morning sun #1

Ficus elastica ginormous

The Rubber Plant that Ate Cincinnati, is slowly taking over the living room, currently headed for the fireplace mantel. This is one of those hand-me-downs that come from your kids when they leave home/college for the real world. The RPTAC started out as a  college Botany class project in air layering by Daughter #2. I inherited it when she moved to an apartment, now it has grown so big that no vehicle we own can haul it to Minnesota. It isn't massive as far as square footage, it has no branches. It started its life as a branch and so it has remained. However, it is now 12 feet long and has new leaves burgeoning! It loves the morning sun from the south window.

shucks, it's Inorganic

 

I caught sight of this cool looking fungus growing on one of the logs in our woodpile. Looked like a neat macro shot, so I got the camera and got ready for an artsy photo. Imagine my chagrin when I got close to the "fungus" and discovered that it is the remains of a piece of nylon rope that had been attached to the dead tree with a roofing nail! Bad botany.

hey! they grow grapefruit in South Dakota???

 

 Another visit to Jolly Lane Greenhouse, my favorite purveyor of plants for more than 30 years. (This is for you, Beth and Becky).

They let winter weary customers come and just smell the flowers and the wonderful earthy scent of a spring garden.  They will happily send you home with lovely plants you didn't know you couldn't live without when you walked in the door.  

:o) 

I ain't Fat...

I is FLUFFY!

prickly

prickly cactus

teasel, teasle or Teazel

Fuller's teasel was used in the textile industry prior to the Industrial Revolution. It was a simple tool used to raise the nap of newly woven fabrics, particularly woolens. Combing over the fabric to raise the nap with a metal comb could tear the cloth, teasels would break rather than ruining the weaver's work.  These volunteers showed up in one of my flower beds, I left them to grow, my daughter the Textile Artist is intrigued by such things. They arranged themselves artistically for a portrait, you can see why floral designers find them appealing in a fall arrangement.