quote

"Yon hanging woods, that touched by Autumn seem

As they were blossoming hues of fire and gold;

The flower-like woods, most lovely in decay..."

- Samuel Taylor coleridge

quote

"The calmest thoughts come round us; as of leaves

Budding - fruit ripening in stillness - Autumn suns

Smiling at eve upon the quiet sheaves."

- John Keats

quote

"Best I love September's yellow,

Morns of dew strung gossamer;

Thoughtful days without a stir"

- Alexander Smith

quote

"Oh for a draught of vintage! that hath been

Cool'd a long age in the deep-delved earth,

Tasting of flora and the country green,

Dance, and Provencal song, and sunburnt mirth!"

- John Keats

quote paradise

" What was Paradise?
But a Garden,
An orchard of trees,
and Herbs
Full of pleasure, and
Nothing there but Delights."
- William Lawson

quote dragonflies

And forth on floating gauze, no jewelled queen,

So rich the green-eyed dragonflies would break

And hover on the flowers - aerial things;

With little rainbows flickering on their wings

- Jean Ingelow

quote August

"A spell lies on the garden. Summer sits

With finger on her lips as if she heard

The steps of Autumn echo on the hill.

A hush lies on the Garden. Summer dreams

Of timid crocus thrust through drifted snow."

- Gertrude H. McGiffert, from The Garden In August

First flower for my Baikal Scullcap

As long as I posted this on Facebook, I thought, why not post it here on the old, long-neglected blog? Sorry I've been away so long - life has taken me on another turn of the path, and I have needed to recollect some parts of myself, so to speak.
I know, I speak in metaphors only I understand. Wish it was easier :\

Well, on to the plant story... I was cutting back my germander this morning and suddenly thought to check out how the single scullcap seedling I planted this spring was doing. There she was, blooming under the angelica!

Pretty flower, eh? It's just bloomed :)
The root is what is used in Chinese medicine ... but, but this baby is too pretty to dig up!

Only this variety is the one FBF herbalists don't (apparently from the conversation) enthuse about, Scutellaria baicalensis. Coincidentally while looking up any reference to it I read in Tierra's The Herbs of Life that germander is a common adulterant in commercially sold scullcap.
I do love coincidences.

glass totems

I've been gluing scavenged glass from yard sales, gifts, and the resale shops into yard art! Check 'em out:

quote flowers

"For myself, I like having flowers to smell when I walk in the garden, flowers to cut for the house, flowers to share with friends. Having these in abundance proves the methods of my madness to be working well, and well worthwhile."
- Susan Urshel

quote cottage garden

"Some people call this a cottage garden, but it's just a good messy garden. There's no plan. It's not like a painting - I just stick the plants in. I like large quantities of blooms all jumbled together."
- Tasha Tudor

quote

"Come, let us stray our gladsome way

And view the charms of Nature,

The rustling corn; the fruited thorn,

And every happy creature."

- Robert Burns

quote August

"The eighth was August, being rich arrayed

The garment all of gold, down to the ground;

Yet rode he not, but led a lovely maid

Forth by the lily hand, which was crowned

With ears of corn."

- Edmund Spenser

quote August

"Fairest of months! ripe Summer's Queen

The hey-day of the year

With robes that gleam with sunny sheen,

Sweet August doth appear."

- R. Combe Miller

quote Summer

Now summer's in flower, and nature's hum

is never silent 'round her bounteous bloom,

Insects as small as dust, have never done

With glitt'ring dance, and reeling in the sun.

- John Clare

quote

"Someone once said of a beautiful public garden, "It just shows what God could do if he had the money." But even the grubbiest garden, abounding with weeds, shows what we can do without money just because God is so good."
- Monica Moran Brandies

quote night

In puffs of balm the night air blows

The perfume which the day foregoes,

And on the pure horizon far,

See, pulsing with the firstborn star.

- Matthew Arnold, from The Liquid Sky

Plant and Pest Hotline, may I help you?

"Why did your plant die?

You walked too close, you trod on it,

You dropped a piece of sod on it.

You hoed it down, you weeded it.

You planted it the wrong way up,

you grew it in a yogurt cup.

But you forgot to make the hole;

The soggy compost took its toll.

September storm, November drought.

It heaved in March, the roots popped out.

You watered it with herbicide.

You scattered bonemeal fr and wide.

You walked too close, you trod on it.

You dropped a piece of sod on it."

- David Godine, from A Gardener Obsessed

quote sun

"The sun is coming down to earth, and the fields

and the waters shout to him golden shouts."

George Meredith

quote Nature

"Henceforth I shall know
That Nature ne'er deserts the wise and pure;
No plot so narrow, be but Nature there."
- Samuel Taylor Coleridge