on what we notice
Here is a universal truth: We notice the things we love. Here is another truth I have learned while doing STILL: We will fall in love with whatever we pay attention to. I love seedpods. I notice them everywhere I go.
seedpod collection
we’ve got traction!
No rain, but sunshine and warm temps, and we are finally on the move toward spring up here. Those of us with protected, south-facing slopes and walls that act like heat-sinks, are now experiencing the first of the spring blooms. I have a north sloping yard, so I am always last. But even I have tiny blue scilla (siberian squill) along the driveway now. A friend of mine has a two-story warehouse style building inthe city with a sunny south-facing garden, and her magnolia is always the first to blossom. And she always calls me first!
magnolia blossoms
it’s that time again
Not every year, but often, there is a little pause in the arrival of spring where the increasing sunshine has warmed the ground and got the sap running and the buds swelling, but there is not yet enough rain to push them to bursting. This year, is one of those years: Early warmth, but no rain. So as I await the next big push of spring, I satisfy my hunger for green by cutting up the houseplants. Yesterday spider plants. Today a bird of paradise leaf. Tomorrow? Let’s see…the jade plant is looking very inviting. Watch out jade plant you are in my crosshairs!
bird of paradise plant leaf (Strelitzia reginae)
generosity in action
Is there a more generous house plant than spider plants? If there is, I want to know. My son’s girlfriend gifted him a small spider plantlet about 1½ year ago. He, of course, left it in my charge when he went of to NYU. Since then, the plant has quintupled in size, and is lousy with scapes and baby plantlets. Here are some fun facts about spider plants you probably didn’t know:
- they are native to South Africa, but naturalized all around the world
- they are in the asparagus family
- they are sensitive to flouride in tap water
- variegated forms are the most popular
- the baby spiders are called plantlets
- those scapes with plantlets are reaching for the soil
- propogation occurs through potting the plantlets
- they are non-toxic to humans and pets, and are considered edible
spider plant scapes and plantlets (Chlorophytum comosum)
-
The plantlets on my spider could feed a family of four for weeks
reply -
And I bet a good portion of the population has grown one at some time in their life, most likely in their first apartment!
reply
wabi sabi for artists
One of my favorite books for creative inspiration is Wabi-Sabi: for Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers by Leonard Koren. It’s a little book–a chapbook of sorts. It’s become a classic. First publisher in 1994, i is credited with bringing the Japanese concept of Wabi-Sabi into western aesthetic theory. If you like the such things, I highly recommend it. Here is one of my favorite quotes from the book–and it reminds me of today’s photo.
“Pare down to the essence, but don’t remove the poetry.”
― Leonard Koren
(unidentified) winter stems
I would like to send you ALL of the seed pods from my mimosa tree ;) AND my red bud tree, too. They are the bane of my gardening existence!! If I had a quarter for every seedling I’ve pulled, I’d be a very rich woman! You have a varied and fascinating collection, and I fully understand the attraction.