Plant Sightings

Dames’ Rocket and many different clovers are blooming everywhere the last week of May. Just drive around the countryside and you’ll see their purple and pink hues at the road’s edge and in places where fields meet the forest.

Finally. I got to see a few specimens of the Great Solomon’s Seal near the Juniata River in Pennsylvania. For years I’ve seen the smaller Smooth Solomon’s Seal and the False Starry Solomon’s Seal, but not their bigger cousin before now.

Taller than the pinkish-purple and white Dame’s Rocket, Great Solomon’s-Seal blossoms dangle in groups of 4 or 5 from the leaf axils.

Tall, sturdy stems arch over to display deeply ribbed leaves that come to a pointed end. The linear lines of the leaves are striking and seem to reinforce the shape of the arching main stem.

(Photos above taken 28 May 2015. Click on any image to see a larger view.)

The Great Solomon’s Seal, Polygonatum canaliculatum, plants photographed here were growing within a hundred meters of the river. The location was once completely forested and the plants growing here now live under the shade of small trees at the edge of a grassy field where they receive lots of morning sun.

The flowers within a cluster don’t open all at once, so you’ll see some creamy-yellow-green flowers just opening up while others have already been pollinated and are turning brown at the tips.

The plant continues to produce flowers at the leaf nodes as it grows.

From afar the flowers can be quite noticeable, even though they are small. (Flower photos taken 6 Jun 2015.)

The dangling berries ripen in mid-July from light green to a dark, deep blue.

These berries are much bigger than those of Smooth Solomon’s Seal and quite different from the red delicious berries of False Solomon’s Seal. (Scroll down on that page to see the red berries.)

The berries hang on until fall and some probably through the wintertime.

Welcome back to Flower Poetry Fridays with Mrs. Sigourney. Each Friday a new poem will be posted from her The Voice Of Flowers.

EVENING FLOWERS.

WHEN shuts the rose at even tide,
The lily folds its bell,
And every bud on vale or wild,
Dream in their hermit cell.

Then, neath still twilight, dim and grey,
Or where the taper stands,
Or meekly by the fireside ray,
The flower of heart expands.

The influence of this favoring hour
The watchful lover knows,
And marks its soft mimosa leaves
Their modest charms disclose.

The husband by its fragrance cheer’d,
Unlocks the cares of day,
Which, neath the warm, confiding smile,
Like shadows, fleet away.

The fond exulting parent culls
Its blossoms, rich and red,
And twines a garland bright with hope
For each young slumberer’s head.

While they who best its root protect,
With thrilling breast shall prove,
How the sweet charities of home
Fit for a heaven of love.

But when this heart-flower droops its head,
And wearied mortals ask
The deep repose that nightly fits
For morn’s returning task,

Up springs another by its side,
With calm and lowly eye,
A seraph-planted germ that holds
Communion with the sky :

The flower of soul! Its breath is prayer,
And fresh its balm-drops flow,
To cleanse the ills that stain’d the day,
And heal the wounds of woe.

While gently o’er its closing sigh,
With blessed vision bends
That angel-guarded sleep, which God
To his beloved sends.

Mimosa seems to be a flowering tree that many people adore. The unusual blossoms draw one’s eye to their hot pink fuzziness.

Mimosa flowers stay open at night and perhaps that is a draw for some. We’ve seen it bloom one year and not the next and that’s probably due to the poor soil we have up here on the mountain.

Unfortunately, as Mrs. Sigourney suggests, the long pea pods that develop from the blossoms all too easily start the next generation…”Up springs another by its side”…”A seraph-planted germ”. It can be invasive!

A flowering mimosa tree has a light sweet scent that works its magic on gentle breezes — and in perfume. We like to take the blossoms and float them in shallow containers for table and mantlepiece decorations.

Come back next Friday for the next installment in our series of flower poems from Mrs. Sigourney’s The Voice of Flowers, “The Garden and The Rain”.

Autumn is a colorful time with tree leaves turning red, orange and yellow. Apples, crabapples and cranberries are in season and they give colors to the landscape as well with their reds, greens and yellows.

Mature fruits from smaller plants draw one’s attention to their different shapes in bright red colors. We found three such fruits in our local state park.

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Welcome back to Flower Poetry Fridays with Mrs. Sigourney. Each Friday a new poem will be posted from her The Voice Of Flowers.

THE HARE-BELL;
A DEDICATION FOR AN ANNUAL, WITH
THAT TITLE.

YE have seen me oft, ‘mid the summer day,
In my woodland home, with the breeze at play ;
Catching the dews as they sparkling fell,
And folding them close in each floral bell ;
And teaching my buds, with a joyous ray,
To lift their blue eyes to the King of Day.

But now, when the last leaf of Autumn is shed,
Ye thought, no doubt, I was sere and dead :
No, no ! I have baffled the Spoiler’s sting,
Affection’s token to you to bring.
I have dared the wrath of the frosty sky,
To gather you blossoms that cannot die.

Will ye welcome me in from my toil and care,
For the blessings I breathe, and the sweets I
                  bear?
If ye give me shelter this wintry hour,
If ye make me a guest at the hearth and bower,
You will never regret, I am fain to say,
The Hare-Bell’s visit, this Christmas-day.

So, is Mrs. Sigourney saying that this hare-bell plant can be taken indoors and be revived to receive a flower? Not sure about that. Perhaps she’s referring to the fact that it will bloom longer into the year in the UK when compared to America.

Any ideas?

Come back next Friday for the next installment in our series of flower poems from Mrs. Sigourney’s The Voice of Flowers, “Evening Flowers”.

What’s a sunflower without petals? A little inconspicuous, I’d say!

The plant we’re looking at today is called Beggar-Ticks and it’s a member of the Compositae, the Family of Composites or Daisy-like flowers.

The sepals make the posies look like flowers, but with green “petals”.

Looks like the kind of flower that I would draw — I’m no artist with a pencil!

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Autumn is here. The heat of summer is gone and there’s a chill on the breeze. Tree leaves are changing colors with some even falling to the ground already.

Taking a walk in the park we saw lots of asters and goldenrods in bloom this past week. The Touch-Me-Nots and Thoroughworts were still flowering but not for much longer.

Near the edge of the road and tucked behind a large purple-flowering aster was this late summer blooming plant I’ve never seen before. It had large flowers compared to the aster.

Each stem of the plant, or perhaps it was a small grouping of plants, was topped with a cluster of flower buds and the lowest of them open.

The flowers were white and some of them tinged with pink at the tips. Each blossom appeared to have only two large petals with the top petal arching over the lower one.

A sideways view shows how this plant apparently got its name, “Turtlehead”.

(Click on any image to see a larger view.)

Turtlehead, Chelone glabra, is a member of the Snapdragon Family, Scrophulariaceae, and native to the Eastern United States and Canada.

If the road crews aren’t too aggressive, we should be able to see this native plant next year as it’s a perennial.

The lance-shaped, toothed leaves are oppositely arranged on the stems. They must be quite tasty to insects judging by the number of leaves with holes and half-eaten ones.

The whole plant is smooth from the stems and leaves to the flowers; it rises 2-3 ft. tall.

We should be able to find more White Turtleheads growing in damp, moist areas of wetlands, near springs or seeps, and areas adjacent to rivers.

It can be a nice addition to gardens if kept watered well and grown in partial shade. Blooming period is late summer into fall.

Photos taken 19 September 2015 at Little Buffalo State Park, Newport, PA.

Welcome back to Flower Poetry Fridays with Mrs. Sigourney. Each Friday a new poem will be posted from her The Voice Of Flowers.

SPRING BLOSSOMS TO THE
MOURNER.

THOU bringest violets in thy hand,
    Sweet Spring. Thy gifts how vain
To soothe us for those fair, blue eyes,
    That ope no more again.

Thou bringest music of the birds,
    As if such strain could pay
For their melodious speech, who sank
    From our lone bowers away.

Thou showerest breathing roses round,
    To blush on beauty’s breast ;
Give back ! give back those lips of rose,
    That to our own were prest.

Thou know’st to burst the tyrant gloom
    Of Winter’s icy urn ;
Teach them to break the envious tomb,
    And to our arms return.

Thou canst not ! To our grieving souls
    Thy boasted spell is o’er ;
From all thy gifts to those we turn,
    Whom thou canst ne’er restore.

To those o’er whom thy quicken’d turf,
    With earliest snow-drops grows ,
Yet fails to wake their wonted smile,
    Or move their deep repose.

Yes ; from thy charms to Him we turn,
    Who laid our treasures low,
And, with a Father’s love, ordains
    Our discipline of woe :

We look to that unsullied clime,
    Where storm shall never sweep ;
Nor fickle Spring the heart beguile,
    Nor drooping mourner weep.

Death has a way of bringing us to think about our own longevity. And to ponder the Great Beyond.

Spring is a time of awakening for the souls who remain on Earth. All the beauty that Nature has to offer may help us through the grieving process when we lose someone dear, but nothing can bring back our friends who’ve passed on to another life.

Mrs. Sigourney can only soothe her lonesome heart by looking upward to the heavens and by having faith that one day they will meet again.

Come back next Friday for the next installment in our series of flower poems from Mrs. Sigourney’s The Voice of Flowers, “The Hare-Bell”.

A walk in the park took us through a section of trees that were left standing next to the river. The trail followed the river and at a clearing there was this flowering vine that held fast to a tree trunk.

This vine was growing in an area at the edge of woods where it received partial sunlight, morning sun for sure.

The vine snaked through the grass, scrambled over some weeds about knee-high, and then climbed up a tree for a few feet.

Curly tendrils helped the long plant fasten itself to vegetation as it grew.

(Photos taken 23 August 2015. Click on any image for a larger view.)

Several small white flowers were grouped together each with five broad petals that gave each blossom a star-like appearance.

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