Tuesday, September 13, 2005

What photographs can't capture

This may be the best year ever for oxblood lillies. Every single location has now been heard from. Of course, thanks to the squirrels, we're seeing some never before heard from, dotted here and there at random locations. There will be several stalks from each bulb, it appears, judging from what's happening with the first clump that appeared. For some reason, the color seems more vivid this year, more toward the red side and less toward the brown side of the spectrum. Those accompanying the plumbago on the oak motte add to a very patriotic look, especially when the blossoms of our mystery member of the allium family with tall stalks, green in the center, and white flowers are tossed in. Whatever this flowering garlic is, the butterflies and honeybees like it very much.

2 Comments:

At 7:42 PM, September 14, 2005, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Mine opened all at once today. They were just waiting for a good rain like we had on Sunday.

As for the allium, do you mean Allium tuberosum? They are distinctive from other allium because the leaves are flat and strappy.

 
At 7:45 AM, September 15, 2005, Blogger Rantor said...

That seems to be exactly what they are. They're one of the mystery items that originally sprouted in a pot of something else bought at the South Austin Farmers' Market at El Gallo. The stems are extremely sturdy and tall; the flowers turn toward the sun. All summer long, the leaves have been around, then stems shot up and the buds lasted quite a while in that state before opening; now the individual flowers in the umbel are beginning to close, no doubt having been pollinated. It'll be interesting to see whether they reproduce themselves.

 

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