Flowers and Plants

Skunk Cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus)

Photograph taken on Monday, January 18, 2021 by Henry
Skunk Cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus)

Skunk Cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus)

We walked on a section of Muddy Branch trail today that we hadn’t been on before. We went roughly 1.8 miles each way and enjoyed being outdoors. We saw a few belted kingfishers (Megaceryle alcyon) and there were lots of small songbirds in any thicket we passed. There were a few places with standing water and a few of them had a skunk cabbage plants (Symplocarpus foetidus) growing in them. It’s one a small number of thermogenic plants, which produce heat by chemical reaction and raise their temperature above that of the surrounding environment. Pretty cool.

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Juniper Leaves and Berries

Photograph taken on Sunday, January 17, 2021 by Henry
Juniper Leaves and Berries

Juniper Leaves and Berries

One of my favorite color combinations is the blue of juniper berries and the green of their leaves. I especially like it on an overcast day, when the colors are more vivid. Either color on its own is attractive and in the running for a favorite color, but the combination is especially nice.

Cathy, Dorothy, and I went for a walk on the Blue Mash Trail this afternoon and that’s where this photo was taken. As usual, it was nice to be out in the woods and meadows for a while and we always have plenty to talk about.

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Winter

Photograph taken on Sunday, December 27, 2020 by Henry
Black-eyed Susan Seeds

Black-eyed Susan Seeds

As we pass through the darkest days of the year, it’s good to remember the brighter times that are coming. In the summer, the yard was filled with colors, green, yellow, pink, red, and purple. In the winter most things are brown or grey. But the cycle repeats. The brown seeds grown into green plants that bloom in all the colors of the rainbow. But even the browns can be pretty. I wondered around the yard this afternoon and took a handful of photos, including this of black-eyed Susan seed heads. In a surprisingly short time, the yard will be in bloom again.

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Frost on Fern Fronds

Photograph taken on Wednesday, December 23, 2020 by Henry
Frost on Fern Fronds

Frost on Fern Fronds

It hasn’t realle been that cold yet this winter. We did have snow last week but it was only down into the upper 20s at night. It was chilly this morning and the forecast is for continued cold for a while, with lows around 20°F. Still not frigid, but colder. I took some mail out to the box this morning and noticed the frost on these fern fronds so I got my camera and went out a second time to take a few photos. The frost didn’t last long, melting shortly after the sun hit it. But I wasn’t going to stay out too long, anyway. I was in a t-shirt and barefoot. Bracing.

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Poinsettia

Photograph taken on Saturday, December 19, 2020 by Henry
Poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima)

Poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima)

We got this poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima) from our next door neighbor and it’s really nice. We have it on our dining room table, except when we take it to the kitchen to be watered. In the past we’ve tried to keep them going from one year to the next and while they aren’t that hard to keep alive, we’ve never had them perform that well in future years. It’s really not worth the trouble, when new plants look so good. As most people know, the red parts are leaves rather than flowers. The actual flowers are quite small and not particularly significant in terms of the ornamental value of the plant. But the leaves really are spectacular.

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Dried Leaves

Photograph taken on Sunday, December 13, 2020 by Henry
Dried Leaves

Dried Leaves

Winter is a time of stillness and quiet. In the city, of course, things don’t stop in the winter and the hustle and bustle continues. Even there, however, there are fewer people out and those who are generally keep moving. Even in the country, life goes on, of course. The birds (and every thing that creepeth upon the earth) still have to eat and those that don’t fly south (or those for whom this is south) can be seen in the woods and open areas. But the plants are quiet and still. They are still beautiful, though, especially when seen in silhouette, I think.

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Farm Skyline in Winter

Photograph taken on Saturday, December 12, 2020 by Henry
Farm Skyline in Winter

Farm Skyline in Winter

We didn’t have time for a long walk today but wanted to get out for a while. There’s a loop at the Montgomery County Farm Park the goes around this good-sized corn field and we walked around that. It can be entered from a few different places but we came in on the Upper Rock Creek Trail. We saw quite a few birds, including eastern bluebirds, a blue jay, and lots of crows. We also passed a group on horseback (people, not birds). It was cool and pleasant and good to be outdoors.

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Schlumbergera truncata (Thanksgiving Cactus)

Photograph taken on Thursday, December 10, 2020 by Henry
Schlumbergera truncata (Thanksgiving Cactus)

Schlumbergera truncata (Thanksgiving Cactus)

This is the second of our Thanksgiving cacti (Schlumbergera truncata) to bloom. The first was mostly white (see Monday, November 23, 2020) and this one, as you can see, is mostly magenta. The third, also magenta, is blooming now, as well. Their flowers are really attractive and I think especially so when shown against a dark background. In this case, the background is the outdoors at night (our kitchen door) with the flower lit by my camera’s flash. S. truncata can be differentiated from the Christmas cactus (S. russelliana) by the pointy ‘teeth’ along the edges of the segments and the fact that the flowers are not symmetrical (the top half is different to the bottom half).

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Mum

Photograph taken on Tuesday, December 08, 2020 by Henry
Mum

Mum

This mum was part of a bunch of cut flowers that we had on the table at Thanksgiving (you can see it in the photo from Thursday, November 26, 2020). It’s lasted pretty well and is still brightening up the dining room table. I’ve never really been into cut flowers but I have to admit they are a relatively inexpensive way to add a splash of color and cheer to a room. They don’t have to be particularly exotic, either. Mums, after all, are easily grown and not very expensive. So, next time you have a celebratory meal planned (or even on more mundane occasions), buy a small bouquet of flowers, stick them in a vase (or a pitcher, as these are) and put them on the table.

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Camellia japonica ‘Hokkaido Red’

Photograph taken on Monday, December 07, 2020 by Henry
Camellia japonica 'Hokkaido Red'

Camellia japonica ‘Hokkaido Red’

This spring I planted three camellias. One was a fall blooming hybrid between C. oleifera and C. hiemalis ‘Showa-no-sakae’ called ‘Winter’s Star’ (see Thursday, October 15, 2020). The other two are spring blooming Camellia japonica varieties. One of them, however, has a bloom that’s opened a bit early. It’s called ‘Hokkaido Red’. My understanding is that it was selected from plants grown from seed collected on the northernmost parts Hokkaido, Japan and grown at the National Arboretum. It’s supposed to be one of the most cold tolerant C. japonica and also blooms prolifically over a long period in the early spring. It’s a relatively slow growing shrub and of course mine was only planted this year, so it will be a while before it’s of any stature. But it looks very promising.

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Sycamore Tree

Photograph taken on Sunday, December 06, 2020 by Henry
Sycamore Tree

Sycamore Tree (Platanus occidentalis)

This American sycamore (Platanus occidentalis) is in our neighbor’s yard. It’s a bit, healthy tree and in the summer it is often lovely at dusk with the evening sun turning the bright green leaves a wonderful orange-green that’s very hard to describe. In the winter, without its leaves, the beauty of the sycamore is in their bark, which is a lovely white, especially against the blue of a winter sky. They are large trees and generally better suited to parks and open areas but they also make a fine city tree, being quite tolerant in their habits.

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Euonymus Berries

Photograph taken on Thursday, December 03, 2020 by Henry
Euonymus Berries

Euonymus Berries

I know I posted a photo of these berries in November but that’s all I got today so I’ll have to repeat myself. They’re pretty and always come later in the year than I remember. I really need to prune these bushes heavily and will try to remember to do it early in the spring so that they will still bloom freely. The bees really love the little, sweet smelling flowers and the whole hedge buzzes for a few weeks. Of course these hedges are pretty popular with the birds, as well, both for the berries this time of year and as simple cover. Evergreens are particularly nice for that purpose.

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Dried Flowers

Photograph taken on Wednesday, December 02, 2020 by Henry
Dried Flowers

Dried Flowers

Dorothy brought these dried flowers over a while back and they are lying on top of the large fish tank in the breakfast room. I believe they were her bouquet when she was a bridesmaid in a wedding. There’s something magical about dried flowers. Flowers are, generally speaking, transitory in nature. Their beauty is fleeting, something like a sunset. But a dried flower is a snapshot that lasts, not the same as the flower in all its glory any more than the snapshot is the scene it captures. But they both can evoke a memory or even an emotion. What a wonderful thing.

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Japanese Barberry (Berberis thunbergii)

Photograph taken on Saturday, November 28, 2020 by Henry
Japanese Barberry (Berberis thunbergii)

Japanese Barberry (Berberis thunbergii)

Today’s walk was in Redgate Park, formerly Redgate Golf Course. We walked the back nine today and enjoyed the cool weather and saw quite a few birds, including some blue birds and a hawk that I got a pretty decent photo of as it took off from a branch. This is Japanese barberry (Berberis thunbergii), a widely naturalized alien plant that’s found throughout our woods. I know we aren’t suppose to like invasive, non-native plants but you have to admit, its fall colors are quite spectacular.

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Juniper Berries

Photograph taken on Friday, November 27, 2020 by Henry
Juniper Berries

Juniper Berries

Cathy and I went for a walk late today at the Blue Mash Trail behind the Laytonsville land fill. It’s a nice, easy walk and we enjoyed the fall color still showing on a few trees. There is a fair amount of oriental bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus), which is pretty, even if it is a bit invasive. There’s a small group of American persimmon trees (Diospyros virginiana) but not much fruit was left at this point. This photo is of juniper berries and leaves. I particularly like this color combination. It’s especially rich on an overcast day like we had this afternoon.

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Sensitive Fern (Onoclea sensibilis)

Photograph taken on Tuesday, November 24, 2020 by Henry
Sensitive Fern (Onoclea sensibilis)

Sensitive Fern (Onoclea sensibilis)

At the north end of our front garden is a relatively shady spot with some ferns growing in it. There are wood ferns of some unknown variety, a few ostrich ferns (Matteuccia struthiopteris), a Japanese painted fern (Athyrium niponicum), and quite a bit of sensitive fern (Onoclea sensibilis). This is a fertile frond of the last of those and it’s quite elegant, to my way of thinking. This and the ostrich fern have their sporangia on separate, fertile fronds. Both are often found in particularly wet locations and this allows them to keep the spores safe and dry over the winter and then drop them in the spring. At least that’s my assumption. They make a nice winter interest in the garden, as well, although I don’t think they care about that, particularly. I did plant a royal fern (Osmunda regalis) in this part of the garden last year but I’m afraid it got eaten by something. If it doesn’t come up on the spring, I may try again, giving it a little protection until it gets big enough to fend for itself. I’ve said it before but it bears repeating, I’m frond of ferns.

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Schlumbergera truncata (Thanksgiving Cactus)

Photograph taken on Monday, November 23, 2020 by Henry
Schlumbergera truncata (Thanksgiving Cactus)

Schlumbergera truncata (Thanksgiving Cactus)

This Thanksgiving cactus (Schlumbergera truncata) is somewhat neglected though most of the year. That’s actually a good thing as they really don’t want to much attention. It sits on a shelf in our kitchen (breakfast room, really) and gets watered only occasionally. Then, one day around this time of year, you look over and it’s covered with these beautiful blooms. Naturally we move it to a more prominent position while it blooms and then it will go back into relative obscurity for the rest of the year.

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Trees at Dusk

Photograph taken on Friday, November 20, 2020 by Henry
Trees at Dusk

Trees at Dusk

I love the colors at dusk. Even when the sky is clear and there’s no clouds for sunset colors to light up, the trees, particularly the trees in autumn, can be just as good a show. It’s hard to catch and I’m not sure I’ve caught it here as well as I’d like, but I think you get the idea. With leaves already turning orange and red, the addition of sunset colors only intensifies them. Even the grey and brown trunks of these oaks turn an autumn hue.

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Rose ‘Perle d’Or’

Photograph taken on Monday, November 16, 2020 by Henry
Rose ‘Perle d’Or’

Rose ‘Perle d’Or’

The forecast said we’d have a freeze overnight tonight so I took some photos of this rose, outside our front door, figuring that they would be the last of the year. As it turns out (I know because I’m posting this two weeks after the fact) it didn’t get down below about 38°F, so I was a bit premature. Nevertheless, we’re likely to have a real freeze before too long, so I’m not upset. As you can see, although it’s the middle of November, this plant is still going strong. I have to say, it was definitely a good buy.

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Pussy Willow (Salix)

Photograph taken on Thursday, November 12, 2020 by Henry
Pussy Willow (Salix)

Pussy Willow (Salix)

Back in January, Dorothy brought some Ranunculus asiaticus for our dining room table. I posted a photo of one on Friday, January 17. They were lovely while they lasted. At the same time, Dorothy brought some pussy willow stems and I posted a photo of them the next day, Saturday, January 18. These, amazingly, have been on the sideboard in our dining room since then and are still looking pretty good.

Pussy willow is the a common name for various Salix species and Salix discolor in particular. The common name references their furry catkins, as seen in this photo. They are dioecious plants, meaning the male and female catkins are on separate plants. In general, it’s the male catkins that are used ornamentally as they are generally the more attractive of the two. They are very soft, like a kitten’s paw.

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