I don’t have the proper filters for directly photographing the sun, so I pointed the camera down during today’s eclipse to record the crescent suns on the pavement.
Category: Photo gallery
A bit of color
Spring is definitely here, about three weeks early. The 16℉ late in March did surprisingly little damage, and most things are rapidly growing. Here are a few of the current highlights.
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Grr. WordPress logged me out while I was assembling this post. Even though the “Howdy” message remained at the upper right, I couldn’t see the page preview. I had to relog using the login under the “Meta” heading on the weblog page to finish this post.
First
After a brutal January, it looks like we’re heading for an early spring. The daffodil above opened yesterday, unscathed by the 13℉ freeze Saturday morning. This is the second-earliest daffodil I’ve seen in Kansas. (The earliest bloomed February 17 fifteen years ago.) The forecast for the rest of the month looks like late March or early April. The weather may well double-cross me in March (it occasionally happens that the heaviest snow of a winter falls on March 20), but it’s probably time to clean up the garden and get it ready for this year’s experiments.
Update: The first Iris.
Frosted
It was ten below when I got up this morning. This was the view at the front door.
Old red
Last year’s very red cattleya is blooming again. Unlike this year’s, the older plant’s flowers are unequivocally red in every light.
Red, again
The first of this year’s new orchids bloomed this week. It’s another red one; nice, but not what I was expecting. The dealer’s notes1 indicated that it would likely have flowers in the magenta-purple range, but while it does have a bluish cast in some light (but not in sunlight or with the on-camera flash), it looks red to me. The other new ones probably won’t bloom for a year or two. When they finally do, one should be white and the other spotted.
(As usual, when WordPress resizes pictures to fit the column width, it also makes the colors duller. Click on the picture to see it larger and with more accurate color.)
Update: as the flower ages, it becomes bluer. It now is on the border between magenta and purple, even in sunlight.
The Lion in Winter
We got nine inches of snow here yesterday. I took a walk around the neighborhood this morning while the snow was at its most photogenic.
Just before the end
It’s snowing steadily now, and we may get six inches today if the weatherman can be trusted. During the next few nights temperatures are likely to descend into the teens. Fall is over (though, because this is Kansas, December may well be warm and dry). Despite the hard freezes earlier, a few plants were still blooming yesterday, including this salvia. At this time tomorrow, everything will be solid white.
Ice, twice
Things are getting very interesting near Grindavik in Iceland. See Volcano Café for updates.
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Meanwhile, here in Kansas ice plants continue to bloom despite the recent 20℉ temperatures.
Spotted toad
Here’s a formal portrait of the “toad lily,” Tricyrtis hirta. The flower is perhaps an inch and a half in diameter. It’s native to Japan and does not like hot sun. I’ve got mine in a spot where it gets shade almost all day, but the little bit of sun in the evening was sufficient to burn the tips of the leaves. In full shade with extra water during hot weather it’s easy to grow. While the flowers are perhaps more interesting than pretty, they do come at a time when nearly all the other perennials have finished for the year.
Horticultural year in review
The garden is essentially done for the year, though there will be color until the first hard freeze. Here’s a look back at this year’s experiments.
Recent snapshots, mainly of aerialists
Butterflies are plentiful right now. Here are some I spotted in gardens and fields around town.
Notes on life offline
Some new neighbors have moved in the next street over.
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Most of the plants I started this year are perennials which will take a year or two to reach blooming size. However, a number have flowered already. Currently, Helianthus mollis, the “ashy sunflower,” is putting on a good show. The plant has a more refined appearance than most sunflowers. According to what I’ve read it’s inclined to be rambunctious, so I’ve got it in the dry far corner of the yard where its aggressiveness will be a virtue.
Fresh “art”
Progress report
Spring was unusually dry, but June rains have made up for it. The garden overall is doing well. Nearly all the foxgloves are blooming or will be soon. These are “Camelot mix” hybrids I started indoors earlier. So far all the flowers have been lavender, but there should eventually be a few other colors.
Picture time
Several residents of my garden recently sat for their portraits.