Author Archives: Denise

Occasional Daily Photo/Beschorneria 3/3/11

More impending drama. The first beschorneria to bloom in my garden. I think it’s B. septentrionalis but won’t know until it blooms. The narrow leaves look a little yuccoides, and there has been some wild hybridizing going on among the … Continue reading

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Poppies Unbound

My first poppy of spring, P. setigerum, self-sown Dwarf Breadseed Poppy or Poppy of Troy. Nothing unfurls like a poppy. Sure, roses and peonies have more petals, so the process is more complicated and, therefore, some might say more thrilling. … Continue reading

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Cue the Ice Cream Man

The twilight opening of the door to the enchanted photographic realm of “magic hour” is announced by the canned tunes of the ice cream man plying his cold confections 365 days a year. If I’m home when that tinny music … Continue reading

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Pelargonium tomentosum ‘Chocolate Mint’

Temps dropped into the high 30’s last night, not enough to damage tender pelargoniums, but cold enough to need a blanket for the couch (Hitchcock’s Foreign Correspondent in the queue. If only Jimmy Stewart or Cary Grant had the lead … Continue reading

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Weird Plants

It lives! Emergence of the aroid Pinellia tripartita, or ‘Dragon Tails.’ New shoots emerge almost a crime-tape yellow, maturing to a lurid yellow-green. The aroids seem to have weird covered, having in common, whether small or gigantic, jack-in-the-pulpit flowers. Amorphophallus, … Continue reading

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Blue Intentions

In small gardens, a few feet of ground mean everything. This is not whining, merely observation. (Gardens, unfortunately, never respond to whining, but only to cold, clear-eyed observation.) I had some blue intentions for spring for the main garden border … Continue reading

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The Occasional Daily Photo

MB Maher’s 4X5 portrait of musician Frank Fairfield (banjo, fiddle, guitar), who has another album coming out this year. (Debuting a fluid, non-binding category of miscellaneous images.)

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Polygonum aubertii ‘Aureum’

The Silver Lace Vine. Or, as this one is called, the Golden Silver Lace Vine. The new growth in spring bears colors more often seen with Japanese maples. Shrimp-pink stems, lemony-tart leaves. Tangy. (Guess I’m still hung over from Sunday … Continue reading

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Tulip Porn

Tulip ‘Brown Sugar’ It would push me over the edge to have to write catalogue descriptions for tulips. A groundwork of deep apricot etched in grenadine feathering reaching just shy of the margins, emanating from a central upward brush stroke … Continue reading

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The Tree Collard

Just another brassica, right? Let’s read the label, shall we? (Plant label: “Tree Collards. Evergreen. 8-10′ tall. Old American heirloom. Very nutritious, high in protein. Excellent steamed or boiled. Full-part sun, water regularly.”) No, that was not a typo. That’s … Continue reading

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