this yucca is a siren: alluring and hazardous

 This plant is killing me about eight different ways, right now.

(zoom way in--the blossoms are amazing)

All I can do is ogle and shoot.

Tiny peeks at large flowers through layers of yucca swords.

The ultimate flirt.

From hundreds of square miles of parched, scratchy scrub,
in a singularly shade-free landscape,
spring these succulent, glistening flowers,
glowing high, out of reach,
a calm center in a whorl of yucca swords.

This plant is a siren.

The yucca I know (Yucca schidigera, in California) has an anti-coagulant in it,
which I learned the first (and last) time
I was careless enough to get stabbed by one.

In the micro second between getting stabbed in the hand,
and looking at my wound,
a thick stream of blood had already flowed to my wrist.

Got my attention.

If the yucca in Big Bend NP are at all like those at home,
not only might most sad, parched little land animals
never get to the flowers,
but they may bleed to death at her feet for their efforts.

Sirens don't show mercy.
Yuccas don't weep for thirsty mammals.
Sirens and yuccas need what they need,
and if you are not it,
 best just accept it and move on.

It's not about you.

xoxobb

Yosemite: stunning as ever...

Yosemite Falls yesterday morning. No one else was there. It was about 7:30 a.m.? And cold. Upper and lower falls. Did you know if there's just one precipitous drop with water pouring down it's properly called a "fall" like Bridal Veil fall? But, this has upper and lower Yosemite Falls, so it's plural. I read that in a secret ranger book somewhere...

A reward for being an early bird at the falls I'd not anticipated. A mist-bow! Really bright and gorgeous.

 

A lovely place.

The dogwood is in bloom. SUCH an elegant plant.

If ever there was a plant that'd clearly gone to finishing school, this is it.

More pics later, after I do a tiny bit of research and, oh, in one day fabricate the divider for my chicken coop, clean out same, get whole chicken situation prepped and ready so MAYBE I get to have a garden this year?

=)

biobabbler

Grapevine blooms last weekend...up to the color yellow

There's a tiny smidge of orange, too.

Years ago I happened to be driving through the Grapevine when the hills were painted with huge swaths of yellow, orange, blue and purple. It was one of the most amazing things I'd ever seen.

This year I was a little too early for that. However, it was definitely busting out the yellow. Here's some pics taken at 65 mph...

(oh, and at the end, poor shots but of STUNNING purple at the northern foot of the Grapevine--a SEA of purple lupins abloom. Amazing.)

Lavender seas. It's about 4,000 times better in person. Give or take.

Thus ends today's Flash-o-So-Cal blooms. If you are able, I recommend getting out and looking, if it's time where you are. Down there, and up here in the Sierran foothills, it is time.

the biobabbler.

in bloom

          
The humbly-named common chickweed (Stellaria media) must be added to our list of flowers blooming here:

I've never looked at the bloom this closely before. It's quite charming, and has a very nice, complimentary symmetry relative to it's sepals. Lovely. Per Calflora, it's a non-native. Apparently, what looks like 10 petals is actually 5, each deeply lobed. 

Also found shepherd's purse, Capsella bursa-pastoris. I had THOUGHT it was fringepod, or lacepod, Thysanocarpus laciniatus, but apparently, not so much. Thanks to you all, I had to look it up to be sure, and as it turns out, I was wrong-o-rama. These blooms are TINY. They are SO teeny-weeny, it was hard to see it well enough to figure out if I had it in focus. The very cool triangular things are the seed pods. It's a non-native. 

And miner's lettuce (Claytonia perfoliata):

This is an edible plant (allegedly sweeter before it blooms) that I've seen for sale in seed catalogues. Apparently pretty popular for salads in Europe. It's native, here, and the following demonstrates our kitty's keen intuition re: plants good to eat. And, thus ended my plant photo shoot. =)

I also missed mentioning that the manzanita are in bloom--will get a pic of that soon. They've been blooming for a few weeks--someone else had to point it out to me. oop. =)

I may try to make some sort of flower visual gadget that displays what's blooming now in a visual, quick way.

I'm buying books on HTML, etc., so we'll see! =)

Any favorite flowers blooming near you? Any you're looking forward to?

The biobabbler