Flowerishness

Rudbeckia hirta (var. 'Green Eyes')

Cakile maritima (sea rocket)

Weigela florida (weigela)

Weigela is a shrub that produces huge numbers of flowers in midsummer but is still putting out some new blooms in October. Florida is Latin for 'many flowered' and this species is the base for most of the hybrids you see growing in temperate gardens worldwide. Weigela florida is native to northern China, Korea and Japan but it was introduced to Europe in 1845 by the English flower hunter, Robert Fortune.

Robert Fortune was the first plant collector to enter China after the Treaty of Nanking. He didn't trek up mountainsides to find exotic flowers, he simply bought them from Chinese merchants. The Treaty of Nanking ended the (disgraceful) first Opium War and started what the Chinese call the Century of Humiliation. China was forced to pay a huge indemnity, cede the island of Hong Kong and allow foreign traders access to China's interior.

Eriocapitella hupehensis (Japanese anemone)

Poaceae The grass family including Cortaderia selloana (Pampas grass) and Miscanthus sinensis (Zebra grass)

I don't really think of members of the grass family as flowering plants, but of course they are. The grass family is huge with 780 genera divided into over 12,000 known species, making Poaceae the fifth largest plant family in the world. The grass family doesn't have pretty flowers because it doesn't need to attract insects. All grasses are wind-pollinated.

The grass family is ancient. Seeds from Poaceae species related to modern rice and bamboo have been found in fossilized dinosaur dung from the late Cretaceous period but the grass family really got going about five million years ago. New mountain chains (like the Rockies) created much larger dry habitats, ideal for the vast grasslands to develop. Today, just three species (rice, corn and wheat) provide half of humanity's daily calories.

I've never grown ornamental grass but one one of my neighbors has thoughtfully planted these two common species in the front garden. I know all about that combination of grass species we call a lawn and I've struggled with mine for thirty-five years. Incidentally, I'm giving away my rechargeable lawn mower next week because I've sold my house. The mower works just fine but I won't need it to mow my balcony. I'm moving at the end of the month to a fourth-floor condo.

Verbena hybrida (trailing verbena)

I often rant about plants that have 'jumped over the garden fence' and seem to be making a very good living, out there in the wild. It stands to reason, that if you take a plant from a temperate environment on one continent, then it's probably preadapted to be successful in any temperate environment on any continent. The world is now full of these botanical escape artists. We usually call them weeds.

Cirsium vulgare (bull thistle) and Bombus (bumble bee)

Neonicotinoids

Insecticides in general, have a bad history and many, like DDT, have been banned over the years. The problem is that you can't produce insecticides to kill one type of insect that doesn't kill other insects, like bumble bees for instance. In the mid-1970s a new class of insecticide was introduced called neonicotinoids, synthetic versions of nicotine. Neonicotinoids block open an insect's nerve receptors, causing brain damage, and are neurotoxic in unbelievably tiny amounts. A single gram could conceivably kill 250 million honey bees.

This type of pesticide was enormously popular with farmers but commercial bee hive operators started to report significant problems. Studies on bumble bees showed that they easily became lost and failed to find their way back to the nest. Bumble bee nests that had formerly produced thirteen new queens a year had fallen to just two or three. In addition, these chemicals persist in the soil for ten years, partly explaining the current Bumble Bee Crisis.

Osteospermum alt. Dimorphotheca (African daisy)

Lego is the largest toy company in the world. Since it's founding in 1949, it has produced an estimated 800 billion interlocking plastic bricks. It's estimated that a hundred thousand tons of Lego ends up in global landfills every year. I sent my Lego collection to the landfill about five years after I sent my teddy bears to the same destination. However, for some people, Lego is a lifelong passion and Lego has an enourmous adult fan community.

Helianthus annuus (common sunflower) and Syrphidae (hoverfly)

Dahlia pinnata (garden dahlia, Collarette Dahlia var. 'Pooh')

Pooh!

Linaria vulgaris (yellow toadflax) and Linaria purpurea (purple toadflax)

As I was saying the other day, a disproportionate number of the world's wildflowers are either yellow or purple and nothing demonstrates this better than these two European 'invasive weeds'; yellow and purple toadflax. No one knows when these plants first arrived in North America but I would guess that they probably showed up sometime in the first five years of European colonization - on a pair of muddy boots.

Yellow toadflax is mildly toxic to livestock but purple toadflax is very poisonous. Probably because our European cattle, sheep and goats coevolved with purple toadflax, they generally avoid eating it. Still farmers don't like the way purple toadflax takes over their fields and it's regarded as a serious agricultural pest.

Rock Art

Impatiens hawkeri (New Guinea impatiens)

New Guinea impatiens is another flower that shows signs of 'pixie dust' on its petals, and they appear to sparkle at this time of year. I'm growing this orange impatiens in a flower pot in a sunny window. When I wake up in the morning this is the first thing I see. Wow, talk about eye candy!

When I brought this impatiens home in early May it was still below 10c at night so I brought it inside everyday at dusk. Now in late September it lives in the house fulltime. I'm very impressed! It's been blooming for five months straight and it isn't finished yet.

Begonia cucullata (wax begonia)

pixie dust

I saw this begonia in bright sunshine yesterday and witnessed an interesting sight. As I moved my head a little, the flowers appeared to sparkle in the sun. One closer inspection, it looked like the red petals were coated with little crystals.

Hydrangea paniculata (panicled hydrangea)

Meanwhile, back at the library...

Oenothera biennis (evening-primrose)

Well it's official - today is the first day of autumn. In truth, there have been numerous warning signs, not the least of which is the absence of blossoms on this evening-primrose. A month ago this plant was festooned with yellow flowers but now, only a few remain.

Wildflowers that aim to attract bees are usually yellow or purple, because these are the colors that a bee's eyes are most sensitive to. Butterfly-pollinated flowers tend to be pink or red for the same reason. Logically, moth-pollinated plants usually have white flowers (easier to see in the dark) or strongly-scented blossoms like honeysuckle. Orange honeysuckle is pollinated by hummingbirds and this explains its bright color.