The Last Lily?

Today the last pink daylily of two bud-laden stalks is blooming. It hasn’t bloomed in years but at last, the plant has given quite a show! Maybe it’s not over yet! Maybe fertilizer will boost some new bud stalks from its base. Daylilies are blooming all over town, even on the highway medians and hillsides, so why not? We must have some very clean gullies today since last night we got our gullies washed (“a real gully washer” colloquialism for a hard rain)! The rain was preceded by a wide stripe of deep red sunset light on the horizon. We sat in the garden and watched until the color faded but we didn’t start until 9pm! I love long days!

Double Pink

Another two pink daylily day! We’re coming to the end of the buds on the two flower stalks. I think next week would be a good time to fertilize or, if I’m in the mood for distributing the smelly stuff—tomorrow. Maybe then the daylily will produce more beautiful blooms. The cool morning seemed to make the birds’ notes brighter.

At Last!

As I arranged my garden yesterday I thought that my beautiful pink daylily given to me by my fellow artist S. in the ‘90’s might benefit from a move to the sunnier end of the balcony. It hasn’t bloomed in five or so years; every year I think, “I’ll fertilize it, make sure it gets enough water but if it doesn’t bloom this year it has to go.” It never did but I couldn’t get rid of it. I was all around it the last two days and saw no changes but today this flower stalk that holds at least two blossoms “suddenly materialized!” I’m getting a late start in posting today because I simply chose to sit in the garden and read scripture. If not for the strong 90 degree afternoon sun or the indoor things I must do, I could stay out there all day.

Beyond Corsages

I was having such a good time in my art studio this morning that I didn’t want to leave so I’m running a bit late in posting today.

When I was a child I thought that the orchid corsages that all the ladies loved to wear for Mother’s Day and weddings were ugly. I couldn’t imagine why anyone would like yellow green or brownish pink flowers. Now that I’ve gotten to know some of the vast orchid family (the largest genus of flowers on earth), I’m smitten by them. From the yellow green and, brownish pink cymbidiums to the floaty white and fuchsia phalaenopsis or moth orchid, I can’t get enough. I love to paint them—especially the wildly colorful ruffled cattleyas in orange, magenta, red, photographing them at a local university greenhouse.

I attempt growing phalaenopsis—with hope, and I do well with growing their leaves once the flowers are spent. Alas, it’s orchid bloom season but my phalaenopsis isn’t blooming though it did make a new plant. I’m afraid to separate the two but maybe one day I will; I keep hoping the new one will bloom though if it did the flower stalk would come out upside-down. Maybe I can find some fertilizer* that’s not too chemically.

*My botany professor also insisted that, “fertilizer is not plant food—it’s fertilizer!”

Just One

For days, maybe even weeks, this single Angel Face Angelonia has bloomed, just one—alone. It doesn’t make as much of a show as would several spires of purple blossoms, but it’s there, blooming indoors—in the winter.

Loneliness is often the lot of one who is determined to stand for what is right. Often it seems that just one can’t make a difference but history is full of contradictions to that notion. And so what if the difference isn’t huge? It’s right to do the right thing, regardless. So what if no one else is doing the right thing? That doesn’t get me—or you, off the hook since we all have to give an account to God one day for our actions—and inaction.

Hurdle Help

Oskar’s number two flower stalk never did reach back toward the sunlight; the opening flowers were too heavy to pull up. So I gave it a little hurdle help; to keep the weight of the flowers from snapping the stalk, I “planted” a stake in the pot. Then I gently lifted the stalk and tied it to the stake with some smooth string that turned up during my Christmas decorating. To those of you who know me and my practice of saving odds and ends for their future usefulness—I do actually use them.

The purple “stake” is one such “end”; I recycle as much as I can but find that reusing is even better. (We once lived near a landfill; its rain of ashes, stench and mountainous toxicity made a lasting impression on me). Stakes can be made of most anything, a dowel, broken handle; decorators favor tree branches.

Many people, whether those needing help or those who could be of help, often think that needing help is a sign of weakness. Rather, it’s a sign of strength to know when one needs some help to get over a hurdle. Even Jesus needed help in carrying his cross (Luke 23:26).