one more quiz
Okay, last quiz for a while I promise: Do any of you know what these are? I had one heck of time trying to ID them online. Google AI finally got me there. I will fill you in tomorrow with the my, and AIs, best guess.
Update: Ginny suggested you all need more details, and she’s right! Here are the facts: Gathered in Florida on April 30th, on the grounds of my hotel in Bonito Springs. The hotel was heavily landscaped with lots of mature old trees of all kinds, and it didn’t occur to me to look up or around at the lush landscaping. Each spike (??) is about 10-12 inches long unless it’s broken. They are brittle, presumably from being dried out, and break easily. If you zoom in they look a lot like braided leather–but feel much more brittle.
xo Mary Jo
capturing color
I am still playing and experimenting with our new dehydrator. I started using it mostly to quickly generate teaching materials for my workshops. But I am finding that it drying my specimens in interesting ways, especially if I have it set to a low heat. It seems to be locking in more color than if I had let the leaves or flowers dry naturally (usually hung upside down in the garage). If the heat gets too high, I get the opposite effect––I essentially crisp everything to a dull brown. These smoke bush leaves (one of my favorite leaves for STILL compositions) were picked this week, and then dried for a couple days in the dehydrator. I love how the drying process seems to have amplified the colors that were starting to turn; sort of like concentrating flavors by roasting your tomatoes in the oven for 45 minutes. That tomato reference made me hungry, and I am now realizing these leaves look delicious enough to eat!
dried early autumn smoke bush leaves (Cotinus)
P.S. Yesterday’s image was cutleaf teasel leaves (Dipsacus laciniatus)
what the weird?
I started to write about these leaves. But then I wondered if anyone would be able to guess what they are. Any guesses?
cutleaf teasel leaves (Dipsacus laciniatus)
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Something prickly like a thistle
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Ya got me this time. I dunno :(
If no one guesses correctly, don’t forget to come back with the answer!!reply
Roy G
Are you ready for fall? I am jumping the gun a little bit, but I did get off the freeway today in order to inch my way back on a frontage road so I could grab these very-first-of-the-fall-colors. Have you ever seen so many colors on one (compound) leaf? Red, orange, yellow, and green: Roy G. is here already!
staghorn sumac leaves in late August (Rhus typhina)
a freebie in a floral bouquet
My friend Kristin and I share a “flower CSA”. Every week, bouquets of locally grown flowers are dropped off at restaurant/market that is a mile from my house. Kris and I alternate weeks. This week, my bouquet had several stalks of these blue hued glasses, presumably wheat. They are quite pretty. I put this photo into Google image search, and it said it was very likely Utrecht Blue wheat. Any grass/grain experts out there? Tall grasses, both wild and domesticated, are one of my biggest areas of weakness. Every year, I try to commit one or two more species to my mental data base, but for some reason they barely stick: big bluestem, indiangrass, turkey foot grass, canada rye, wild barley, switchgrass, quackgrass, foxtail grasses, squirrel tail grasses, brome, gramma, wild oats…on and on and on. I just googled native grasses of Minnesota, and I found a resource that lists 159 species of grasses. At 3 new-to-me species a year, I’d need to live to age 115 to learn the all. I had better up my average!
blue hued wheat stem (perhaps Utrecht Blue Spring Wheat?)
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Why not just ask the CSA farmer what it is? Great idea to share a flower CSA with a friend!
As a gal in her 81st year, I find remembering new plant names is a real challenge these days. Even at your tender age, memory skill is on an unfavorable trajectory, M’dear. Better up that age of 115 to achieve your goal, heh heh.reply
Golly, MJ we ought to at least have the same info you had to start with?? Were they still attached to a living plant? In the grass, fallen from a shrub or tree? Location? Size? Sun or shade? Donated to you by an ardent follower? Etc… :)))
All that being said, my best guess is the seed stalks of a broad leaf plantain, A typical lawn weed. Doesn’t seem as though that’d be hard to ID though.
You are so right Ginny! I added the info to the description. I am partly doing this, because I am about 80% certain of what I eventually identified them as. But I’d love like a second opinion. There is strange lack of images online of these strange and beautiful things.