Rose Notes

Tales of Three Weeds

The weeds are Cardamine Oligosperma; Vicia Americana; Epilobium Angustifolium:

 

Little Western Buttercress- cardamine oligosperma

The proliferation of this undesireable in our neighborhood has left this journalist stunned and eager to expound. But I thought how can I do an entire post about this silly weed? The answer, "Go for it with the buttercress, but feature two more weeds from a different viewpoint."

How innocent the LWB seedlings look, almost cute.

In fresh flower- yes- they are graceful, but before you can blink teensy fleurs become

dreadful popping canisters of barely visible seeds.

I continue to try and pull them before seeds pop and fly, only to discover a few days later that previously debris-hidden plants have emerged and matured!

Over the years, I've watched the progress of this impossible-to-control plant's germination in the beds of weed-blind neighbors near and far. I just do my part in the scheme of things, knowing that my own shoe soles might be spreading the joy of Little Western Buttercress.

 

Purple Vetch- vicia americana

I'd welcome a pitcher of this vibrant wild flower displayed on my kitchen table. But when hundreds of seedlings sprouted in more than 1000 square feet of new topsoil, I had second thoughts. No, purple vetch now had weed status, and would not be welcome in my garden. Unlike the buttercess, daily pulls eventually took care of the vetch invasion.

All these vicia images were taken outside the fence of Pamela Temple's rose garden, in Northern CA..

I don't know if Pamela has made some kind of pact whith this plant, because I don't recall seeing much of it amongst the thousand and more roses in her remarkable garden.

At Pamela's it's possible to enjoy both worlds.

 

Fireweed- epilobium angustifolium

Have you ever found yourself in someone's garden in shock that a certain weed (weeds) has been allowed to form seeds etc . . . ?

Well, I try to contain myself in such situations, but my eyes bugged out when I saw the curvaceous froth above. And please note that this stalk of fireweed is staked.

Where you ask might this plant be so featured? Inside the gate, and down the path about five-feet, amongst a melange of other tall beauties, stands epilobium angustifolium. I wasn't afraid to ask my darling friend Barbara Worl what it was doing there. Her simple answer, "I love it."

Back at my homestead, I pull up fireweed seedlings each spring never to see a mature plant. Barbara got me thinking though– maybe I should let one flower.

These two seedlings are still awaiting my decision. If you click this link, you'll probably intuit my plan, and I just read that firewweed leaves, gathereed before blooming, make a relaxing calmimg drink.

 

What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have never been discovered.

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

Miltonia Orchid

I made a new acquaintence over the weekend- Miltonia Rene Komoda

'Pacific Clouds'.


What a pretty plant and ripe with buds.

The mossy pot would probably like regular spritzing.

Orchids are a staple at our house- this one had such a lovely instruction sheet from Florali- I thought I'd pass it on for those of you who might not know orchid care tips.

 

Thank you Judy!

 

Rose Revival

While cycling through images in a desktop folder, I thought I heard chattering and unrest.

The Prince, red rose at lower left, was talking to Irene, "Did you know that she only displayed one image of us all together from this session?"

 

"What? We did all that work for nothing? Surely people would like to see how gorgeous we looked that day."

 

"After all, we were the last big harvest of the year. Maybe she'll hear us. What do you think?"

 

"Maybe."

 

I knew the exuberance of playing before an admiring audience and hearing my secret voice.

~ Elia Kazan

 

Rooting in Water

Until Coleus 'Perilla Magilla' came my way, I hadn't rooted anything in water for years. I'm more of a put-the-cutting-in-the-dirt kind of gal.
When Anita sent me home with coleus cuttings and words of their easy-rooting, I gave it a try.

The roots came within days- pretty and post-worthy, and the process gave me such an old-fashioned good feeling.

 

Then when my new wire vine plants (muehlenbeckia complexa) needed to be cut back to encourage fulness,

the leaves were so gorgeous, I put them in a celadon mug of water for display.

They were fresh and beautiful for weeks (months actually), and I thought they must have rooted.

Sure enough, and I was ecstatic, because i love this plant. I'm looking forward to using it as a filler for rose bouquets soon.

 

The roots of all goodness lie in the soil of appreciation for goodness.

~ Dalai Lama

 

By no means do all plants root in water, and since I haven't done it much, I don't have a long list of possibilities. Ivy, geraniums, succulents (most can go in the ground here without roots) . . . I can't think of more at the moment. I'd love it if you'd help me out with plants you've rooted in water. Leave a comment, and many thanks,

C

 

 

 

Oxalis Purpurea Alba

Susan's beautiful oxalis leaf reminded me of two images in the queue, waiting for a post.

 

Frosty dew is gorgeous, but I had hoped to pass on a little more info. It took awhile (weeks) before the plant and I were finally camera-ready. I caught the blooms open yesterday– they have a way of closing when the light is a tad off.

When not much else is blooming, clumps of this lovely plant are downright majestic. And I almost welcome its appearance anywhere in the garden. It does have that famous oxalis ability to regenerate freely, however it's the sort of plant no gardener should be without, and I'd dig up a clump for you if you happened by. The leaf-span is 2.25-inches.

Note the imposter leaf in the grid (second image)-- it's much smaller and belomgs to the more humble Oxalis crassipes or white wood sorrel.

 

For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed.

~ Kahlil Gibran

Rainy White Roses

A rose must remain with the sun and the rain or its lovely promise won't come true.

~ Ray Evans

Our weather's dance card says rain– for days– not to mention yesterday's storms. I thought a picture of "promise" fulfilled might be nice here. No, it's not a recent shot, but the garden is abrim with commitment.

 *

You can read and see more about this rose, Manchester Guardian Angel, here.

In order to pass inspection for a recent home addition we had to reconfigure our driveway, and this enormous rose is now in a pot– hopefully it's a survivor.

 

Purple Pairing– Muscari and Iris

Muscari, by the hundreds, royally rewarded my search for a parking space last week.

Thank goodness I had my camera– sights like this don't usually accompany my local errands.

Dutch iris adds a vertcle thrill.

The temple bell stops but I still hear the sound coming out of the flowers.

~ Basho

 

 

Blossom Boulevard

All through the month of blossoms I wanted to do this post. Finally now that the flowers are almost gone, here they are again. Thank God for images!

The above were all taken in my neighborhood, between rains, on a February 17 morning walk. The first is almond the rest are plum.

These shots were taken yesterday of our 'Purple Pony' plum tree. With petals gone, the calyxs become blooms in a final hurrah. It's amazing how stamens still stand after weathering many storms. Below is PP from 2/17 through 3/12.

When I longed for the purple leaves of a plum tree in my garden, I shied away from the traditional plum tree that often grows askew and too big in neighboring gardens. After a little research I purchased the fruitless 'Purple Pony' for it's smaller size and elegant form– it continues to be a joy.

 

Because of Japan's Tsunami,

the Japanese love for these trees, and their (our world's) plight was more on my mind than what was at hand. But how could I say something about it here? I have no soothing words. I searched long for a quote and finally found–

Love feels no burden, thinks nothing of trouble, attempts what is above its strength, pleads no excuse of impossibility; for it thanks all things lawful for itself, and all things possible.

~ Thomas Kempis

 

Our world is small– we can read tsunami updates on our phones– they had news before the morning paper! A little more than a week ago, Japan came to me in a blog comment– Dainty726 sent me this:

枯れたってバラは綺麗！！読めるかな？日本語！？(o^∇^o)

about this post from the past.

I was able to quickly translate it from my Mac dashboard:

Withering passing, as for the rose clean!! The kana which you can read? Japanese!? In addition the no which comes to seeing (o^∇^o)

A crude translation at best, but heart touching, and somehow timely. Can one of my readers translate it better??

PHOTOGRAPHERS

Would you know that two of the images in the 5-photo grid were macros of the blooms in this vase? Funny how the blur of the wood and aqua walls could be light and sky.

1 macro lens + blooming trees  = bliss