Greetings and salutations, everyone; yes, once again it is I, Mani the purebred border collie, filling in for the guy I live with, and here today to bring you our latest news. You may remember me from such posts as “Nature Is Icky”, among so many, many others.
Here I am in a characteristic pose.
I’m looking at bees, if you were wondering. There are zillions of bees on the flowers of Sedum ‘Matrona’.
I eat bees, even though the guy I live with says not to. I think that’s because he’s never tried them.
Really, though, bees and wasps and yellowjackets are scary, and I eat them to keep them from stinging me. That may sound odd to you, but I don’t think it is, though the guy I live with calls reasoning like that “border collie logic”.
As promised, I have some pictures of colchicums today.
Colchicum autumnale ‘Nancy Lindsay’ again.
‘Rosy Dawn’
‘World Champion’s Cup’
Colchicum laetum, a smallish species found in southern Russia.
Colchicum x agrippinum
Those are the colchicums for today. That last one takes the cake for tesselation, doesn’t it?
There is another tesselated one that I hope to show soon.
So today I was left alone to my own devices (that is, I slept) while the guy I live with went to a plant sale not far from here, to a big public garden next to Kendrick Lake.
He only bought three plants, and didn’t wander around the garden like he thought he would, because he’d spent too much time there and wanted to come home to see me.
But he saw this, and he said it made him “blue with envy”.
This is Salvia azurea. If you’ve read Claude Barr’s Jewels of the Plains he mentions this, and S. pitcheri, which is now considered the same as S. azurea.
Barr says that the salvia has very deep roots that search for water, and will survive drought, but won’t flower in autumn unless it rains.
This garden is watered quite a bit, and though the guy I live with has a plant of this in the garden, he said he wanted it to be as big as this one, so he’s going to water more.
(By the way, if you do an internet search on “do roots search for water” there are quite a few websites that say they don’t. They do; it’s called hydrotropism.)
And that’s all I have for today. I was hoping this post would be more about me, but the guy I live with assured me that a post mostly featuring me might come in the near future.
Until next time.
the miserable gardener 
As always, lovely photos Mani. Best to enjoy the bees from a distance than to nosh on them.
Thanks.
Bees are pretty tasty, though. Kind of like flies but with jalapeno sauce on them.
That Salvia azurea really is impressive. About how big is it? That name sounds familiar. Did you post pictures of it in your garden before?
The guy I live with said it’s about six feet tall. At least.
We posted a picture of a pathetic little plant in our garden which died a long time ago.
Well, they guy you live with had it FIRST!
No, they did.
OH! Well, . . . perhaps you should not remind the guy you live with. Besides, his was still better because it was in your garden.
It was only a foot tall.
So is Rhody, and he is totally AWESOME!
Yes, that Colchicum x agrippinum is beautiful!
It is. The guy I live with said the place where he got these from, Daffodils and More, usually sells out of this colchicum right away.
(Furiously googling)
And indeed they are out of stock. Thanks for the lead.
You’re welcome. The prices there are really good, too.
And, the guy I live with says the proprietor is super nice.
Technically all you need is one corm, which is called a “mother corm”; that will flower, and “daughter” corms will form from the one you planted, so you’ll have new corms that will probably flower the next autumn.
Yore Colchicum flowerss are so beeuteefull Mani an Guy. Iss tessalated when there iss markin on THE flower petalss; like a dee-sign? THE last Colchicum iss furry lovelee. An THE Salvia iss purrty speck-taculur two! Wee love yore fotoss Mani! Yore so fotogenick! ***nose bopss*** BellaDharma an ((hugss)) BellaSita Mum
Thanks. Yes, tesselation is like a repeated pattern of shapes, sort of like a checkerboard but not quite.
Thanx fore claryfication Mani an Guy…..what a kewl werd ‘tesselation’ iss!
You’re welcome. It is kind of a cool word.
M.C. Escher was famous for his tesselations: https://mcescher.com/gallery/symmetry/
Yes, that’s right.
Any idea how deep the water table is at your home?
The guy I live with says 100 to 400 feet, so obviously Salvia azurea‘s roots won’t be finding any water by growing down.
The salvia pictured is growing by a lake (not a big lake) but is regularly irrigated.
Maybe at Barr’s homestead the water table was higher.
The guy I live with says the thing about roots not searching for water probably originated with people thinking tree roots get into sewer drains, like breaking them in some way, and then attempts to show that’s a myth.
My lone Colchicum (planted by previous owners, so about 20 years old) has yet to make an appearance. I look for it every day! –Also, I just scored a copy of “Jewels of the Plains” on eBay. Thanks Mani!
You’re welcome. The guy I live with says that’s a gardening book a person can read for pleasure.
Some colchicums are later than others.
Hi! I can bring you Salvia azurea when I come to visit! I have lots of it. Hummingbirds really like it too. The only thing is that it becomes a bit unruly and flops a bit unless you give it a Chelsea Chop, which I have never done.
The guy I live with said thanks, though he just ordered three plants, and he says he’s going to water them more.
(But you can still come over…)
Not good to eat bees, etc Mani. If you get stung enough you could develop an allergic reaction. Happened to our old border collie. And don’t even think about eating the colchicums. They are too lovely but also quite toxic. I admire the guy you live with’s restraint. How can you only come home with just three plants. Would never happen here.
Oh, bees are pretty tasty. Yellowjackets are pretty good, too.
The guy I live with said he saw something where dogs consider flies to be “sky raisins” and bees “jalapeno sky raisins”, well, yellow jackets are like “ghost pepper sky raisins”. They do scare me. The guy I live with doesn’t understand why I don’t get stung, but he should know by now how tough I am.
I’m not allergic, though the guy I live with said that Pooka, a purebred border collie who lived here before me, was very allergic and swelled up one time.
When it comes to plants, the guy I live with is a model of restraint. (He says you can stop laughing any time now.)
He wasn’t going to buy anything at the plant sale, just talk to friends, but there were plants of Salvia atropatana, the Iranian oil sage, so he bought three of them. And, believe it or not, he even has a place to plant them.