay more attention day by day.

DSC_0774 (4)

The Side View.

DSC_0767 (4)

The Top Down View

DSC_0777 (4)

The Indeterminate (Before, or After, Flowering?) View

Thursday, July 26, 2012

re-disapparations, upside-down orgies, and stoner moths

Remember the mysterious disappearing Asiatic dayflower from the other day – in which a) we had two flowers and then b) suddenly we did not, and c) I concluded that the flower had been sequestered away into a little leaf pouch?

I take it all back.

DSC_0316 (4)

Here’s one of those leaf pouches, and it’s spitting out a new flower. Which leaves open the question, what happened to the two flowers from the other day? I’m so confused…

DSC_0327 (4)

Ahhhhh, this, I get.

Let’s play the focus game with a day lily.

DSC_0331 (4)

petals?

DSC_0332 (4)

or stamens?

DSC_0336 (4)

petals?

DSC_0335 (4)

or stamens?

DSC_0341 (4)

how about neither?

DSC_0345 (4)

Don’t they look like little Venetian Renaissance slippers? In which case, this truly IS an orgy – everyone’s upside-down with their feet in the air. They haven’t even bothered to kick off their shoes.

DSC_0355 (4)

I’m not the only one obsessed with flower innards. This is a primrose moth getting stoned in a common evening primrose. Scandalous.

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

scenes from the day


DSC_0231 (5)
one end of a dragonfly damselfly
DSC_0233 (5)
comes with rocket-pack
DSC_0258 (5)
grass supernova
DSC_0272 (5)
sumac
DSC_0311 (5)
“mine mine mine!”

I went looking for the Asiatic dayflower of the other day. It was gone. Simply gone. Eventually I realized that that’s what the dragonfly had been sitting on. Where the flower had been was now a sealed pouch.

DSC_0198 (6)
two days ago

DSC_0240 (6)
today
DSC_0238 (6)
Wild.

Sunday, July 22, 2012

one small miracle, please.

My 97 year old grandmother has decided that she’s done. She is refusing food and medication, and it won’t be long til she slips past the border of this life into whatever mysteries await her next. Yesterday I wrote her one last letter. An aide, or if I’m lucky, my cousin, will read it to her, since by now her macular degeneration renders her functionally blind.

Sweetpea and I set out for the mailbox yesterday to put the letter out for the carrier. On the way, I noticed a tendril of one-seeded burr cucumber vine grabbing at a neighboring Queen Anne’s Lace.

DSC_0184 (6)

I guess we all grasp at life, for as long as we can, until we just can’t any more. I can’t blame her. In fact, I admire her, for her courage in deciding what’s right for her.

It’s been a week of pain, mostly, as my shattered nose figures out how to rebuild itself. I’ve had a couple of days of ruinous discomfort and eyestrain (from not being able to wear my glasses). This is not helped by the lack of exercise, and inadequate time outdoors. This morning, I felt as though I had given up my right to expect miracles, but I swung the camera bag on my shoulder anyway. I was hoping to find inspiration in anything, anything at all. As I wiggled my toes into my sandals I thought I saw something blue out of the corner of my eye. Two flashes, down by the hostas under the front windows of the house.

DSC_0197 (6)

Oh my. What’s this? I’ve never seen it before.

DSC_0198 (6)

Tis Asiatic dayflower (Commelina communis). In the west, we call this an invasive weed. In the east, it has all sorts of medicinal uses. Why does this not surprise me?

DSC_0207 (6)

Little-known fact: when you don’t mow the lawn frequently, the hostas send out invader parties.

DSC_0215 (6)

And the syrphid flies celebrate in the overgrown, gone-to-seed grass. Who wouldn’t fall in love with this guy?

The plan for today was to get out in the boats. We headed to the Harriman Reservoir.

IMG_0546

Ahhhhhh…..

 

IMG_0548

That’s Mt. Haystack. Just behind it is Mt. Snow, scene of last weekend’s Tough Mudder event (aka nose breakage).

I took my last prescription pain pill this morning. From here on out, it’s over the counter meds. And tomorrow, at long last, I have an appointment with the specialist who will tell me if I need surgery.