tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-51671908512663843442024-03-04T23:26:45.181-08:00The 100 Species Challenge<i>in which Sandra Dodd follows the lead of others <br>in trying to identify by name 100 local plants<br><br>YIKES!</i>Sandra Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11853107998229753762noreply@blogger.comBlogger48125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5167190851266384344.post-11728142737142912792014-07-23T06:37:00.002-07:002014-09-25T10:14:17.240-07:00mysterious Big Seedling (Cypress Vine)This BIG seedling came up in a pot on the deck after several days of (occasional) rain. I put the photos on facebook for an ID:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNH8a4smvkLk8GcdN9jWTACsKI6IPjfmlo4vxtOLTm_EkloM3MRf2Z7iptA0Ah-gx3iAa8BsdiwBoI0fHVSl6uCrydvPbJN-fu9ZT6f87XbVEAprc2h7nisjsbBBcP6PfuQNmiCloaEibw/s1600/DSC00173.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNH8a4smvkLk8GcdN9jWTACsKI6IPjfmlo4vxtOLTm_EkloM3MRf2Z7iptA0Ah-gx3iAa8BsdiwBoI0fHVSl6uCrydvPbJN-fu9ZT6f87XbVEAprc2h7nisjsbBBcP6PfuQNmiCloaEibw/s640/DSC00173.JPG" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpQE4fQK1oYhtZeSERv6gVKEtxSkYkJIPPX0cLOVO5IFj6AfH8I9S6baMoLPBW65NDsQMjy9ic0mOminH5xvVV74uTRiqoxd8dRkHyeI7-aA5G7L1CBjJbbEEFl7FAXGg-S0XDQC3yAUZf/s1600/DSC00174.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpQE4fQK1oYhtZeSERv6gVKEtxSkYkJIPPX0cLOVO5IFj6AfH8I9S6baMoLPBW65NDsQMjy9ic0mOminH5xvVV74uTRiqoxd8dRkHyeI7-aA5G7L1CBjJbbEEFl7FAXGg-S0XDQC3yAUZf/s640/DSC00174.JPG" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKwoXPuXCHGIP4MqCxs5RNzHqc0k8odi5SgOROsAwhL16d43H7QeEZi9VsfQwMQ-h75pePJNFzIhlmb19-Cjss7xyNg7x1FE00CH6XhS-kAkOCO0uc_GpmByP4rv_2u471mIvFwq-y3fhP/s1600/DSC00175.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKwoXPuXCHGIP4MqCxs5RNzHqc0k8odi5SgOROsAwhL16d43H7QeEZi9VsfQwMQ-h75pePJNFzIhlmb19-Cjss7xyNg7x1FE00CH6XhS-kAkOCO0uc_GpmByP4rv_2u471mIvFwq-y3fhP/s640/DSC00175.JPG" /></a><br />
<br />
Stephanie Marr wrote: "Pretty sure it's cypress vine. It has a vigorous twining habit, up to 15 feet. Small star-shaped red or white flowers last one day. Reseeds like you wouldn't believe."<br />
<br />
<hr />
Follow-up:<br />
<br />
There were several single flowers in September and I missed most. On September 21, there were three at once, and Holly photographed them. This gives me hope that we will have seeds!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr6GWJnnxr88rtg2aoc9muGQqnBVpAl6dRr5ZrOAcO_gFQ1uyjulVG2KA1RZ1pbhH7gD6Kb_FInPcqyTlziokgz19R9fP6KIGbJXp23pZmHBuq-8SYfAY-MMZKAungEHI4xAqnxIaPJ9oP/s1600/cypressVinex3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr6GWJnnxr88rtg2aoc9muGQqnBVpAl6dRr5ZrOAcO_gFQ1uyjulVG2KA1RZ1pbhH7gD6Kb_FInPcqyTlziokgz19R9fP6KIGbJXp23pZmHBuq-8SYfAY-MMZKAungEHI4xAqnxIaPJ9oP/s400/cypressVinex3.jpg" height="640" width="480" /></a></div>
Sandra Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11853107998229753762noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5167190851266384344.post-34970137111223507582013-10-25T13:09:00.005-07:002013-10-26T11:18:47.846-07:00Silk Floss Tree (a tree in Pasadena)These are NOT in my yard. They're in the Asian sculpture garden at the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, California. <br />
<br />
At first I saw poof of stuff and thought it might be a nest for some sort of bugs, or that it was a tree parasite. But looking at others, it's the opened pod of seeds, it seems. And the trunks of some of them had bumps, and some bumps were like thorns, but some had a hole (like a boil that had been popped) and some parts were smoother, and some trees had more bumps. <br />
<br />
I had never seen anything like any of it.<br />
<br />
The blossoms reminded me a bit of the <a HREF="http://100speciesdodd.blogspot.com/2013/04/redbud-tree.html">redbud tree</a> people identified for me last year.<br />
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<img src="http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c111/SandraDodd/California/DSC09398.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo DSC09398.jpg"align=center width=94%><br />
<br />
<br />
Most blew up round and fluffy, but this one looked like fingers, or teats on an udder. <br />
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<img src="http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c111/SandraDodd/California/DSC09400.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo DSC09400.jpg" align=center width=94%><br />
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<img src="http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c111/SandraDodd/California/DSC09401.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo DSC09401.jpg" align=center width=94%><br />
<br />
_______________<br />
<br />
Karen James and Zann Carter both knew, or found it. <br />
<br />
Thanks, Karen and Zann! That's it. Google said (on the side bar of a search) <br />
<br />
Ceiba speciosa<br />
<br />
The silk floss tree, is a species of deciduous tree native to the tropical and subtropical forests of South America. It has a host of local common names, such as palo borracho. It belongs to the same family as the baobab and the kapok. <br />
<br />
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceiba_speciosa<br />
<br />
Scientific name: Ceiba speciosa<br />
Higher classification: Ceiba<br />
Rank: Species<br />
Sandra Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11853107998229753762noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5167190851266384344.post-85537605939654257312013-04-07T12:14:00.002-07:002013-04-07T12:20:44.449-07:00Redbud TreeI see I quit numbering, at 35, a while back. That's okay. I don't care enough anymore to try to get to 100, but it's fun to try to track the lives of some of the floral creatures in our yard. <br />
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<center>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfm4zBtJGTHGnHOalWVP7G6kBi3TkJsE1ivvCawFrmh7BO8HbbigMDGo5u_I20_z4Te9JCKFNGdchJ1p8THDMeeqySalGlBknft_x18Mrp3ULaitGBFNVsGSh-CR6ilmZDXG4tkIfNjjs/s1600/DSC09919.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfm4zBtJGTHGnHOalWVP7G6kBi3TkJsE1ivvCawFrmh7BO8HbbigMDGo5u_I20_z4Te9JCKFNGdchJ1p8THDMeeqySalGlBknft_x18Mrp3ULaitGBFNVsGSh-CR6ilmZDXG4tkIfNjjs/s320/DSC09919.JPG" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy6zJEVzcyf-wWMTa1QmJ1UX0KyqFnv_PK8aRARLTM21pOHVrm4YPUBdyv1Xj9ei4atxIvj-Kl4zZLAs_ZVGBz-BciCXEbe_eBD4MaJWMxa_p1iwh3jLpYC_WzjPqauZFaU3m28ml8Mfc/s1600/DSC09920.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy6zJEVzcyf-wWMTa1QmJ1UX0KyqFnv_PK8aRARLTM21pOHVrm4YPUBdyv1Xj9ei4atxIvj-Kl4zZLAs_ZVGBz-BciCXEbe_eBD4MaJWMxa_p1iwh3jLpYC_WzjPqauZFaU3m28ml8Mfc/s320/DSC09920.JPG" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-oPSH1dH7zOoEuCtz2ggvcDCPHKpaJfxxBWQeLb3QbP5BEtOhvEd_hSzXmzDCVSGdmvKhoX35B0Pflw4DfgKiuLtSPJN2B2YiDo-7FqGEZmpdKVR2dXw2SuW24HymuL5DHECRnG4bnUM/s1600/DSC09921.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-oPSH1dH7zOoEuCtz2ggvcDCPHKpaJfxxBWQeLb3QbP5BEtOhvEd_hSzXmzDCVSGdmvKhoX35B0Pflw4DfgKiuLtSPJN2B2YiDo-7FqGEZmpdKVR2dXw2SuW24HymuL5DHECRnG4bnUM/s640/DSC09921.JPG" width="640" /></a></center>
Last year I didn't know this was a redbud tree. I asked on facebook for help, and several very nice people ID'd it. <br />
This year it's five feet high with lots of blossoms. Last year it had its first blossom and was 3.5' tall.
Last year: <a href="http://helpwithmysterythings.blogspot.com/2012/04/volunteer-tree-my-back-yard.html">http://helpwithmysterythings.blogspot.com/2012/04/volunteer-tree-my-back-yard.html</a>
and on facebook: <br />
<A HREF="http://www.facebook.com/SandraDoddABQ/posts/251703271593053">http://www.facebook.com/SandraDoddABQ/posts/251703271593053</a>
<br />Sandra Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11853107998229753762noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5167190851266384344.post-63477054725724401772013-01-08T06:23:00.001-08:002013-04-07T12:28:50.409-07:00Purple with flowers on the endsIn April 2012 I asked on facebook about a plant someone gave me. In January 2013, I found a message in a folder called <A HREF="http://www.houseplantsguru.com/setcreasea-purpurea">http://www.houseplantsguru.com/setcreasea-purpurea</a>, from someone nice named Toddy, who sent me this link. Setcreasea purpurea.
<p>
Now I need to find the photo. I looked through all my facebook entries in early 2012 and didn't see it.
In India, in the housing society where Pushpa lives, there was landscaping, and there were long areas full of that plant, right outside. So last summer (2012) I planted some outside in the planter outside our room (SW of the hot tub, north of the lilacs) and it was very happy. I expect the winter will have killed it, but I have some more inside the house.<p>
Here it is: <p>
<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgahNKJZONBi97YAlv0qsiMieLB3WNdvZLG7HocbDsZuqn-bvju4WqQNegegEeUpLKHQ78GbotrjiGts4o6JxaVkSVv-0vnFq6ldkuY0BVH97_XxsLZCyICHVx0f5qiEevOSXONEElEh9g/s1600/DSC01074.JPG"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgahNKJZONBi97YAlv0qsiMieLB3WNdvZLG7HocbDsZuqn-bvju4WqQNegegEeUpLKHQ78GbotrjiGts4o6JxaVkSVv-0vnFq6ldkuY0BVH97_XxsLZCyICHVx0f5qiEevOSXONEElEh9g/s400/DSC01074.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5732716451272681858" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVwGT8-QrSXHfgwh8ZGaR3X1uSnDbAABdIT0lrzKgocHdHy4t3lfMgE7yzjDxWglgGi4NxwFfevse3QZdaQrbaeAu9kVuvO7ro2kcOBFMtUw4tZTWiIMaWtTpqR3I3-AreWbd09mFDh-8/s1600/DSC01072.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVwGT8-QrSXHfgwh8ZGaR3X1uSnDbAABdIT0lrzKgocHdHy4t3lfMgE7yzjDxWglgGi4NxwFfevse3QZdaQrbaeAu9kVuvO7ro2kcOBFMtUw4tZTWiIMaWtTpqR3I3-AreWbd09mFDh-8/s400/DSC01072.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5732716445423514994" /></a>
<p><A HREF="http://helpwithmysterythings.blogspot.com/2012/04/purply-houseplant.html">http://helpwithmysterythings.blogspot.com/2012/04/purply-houseplant.html</a>
Sandra Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11853107998229753762noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5167190851266384344.post-27798527211710605512012-11-22T09:59:00.000-08:002012-11-22T09:59:01.502-08:00Hoya, Wax plantYears ago at the Gills' house in La Mesilla there was a large hoya they had brought from Hawaii (that Uncle Bill had brought them, I think). It was nearly always blooming, too and filled most of the kitchen window.
<p>
I've just bought one for my own house, 40 years later. It might grow big, or it might not. It might bloom; it might not. There are pink edges on some of the leaves.
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4Q9tBS2-KLVou196-eVmF7ft9tsuJdsOS4O8PFlVuNpjXWrg1HkEZkT8IIFrqYp0Z2CVDFFkFVMdkJjwsKaagXqnNwZxtWNtzmxl5BDy_ceknzcgu82qDKl8zWxiUCPHGpqncQB4Aex7y/s1600/DSC09375.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="225" width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4Q9tBS2-KLVou196-eVmF7ft9tsuJdsOS4O8PFlVuNpjXWrg1HkEZkT8IIFrqYp0Z2CVDFFkFVMdkJjwsKaagXqnNwZxtWNtzmxl5BDy_ceknzcgu82qDKl8zWxiUCPHGpqncQB4Aex7y/s400/DSC09375.JPG" /></a></div>
<A HREF="http://www.amazon.com/Strawberries-Cream-Wax-Plant-Great/dp/B0012YMHOK">Strawberries & Cream Wax Plant</a> - Hoya carnosa<p></center>
<i>I'm not trying to learn the names of 100 local plants anymore. It was a Victorian folly-hobby, and I live in the desert.</i><br>
Now I'm using this blog to keep notes about plants. That's more fun.Sandra Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11853107998229753762noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5167190851266384344.post-4304753119011588402012-01-09T14:54:00.001-08:002012-01-09T14:54:16.019-08:00Scarlet Globemallow/Yerba de la NegritaScarlet Globemallow / Yerba de la Negrita<br />
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These grow over three feet high each year, in a couple of places in the yard. I'll take a photo next year.Sandra Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11853107998229753762noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5167190851266384344.post-50487574969984212202009-11-25T17:53:00.000-08:002009-11-25T17:55:17.492-08:00It's winter, and nothing is so exciting as that sea onion<center><A HREF="http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c111/SandraDodd/Yard/kdk_1955-1.jpg"><img src="http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c111/SandraDodd/Yard/kdk_1955.jpg"></a> <A HREF="http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c111/SandraDodd/Yard/kdk_1956-1.jpg"><img src="http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c111/SandraDodd/Yard/kdk_1956.jpg"></a><br /><br /><i>You can click to enlarge.</i><br /></center>Sandra Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11853107998229753762noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5167190851266384344.post-90182428164091283192009-10-29T13:02:00.000-07:002009-10-29T13:11:52.992-07:00October 29, 2009, Sea Onion at it again<img src="http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c111/SandraDodd/Yard/kdk_1769.jpg" align=left hspace=20>To the left of this, at the bottom right of the photo, is the first flower of this set of blooms of the <A HREF="http://100speciesdodd.blogspot.com/2009/07/33-false-sea-onion.html">False Sea Onion</a>. <br /><br />I lowered the hanging pot so it will have more room to do what it wants to do Last time it hit the ceiling early on. Going by what it did last summer, I figure what shows in this photo will stretch out to be about three feet long with a bloom a day or more, but always stretching outward and losing the old blooms.<br /> <br />Today would've been my mom's birthday. She would have been 77 years old. She liked plants. Now I like plants. She's dead. Someday I will be too. <br /><br />I have some <a href="http://sandradodd.blogspot.com/2009/05/my-ivy-on-mothers-day.html">ivy that connects me to my mom</a>, but I don't know the name of it. I've never seen any just like it anywhere else. If anyone here can identify it that would be awesome. <br /><br /><table align=center><td><br /><img src="http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c111/SandraDodd/Sandra/ivy/kdk_0593.jpg" align=right></td></table>Sandra Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11853107998229753762noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5167190851266384344.post-66332095113849821012009-10-20T17:41:00.000-07:002009-10-20T19:37:10.308-07:00#X2 Not from around hereThis is Holly, with a picture-phone report from a find where she's living in Oregon. It's not very nice, this thing she found. <br /><br /><center><img src="http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c111/SandraDodd/Holly/2009/hollyshroom.jpg"></center><br /><A HREF="http://100speciesdodd.blogspot.com/2008/08/x-stinkhorn.html">Previously in the X-rated plant category...</a>Sandra Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11853107998229753762noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5167190851266384344.post-60121806730871785802009-10-18T19:47:00.001-07:002009-10-18T20:14:07.893-07:00#35 Honey LocustSeven or eight years ago, I was at a homeschooling get-together at a park, and while I was talking to Dave Martinez, I was gathering seeds, just for something to do. I knew what the seeds were. When I was a kid, in elementary school, there were honey locust trees in the SE corner of the school yard, and that was a great place to play, when I was in 5th grade, and 6th. That's where I was when President Kennedy was assassinated. When the bell rang and we went to the nearest stairs to line up to go in after lunch, the teachers had tears in their eyes.<br /><br />In the spring we would take the beans off that tree, split them lengthwise, and pull out a part that was between the kernel and the hull. They were clear and a little gummy, and shaped like pretty fingernails. We would stick them on our fingernails. They didn't stay long, but it was fun to imagine we had beautiful long fingernails. I don't have a photo of that, but will try to arrange to have a little girl model next year.<br /><br />In fall, the seeds we couldn't reach would fall, and they made a great noise inside the pod, and we'd break them out and play with them. <br /><br />I took those seeds home and planted them. I have trees nearly as tall as the house. Here's a fall photo, taken today: <br /><br /><center><img src="http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c111/SandraDodd/Yard/kdk_1756.jpg"></center><br /><br />Here's one from summer a year ago: <br /><center><img src="http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c111/SandraDodd/Yard/100Species/DSCF2312.jpg"width=600> </center><br /><br />The close tree is the honey locust. Here's how it looked against the sky:<br /><br /><center><img src="http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c111/SandraDodd/Yard/100Species/DSCF2311.jpg"width=600><br /></center><br /><br />Honey locusts aren't high-class trees. They have thorns. They make more mess than shade. But for me they provide good memories of times spent playing when I was ten and eleven. I remember sitting under one of those trees and talking to my friend Martha about my parents planning to vote for Johnson. Her dad was going to vote for Goldwater. We knew it was somehow important that Kennedy had died and the next two candidates were from Texas and Arizona. Things were not going to stay in the northeast anymore. (And from New Mexico's point of view, Illinois and Ohio are quite-a-ways east.)<br /><br />The first year I taught, I was in a portable building in the same place where those honey locusts had been ten years before. It seemed like longer. <br /><br />Wikipedia says the wood of the honey locust polishes really well, and that posts made of it don't rot very quickly. So if we get tired of these, Keith can make something out of them!Sandra Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11853107998229753762noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5167190851266384344.post-50704948130096474252009-10-18T19:00:00.001-07:002009-12-11T19:45:22.095-08:00#34 Agapanthus / Lily of the Nile<center><img src="http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c111/SandraDodd/Yard/kdk_0927.jpg"></center><br /><br />I bought one of these at Lowe's for $30, a pot-bound bunch. "Peter Pan Lily of the Nile," it said. It took the whole passenger side of the car—pot in the floor, and flowers everywhere. I took it out and looked at it and loved it. I planted it and loved it more.<br /><br />I went back to the store to get more. There were three. I bought two of them, but they wouldn't fit in the car so I pushed the cart home (three blocks). <A HREF="http://sandradodd.blogspot.com/2009/05/big-name-lilies-on-friday.html">Here's a photo of the cart full of flowers!</a><br /><br />Here's the first one I got, though, in the front yard:<br /><br /><center><img src="http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c111/SandraDodd/Yard/kdk_0925.jpg"></center><br /><br />When I was in Surrey, in the U.K., at Julie Daniel's house, they had one in their back yard. There were more near the Thames, near the Spelthorne library and museum.<br /><br />I have gathered seeds, to see if I can start any that way, and I suppose they will divide under the ground where they are, if they survive the winter.<br /><br />They're not naturally local, but if mine do well and I share with friends, someday they'll be "natural" in a way.Sandra Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11853107998229753762noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5167190851266384344.post-23109386575582044202009-07-27T14:42:00.000-07:002011-03-03T15:55:04.097-08:00#33 False Sea OnionThis isn't native and it's not outside, but it's blooming, and I'm in England and missing it.<br />
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Luckily Holly is home and has a great camera and sent me these:<br />
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<img SRC="http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg184/OfPie/Things/Bloom%20and%20skirt/007-1.jpg" width=500><br />
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<img src="http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg184/OfPie/Things/Bloom%20and%20skirt/005-1.jpg" width=500> <br />
<br />
<img src="http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg184/OfPie/Things/Bloom%20and%20skirt/003.jpg" width=500><br />
<br />
<br />
<hr><i>Time passed: </i><br />
<br />
In October I separated and re-potted what was in that pot, and within days the main/original plant was starting to bloom again. <br />
<br />
October 6: <center><br />
<img src="http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c111/SandraDodd/house/kdk_1733.jpg"></center><br />
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October 18: <center><img src="http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c111/SandraDodd/Yard/kdk_1757.jpg"><br />
</center><br />
other images of that plant:<br />
<a href="http://sandradodd.blogspot.com/2009/07/meanwhile-back-in-new-mexico.html">http://sandradodd.blogspot.com/2009/07/meanwhile-back-in-new-mexico.html</a><br />
<a HREF="http://sandradodd.blogspot.com/2009/12/ooops.html">http://sandradodd.blogspot.com/2009/12/ooops.html</a><br />
<a HREF="http://sandradodd.blogspot.com/2009/10/me-at-my-house-this-week.html">http://sandradodd.blogspot.com/2009/10/me-at-my-house-this-week.html<br />
</a><br />
<A HREF="http://100speciesdodd.blogspot.com/2009/10/october-29-2009-sea-onion-at-it-again.html">http://100speciesdodd.blogspot.com/2009/10/october-29-2009-sea-onion-at-it-again.html</a>Sandra Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11853107998229753762noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5167190851266384344.post-8981334381050406802009-04-14T10:26:00.000-07:002009-04-14T10:37:25.120-07:00Thoughts and Progresshttp://100speciesdodd.blogspot.com/<br />I got tired of that one. I have enough photos to do maybe 20 more, and then I plan to write a mini-manifesto about how 19th century it is to want people to identify plants, and I bet the guy who generated the statement wouldn't be able to name 100 magazines or newspapers or 100 professional musicians or 100 musical instruments, or makes of automobiles. NO WAY could he name 100 movies or actors or TV shows!<br /><hr><br />I wrote the above notes months ago. My yard is full of budding, sprouting, greening this'n'that.<br /><br />Recently I've added to a couple of posts. There's a real-time video of a moonflower opening (I didn't make it; I lifted it, but you can follow the link back). There's a photo of some tulips that came back up this year (more now than before, as evidenced by last year's photo).<br /><br /><A HREF="http://100speciesdodd.blogspot.com/2008/10/28-moonflowers.html">http://100speciesdodd.blogspot.com/2008/10/28-moonflowers.html</a><br /><A HREF="http://100speciesdodd.blogspot.com/2008/08/14-tulips.html">http://100speciesdodd.blogspot.com/2008/08/14-tulips.html</a><br /><br />I do still intend to add to this blog, but the initial steam has cooled. That's okay. I don't mind projects taking years. Maybe someday I will get to 100 and maybe I won't, but my yard continues to improve little by little every year either way. And when I can't take care of it anymore or if someone lives here after us who has different priorities, some of the plants might go dormant, or die. Much of what is here was here for years, unwatered and unloved, but when we moved in and watered and dug around, things came up! So some of the things I've brought here or that were here that we nurtured might similarly surprise someone else in a few decades. Cool!<br /><br />But back to my original thoughts about naming 100 of ANYthing, I re-read this, about my visit to Kirk Ella with Holly eight years ago. <br /><A HREF="http://sandradodd.com/eastyorkshire">SandraDodd.com/eastyorkshire</a><br /><br />I read it because I'm corresponding with some unschoolers in the U.K. about a visit I'm making there in July. And I realized that knowing a lot about one town in England ("a lot" meaning some history, some people, some geography, when the store opens and whether they have Dr Pepper, where the snickleways are, how far to Beverley) is different from seeing and naming 100 castles, or 100 towns, or 100 parish churches. But reading all the names on the gravestones in ONE church, hearing the bellringers practice the changes, finding a big toad in the churchyard... that's better than remembering the name of the church.<br /><br />If I take photos of my grocery-store tulips every year and document their divisions and growth, that might be better than naming 100 strains of tulips. Planting tulips and not EVER taking their picture is better than feeling agitation about what a dead guy thinks about whether I can name 100 species. <br /><br />I'm treating this like a game, and not like a test, and if I get distracted and start doing something else, I'm still playing. And in the end it's not whether I win or lose, its whether I knew it was a game.<br /><br /><center><img src="http://sandradodd.com/photo/hollyflowers"><br /><br />I don't know what those flowers are. I don't remember what little town we were in that day.<br />I remember Holly touching flowers growing on an ancient wall in an alley across from a pub that wasn't open yet.</center>Sandra Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11853107998229753762noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5167190851266384344.post-55033473988476072742009-03-20T06:35:00.000-07:002009-04-14T09:41:02.525-07:00#32 Burro's tail<img src="http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c111/SandraDodd/website%20various%20bits/encore/DSCF4117.jpg"><br />Burro's tail. It's a succulent—a desert plant like a cactus, but not with any pokey-parts.<br />The dice and game card aren't usually there. <IMG src="http://sandradodd.com/smile"><br /><br />I got this from my friend Steve. He has his in a pot and takes it in in winter. I dug mine up and took it in the first year, but the next year I left some out, and this year I left it all out. Seems to have survived fine, though it doesn't stay in the very same place. Some babies live, and some older plants get walked on (because it's right by the back door), but it's doing well!<br /><br />I read up on it and it's from Mexico. In an image search, it showed people using it as a hanging-basket plant.<br /><br />The photo above is a couple of years old, and was taken for the lyrics game, when the word was "dark." <A HREF="http://lyricsgame.blogspot.com/2007/09/dark.html">http://lyricsgame.blogspot.com/2007/09/dark.html</a><br /><br />Lately I find images for each new word, but early on I was setting the cards in various places, rolling dice and photographing the two of them. Some of those photos are fun. I did it on a trip to the zoo, and on a trip to Colorado.Sandra Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11853107998229753762noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5167190851266384344.post-76982748222438263692008-10-26T09:55:00.000-07:002008-10-26T09:08:29.271-07:00#31 Sage Brush<img src="http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c111/SandraDodd/New%20Mexico/joyce/DSCF2574.jpg"><br /><br />I could probably name two dozen "cokes" but not that many kinds of "kleenex," and the general name for this type of growth is "sage brush." Of what is technically sage brush, there's more than one kind. Probably some of what's in the picture is and some isn't. Because I'm neither a botanist nor a landscaper, "sage brush" is close enough for me.<br /><br />This photo is across the valley from my house, but there are things like these within a mile of my house.<br /><br />Chamisa (<A HREF="http://100speciesdodd.blogspot.com/2008/10/30-chamisa.html">#30</a>) would be lumped in the "sage brush" category by me if I didn't know it's name.Sandra Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11853107998229753762noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5167190851266384344.post-22605998771502095302008-10-26T08:48:00.001-07:002008-10-26T08:53:30.514-07:00#30 ChamisaIn Española, where I grew up, this stuff was all around. Not in people's fields or yards, but in the wilder parts and the no-longer-farmed parts.<br /><br /><img src="http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c111/SandraDodd/Yard/100Species/chamisa.jpg"><br /><br />This one is growing behind the tire store behind us, on a part of their lot they've had landscaped. There's a little watering tube coming up from the ground there, so the plant is unnaturally big. It's nearly 5' tall and bigger than that around.Sandra Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11853107998229753762noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5167190851266384344.post-71086316884089072462008-10-26T04:34:00.000-07:002008-10-26T06:44:48.760-07:00#29 African VioletWhen I was 13 and 14, I was in a 4-H club based on botany. We did crops judging, flower arranging, and the care of houseplants. I loved the flower arranging and remembered years later how to use the wires and tape to make coursages and head wreaths and boutonnieres. We each had an African Violet to take care of, and that I didn't much like. I remember a great fear of the presence of mealy bugs, or of watering incorrectly.<br /><br />Last winter, there were two African Violets in a batch of plants given to me. I didn't figure they would live, and I didn't take very special African-violet care of them. In Spring I put them out in the yard with other plants, in a shady place where they could be watered easily.<br /><br />I was sometimes careful to put the water on the dirt and not the leaves, but they were outside and sometimes getting some sprinkler water and rain (not much rain this summer).<br /><br />Then one day in late September there was a bloom!<br /><br /><center><img src="http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c111/SandraDodd/Yard/100Species/A0000001-2.jpg"></center><br /><br />It lasted several weeks.<br /><br /><center><img src="http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c111/SandraDodd/Yard/100Species/A0000004-3.jpg"></center><br /><br />I know the leaves look terrible. They had too much sun and too much water. (They greened up after a few weeks in the kitchen.)<br /><br /><center><img src="http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c111/SandraDodd/Yard/100Species/A0000005-3.jpg"></center><br /><br />So African violets aren't local, but this one came to my house and bloomed.Sandra Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11853107998229753762noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5167190851266384344.post-33583659952386443212008-10-20T08:40:00.001-07:002011-02-09T05:35:52.803-08:00#28 MoonflowersA couple of years ago I had moonflowers all up the high side of the end of our house. I think that wall is about 17' tall.<br />
<img src="http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c111/SandraDodd/Moonflowers/IMAGE003.jpg"><br />
<br />
<img src="http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c111/SandraDodd/Moonflowers/IMAGE011.jpg"><br />
<br />
<p><br />
<br />
I skipped a year, from social obligations and schedules. They really are difficult to get started here. <br />
<br />
This year there were a few, and those in a pot did better than others. <br />
<br />
<br />
<img src="http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c111/SandraDodd/Moonflowers/DSCF2761.jpg"> <img src="http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c111/SandraDodd/Moonflowers/DSCF2759.jpg"><br />
<br />
And here's a moonflower that didn't every fully open because the days are still warm but the nights are cold.<br />
<img src="http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c111/SandraDodd/Yard/100Species/DSCF0300.jpg" width=298><br />
<img src="http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c111/SandraDodd/Moonflowers/A0000009.jpg" width=298> <img src="http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c111/SandraDodd/Moonflowers/A0000010.jpg" width=298><br />
<br />
More on my moonflowers here, with photos of the HUGE seedlings (and I'll add seed pod photos there in a couple of months):<br />
<a HREF="http://sandradodd.com/moonflowers">SandraDodd.com/moonflowers</a><br />
<br />
<hr><br />
I forgot to make photos of the seed pods. I'm writing in April 2009. The few seeds I got last year didn't germinate, but I still had bought seeds, and I have seedlings started in peat pots.Sandra Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11853107998229753762noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5167190851266384344.post-59819149552848671782008-10-08T09:49:00.000-07:002008-10-26T06:03:35.297-07:00#27 Fruitless MulberryIn our back yard there are two fruitless mulberries. When we first moved here eleven years ago, it seemed they might both die. The west tree is very near the house, and it seemed some roots were destroyed by an addition to the house, and then the others were driven and parked on when our house was used for several years as a halfway house for University of New Mexico hospital treatment facilities. Employees would park in the back up near the door, it seems. <table align=right><td><img src="http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c111/SandraDodd/Yard/100Species/small%20images/DSCF2849.jpg"><br /><img src="http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c111/SandraDodd/Yard/100Species/small%20images/DSCF2844.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c111/SandraDodd/Yard/mulberry/DSCF2847.jpg"></td></table><br />Those rings show the early years of the tree, then the nine years it was totally unwatered, and this part of the central trunk was cut when we first moved here. <br /><br />The place from which it was cut is shown (but in a current photo). That central trunk had dried up entirely.<br /><br /> Other branches came back, though, and it's a big tree now again. The photo below is three years old. It's doing even better now.<br /><br /><img src="http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c111/SandraDodd/Yard/100Species/small%20images/DSCF5878.jpg"><br /><br />The leaf that appears on the main page of the Always Learning list is from that tree. It grew swirly for some reason. I thought it was pretty, and stuck it into the scanner with blue paper behind it:<br /><br /><img src="http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c111/SandraDodd/Yard/mulberry/1678.jpg"><br /><br />Here's a 2008 Robin's nest Holly could see from her bathroom window, in the western tree:<br /><br /><IMG SRC="http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg184/OfPie/Real%20World/Birds/nest.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c111/SandraDodd/Holly/4f3efe97.jpg" align=left hspace=10>The other tree is on the east side of the back yard, not so near the house, but the upper branches come onto the deck which is outside the library (the room above the garage). Keith put beams to catch water, and we have drained the hot tub here many times, so it continues to recover. Holly has always liked to climb it, and swing on the large, soft rope Keith put up in there years ago.<br /><br /><img src="http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c111/SandraDodd/Yard/100Species/DSCF2313.jpg"><br /><br />The top of that tree still has dead twigs up top, but the birds don't mind. Here are some doves Holly photographed in the eastern tree this summer:<br /><br /><img src="http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg184/OfPie/Real%20World/Birds/71014.jpg" width=350> <IMG SRC="http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg184/OfPie/Real%20World/Birds/71009.jpg" width=350><br /><br />One year all the leaves fell off that tree in a single day, from some odd cold snap, without wind. They were just on the ground in a circle. Our yard has benefitted greatly from compost made of the leaves of these trees. <br /><br />And it can hold a piñata!<br /><br /><img src="http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c111/SandraDodd/Sandra/2007birthday/DSCF4583.jpg">Sandra Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11853107998229753762noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5167190851266384344.post-57292599484716673902008-09-16T11:14:00.000-07:002008-09-19T19:02:27.569-07:00#26 Storm LilyI KNOW WHAT THIS IS!!!!<br /><br /><A HREF="http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c111/SandraDodd/Yard/100Species/surprise/DSCF2863.jpg"><img src="http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c111/SandraDodd/Yard/100Species/surprise/DSCF2863-1.jpg"></a><br /><br />It hasn't fully unfolded yet, and I wouldn't know what it is, except that I discovered one (from the same bulb, probably) in full bloom in my yard a few years ago and people on the internet told me what it was. "Surprise Lily" or "Storm Lily."<br /><br />The last time was also September, in 2005:<br /><br /><A HREF="http://sandradodd.blogspot.com/2005/09/moonflowers-and-mystery-flower.html"><br /><IMG SRC="http://sandradodd.com/plants/bestclose" width=150> <IMG SRC="http://sandradodd.com/plants/topdown" width=150> <IMG SRC="http://sandradodd.com/plants/fullheight" width=100> <IMG SRC="http://sandradodd.com/plants/bestshadow" width=150></a><br /><br />I'll bring a photo of the new one when it's opened up.<br /><br />I bought a dozen bulbs of that and put them in the back, but none has come up yet. Judging by this one, having come up twice in ten years, I'm not expecting them every year.<br /><hr><br /><br />It took until Friday afternoon for it to open, and I wish I hadn't missed the half-way point. Holly took these photos and that's her hand, for scale. This one was shorter than the one in 2005, and it didn't open as quickly.<br /><center><br /><img src="http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c111/SandraDodd/Yard/100Species/surprise/DSCF2942.jpg"> <img src="http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c111/SandraDodd/Yard/100Species/surprise/DSCF2941.jpg"></center>Sandra Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11853107998229753762noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5167190851266384344.post-69003712231737572792008-08-25T07:16:00.001-07:002008-08-25T07:27:18.052-07:00# X StinkhornThis one isn't getting a number. They don't "grow within walking distance," though one did come up in my yard at our old house a few miles and a couple of decades from here. <br /><br />I will give you an image (not my photo), a link (which leads to another link, too), and a warning. <br /><br /><center><A HREF="http://sandradodd.blogspot.com/2008/08/stinkhorn.html"><img src="http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c111/SandraDodd/Yard/100Species/stinkhorn/DSC03406.jpg"><br />Stinkhorn</a><br /><font color=red><br /><i>Those posts, as a set, are rated R,<br /> for language, suggestive simulated nudity, <br />and special-effects grossness.</i></font></center>Sandra Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11853107998229753762noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5167190851266384344.post-21725452410388837882008-08-19T13:00:00.000-07:002008-08-19T13:00:00.366-07:00Commentary the FirstTwenty five. That's a stopping place. I do have some other photos from my first day of walking up to the big patch of goat heads. There are lots of weeds whose names I don't know. <br /><br />I'm really enjoying seeing the other participants' lists and photos, and if you go to any one of them you'll probably get to others still. Some people live right next to wild-growing incredible beauty. I guess I do too, but I'm used to this stuff, and theirs seems as exotic as something from another world sometimes.<br /><br />I think I can get to fifty. I will have to do some research to get to a hundred, so I'm thinking of conceding right now to the original charge (quoted at the bottom of the blogpage) that I might be one of the most people who can't name 100 plants within walking distance. <br /><br />My "failure" in this area, though, reminds me of Howard Gardner's theory of intelligences. This plant naming is an intelligence called "Nature Intelligence." It's a sorting and naming intelligence, so it applies to bugs and automobiles and heraldry and Magic cards too—the ability to categorize and recognize things. When Kirby was a toddler, we could show him something we found on the floor—a piece of plastic or a knob or a game piece or a screw—and he would know what it had come off of or fallen out of or belonged to in the house. He totally has that. <br /><br />This is not my talent, but I do enjoy learning about these plants, and I kinda surprised myself with the stories that come with them. I like that too, that each plant is connected to places and people, for me. To history, and geography, and particular neighbors.<br /><br />In Henry V there's a speech in which he says there are things he can do, but mushy love-talk isn't one of them.<br /><blockquote>Marry, if you would put me to verses, or to dance for your<br />sake, Kate, why you undid me; for the one, I have neither<br />words nor measure, and for the other I have no strength in<br />measure, yet a reasonable measure in strength. If I could win a<br />lady at leap-frog, or by vaulting into my saddle with my armour<br />on my back, under the correction of bragging be it spoken, I<br />should quickly leap into a wife. Or if I might buffet for my<br />love, or bound my horse for her favours, I could lay on like a<br />butcher and sit like a jack-an-apes, never off. But, before God,<br />Kate, I cannot look greenly, nor gasp out my eloquence, nor I<br />have no cunning in protestation; only downright oaths, which I<br />never use till urg'd, nor never break for urging.<p align=right><A HREF="http://www.enotes.com/henryv-text/act-v-scene-2">there's the rest of that scene</a></blockquote><br />He's saying he's no good at poetry or music or dancing, but he's good at strength and fighting and horsemanship, and he can keep an oath, but can't speak romantically.<br /><br />Had someone asked me to name 100 musical instruments, I could—and could play several of them. If someone asked me to quote from 100 movies without looking anything up, I could. Name 100 books with their authors. I could do that as fast as I could type them down, I think. "Sing 100 traditional ballads or songs." I could do that. Identify 100 traditional ballads from a snippet, heard or read. Out of all the ballads in the world I could identify 100. Out of 100 someone else chose, maybe 70. <br /><br />I've been inside more than outside in my life. I used to get grief for it. "Put that book down and go outside." That probably served to keep me in more than to get me out, in the longrun. My sister said something about my late-blooming green thumb recently. I only started really caring about my yard and wild plants fairly recently.<br /><br />So this blog is fun but I concede the race. I might not be posting so frequently here for a while, but I did take a bunch of photos yesterday and will get to cataloging those. And I haven't done my onions yet! <br /><br />If anyone wants to share the URL of another 100 Species site that's not listed in the sidebar, please leave it and I'll add it.Sandra Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11853107998229753762noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5167190851266384344.post-51044585628669608322008-08-19T00:01:00.000-07:002008-08-19T00:01:01.022-07:00#25 Day Lilies<A HREF="http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c111/SandraDodd/Yard/100Species/DSCF2302.jpg"><img src="http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c111/SandraDodd/Yard/100Species/DSCF2302.jpg" width=750 target="_blank"></a><br /><br />This is a hybrid daylily called "Pardon Me." I ordered three bulbs in 2006 and now I have lots more. They're pretty happy here. I have five kinds of daylilies. These were the last blooming this year, and this photo is a week old. I have some other photos from other seasons of the others. I'll add them as I come to them, or maybe add some next summer if I don't come across any.<br /><br />This video is from last year, and these are called "Fulva" daylilies:<br /><br /><embed width="448" height="361" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" src="http://i26.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vid26.photobucket.com/albums/c111/SandraDodd/Yard/DSCF3846.flv"></embed><br /><br />The darker ones above are just behind and to the right of these tall orange ones.Sandra Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11853107998229753762noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5167190851266384344.post-78595587316867421112008-08-18T00:05:00.000-07:002008-08-18T00:05:00.862-07:00#24 Juniper<A HREF="http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c111/SandraDodd/Yard/100Species/DSCF2318.jpg"><img src="http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c111/SandraDodd/Yard/100Species/DSCF2318.jpg" width=750 target="_blank"></a><br /><br />This was here when we moved here, but it's healthier now. It's growing up around the mailbox. I don't know exactly what type of juniper this is, except it's the kind that's been planted in lots of yards in Albuquerque! (We had some at our old house.)<br /><br />The lighter green at the bottom is morning glory, and you can see it climbing up toward the mail box. There's some on the other side. There's no way morning glory can hurt this big old juniper bush.<br /><br />The odd-angled wood plank to the left is a bridge over a hole that fills up when it rains a lot. So usually it just looks like an oddly placed ramp, but those few times it rains hard, it's an important bridge. The house that shows is where Harry and Betty live, who have the <A HREF="http://100speciesdodd.blogspot.com/2008/08/8-trumpet-vine.html">trumpet vine</a> in back, and who have some of our <A HREF="http://100speciesdodd.blogspot.com/2008/08/17-virginia-creeper.html">Virginia creeper</a> on their front porch. You can see it, in the photo, looking kinda squarish in front of their door! And to the right of their house (in the photo) there's a bigger juniper that hasn't been chopped back (or not lately, anyway). To the right of that, the plum trees from <A HREF="http://100speciesdodd.blogspot.com/2008/08/6-ornamental-plum.html">#6</a>. So... I'm hardly walking outside my yard, so far!Sandra Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11853107998229753762noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5167190851266384344.post-81168792632363917532008-08-17T00:01:00.000-07:002008-08-17T12:18:46.199-07:00#23 MimosaWhen I was little (the theme of a lot of this!) we had two mimosa trees in front of our house in Texas. When we moved to New Mexico (to Española) my mom kept trying to transplant some there but they wouldn't live. Nobody there had one. <br /><br />Ninety miles south, though, in Albuquerque, they <i>will</i> (and do) grow. <br /><br /><A HREF="http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c111/SandraDodd/Yard/100Species/DSCF2321-1.jpg"><img src="http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c111/SandraDodd/Yard/100Species/DSCF2321-1.jpg" width=750 target="_blank"></a><br /><br />This is a baby of our neighbor's mimosa. We had some at our old house, also offspring of our neighbor's tree there, and we moved them to the back after they came up in the front flowerbed. They're big, at our old house, and healthy. At our new house, smaller but last year and this year there were blooms.<br /><br />When I was in a verdant southern state I commented on mimosa trees growing wild in low places and said I thought they were wonderful, and a local said they were trailer trash trees. Maybe where trees are plentiful, they're not in the top ten. But here where trees are rare and valuable, if one of those comes up on its own, I'm personally going to water it and try to keep it safe from foot traffic and lawn mowers!Sandra Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11853107998229753762noreply@blogger.com5