Showing posts with label 100 Species of Plants. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 100 Species of Plants. Show all posts

Sunday 8 June 2014

Iowa's Wild Rose




This was in the ditch at the farm, the state flower of Iowa, wild rose. Some days, finding beauty in the ditch is just the thing to lift my spirits and remind me good and lovely things are everywhere.

They are. Even when the flash flood wash out the roads just for the hours of my little girl's party. Just when everything is dark, wet, and gloomy. Holly? She doesn't care. She ate cake, wore a sparkly crown and a new yellow dress, and smiled through the day knowing that cancelling means she'll get one extra cake day. She inspires me not to let moments of disappointment ruin the day, because good things will come our way soon enough. Goodness. She rode her new bike in the rain and ate cake until she was silly.



Saturday 26 April 2014

Lily's Clay Work

 Lily takes a clay class downtown every Tuesday for 6 weeks, three times a year. She loves it. LOVES it. Amy, the teacher, is so good with her and the sensory of the clay calms her. She is learning skills that help her idea come to life and each session learns something new, either about clay work or leadership.






 I love taking the class with her. I also love the building. I love junk, I love tools, I love the dirty of creating architectural elements. I love the lines and the smell and the feel of the old building.

Perhaps, Lily isn't the only sensory kid in our family.




Tuesday 12 August 2008

100 Plants in Our Yard......

The 100 Species Challenge

Otherwise known as why my husband cannot remember where his keys are.....his brain is filled with plant names. Oh my.

1. Participants should include a copy of these rules and a link to this entry in their initial blog post about the challenge.

2. Participants should keep a list of all plant species they can name, either by common or scientific name, that are living within walking distance of the participant's home. The list should be numbered, and should appear in every blog entry about the challenge, or in a sidebar.

3. Participants are encouraged to give detailed information about the plants they can name in the first post in which that plant appears.

4. Participants are encouraged to make it possible for visitors to their blog to find easily all 100-Species-Challenge blog posts. This can be done either by tagging these posts, by ending every post on the challenge with a link to your previous post on the challenge, or by some method which surpasses my technological ability and creativity.

5. Participants may post pictures of plants they are unable to identify, or are unable to identify with precision. They should not include these plants in the numbered list until they are able to identify it with relative precision. Each participant shall determine the level of precision that is acceptable to her; however, being able to distinguish between plants that have different common names should be a bare minimum.

6. Different varieties of the same species shall not count as different entries (e.g., Celebrity Tomato and Roma Tomato should not be separate entries); however, different species which share a common name be separate if the participant is able to distinguish between them (e.g., camillia japonica and camillia sassanqua if the participant can distinguish the two--"camillia" if not).

7. Participants may take as long as they like to complete the challenge.



We opted for a simple list. Dearest sat down, inside, and did it. He didn't even look out the window. Could be said first 35 or so are the plants that make up our "lawn".....just kidding. Sort of.

From Dearest: "We used a limit of within three city blocks 'cause that's what MP remembered the rules being. I think I could get another hundred pretty quickly if I expanded the area a bit. Also, apologies all around - as MP pointed out I missed snapdragons . . ."
  1. kentucky blue grass
  2. rye grass
  3. bindweed
  4. quack grass
  5. plantain
  6. purslane
  7. wandering jew
  8. milkweed
  9. thistle
  10. ragweed
  11. poison ivy
  12. creeping charlie
  13. virginia creeper
  14. mullein (these are good luck!)
  15. dandelion
  16. queen anne's lace
  17. sunflower
  18. woodland violet
  19. millet
  20. locust
  21. mulberry
  22. redbud
  23. clover
  24. horseradish
  25. white oak, burr oak, pin oak
  26. silver maple, red maple, sugar maple
  27. sumac
  28. lily of the valley
  29. ostrich fern
  30. Cinnamon fern
  31. maidenhair fern
  32. bridal wreath
  33. chrysanthemum
  34. peony
  35. "tea roses, wild roses, fairy roses, rugosa roses"
  36. day lily
  37. Asiatic lily
  38. tiger lily
  39. allium (flower onion)
  40. chives
  41. "red onion, yellow onion"
  42. lambs quarter
  43. Egyptian walking onion
  44. bunching onion
  45. "tomatoes - early, pear, brandywine, cherokee"
  46. "peppers - jalapeno, Serrano, green bell pepper, habanero"
  47. spinach
  48. black eyed susan
  49. winter squash
  50. "apple - granny smith, rome beauty"
  51. peach
  52. pear
  53. daisy
  54. lilac
  55. birch
  56. magnolias
  57. Jerusalem artichoke
  58. ribbon grass
  59. hosta
  60. lungwort
  61. basil
  62. mint
  63. veronica
  64. Japanese maple
  65. German bearded iris
  66. Siberian iris
  67. Mexican top hat
  68. staghorn mushroom
  69. celosia
  70. false spirea
  71. lambs ear
  72. burning bush
  73. tulip
  74. daffodil
  75. hyacinth
  76. grape hyacinth
  77. gladiolas
  78. hydrangea
  79. wagelia
  80. moss on the roof!
  81. crabapple
  82. hackberry
  83. honeysuckle
  84. walnut
  85. ash
  86. spider wort
  87. Easter lily
  88. holly
  89. marigold
  90. petunia
  91. spider flower
  92. raspberry
  93. blueberry
  94. tree of heaven
  95. strawberries
  96. boxwood
  97. Indian paintbrush
  98. purple cornflower
  99. bleeding heart
  100. Japanese spurge