late summer bulbs

On an afternoon stroll around the estate I found very little in bloom, which is to be expected in weather like this, but I also noticed that the late summer bulbs have begun to flower.

Colchicum ‘Zephyr’

I think this is Cyclamen cilicium. It keys out that way, but I didn’t plant it; the ants did. Normally I would expect to see some leaves at the same time, but maybe I haven’t been paying enough attention. The flowers are scented. Typically in flower until Christmas.

Cyclamen cilicium

Cyclamen fatrense has been blooming for several weeks, but not like this.

Cyclamen fatrense

The white form of Cyclamen hederifolium; I was afraid that the tubers, the tops of which are barely below the soil surface, if even that, had been crushed when the garden on the north side of the house got trampled during the installation of the fence. The tuber is on the lower left, not visible, but another flower stalk is, with its white bud.

Cyclamen hederifolium ‘Album’

P.S. I went back outside to move the sprinkler and realized I’d forgotten about Oenothera longissima. The picture is fuzzy; it’s hard for arthritic fingers to hold the Coolpix steady, and stumbling around in the dark with the tripod didn’t sound like much fun. (Because it isn’t.)

Oenothera longissima

The sky at 8 p.m.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

what happened here?

Despite the popular conception of me as the most intelligent person anyone has ever met, it’s just a conception and isn’t really the case. I mentioned the seed frames a while back, here, and in between then and now there was a torrential downpour that filled the plastic flats holding the pots, and I didn’t think about it for several days afterward until I realized that some of the seedlings might be rotting, at which time I drained the flats and wished I’d done it the day before the seedlings started to rot. Then it didn’t rain for days on end and was a hundred degrees for an equal number of days on end and, once again, I forgot about the seed frames and what do you know but most of the seedlings (the ones that didn’t rot) were cooked.

Still, there were a few pots that held healthy seedlings, so I decided to transplant them, and there was one really nice little plant of Astragalus barrii that went into a trough and was treated with extra care until I noticed this.

the scene of the crime

No holes in evidence, no sign of the missing plant. I read this story years ago about an elected official in my state trying to get the FBI involved over an incident involving government agents sneaking into a doghouse in the middle of the night (really and truly), so I thought this would be just the thing for Scully and Mulder, but I looked at the trough more intently and found the dried out corpse of the astragalus a few inches away. Forensic evidence revealed it to have been bitten off right at the point where it contacted the soil.

I had considered putting a little cage around the plant but didn’t do it. My mistake. Next time, not only a cage, but security cameras and an alarm system. And a dollar reward for bringing the miscreant to justice.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | Comments Off on what happened here?