Tropical Hydrangea

Tropical Hydrangea

Dombeya wallichii

(DOM-bee-yuh) (wall-IK-ee-eye)

Synonyms: Pink-Ball Tree, Astrapaea wallichii

A rare native of Madagascar and East Africa.

White Daylily

Daylily

Hemerocallis 'Joan Senior'

(hem-er-oh-KAL-iss)

Introduced 1977

Rare White Daylily

Moon Carrot

Moon Carrot

Seseli gummiferum

(SE-sel-ee) (gum-MIF-er-um)

It is always fun to have an unusual flower to post and Moon Carrot is a quirky, unusual and beautiful biennial. It is relatively easy to grow as long as a few specific conditions are met. The most important condition is having super winter drainage. Moon Carrot is surprising hardy and evergreen when located in a warm, dry area of the garden. A native of the eastern Mediterranean this plant can grow to 3 feet tall when blooming. The foliage is a great looking ferny/carrot type that is a beautiful blue green. The flowers appear pink in bud but actually open up to white.

Rare Chrysanthemum

Chrysanthemum ‘Chiru momiji’

This was my favorite flower in the Fall Flowers of Japan exhibit. The buds were amazing looking and I remember thinking that I had never seen anything quite like them before. The flowers had not quite come out on the stems in the display but didn’t look as good as the buds. Google has been stumped on both yesterday’s mum and today’s. That usually doesn’t happen as just about any plant has some reference on the Internet.

These were both shot with the D700 and 60mm Nikon lens. The pop up flash was used in the second shot because the lighting is almost never good in a greenhouse. I have the flash set to -.7 to take some of the harshness out of it. A pop up flash isn’t really a great way to go but it works in a pinch. For Christmas I am going to ask Santa to bring me a Speedlight add on flash. It is not something I would use all the time but can be helpful in certain situations.

Almost all of the macro pictures on this site are manually focused. While the auto focus system on the D700 is great (51 points) I have found it doesn’t always focus on the part of the flower that I want. This also eliminates back focusing where the camera focuses on something behind the subject. It takes a second or two longer to get the photo manually but there are less junk photos when I get home and look at them.

Ceriman

Ceriman
Monstera deliciosa
(mon-STER-uh) (de-lis-ee-OH-suh)
Synonyms: Windowleaf, Split-leaf Philodendron, Mexican Breadfruit, Philodendron pertusum, Monstera lennea

This beauty was growing inside the conservatory at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden . It is an amazing set of buildings that can easily send you on a journey past the gritty streets that surround it. Pretty much everything was in great condition at the garden. I didn’t stay too long as all the walking made me tired.

Huge and bold foliage of the Monstera

My day started out getting all my gear ready. This is a list of what I took:

D700 DSLR Camera
D70s DSLR Camera
80-200mm Nikon 2.8 lens
50mm Nikon 1.8 lens
24mm Sigma 1.8 lens
Camera Bag Tamrac (I bought for $10 at a tag sale)
Ipod filled with new music

I purposely left out the two lenses I use the most the 60mm/2.8, and 105mm/2.8 (both Nikon). The thought was to try and see things a little differently than my “crutch” lenses. Although I missed both of them. I put the 80-200 on the D70s and the 50 on the D700. One good thing about the 50mm is it is very inconspicuous. After gearing up I drove the 25 miles to the train station. Metro-North trains come a lot closer but the Katonah station is nice and it is easy to park. Soon I was zipping by the towns of Westchester County like Hawthorne, Pleasantville, Chappaqua and White Plains. I had a playlist for Selena Gomez and Christina Grimmie’s new CDs. Both of which are excellent.

The train left me at Grand Central so I went into the subway and got on the 6 train going downtown. After changing onto the ‘Q’ train at Union Square I was headed out to Coney Island. That's when the memory washed over me. When I was 15 or 16 I was supposed to go to Coney Island with the girl I liked then. Her name was Sandy and she was beautiful. The trip was all planned and at the last minute Sandy backed out. She blamed her mother, which knowing the woman was probably true. Sadly I never made it out to Brooklyn that day. Sandy and I did end up going out for a short while. She was a sweetheart.

As the train rumbled through the dark tunnels every once in a while breaking into brilliant sunshine on the elevated sections it cut across the heart of Brooklyn I had sometime for quiet reflection. Was I some how trying to relive the trip not taken 33 years ago? What happened to Sandy? All this was accomplice by the discography of The Byrds I had loaded unto my Ipod last week. I was struck by the lyrics from the old country song, “Roger McGuinn had a 12 string guitar. It was like nothing I'd ever heard.” His 12 string does have an amazing sound. During my contemplation with the sounds of the 1960’s ringing in my ears a beautiful woman came on the train and sat next to me. I almost asked if her name was Sandy but instead just sat quietly admiring her beauty.

Soon it was last stop the Coney Island/Stillwell Avenue station, which is modern and architecturally pleasing. I made my way to the boardwalk and marveled at all the new rides and some of the old ones. I also visited the New York Aquarium whose entrance is right off the boardwalk. After some pictures and viewing the scenery on the beach it was back on the train to the Prospect Park stop to visit the Brooklyn Botanical Garden. Upon leaving the station the garden entrance was about a block away.

It was a beautiful summer day. The best thing was there wasn’t a lot of humidity, which can ruin summer around here. After visiting the Lotus Pool, Annual garden, Café, Conservatory and rock garden I was done. Back to the subway for the long ride to the 42nd Street/Time Square station. After that I jumped on the Grand Central Shuttle and caught the train to Westchester. Over all it was a great day. Two world-class attractions in one day. I will be posting some more pictures during the week.

Come join us at Today’s Flowers . Flowers from all over the world.

Sunday means bonus picture. Shot with the 80-200mm lens and D700. It was easy to do a back portrait when the flower is 7 or 8 feet off the ground. It is one of the Hardy type of Sunflowers but I didn’t get the name.

Conversation Piece Azalea

Conversation Piece Azalea
Rhododendron x Robin Hill 'Conversation Piece'
(roh-do-DEN-dron)

This flower is from a garden we started caring for this year. 'Conversation Piece' definitely was living up to it’s name as we all had something to say about the different colored flower appearing on the same plant. My natural thought was that it had been grafted and some of the rootstock had grown around the graft but research revealed that is not the case. The garden owner had told me they were Encore Azaleas , which I was excited at the opportunity to grow but a plant tag revealed them as 'Conversation Piece'.

'Conversation Piece' Azaleas are the low mounding evergreen type. They grow 2 to 3 feet tall with a similar spread. They thrive in USDA Zones 6 through 9.

The new garden is nice with a lot of mail order plants that the person has been growing for a few years and then decided to get some professional help to finish things off. We are acting as garden coaches for him as well as completing his plans and adding some things. I actually love it when our customers are active in the garden. They get to have the nice sense of ownership and pride that gardening can provide.

For more flower pictures from around the world check out:
Today’s Flowers . The links open at 1400 GMT.

Since it is Sunday here is the bonus flower. I am not sure what variety this is but it was already blooming last week. That seems almost a month ahead of our regular types. The plant had good color and a lot of buds. This picture was taken with the Nikon 70-300mm lens that Karen has pretty much taken over. I always thought this lens was not a full frame type but it is. My camera knows when you use a non-full frame lens and automatically cuts down the image circle to 5 megapixels. I see that isn’t necessary for this lens. Since this picture was shot at 300mm it was weird standing across the lawn to get the picture instead of being right in its face.



Mophead Hydrangea
Hydrangea macrophylla
(hy-DRAIN-juh) (mak-roh-FIL-uh)

Southern Island Mallow

Southern Island Mallow
Lavatera assurgentiflora ssp. Glabra
(lav-uh-TEER-uh) (as-sur-jen-tih-FLOR-uh)

This is an extremely rare flower that is native to Santa Catalina Island and Santa Barbara County. I go this picture by hanging my camera over the wire cage that was protecting it from the deer and Bison on the island. I don’t even want to think what kind of damage a herd of Bison could do to the garden. Like a lot of the Lavateras this flower was striking with its stripes and color pattern. While we saw so many interesting flowers on our trip to California this one was the best.

There isn’t a lot of information available for this plant however I did find this blurb about Catalina endemic plants at this website:
Catalina.com

“Catalina endemic plants are species that occur naturally on Catalina Island and nowhere else in the world. A restricted (endemic) island distribution may result from the gradual elimination of a species on the mainland and its persistence on the isolated island(s), where the threat of extinction may be less.”

For more flower pictures from around the world check out:
Today’s Flowers . The links open at 1400 GMT.


Since it is Sunday here is a bonus California flower. It is a rich rose hailing from Beverly Hills. I think it is ‘Iceberg’ but not really sure.

White Daylily

White Daylily
Hemerocallis 'Lady Elizabeth'
(hem-er-oh-KAL-iss)
Synonyms: Lovely Lady™ series
Introduction: 1999

Unusual Rhododendron

Unusual Rhododendron

For the past couple of years I have had the pleasure of tending to this Rhododendron. Its color and habit are unusual for this area. It has been doing a lot better since we have been putting up burlap protection during the winter. After we started doing that it has rewarded us with a lot of flowers. I would find the color hard to describe as the buds are almost a completely different color than the flowers. This plant gives off kind of a warm pastel glow when the sun hits it right.

Spider Miracle Daylily

Daylily
Hemerocallis 'Spider Miracle'
(hem-er-oh-KAL-iss)

‘Spider Miracle’ is an unusual Daylily and it was a joy to find it for sale at the local wholesale nursery this year. Most of the Daylilies available wholesale are kind of plain and there seems to be a limited amount of them. My plants did well except a few of them got tall enough to flop over. The flowers are 8 to 9 inches wide and the scapes get to about 32 inches tall. It is a nice yellow color with a tinge of green around the throat.

Congo Cockatoo

Congo Cockatoo
Impatiens niamniamensis
(im-PAY-shuns) (nee-um-nee-um-EN-sis)
Synonyms: Parrot Plant

This is certainly an unusual plant. My friend is growing this in his garden and while it is a tall and lanky plant it has been blooming all summer. I hadn’t seen it before so I decided to look up some information on the species.

Impatiens niamniamensis is a frost tender flower from East Africa. It easily grows to 3 feet tall and requires a lot of water and full shade. It also can be grown indoors for the winter but can get spider mite infestations. There is some color variation both in the age of the flower and among specimens. It is easy to grow from seed or cuttings.

Here are a couple of Daylilies that I spotted on my appointments yesterday. The first is one that we planted this year. It is called ‘North Port’ and out of the 15 or so varieties that we were able to get wholesale this season, this one was the best. The color combination is really nice. It grows kind of short which is also good. The second flower was an unusual dusty kind of orange and it was attractive but in a different way than the ‘North Port’. Each of the two farms we garden for have nice Daylily collections.



For more flower pictures from around the world check out:
Today’s Flowers . The links open at 1400 GMT.

Interesting Orchid

Interesting Orchid
Encyclia baculus
Today’s Flower

Not sure if this is a rare flower but it was one I certainly had not seen before. This first picture was taken when I walked through the Orchid part of the greenhouse at Planting Fields the first time. It is from the D70s with the 105mm VR lens. The greenhouse is nice since you have to walk through the Orchids to get to the Cactus/Succulent/Arid room. Since there is no exit in the dry area you have to walk back through the Orchid collection to get into the main part of the greenhouse. I used that opportunity to take the second picture with the D700 with the 60mm lens. They came out pretty much the same.


It is rarely that a plant stumps Google but this is one that only had a few vague references. Google search only yielded six results. None of which was particularly great. From this book, it is actually called The Orchid Book, Edited by J. Cullen, I learned the genus Encyclia has about 150 species and is native to Central and South America. They were formerly in the genus Epidendrum and have the same cultural requirements as that genus of Orchids. So even though there wasn’t much info on this flower it was great and interesting to see. It definitely reminded me of a Cobra.

This is a picture of an Exbury Azalea about to bloom.

For more flower pictures from around the world check out:
Today’s Flowers . It starts at 14:00 GMT on Sunday.

Florist's Cineraria - Today's Flower

Florist's Cineraria
Pericallis cruenta
(per-ee-KAL-liss) (kroo-EN-tuh)
Today’s Flower

This plant’s colors continue to amaze me. They are so vibrant and since it comes with a simple Daisy shaped flower that makes them even more special. This is the darkest colored one I have seen. I really love the blues that the Cineraria comes in but this wine colored one was really nice. I don’t have any experience in growing these but would like to try it sometime. Next time they are at the nursery I am taking a few home.

Cineraria is a tender perennial that likes shady areas. Apparently the slugs like them too so you need to take precautions against them. They seem to be easily grown from seed and there are several mixes available. They can reseed in warmer climates.

I read an interesting article on Reuters the other day. It was called:

Thirsty plants can Twitter for Water with New Device
By Robert Muir

Washington (Reuters) - "Chances are you've never had a conversation with your house plants but if they could talk, what would they say? "Water me."

Researchers at New York University's interactive telecommunications program have come up with a device that allows plants to tell owners when they need water or if they've had too much via the social network blogging service Twitter.

"Obviously plants can't talk or Twitter directly, so we have to help them along with that," said Rob Faludi, co-creator of the device called Botanicalls."

The rest of the article is here

Definitely falls into “they have thought of everything category”. Like most electronic items the price is going to have to come down before I buy it.

Since it is Sunday and that means it is Today’s Flower day I thought I would share this unusual flower that was blooming at work. These pictures aren’t the greatest and please humor me as a proud parent. This vine has been at work for two years now. It grows in the container garden in the summer and in the conservatory in the winter.


Bat-leaf Passion Flower
Passiflora coriacea
(pass-iff-FLOR-uh) (kor-ee-uh-KEE-uh)

I remember reading after buying this plant that it doesn’t flower much and being a little disappointed with that (it turns out that is wrong after further reading). Although the foliage alone makes it worth cultivating, it really does look like a bat. It hasn’t flowered previously and it was surprising to see it blooming this week. The flowers are really small maybe the size of the center of a regular passionflower and the small purple fruit is ornamental. Even though there were only two or three flowers on the whole vine I do hope a fruit grows.


Passiflora coriacea is native to Central and South America. There seems to be some question about how hardy this plant is. It grows at high elevations in its native habitat so it must have some cold tolerance but I don’t believe the 15 deg. F I saw on one site. That is still not as cold as it gets here in Connecticut so it will continue to spend winters inside.

Wow, was it windy here yesterday. The peak gust was 49 mph. It just doesn’t feel like spring out there. More like some kind of weird limbo. This is one of the Pansies we are growing this year.



For more flower pictures from around the world check out:
Today’s Flowers . It starts at 18:00 GMT on Sunday. We are working all day but I hope to check out some of the postings.

A Poinsettia and the Rarest Cycad in the World

A Poinsettia and the Rarest Cycad in the World
‘Nutcracker Red’ Poinsettia
Euphorbia pulcherrima
(yoo-FOR-bee-uh) (pul-KAIR-ih-muh)

These are a few more pictures from Longwood Gardens. ‘Nutcracker Red’ Poinsettia was the main red Poinsettia used in the Conservatory displays this year. It was a handsome and bright Poinsettia that seemed to setting off the white flowers it was mixed with including Snapdragons, Cyclamens, and Paperwhites.

Wood’s Cycad
Encephalartos woodii
(en-sef-uh-LAR-tos) (WOOD-ee-eye)


This was a very special plant blooming in the Conservatory. One that Wikipedia said, “It is one of the rarest plants in the world”. I couldn’t really get a good picture of it since it was set in the planting bed 8 to 10 feet deep and a waterfall was on the other side. It was one of the first things I noticed in the Conservatory and I was immediately drawn to the huge yellow cones protruding from its center.

The only known specimen in the wild of this South African native was first discovered 1895 and died around 1912. It is now considered extinct in the wild and all existing plants are from that one original tree. For more information on its interesting story and history try these links:
Wikipedia
PlantZAfrica.com

It truly was a sight to behold and I think even non-gardeners would have had to stop and remark on this plant.


I ordered my new camera and a couple of lenses yesterday, more on that tomorrow. We are supposed to have a big snowstorm on Friday and there are a couple of things that have to be done before than. They are forecasting 12 plus inches (30.5 cm) of snow.

Aristolochia peruviana - Rare Flower

Aristolochia
Aristolochia peruviana
(a-ris-toh-LOH-kee-uh) (per-u-vee-AN-uh)

This was a very unusual flowering vine. The colors were outstanding and the vine itself was not rampant like some Aristolochia can be. This plant had a much more delicate appearance. There many species of Aristolochia and this page is good photo reference for them: Aristolochia Species Photos.

You can see some of them are pretty outrageous. This was the first year I have grown the more common Giant Dutchman's Pipe (Aristolochia gigantea) and it was a lot of fun to have in the garden. It bloomed off and on all season with minimal care. Here is a link to some general cultural practices for Aristolochia

Right before the first frost we wrenched the Dutchman's Pipe out its pot and put in the greenhouse. It was forgotten (oops) for a couple of weeks but it survived and I potted it up on Friday. We are also growing the hardy Dutchman’s Pipe, Aristolochia durior, but the flowers are much less showy.

Most catalogs describe Aristolochia peruviana (didn’t see a common name) as rare and unusual. This picture was shot at Wave Hill in the Bronx. It was on the ‘wet’ side of the Conservatory. The building has a dry wing where the Cactus and Succulent Collection are, a middle room that a lot of different seasonal flowering plants are featured and a humid side. Although a little small by normal Conservatory standards they make it up in the plants they do have, It is a wonderful collection of plants.

This is pretty much what the season looks like around here only this picture has more color.


For the first time I am participating in
Today’s Flowers . It starts at 19:00 GMT on Sunday.

Red Rose Bud

Red Rose Bud

Ruby Tuesday again and I am posting a Rose and a Dahlia, how predictable, even more so if there was a Daylily, too. I almost posted this morning but decided to wait and take my camera to work. There were quite a few red things on the farm but decided on this red rose bud. This is a ‘Mister Lincoln’ hybrid tea rose. There were several other red roses blooming but this picture came out the best. It was lunch and the shadows were a bit harsh at midday. ‘Mr. Lincoln’ was introduced in 1965 and was an All-American Rose Selection for that year. It really is a nice rose to grow; it is pretty much a classic now. It has a strong fragrance and a petal count of 35. I have been treating Ruby Tuesday as kind of an assignment and I am glad it made me pick up my camera today. ‘Mr. Lincoln’ has been posted on this blog before.


Orchid Dahlia
Dahlia 'Marie Schnugg'
(DAHL-ya)



This was a new one on me. It certainly was an unusual flower. The color was great and once you get over the novelty effect it is quite nicely proportioned. We are going to try and go to the Long Island Dahlia Show this weekend; it is at Planting Fields Arboretum in Oyster Bay. I actually stumbled on it several years ago and it had quite an impact. I love going to flower exhibitions. The flower shows in the spring are okay but they are commercial in nature. The judging and all the different gardeners getting together really can be fun. I am looking forward to it.


Thanks for visiting. For more Ruby Tuesday and red stuff visit the teach @
Work of the Poet

Japanese Cobra Lily

Japanese Cobra Lily
Arisaema sikokianum
(air-iss-EE-mah) (si-koe-kee-AY-num)

ABC Wednesday - J

Buddha Belly Plant
Jatropha podagrica
(JAT-roh-fuh) (pod-AG-ree-kuh)
Synonym: Bottleplant Shrub, Goutystalk Nettlespurge

J is for Jatropha this week. Some of the plants in this genus are being studied for use in producing biodiesel. I don’t think this particular species is, it is primarily grown as an ornamental. It has a most unusual trunk that grows in the shape of a bottle. Unfortunately, when reviewing my pictures the one of the trunk didn’t come out. So here is a link if you want to see it.

They are easy to grow but must be grown in a container in all but the warmest of gardens (USDA Zone 10). I find the color of the flowers to be attractive but some might find them a bit garish, that is how bright they are. One of the nice things about this plant is can flower throughout the year. This native of Central America grows to about 4 feet and has leaves that are 10 inches across.


‘J’ is for Jade Plant (Crassula), too.

Here is the ABC Blogroll:

mrs nesbitts place
a bit of this a dash of that
Little Rock Daily Photo
strolling through Georgia
kate isis
photography by kml
AVCR8TEUR'S Blog
Salty Dogs
The Modern Goddess
Simply Sage
author blog
kai
Mollitudes
ten forty
Neva
Ackworth born, gone West
katch photo
Mr. Mapper
The Max Files
Watch me, No Watch me
Peter Miller
Lynette
Andrea’s Thought of the Day
Photowannabe
RuneE’s Visual Norway
Happy One
Azure
HPY
cre8tiva
Lilli and Nevada
Bonnie
Outhouse of Canada
imac
Digital Shutter Mania
Dirty Knees
Dragonstar
Veg Plotting
Erin
Gordon
GAWO
arne’s blog
kostas
petunia
postcards from paulie
kim
LanaG!
Ida
Miss Yves
Siani
ellen b
Kuanyin
pernille
JoAnn's-Digital-Eye NL
katney
flassies fila
BumbleV
Creating a Likeness

Super Size Elephant Ear

Flowers of the Super Sized Elephant Ear Colocasia gigantea 'Thailand Giant Strain'

Super Size Elephant Ear
Colocasia gigantea 'Thailand Giant Strain'
(kol-oh-KAY-see-uh) (jy-GAN-tee-uh)
Araceae (a-RAY-see-ay)
Synonyms: Giant Taro

On Friday I had a few minutes in between appointments in Pound Ridge, New York so I decided to zip over the Connecticut State Line into Stamford and the Bartlett Arboretum. It is a nice little garden with a good collection of things. Sometimes when I go to gardens that I have been to many times I see something that really blows my mind and this plant was one of them. Too bad I didn’t get a picture of the whole plant but I only had the 60mm lens and I really couldn’t line up a good shot. This the second picture in a couple of weeks to feature use of the flash. Two out of about 420 posts, it could be a trend. Here is a link to Plant Delights Nursery’s catalog with an amazing picture and some more information on the plant:
click here

Foliage detail of Super Size Elephant Ears showing part of the 4 to 5 foot leaves.


The leaves on the specimen I saw were not as big as the picture but still very impressive. I don’t think growing regular Elephant Ears is going to cut it anymore! At first I didn’t see the flowers (which are fragrant) underneath the huge leaves but when I moved one of them there they were and quite pretty. The flowers had a really bright white spathe with a unique geometric pattern on the spadix. Next time I will have to crawl underneath and smell them. Not enough people stop to smell the spadix :lol: All parts of the Taro or Elephant Ear are considered poisonous and need to be cooked to break down the calcium oxalate crystals in the leaves, stem and corm. I learned a new botanical term when I looked this plant up, sagittate. Which means the leaves are arrowhead-shaped.

Taro is thought to be one of the earliest cultivated plants and is still an important food source in the Pacific Rim and Hawaii. Here is a link to the Wikipedia article about Taro:

click here

Flowering Okra (Abelmoschus manihot)

Flowering Okra
Abelmoschus manihot
(a-bel-MOS-kus) (MAN-ee-hot)
Malvaceae (mal-VAY-see-ay)
Synonyms: Sweet Hibiscus, Edible Hibiscus, Palmate-leaved Hibiscus

This is probably going to be the most interesting flower that I saw all summer. It was planted at the Bartlett Arboretum in Stamford, Connecticut. The plant was not too much to look at (a bit tall and stalky) but the flower really captured my fancy. If it hadn’t had a sign (which I took a picture of for reference) I wouldn’t have known what it was, although I would have guessed the Hibiscus family. I actually used the flash on this photo, which is something I usually avoid like the plague. I guess it is the fear of the unknown type of thing. I think it is more like the on-board flash usually washes everything out and is difficult to control. I want a Nikon Speedlight for Christmas.

Here is a link on the Flowering Okra. They explain everything better than I could.
hibiscus.org

Here are a couple excerpts that I found interesting:

“The Malvaceae family has a number of food plants. One of these is Abelmoschus esculentus, or Okra. It is best known for its mucilaginous* seedpods which are fried or used to thicken soups and stews. However, this is a true multipurpose plant with edible leaves, flowers, seedpods and mature seeds. It is an annual and is very heat tolerant and relatively free from pests.”
and
“While the large yellow flowers are very ornamental, the importance of this plant is that it is one of the world's most nutritious leafy vegetables because of its high protein content. The leaves are tender and sweet and can be served raw or steamed (leaffor life).”
(This series is being compiled by Colleen Keena from Queensland, Australia, Kristin Yanker-Hansen from California, USA, and Marcos Capelini from São Paulo, Brazil.)

*mu·ci·lag·i·nous
adj.
1. Resembling mucilage; moist and sticky.
2. Relating to or secreting mucilage.

Yesterday I got a little too much sun. It started out as a low-grade headache and then I got sick to my stomach. Luckily it was at the end of the day. I also might have been partially dehydrated. I think it was from pole pruning most of the day, which required looking up at the sun. I most definitely got sunburned on my forehead, which for me is a little unusual. I feel better this morning but it looks like another hot day. It wasn’t as bad as the time a couple of years ago when I got too much sun and became disoriented on the way home. That was scary. It just goes to show that even people that work outside all day and are used to the sun can feel the effects.



Here is an interesting Lily I saw blooming at Bartlett.