Regular readers and pals know that one of my favorite hobbies is flower arranging. I've been spending two solid weeks doing one or two arrangements a day, until my room likes like a flower shop or a funeral parlor!
Tonight was mega cool though. I noticed a huge truckload sale of flowers at a nearby clearance store, bought some for myself, then mentioned to my neighbor. She invites me to go with her while she picks out some flowers, but I find her agenda is to let me go crazy and redecorate her home's floral arrangements. I spend the evening at her house in kind of mosh pit flower bliss! She let me deconstruct all the ones she already had (yeah!) and using the materials, plus the new, I was able to get six totally new arrangements cooking. Yeah! Totally stoaked with the results, even before I get a few more new items to touch up further.
Showing posts with label flowers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label flowers. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
A virtual flower arrangement
Today I made an arrangement, a favorite pastime of mine, particularly Japanese traditional styles, but the one I made today was for possible sale at an ersatz "garage sale" being planned.
I must have flower arranging on the mind because here's a spontaneous virtual flower arrangement. Yeah, I know, if I was really cool I'd be able to Photoshop an actual arrangement and post it here but I have been technically adrift for a VERY long time. So use your imaginations boys and girls :-) I know you young people (Hi!) out there could probably put a shooped arrangement together as fast as I thought of it...
Angelica, Balm, Cactus, Double Daisy, Foxglove, Hollyhock, Wild hyacinth, Iris, Laurel, Myrtle and Reed.
I must have flower arranging on the mind because here's a spontaneous virtual flower arrangement. Yeah, I know, if I was really cool I'd be able to Photoshop an actual arrangement and post it here but I have been technically adrift for a VERY long time. So use your imaginations boys and girls :-) I know you young people (Hi!) out there could probably put a shooped arrangement together as fast as I thought of it...
Angelica, Balm, Cactus, Double Daisy, Foxglove, Hollyhock, Wild hyacinth, Iris, Laurel, Myrtle and Reed.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Hibiscus, a favorite flower
Growing up in the fully four season north of New York State I did not see a hibiscus until I was a student in college, in the early 1970's. The very first hibiscus that I ever saw was "in the wild" while I was bird watching in Corkscrew Swamp in Florida. I was walking along the boardwalk in the nature sanctuary and was amazed at this glimpse of orange, and when I got closer realized that it was my first hibiscus. I always thought it was so cool that the first one that I saw was in the wild and not cultivated!
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hibiscus_rosa-sinensis_(bloom).JPG
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corkscrew_Swamp_Sanctuary
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hibiscus_rosa-sinensis_(bloom).JPG
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corkscrew_Swamp_Sanctuary
Thursday, November 13, 2008
A favorite flower, clover, mentioned in the Qur'an
Surah 80: 26-32
Then We cleave the earth, cleaving (it) asunder,
Then We cause to grow therein the grain,
And grapes and clover,
And the olive and the palm,
And thick gardens,
And fruits and herbage,
A provision for you and your cattle.
***
Is it not a wonder that the humble clover is mentioned as one of the illustrious gifts by God? Everyone thinks of the value of grapes, of the olive, and the palm, but there is the clover, singled out for glorious mention at God's lips in the Qur'an. Why is that? Well, God explains a few lines later, where he demonstrates that his gifts are for both human sustenance and their cattle.
Everyone who knows anything about cattle knows that cows love clover. They eagerly seek it out and eat it. Clover has a small red and white round flower, which is small, usually a half inch in diameter. Here is a close up picture.
http://www.nps.gov/wica/naturescience/wildflowers-red-clover.htm
When I was a child I lived in a rural area, and so we children grew up knowing that the clover flower tastes sweet and how to eat them when one is on a trek through the meadows and woods.
As you can see the clover is hundreds of tiny elongated petals, where one half is red or purple and the other half, which attaches to the stalk, shades to white. If you pull a bunch of the petals and bite off the bottom half, the white half, it is full of sugar and very sweet to eat. I would often eat several of them as a youngster, and to this day think of it when I see some nice ones (although we do not live in such clean times these days, so I would not recommend it! Too many dog walkers and so forth.) But I thought I would share this little farm knowledge from my childhood.
Then We cleave the earth, cleaving (it) asunder,
Then We cause to grow therein the grain,
And grapes and clover,
And the olive and the palm,
And thick gardens,
And fruits and herbage,
A provision for you and your cattle.
***
Is it not a wonder that the humble clover is mentioned as one of the illustrious gifts by God? Everyone thinks of the value of grapes, of the olive, and the palm, but there is the clover, singled out for glorious mention at God's lips in the Qur'an. Why is that? Well, God explains a few lines later, where he demonstrates that his gifts are for both human sustenance and their cattle.
Everyone who knows anything about cattle knows that cows love clover. They eagerly seek it out and eat it. Clover has a small red and white round flower, which is small, usually a half inch in diameter. Here is a close up picture.
http://www.nps.gov/wica/naturescience/wildflowers-red-clover.htm
When I was a child I lived in a rural area, and so we children grew up knowing that the clover flower tastes sweet and how to eat them when one is on a trek through the meadows and woods.
As you can see the clover is hundreds of tiny elongated petals, where one half is red or purple and the other half, which attaches to the stalk, shades to white. If you pull a bunch of the petals and bite off the bottom half, the white half, it is full of sugar and very sweet to eat. I would often eat several of them as a youngster, and to this day think of it when I see some nice ones (although we do not live in such clean times these days, so I would not recommend it! Too many dog walkers and so forth.) But I thought I would share this little farm knowledge from my childhood.
Monday, July 9, 2007
FTD soon to deliver flowers to cows?
Flower may hold key to cow methane
By Charles Clover, Environment Editor
Last Updated: 6:01pm BST 09/07/2007
A common wild flower may be the answer to reducing the amount of methane that cows belch, a significant contributor to global warming, scientists said yesterday.
snip
Studies in New Zealand have shown that changing the composition of cows' food can achieve savings in methane of up to 50 per cent.
Birdsfoot trefoil, with its distinctive three-toed yellow flower, contains tannins which appear to moderate the activities of microbes in the cow's gut, enabling the cow to digest the latest generation of high-sugar grasses more efficiently without also breaking down proteins which cause the production of methane.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml;jsessionid=YTTUIQOMSAHSFQFIQMFSFFWAVCBQ0IV0?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/earth/2007/07/09/eacow109.xml
***
Remarkable the power of a simple flower! And for folks who don't understand protecting endangered flora and fauna, imagine if this flower went extinct as having no value? Hmm. Everything exists in nature for a reason...
By Charles Clover, Environment Editor
Last Updated: 6:01pm BST 09/07/2007
A common wild flower may be the answer to reducing the amount of methane that cows belch, a significant contributor to global warming, scientists said yesterday.
snip
Studies in New Zealand have shown that changing the composition of cows' food can achieve savings in methane of up to 50 per cent.
Birdsfoot trefoil, with its distinctive three-toed yellow flower, contains tannins which appear to moderate the activities of microbes in the cow's gut, enabling the cow to digest the latest generation of high-sugar grasses more efficiently without also breaking down proteins which cause the production of methane.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml;jsessionid=YTTUIQOMSAHSFQFIQMFSFFWAVCBQ0IV0?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/earth/2007/07/09/eacow109.xml
***
Remarkable the power of a simple flower! And for folks who don't understand protecting endangered flora and fauna, imagine if this flower went extinct as having no value? Hmm. Everything exists in nature for a reason...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
.JPG){kind=link}