flowers, cut and uncut

I took the Easter bouquet outdoors for a sunny photo, and I laid down to get the tulips, which look like they are trying to be an ensemble.

summer lilies

Walk from our house to the car and you will pass these huge displays.

evening light

After sipping decaf on the porch, I notice the clematis on the twine soaking up evening sun. Do I know the names of flowers around the house? Hardly. This one stuck, somehow. The dictionary says a vine of the buttercup family. camera on tripod

flower on a tree?

Yeah. It's called tulip poplar. I planted one 15 years ago. It's about 25 feet high. The lowest flower is eight feet above the ground. I'm loving it because I usually miss the flower because the garden takes my free time when they bloom.

from the wild

Before we were in the same vase, we lived separately. That's our Siberian iris in the foreground, the lusher, regular iris behind.

30 years together

What to do on your 30th anniversary? A little poetry in flowers at daybreak.

good-bye Gary

Gary Shaar's funeral was held at the Hope United Methodist Church in Ephrata, Pa., today, at 10 a.m. We got the bouquet of flowers given by the whole family at Central Market. Arrived at the church in plenty of time for the 9 a.m. viewing. The interment followed at Sinking Spring. There my sister Anna Lois (l), brother Milton, and Evie, my sister the new widow, contemplate the cemetery tent.

another flower

And another flower opening yesterday.

a new flower

I could post about the men's chorus at Zion yesterday. I could mention the wonderful evening helping friends do a birthday at our house.

But, time for a photo. A new lilly opened up as July came.

new flower

What is it? The name? Dorcas and I don't know. She planted it three years ago in the perennial patch and finally this year it produced this flower. Zoom in and see the delicate veins.

Saffron blooms

When it appears that the garden is done for the year, the saffron blooms. This flower here is part two of a complicated life of this member of the crocus family.

First thing in the spring they look like onions pushing up. When the garden is just beginning to produce, the saffron checks out and goes underground until winter is nearly here.

Each flower sports three red filaments. That's what you pluck and lay out to dry. And they become the most expensive spice in the world.