Plant Story--Rowan, European Mountain Ash, Sorbus aucuparia

My parents had a pretty little tree in the corner of the yard, a mountain ash. As a kid, I paid it very little attention. Meanwhile, I read the Lord of the Rings, and, like many people, loved the ent Quickbeam. In the book, Quickbeam speaks lovingly of rowan trees, "There are no trees of all that race, the people of the Rose, that are so beautiful to me. [They] grew and grew, till the shadow of each was like a green hall, and their red berries in the autumn were a burden, and a beauty, and a wonder."[Tolkien p.87] I'd known of Quickbeam for several years, ages 9 to about 16, when I discovered that rowan trees are also called mountain ash. The mountain ash was suddenly cool, like Quickbeam.

moutain ash, rowan, Sorbus aucuparia

Travel Story--San Francisco in Nov. 2021

We curtailed our travel--or it was curtailed for us--due to covid. Now we're starting to get out again, finding that travel is changed and so are we. We went in mid-November to San Francisco. My husband and I lived in the Bay Area, both San Francisco and Berkeley, in the 1970s, and have visited many times since. 

Golden Gate Bridge

Plant Story--Four o'clocks, Marvel-of-Peru, Mirabilis jalapa

Four o'clocks are flowers I've loved since childhood.

And, since I was a child, what I liked best were the seeds. Big, round with a bulge at one side, such fun to collect! You can see them in the photo below, round black shapes, for example at the base of the flower in the center.

four o'clocks with seeds

Snarky Septuagenarian--Plant Diversity in Daily Life

I'm over 70. One of the priviledges of age, I'm told, is to be irascible, telling you HOW IT IS! without worrying about your reaction. If I'm going to exert that power, I'd better get to it. So I'll allow my Snarky Septuagenarian to appear, today talking about: Plant Diversity!

You can't just say "oak" when recommending a plant. Which oak?

oak, Colorado