Archive for January 2013

Janvier

Thursday, January 31, 2013



Back at the year's beginning, I did say I'd try to make a calendar of collected objects. And, in my regular fashion, I've waited until the final day of the first month to begin. Here is a small branch found on a walk this morning. Can anyone identify the tree?

{Update: These are definitely red maple buds. Thank you Kayta!}

Gerbera Flower

Sunday, January 27, 2013 · Posted in , ,

The Gerbera is commonly known as the African Daisy. A native plant of South Africa, it grows in well-drained sandy soils. This beautiful member of the Asteraceae family is also known as the Barberton Daisy and the Transvaal Daisy. These names are suggestive of the locations where the plant was first discovered. Botanically, the full name of the African Daisy is Gerbera jamesonii. The genus name "Gerbera" is derived from the family name of the German naturalist, Traugott Gerber while the species was named after Robert Jameson, who was the first to have collected live specimens of the plant.
Gerbera flowers are popular as cut flowers; they are pretty and elegant in their own right. Their daisy-like flowers come in a colorful array of crimson, cream, yellow, orange and pink. The hairy, deeply lobed leaves, which resembles the Garland Chrysanthemum (a steamboat vegetable, commonly called Tang Oh), serves to enhance the brightly coloured blooms. Nowadays, local nurseries carry hybrids both with single or double-petal blooms.
Growing Gerbera plants could be more economical than buying cut flowers in the long run. A well-grown plant will reward you with endless blooms which last longer than those dipped in a vase of water. Guys, if your girlfriend adores Gerbera, consider buying and growing a pot for her; she would certainly be swooned by your sincerity more than receiving a bouquet of cut ones from the florist.

Getting Real

Saturday, January 26, 2013

If you've looked at this website before, albeit perhaps with the liberal love and relentless fomenting excitement of the greater Troy, NY community, you might be wondering exactly what the deal is. I seem to be rustling around poeticizing about rocks that look like flowers, the shapes of snowflakes, and the finer points of post-apocalyptic temporary tattooing. This is true. 

But I'm also trying to start a business, one committed to a few core ideas, namely the following:

1. Beauty, like everything else, is impermanent.
2. The communities we want to live in, and which I'm committed to participating in, flourish when we encourage and engage in the creation of participatory things-of-beauty.
3. These things should not tax our health or the health of our planet.
4. I really like getting dirty.

With these core principles in mind, I'm creating an official thing-of-sorts, as recently documented by the NYS Department of Taxation and Finance.


This horrible pink-colored document is my CERTIFICATE OF AUTHORITY. It lets me charge sales tax. It also makes me feel serious.


And this is the FEDCO catalog. The FEDCO catalog! This is a page of sweet peas, into which I pour all my wintry thoughts about sweet peas, and Tithonia (every punctuation mark here is a deleted exclamation point): Tithonia, the Mexican sunflower, with gray velvet leaves.

This catalog, the stack of catalogs underneath it, and the various notes, question marks, and to-do lists filling my space are the antithesis of a CERTIFICATE OF AUTHORITY. They point to everything I don't know, the future that I can't predict, and the locus of all the real excitement.

How to Plant Roses

Friday, January 25, 2013 · Posted in


Red Roses flowers
The art of planting roses does not have to be a complicated thing to do. When you have the right knowledge, there are no limits to a beautiful garden or rosebush that you can create. Now you will have with you all the time, all the beauty and delicious fragrance that roses can give.

1. Check with your garden center or the florist to find out what are the best types of roses to grow in your climate. If you are a beginner, look for Disease-resistant types of roses because they require much less maintenance.

2. Learn that when planting roses, choose a well-lit place in the morning is essential. You will also want a place that has the sunlight for a minimum of 6 hours per day. Roses need a large amount of light to grow appropriately.


3. Carefully remove the rose from its container. Soak the roots in water for 8 to 10 hours. Remove any broken or wounded root or roots of the size and thickness of a pencil lower.

4 . Water your plants frequently during the first 3 to 4 weeks after planting. Usually do it when the top 5cm of soil is dry. To stay healthy your roses need plenty of hydration and nutrition.

5. Begin fertilization approximately 3 months after planting. Use 10 to 12 cm of straw, dried grass, to control temperature, moisture and prevent weeds from appearing. The straw also helps hold the vital nutrients that your roses need to stay healthy.

Acacia Flower

Thursday, January 24, 2013 · Posted in ,

The acacia flower blooms from a genus of trees and shrubs that belong in either the Fabaceae family or the Mimosoideae subfamily. Although the majority of acacia species can be seen in Australia, these flowers may be found blossoming in all seven continents. Sometimes referred to as wattles, the acacia flower sprouts in inflorescences made up of many stamens, and miniscule flowers that can number between 3 and 130, depending upon the species. They are most commonly seen in yellow or creamy white hues, but some species also grow in shades of red and purple. Acacias grow their best in warm, humid areas in well drained soil.
the acacia flower is most often associated with honor, resurrection and immortality. They are also given as gifts to represent friendship, secret romantic crushes, and chaste, unsullied affections. Although these flowers are frequently given on their own, they also look lovely in large arrangements and small bouquets of complimentary blossoms.

Acacia yellow flowers.The trees of the acacia flower have become an important part of myth, and are also well known for their numerous practical uses. One of the best examples of mythology describes the acacia tree as being something of a shelter to the newborn Egyptian gods. This tree, which was associated with the goddess Saosis, was also thought to have been a part of the boat that carried the sun god Re, and thus, is considered sacred. These plants are thought to be a great food source, the shoots being used in Thailand and Loas as earthy greens which are added to curries, stir fries and soups. The flowers themselves attract many bees, and the honey that is then created is a prized delicacy with a faint, floral flavor. Acacia plants are also known for their potent medicinal uses – most of which are thought to have an actual scientific backing. Gum Arabic, which is produced from the species acacia senegal, is one of the most frequently used parts of this plant. Because this substance coats affected areas, it is often used to treat inflammation. It is also useful for coughs, stomach ailments and colds. In Ayurvedic medicine, the acacia flower has long been thought to be a powerful astringent and a useful sedative. 

This plant’s cultural uses are also quite varied. For example, the flowers are thought to have magical uses, and are often made into talismans that aid in meditation and promote clairvoyance, as well as being used as an emblem for protection. In addition to that, they are used for dyes and paints, perfumes, and are frequently presented to Italian and Russian women on International Women’s Day.

Scout & About

Tuesday, January 22, 2013




This is my beautiful housemate Tonya.
 

This is her beautiful suitcase. 

Tonya is a teacher, a hugger, a maker-of-soap, a singer, a clothes horse, and a preeminent flower scout. We're going to keep bees, grow berries, and deck our home with plants of infinite variety. Beginning right here:

Yesterday morning, Tonya thrust a little dead ball of dried leaves into a bowl and said, "Take this. Give it some water." So I did. Then she said, "Don't give it too much. Its needs are few." So I turned off the tap, took it into my room, and set it on a crate under the window. Ten minutes later, I turned absent-mindedly toward it and found the above--a fractal wonderland of uncurling bliss-krieg! I couldn't believe my eyes! This, dear friends, is the famed Resurrection Plant.


It's immensely inspiring, for all sorts of reasons. But beyond that, it's beautiful.

(Don't worry, I promise not to let that dinosaur eat it. But only if you listen to this song, Resurrection Fern, by the indomitable flower scout Sam Beam.)





Flower care

Friday, January 18, 2013 · Posted in

Flowers care
The purpose is to conserve the flowers for as long as possible. Flowers are fragile and must be provided with great care. Just follow a series of basic care and so will keep your flowers fresh and beautiful for much longer.


In the flowers box you can find a document about nitrates. Nitrates help plants absorb nutrients from the water, helping to keep the flowers healthy for longer.

Cut the stems about an inch in oblique if possible. The end of the stem is dried during transportation and does not perform properly nutrient absorption.
Add a little bleach to the water and sugar
Through this simple operation will eat your flowers correctly.

Daffodil flowers

Tuesday, January 15, 2013 · Posted in ,






Daffodil flowers are attractive trumpet-shaped perennial flowers that bloom from bulbs during the spring. They are considered to be one of the most popular, colorful and vigorous flowers of spring. In fact, the Daffodil flowers are the first sign of spring. In the language of flowers they symbolize spring, rebirth, new beginnings, and friendship. The Daffodil flower is used as the March birth month flower and the 10th wedding anniversary flower.

Daffodil flowers belong to the Amaryllidaceae family and the genus Narcissus. Daffodil is a common name for a narcissus. There are 50 species in its family, and around 13000 hybrid varieties.

Daffodil flowers are native to the Mediterranean region in Europe but have been cultivated all over the world. Naturally they grow in woods, grassland and on rocky ground from Spain and Portugal east to Germany and north to England and Wales. In Europe these beautiful springtime flowers are grown commercially in the Channel Islands, Great Britain, Isles of Scilly and Holland.

Daffodil has one flower per stem. The Daffodil flower has a central trumpet-shaped corona (also referred to as a “trumpet”) surrounded by a ring of petals (often called the perianth). The basic color is yellow but Daffodil flowers also may range from white to cream to pink, apricot, orange and unusual lime green. Some have bi-color pattern. Breeders have developed different variations of Daffodil flowers, including Daffodils with multiple layers of petals or frilled petals and Daffodils with elongated or compressed coronas. Many Daffodil flowers are fragrant.

Daffodils are easy to grow. They are very hardy. Daffodil flowers can be grown in USDA zones 3 through 8. They need good sunlight and well-drained soil. A big advantage to Daffodils is that they are poisonous and being unappetizing to deer, rabbits, squirrels and chipmunks.

The Daffodil flower is a very beautiful flower and often used in bouquets or flower arrangements. Daffodil flowers also make a wonderful addition to any garden. These vigorous, long-lived flowers often bloom in clusters and add lots of color to any garden in the spring. Daffodil flowers are excellent for the shrub border, perennial beds and among ground covers.

Go Underground.

Sunday, January 13, 2013


 
 Lester Howe, seen here amidst some phenomenal wallpaper, was a tremendously intrepid spelunker. He discovered what came to be called Howe's Caverns by crawling through the dark on his hands and knees, deep into a cave that we can now trot through quite unmessily. A cave that I did trot through on Friday, accompanied by four artists and one great guide named Guy. In which I noticed that rock formations can look surprisingly like flowers.
 
 

This stalactite seems like  a conglomeration of the strangest varieties of amaranth.


Another luxury that Lester didn't have, at first, was a gondola ride down the dark, clear lake in the middle of the cave, with its treat (perhaps not as rare in Lester's day) of total darkness at the end.

When I say total darkness, I mean complete and utter absence of light. I mean the kind of darkness in which the brain begins to play tricks very quickly. I mean H.P. Lovecraft's kind of blackened space. Who would imagine that any plants could live in this environment? Yet the deeper we got into the cave, the more thick and beautiful the moss colonies and lichens became, cropping up predictably near every fake-rock wall sconce. Plants themselves are so intrepid.

2012: The Year of Pip

Sunday, January 6, 2013

Inspired by Sarah Rhyanen's unbelievably beautiful recent post on the Saipua blog, I've cobbled together my favorite photos of 2012, a year of pastoral photo-ops to say the least.





Lots of plaid-itude.


. . .and this guy, if you've made it this far, is the aforementioned Pip, as photographed by Kayta, whose photographer's talents far surpass mine.
 
 Here's Kayta herself.

Thanks for the beauty, 2012.

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