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Wildflower Wednesday: Indian Pipe

2/27/2019

18 Comments

 
"Pale, mournful flower, that hidest in shade
Mid dewy damps and murky glade,
With moss and mould,
Why dost thou hang thy ghastly head,
So sad and cold?"
                               ~Catherine Beecher
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   I have always wanted to see this mysterious-looking wildflower, but never came across it in my ramblings here. So, I was thrilled when I finally saw it for the first time when walking through the Haunted Wood at Green Gables last summer, and then again in the woods near the  Hopewell Rocks a few days later! I'm afraid some people thought I was a bit eccentric when I stopped short on the crowded to trail to photograph them, though! 😁 
   This truly unique flower is often mistaken for a fungus, but it is in fact an herbaceous perennial in the Ericaceae family (which also includes the Rhododendron, Azalea, Blueberry, Cranberry, Huckleberry, and Heather)! It lacks chlorophyll and therefore is not dependent on sunlight to thrive, so it can often be found in very dark, dense forests.  The plant is actually a parasite, deriving its nourishment from certain fungi, which in turn derive theirs from the trees (I hope I'm explaining that right!). It is native to North America, northern South America, and Asia, and is of ephemeral occurrence, blooming anytime from June to September. 
   The Indian Pipe (Monotropa uniflora) is also commonly known as the Ghost or Corpse Plant, One-Flowered Wax Plant, American Ice Plant, Convulsion Root, and (my favorite!), Wood Snowdrop. The genus name Monotropa comes from the Greek monos, 'one', and tropos, 'direction', in reference to the flowers, which turn to one side. And of course, uniflora simply means one-flowered! 
   I was quite surprised to learn that this plant is actually used as a substitute for opium, but without its adverse effects! Apparently, it acts in a very unusual way, actually raising the patient's ability to deal with the pain, rather than making it go away. It is said to work the same way for emotional pain as well. This is a very interesting article, if you want to learn more: American Herbalists Guild: A Little Known Nervine. 

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  This flower was one of Emily Dickinson's favorites. In 1882, after Mabel Todd presented her with a painting she had done of some Indian Pipes, Emily wrote ecstatically, "That without suspecting it you should send me the preferred flower of life, seems almost supernatural…I still cherish the clutch with which I bore it from the ground when a wondering child, and unearthly booty, and maturity only enhances the mystery, never decreases it.” After Emily's death, Mabel Todd published a volume of her poems, and chose this flower to adorn the cover. 
   I am still hopeful that I will come across the Indian Pipe in our woods someday. Since it requires just the right conditions (wet weather after a dry spell) and then grows up and fades so quickly, maybe I have just missed it so far. Have you ever come across them?  

​I'm joining Clay and Limestone today for Wildflower Wednesday! 
18 Comments

The Earliest Flower

2/21/2019

8 Comments

 
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A dark dull patch of earth was all
The ground I called my own;
No dank weeds marred it growing tall,
Or tares by hatred sown;
But o'er it strayed no perfumed breeze,
Or wild song from the sheltering trees.
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​And from my eyes fell many a tear
That mourned my barren lot,
No plant to tend, no vine to rear,
And train around my cot.
Light, liberty, and life were mine,
But beauty sought a statelier shrine.
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​Ah me! one early morn I crept
Out where the sunbeams fell;
I wondered that I ever slept,
When morn broke o'er the dell,
Flinging red roses o'er the sky,
And dropping them on such as I.
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​When, lo, a tiny shoot appeared
Above the spangled soil,
And day by day it grew and reared
A crowned head, with a coil
Of living green, the sun unbound,
To spread its pomp above my ground.
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​It was more gorgeous than the King
Whom Sheba went to see,
It drew its beauteous colouring
From beams that played round me,
And censed the garments of the air
With perfumes as Arabia's rare.
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I clapped my hands, I wept for joy,
I blessed my darling flower;
It heralded the lily coy,
The rose that glads my bower,
Yet in my heart 'twas held most dear,
Because it cheered a desert drear.
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O maiden fair! in saddened home,
Where age is grave and weak;
Sigh not on sunlit track to roam,
Because the soil is bleak;
Let thy bright life to all round thee
Be what that flower was to me.
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8 Comments

The Poor Man's Heart's-ease

2/18/2019

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"Go to a poor man's garden and ask him my name—he'll tell you it is Heartsease; and where will you find a better than that? And why am I called so? Because it's my character—wherever I go, there I flourish. If the gardener seeds me, pots me, and pets me, I come out all velvet and gold, like yonder beauties. If the wind carries my seed to a wall-top or a rubbish heap, I do my best and come out in the same colours, though not so rich and bright. I rejoice alike in sunshine and shower; neither drought nor rains will destroy me. I may hang my head now and then, but I always come up again. No lot is perfect; but that is the nearest to it which has heartsease to sweeten it." ​
                                                                                                                                  ~from Original Fables (1870)
                                                                                                                                        Sophie Amelia Prosser
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8 Comments

Enough Already!

2/14/2019

14 Comments

 
Another blizzard dumped about 15 inches of snow on us yesterday. We simply don't have any more room to put the stuff! I think this is the most snow we've seen since we've lived here, and it seems like I've been saying that every year now! 😃 We were just a tenth of an inch away from tying the record for snowfall in a single month in January. The record was 59.9, and we got 59.8! So far I think we have had around 125 inches this winter. And March is often the snowiest month!
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View of our house from the road...
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There is a building behind there somewhere!
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It's a good thing I like to climb! But climbing this with trays of baby plants is going to be a challenge! 
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My poor greenhouse has really taken a beating the last few winters. I'm really amazed that it is still standing. Another PVC pipe snapped in some high winds we had the other day. I'm hoping I can get it fixed to last the rest of the winter! 
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The narrow path down the porch stairs. A few of the steps have gone completely missing! 
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And now I need to go dig out the mailbox! 😁
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The scary thing is that all this has to melt! I'm hoping and praying spring will start early and slowly this year. 
14 Comments

Chocolate Flower Fix ;)

2/11/2019

9 Comments

 
I suppose everyone loves chocolate. Actually I'm not overly fond of it by itself although I love it with nuts or peanut butter. But chocolate flowers are the best yet! Enjoy! 😊
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9 Comments

Winter Morning Glories!!!

2/8/2019

12 Comments

 
Oh happy day!! The first flower on my 'Chocolate' morning glories (Ipomoea nil) has just opened!! Watching these plants grow has really brightened my winter! Here they are in late November, just after I transplanted the four of them out of their paper cups into one large pot (ideally it should have been larger, but it worked)!
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By mid-December they had started to climb, so I made them a little trellis with some straight branches and wire...
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It is truly marvelous how these plants grow! This time lapse video (not mine) shows how they circle round and round until they find something to grasp...just one of the many wonders of the plant world that make me admire the wisdom of their Creator! 😊
Yikes!!! I really have to watch these darling pussies around my favorite plants!! 😁
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By the end of January they had climbed to the top of the trellis and were preparing to take over the world! A simple solution...gently tuck the growing ends back down at the bottom and let them start over! 
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And the countdown begins!! Jan. 24th...
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Jan. 28th...
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Feb. 1st...
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Feb. 5th...
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Feb. 7th...
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And finally...Feb.8th! I have been pacing around for almost 3 hours this morning, waiting for it to get light enough to take pictures! 😃 
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It is a huge flower! You can click any of these pictures to enlarge...
I'm so delighted with my new flower! And it has been so easy to grow, and such a joy to watch! All I can say is, try it and see! 😊
12 Comments

The Flower of the Desert

2/5/2019

10 Comments

 
I don't have the right pictures to illustrate this poem, but it has really touched my heart and I just had to share it. Nothing that is truly beautiful is useless or will ever be lost! 
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Why art thou thus in thy beauty cast,
O lonely, loneliest flower;
Where the sound of song hath never pass'd
From human hearth or bower?

I pity thee, for thy heart of love,
For that glowing heart, that fain
Would breathe out joy with each wind to rove--
In vain, lost thing! in vain! 

I pity thee, for thy wasted bloom,
For thy glory's, fleeting hour,
For the desert place, thy living tomb--
O lonely, loneliest flower! 

I said—but a low voice made reply,
"Lament not for the flower !
Though its blossoms all unmark'd must die,
They have had a glorious dower.

" Though it blooms afar from the minstrel's way,
And the paths where lovers tread;
Yet strength and hope, like an inborn day,
By its odours have been shed.

" Yes! dews more sweet than ever fell
O'er island of the blest,
Were shaken forth, from its purple bell,
On a suffering human breast.

" A wanderer came, as a stricken deer,
O'er the waste of burning sand,
He bore the wound of an Arab spear,
He fled from a ruthless band.

" And dreams of home in a troubled tide
Swept o'er his darkening eye,
And he lay down by the fountain side,
In his mute despair to die.

" But his glance was caught by the desert's flower,
The precious boon of Heaven;
And sudden hope, like a vernal shower,
To his fainting heart was given.

' For the bright flower spoke of one above;
Of the presence felt to brood
With a spirit of pervading love,
O'er the wildest solitude.

" Oh! the seed was thrown those wastes among
In a bless'd and gracious hour,
For the lorn one rose in heart made strong,
By the lonely, loneliest flower !"
                                              ​~Mrs. Hemans
10 Comments

Why Flowers Smile

2/2/2019

7 Comments

 
"I asked the flowers in the soft spring-time,
​Wherefore they smiled in their youthful prime
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When the stormy days so soon should come
That would blight for ever their beauty and bloom?
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And the sweet flowers answered, 'Each day renews
​On our leaves the sunshine that dries the dews;
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'Why should we not smile? Till now we have thriven,
And the sunshine and dew are both from Heaven!'"
                                                 ~M. A. Browne
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7 Comments

    Author

    ​I am a passionate gardener and seed-saver, who also enjoys playing the violin and accordion, running, spending time with my 4 golden retrievers, keeping chickens, photography, and reading. ​
    ​

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