Weekend Walkabout: Who Put That Flower There??

I have no idea how sunflowers got into my garden, but I'm glad to see them!

Mysterious Sunflower

I suppose it could have been birds who dropped a few seeds a month or so back, maybe? And the Spanish Moss, one of my all time favorite Tillies, is doing fine now....

Croton with Spanish Moss

A little painting in the studio makes for great weekend. Happy Weekend Walkabouts, fellow gardeners and painters!

MRobb, 2018, watercolor

"Mysterious Island", MRobb, 2018, watercolor

MRobb, 2018, watercolor, Madhubani style

Weekend Walkabout: Tuberose, Sunflower, Ceramics!

My single flower, Mexican Tuberoses are blooming, so exciting! And very, very fragrant....

There are more green facets to fresh tuberose than  you can ever smell in tuberose absolutes or attars. I will have to try an enfleurage someday, because I cannot hope to waft actual tuberose blossom in any commercial perfume I can think of. So I say, just grow some tuberoses if you can.

This year, the aphids are not so bad but the spider mites are taking over my world. Despite that, I have some lovely sunflowers....

Though technically, we are getting normal rains, and are not in drought, we are having problems. Our rains come down in "walls of water". We had about 2 inches in an hour, then nothing for weeks. This is not easy for plants to deal with. So our inches per month are pretty normal, but our rains are freakin' weird.... I water everything in my vicinity every morning, but I have to wake up pretty early to get it done.

My herbalism class is going well. I've been making a few smudge pots and drying trays....

And strange things keep washing up on our beach...here's a ball.

Volleyball? Hard to say where it came from, but I'll bet the Bahamas, where they are severely trash-challenged. Note the barnacles? All in all, though, our beaches were pretty clean and lovely this week.
Have a wonderful weekend walkabout!

Pensive Tuesday: Annual Verus Perennial

I've always had a strong bias toward pernnials in my garden. These plants are defined as having a life span of two or more years. If a plant lives a year or less, it's an annual. The somewhere-in-betweens are biennials.

Crassula, a Favored Perennial

Every once in a while, I get a hankering to grow an annual. Not because it's a short-lived plant, but because of some other quality I admire despite its short life. Sunflowers are a case in point:

In other words, they have to overcome, with their marvelous beauty or intriguing aspects, my aversion to annuals. Poor flowers!
Perennials, on the other hand, are the gifts that keep on giving, right? I mean, they can go on for decades with good care. That's a big plus! Bamboo can take over your whole garden if you give it just a little love (not that that is always a good thing).

Black Bamboo CU, MR 2013

But as I've grown older, I've begun to appreciate the fleeting beauty of annuals a whole lot more. I've been growing them more often, and I don't get as melancholy as I used to when I pull up the wizened husk of an exhausted annual, and toss it in the trash. It's become more of a Buddhist Moment for me, a brief meditation on impermanence-- from the trash grows the flower, and in time, the flower returns to the trash. Lather, rinse, repeat.

So now annuals are welcome in my garden. My closest analogy to growing both together is that perennials are like the basic ground of a painting. The fundamental shapes, the background colors, and so on. Annuals add that zip that can transform one painting into a series. Each one somewhat alike, each one different. I tried this approach with a series of photos I'd taken of some beach shells, so see if you agree with me....

Plate of Shells II, Marla Robb, 2013

Plate of Shells V, Marla Robb, 2013

Plate of Shells VI, Marla Robb, 2013

What are your thoughts on the short-lived versus the long-lived plants in your garden? Have you changed over time?