molting season

All the birds are preening and dropping feathers as they do their post breeding molts: Getting rid of the damaged feathers and making room for new growth. This blue jay feather has split ends. Too bad the birds can’t just trim of the damaged bits like we do. Losing feathers–especially flight feathers–leaves them vulnerable for several weeks to a couple of months. Coming across a colorful feather like this feels similar to finding a perfect piece of sea glass on the beach. A treasure like all the others, but a little more memorable for being so exquisitely colored.

damaged blue jay feather (Cyanocitta cristata)

shhhh, don’t tell that flower it’s a bunch gall

I love throwing my more unusual photos into Google image search just to see what I get. This is a goldenrod bunch gall. A little midge plants its larva in the stem of a growing goldenrod plant, and the resulting stunted growth creates this bunched leaf rosette. I stripped the leaves off the stem in order to isolate the bunch. Here is what Google AI thought this was:

“This appears to be a Rosa ‘Green Rose’ (Rosa chinensis ‘Viridiflora’), an antique rose variety known for its unique green, petal-less blooms.”

Of course, I had to look up Rosa chinensis ‘Viridiflora. And my goodness, it looks just like my bunch gall. It turns out the Green Rose is a phyllomorphy of the pink China Rosa. Phyllody is the abnormal development of floral parts into leafy structures. Phyllody, a new-to-me word. How about you? Ever heard of phyllomorphy?

goldenrod bunch gall (Rhopalomyia solidaginis)

A none Northern color palette

I’m prepping materials a for a conference/workshop I’m teaching at in Longwood, PA in two weeks, so I pulled out a box of dried botanicals I gathered at a previous workshop I did in Bonita Springs, Florida this May. I was thrilled to see all my treasures had successfully survived the transit. Is this an interesting palette? I like it a lot.

Dried Sea grape leaves (Coccoloba uvifera)

breaking free

It seems odd to be noticing maple samaras now, but I just looked it up and these Amur Maple samaras do indeed mature in late summer. Amur maple is not not native to North America, so maybe that explains the discordancy of maple seeds ripening in August. I love the pink and lime green color combination in these half-mature seeds. They will continue to ripen to a very dark pinky red in the next few weeks. I find myself wondering why all the non-native imports are so much more colorful than our native plants, and then I remind myself that these plants were exported around the globe precisely because they are colorful. It’s not that ALL plants from Eurasia are more color than ours, it’s simply that the ones that have been brought here were specifically chosen for that very reason. Is this what they call a tautological question?

amur maple samaras (Acer tataricum subsp. ginnala)

new-to-me

You know how much I like surprising you with new subjects :-). Here’s one I am guessing at least some of you haven’t seen before, the flower of a caper bush. As most of you know, Steve has a passion for all things Mediterranean, and has been trying to grow as many mediterranean culinary plants as possible. Right now we are proud owners of VERY large bay laurel tree (that overwinters in our basement under grow lights, a Meyer lemon tree, a fig tree, and a caper bush. We’ve had a hot summer here, so right now all of them are thriving.

Here are few fun facts about capers:
Capparis spinosa is native to almost all the circum-Mediterranean countries, and is included in the flora of most of them, but whether it is indigenous to this region is uncertain. The family could have originated in the tropics and later spread to the Mediterranean basin. The plant is best known for the edible flower buds (capers), used as a seasoning or garnish, and the fruit (caper berries), both of which are usually consumed salted or pickled.

caper flower (Capparis spinosa)