Saturday, March 31, 2012

Mystery Solved!...:)

I am so happy! (I know, I know ~ sometimes it doesn't take all that much...:) The identity of my Grandma's Mystery Shrub has been revealed, and I am just tickled pink (or yellow, in this case)!

Last night I couldn't sleep and was going through some online plant-identifiers, where you put in the flower color (yellow), whether the plant is deciduous or not (yes), when it blooms (early spring), etc. ~ and narrow it down to find the plant's species. I went to several of these sites (looking especially for ones that specialized in "old fashioned" plants) and kept coming up with Lindera Benzoin, commonly called "Spice Bush" which is what Grandma called it ~ but the leaves were not the same, at all. My shrub had lobed leaves, and Lindera's were compound pinnate, like Sumac.

It just bugged me that I couldn't correctly identify this plant!

Even my local nurseryman friend was stumped...(no pun intended) ~

Then I found Forestfarm ~ (Click to go to their site) ~ Really cool site, with all sorts of hard-to-find plants...and, though they didn't offer this particular plant for sale (that I could find at the time; they will soon! See "update" at the bottom of the post), I e-mailed them anyway and sent photos, asking for help ~ this was at about 3 a.m.

I had kind of forgotten that I had even done this when I came to the computer this morning, and there was an e-mail from Ray at ForestFarm, identifying my shrub for me as...

(imagine drum roll...)

Ribes odoratum, also called Clove Currant! (Yay!)

It's in the same family as gooseberry and other types of currants...(obviously, I guess!) ~ and evidently my shrub is male (I had been referring to it as "her" ~ ;) as the female does have fruit later in the year.

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Now that I had a name to go on, I started looking around...

Here is what the Missouri Botanical Gardens had to say about her...uh, him!

Noteworthy Characteristics

Clove currant is a Missouri native shrub which is most commonly found on limestone bluffs along the Current and White Rivers in southern Missouri. It is a thornless, loosely-branched, irregularly-shaped, deciduous shrub which grows 6-8' tall and spreads by suckers. Ovate to rounded, medium to bluish-green, 3-5 lobed leaves turn dull yellow in fall. Golden yellow flowers appear in racemes in spring and emit a strong, clove-like fragrance (hence the species name of odoratum). A dioecious shrub which requires both male and female plants for fruit production. Fruit is an edible, black berry which can be used in jellies, preserves and pies.

Garden Uses

Although this shrub can appear somewhat unkempt and ragged as it ages, the aromatic flowers, edible fruits and summer foliage provide good ornamental value and interest. Group in shrub borders or open woodland areas. Informal hedge or screen. Background plant for native plant gardens.

Okay, I guess my Clove Currant is a little unkempt in form, but, I was little when Grandma gave this shrub to my Mom, and I am 54!  There is no telling how old it is, honestly. I am extremely happy that it survived the move last fall from my Mom's last home (actually, this was it's FIFTH move from its original spot in Essex, Missouri!) ~ Mom passed away almost five years ago, but the man who bought her house kindly let us take it, even after all this time...♥

Definitely a sturdy plant!

So, once again I want to thank Ray and Peg at Forestfarm...I've ordered their catalog, but probably won't be able to wait for that and will order from them online...trying to turn this former cotton field of a yard into something wonderful!

(The "Wildflowers" (see previous post) get to stay, though!)

Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend!

♥ ♥ ♥
Anne
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Update! Ray just let me know that they will soon have some Clove Currant for sale, so I am definitely going to have to get my "old fellow" a female friend! (Then maybe I can try that jam/jelly making that the Botanical Gardens site told about!)

Be sure and visit Forestfarm....definitely worth your while! ♥

Thursday, March 29, 2012

One Woman's Weeds Are Another Woman's Wildflowers...

We live in a new-ish subdivision.

This has many good points, but there are lots of things I miss.

  In my adult life, (having been married at one time to a building contractor) I have had many (sometimes very brief) stays in new (always for sale ~ "make us an offer") houses. When the children were growing up, however, we lived in the older neighborhood in town. One of the homes was built in 1936, the other in 1918. Wonderful yards, ancient oaks, huge dogwoods...ferns, moss. Squirrels. Also, ancient plumbing, leaky roofs (the plaster ceiling in my bedroom once gave way in a deluge of rainwater at 4 a.m.), few-and-far-between electrical outlets, tiny bathrooms, ghostly creaking stairs in the wee hours (kind of interesting, that). Lots to keep up with...limbs down during storms, leaves to rake...etc. That said, I do like my house now, a lot. Spacious, easily maintained (something to consider as we get older...) ~  

The one thing I miss the most, though...(besides the character of an old house; have to love that) ~ is the yard.



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Here is what my yard looked like not so very long ago (the whole subdivision, actually, not just ours ;)

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This is what our neighbor's yard looks like today.

Ours does not look like that...it is a little...weedy...some might say.

But, look a little closer...

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Aren't these wonderful?? I don't know what they are, but they are tiny, Lilliputian jewels! They look like they belong in a fairy-garden...They are about the size of a pencil eraser top...Kentucky Bluegrass can't compare...

Update (4/1) ~ I've just found out what these sweet little flowers are ~ ((thank you, Janet!)) ~ they are Bluet; a North American rubiaceous (meaning of the Madder family) plant, Houstonia caerulea , with small four-petalled blue flowers  ~ also called "Innocence" or "Quaker Ladies" ~ Love it! ♥

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I love dandelions! (I know, I'm probably really in the minority here...;) So sunny!




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"Thou shalt not blow dandelion fluff toward thy neighbor's lawn..."


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Henbit...(still looks like little llama heads to me!) ~ :)


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Vetch (Vicia) ~ a member of the pea family, I think its magenta blossoms are so pretty! Farmers hate it in their fields...those crop-strangling little tendrils!


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White clover~ I think it smells so good! It always reminds me of making "chains' ~ necklaces ~ with it when I was little...and the bunnies, Max, Ruby and Warren...love it so much! I've been picking it for them every evening...If it were up to me, we just wouldn't mow at all...

"What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson, Fortune of the Republic 

***
I can't believe another week has flown by so fast!
Happy Friday, all!

♥ ♥ ♥
Anne

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Is There Anything More Fun...

...than a nest full of art supplies? I've definitely been having fun this afternoon!

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Happy Thursday!

♥ ♥ ♥
Anne

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

More (Stolen) Lilacs & Leo...

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This morning I went back to the park for more lilacs (see the previous post for details of my weekend lilac heist)... There were still lots of blossoms at their very peak, but many were already fading, so I knew this was probably my last chance to get any this year. Back at home I gathered some "springy" props; my nest, Daddy's typewriter, some antique postcards, lace...the fabric I used as a backdrop actually has lilacs and nests, but unfortunately, very little of it shows...
I guess you can have too much of a good thing...;)



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Leo checks out the set-up...look at how the lilacs reflect on his face...aren't light and color amazing?

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"No, Tallulah...Mom says you can't be still and that this is MY photo shoot!"

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Hmmm....What's this??

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Hey ~ Is that catnip down in Grandpa's typewriter?? Who put that there??....

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Hey, ya'll!....There is catnip in there....No, really!

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I can't get it, though...shoot...it's almost like someone put it there just to get me to stay up here in the middle of all this stuff...

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Well, that's enough of that...I'm leaving!!

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I'm outta here...


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Cyrus takes advantage of the sunshine (and a clear space to lie down) after the photo set-up is taken down...and you know, there were all these catnip leaves under the typewriter! (Look at that face!)

Happy Wednesday, all!

♥ ♥ ♥
Anne

I added Leo's Springtime Photo Shoot to Savvy Southern Style's "Wow-Us Wednesday" ~ ♥

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Lilac Time (& Leo)...

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I was going to get so much done today, and I didn't...I was just blah...I was going to get another still life set up and photographed, with lilacs in my little chippy blue transferware creamer (I used to be too picky for chipped things, but not any more ~ could be that "perfection" isn't anywhere ~ in any aspect ~  of my life these days...if it ever was ~ ;) ~ anyway, this little creamer (from around 1850, from the Romantic period of transferware) has so much character! I wish it could tell me of all the tables that it has graced, and about all the people around them...

I get off track so easily!...So, I was going to set up lilacs in little Chippy Blue, with some pretty Gala apples in my Grandmother's little green Depression glass bowl, and maybe a sea shell or two...on my lacy Irish tea cloth....

But I didn't. I wasn't productive at all today (or "pro-duck-tive", as my duck-loving friend Elaine says...) No, I wasn't that, either.

However, I just couldn't let these pretty heirloom lilacs that I swiped last night shatter for naught, so I did manage to get a few pictures, and I have to say, they are quite nice on their own, without all the extra fluff.  (Yes, I did say "swiped"; my daughter Katie drove the getaway-car)...I have mentioned this before, but I'll explain... Our fair city has a park almost on the outskirts of town that has beautiful lilac bushes ~ probably 60-70 years old, if they are a day. I'm sure they were planted by someone with more of an eye for aesthetics than some of the landscapers of the newer parks... Some years they are heavily laden with gorgeous drifts of blossoms, the air around them virtually vibrating with the hum of nectar-tipsy bees...

And some years they are pitifully pruned, barely-leaved bunches of sticks. At some point during the spring, the powers-that-be have a park-maintenance crew go out and shear everything within reach within an inch of its life.

This year, they are fabulous! (Someone must have needed a raise, and the park plants went untouched. So far.)

However, I'm sure my cutting a few branches would still be frowned upon, so it has to be done discreetly... :)

I will do it again tomorrow, if I can get myself out of this rut!

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"Yes...??"

Even Leo wasn't in the mood for productivity (or pro-duck-tivity, either)...you don't have to know much Kitty-language to get the gist of these looks...

 
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"May I HELP you??....No?...Then go away".

Oh well, as Scarlett said, "Tomorrow is another day"...

Have a good, productive Monday, everyone!

♥ ♥ ♥
Anne

Friday, March 23, 2012

My Angel Kitties ~ The Nine Muses...♥

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Two years ago today I lost nine of my best friends, all at once...(there was a fire...) I don't want this post to be sad, though ~ rather a celebration of how beautiful ~ and loving ~ they all were
 ~ and still are.

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Tibbs, our oldest ~ he was almost 18. Such a good old fellow!

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Artie ~ what a ham! I tried not to have favorites, but Artie was pretty much my "main man"...♥


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Indie ~ a rescue, she was always shy ~ but such a sweet girl!

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Isabella ~ "Bella" ~ my big, huggy Ragdoll...such a diva!

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Sophie...Such a good little girl! She loved to make "nests", if she could get toilet paper or a roll of paper towels...so funny ~ :)


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Freddie Mercury ~ (Guess where he got his name?) ~ Beautiful boy...


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Muppet ~ another rescue, but definitely not shy...what a character!

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Greta Pat-Pat (my very first kitten, a little black one, was "Pat-Pat", so Greta got a middle name...)

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Lily Scarlett...my sweet little girl...♥

♥  ♥  ♥  ♥  ♥  ♥  ♥  ♥  ♥  ♥  ♥  ♥  ♥  ♥  ♥  ♥  ♥  ♥  ♥  ♥  ♥

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Artie was really little when we got him, and he had a "thing" about earlobes...here he is attached to Jonathan's...;) ~ they would sleep like that.

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Muppet was a riot!

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Indie & Sophie, Best Friends...♥

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Lily Scarlett in the sun...


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Sophie & Tibbs, contentedly bird-watching...♥


It took a while before I even wanted another cat ~ or cats ~ I was actually nervous about getting Leo!
I miss my Angel Kitties every day, but I know they are on the other side of that Rainbow Bridge, waiting.
In the meantime, I have nine little Muses watching over me, hopefully nudging me to be creative ~ while I watch the antics ~ and enjoy the companionship ~ of Leo, Cyrus, and Tallulah.


♥ ♥ ♥
Anne

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Joining Vee's Note Card Party...:)

I don't usually post twice in one day, but this looks like fun, so I'm participating in Vee's "Note Card Party" at A Haven for Vee ; you pick four favorite post photos that you would make into cards (which I actually plan to, on Zazzle...sometime!) ~ so, here are my favs...

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LINK


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Hop on over to Vee's and take a look at the rest of the note-card-worthy pics!

♥ ♥ ♥
Anne