hyacinths have broken through t
he ground.Inside, the orange and the pink Christmas cacti are re-blooming. The poinsettia is coming into bloom and the amaryllis’ pop of color is quite spectacular.
Showing posts with label Poinsettia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Poinsettia. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Indoor Blooms
The garden outside is still messy since I haven’t had time to get out so far this week. A few
hyacinths have broken through t
he ground.
Inside, the orange and the pink Christmas cacti are re-blooming. The poinsettia is coming into bloom and the amaryllis’ pop of color is quite spectacular.
hyacinths have broken through the ground.Inside, the orange and the pink Christmas cacti are re-blooming. The poinsettia is coming into bloom and the amaryllis’ pop of color is quite spectacular.
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Word Origins
While dusting book shelves, I came across an old book - Word Origins and Their Romantic Stories, by Wilfred Funk, 1978 edition.
I felt compelled to stop dusting. I was never fond of dusting anyway.
I paged through trying to find something romantic, or humorous, or fascinating and stumbled across the chapter “Word Histories of Your Garden.” A few excerpts, in 1978 style, follow:
Poinsettia – The Honorable Joel Roberts Poinsett of Charleston, South Carolina, was a distinguished diplomat, Secretary of War in Martin Van Buren’s cabinet . . . appointed special minister to Mexico. It was while there that he became attracted to the large, flaming flowers that we now know so well. He brought some of the plants back to the States and his name Poinsett gave us poinsettia.
Hydrangea – The seed capsule of these showy flowers is shaped like a cup or miniature water-vessel, and when we turn to our Greek lexicon we find the component parts of hydrangea in hydr-, “water,” and angos, “seed” or “capsule.” They look like a “water” cup.
Alyssum – A dainty plant of slender, silvery leaves interspersed with fragrant clusters of small golden or white flowers. The Greeks regarded the plant as a cure for madness and so called it alysson, a-, “not,” and lysa, “madness.”
Tulip – Again among the descriptive names is tulip which, with its showy colors and velvet texture, has somewhat the appearance of a turban. The word comes to us through the obsolete French word tulipan, from tulbend, the Turkish way of saying “turban.”
Other chapters include words about humans, war words, and words of attitudes and emotions, among others.
In the chapter “Where Words about Human Beings Come From”
Fool – Let those who talk too much take care, for the Latin word folis, which gave us fool, means “a windbag.”
I think I’ll go back to dusting.
I felt compelled to stop dusting. I was never fond of dusting anyway.
I paged through trying to find something romantic, or humorous, or fascinating and stumbled across the chapter “Word Histories of Your Garden.” A few excerpts, in 1978 style, follow:
Poinsettia – The Honorable Joel Roberts Poinsett of Charleston, South Carolina, was a distinguished diplomat, Secretary of War in Martin Van Buren’s cabinet . . . appointed special minister to Mexico. It was while there that he became attracted to the large, flaming flowers that we now know so well. He brought some of the plants back to the States and his name Poinsett gave us poinsettia.
Hydrangea – The seed capsule of these showy flowers is shaped like a cup or miniature water-vessel, and when we turn to our Greek lexicon we find the component parts of hydrangea in hydr-, “water,” and angos, “seed” or “capsule.” They look like a “water” cup.
Alyssum – A dainty plant of slender, silvery leaves interspersed with fragrant clusters of small golden or white flowers. The Greeks regarded the plant as a cure for madness and so called it alysson, a-, “not,” and lysa, “madness.”
Tulip – Again among the descriptive names is tulip which, with its showy colors and velvet texture, has somewhat the appearance of a turban. The word comes to us through the obsolete French word tulipan, from tulbend, the Turkish way of saying “turban.”
Other chapters include words about humans, war words, and words of attitudes and emotions, among others.
In the chapter “Where Words about Human Beings Come From”
Fool – Let those who talk too much take care, for the Latin word folis, which gave us fool, means “a windbag.”
I think I’ll go back to dusting.
.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Euphorbia
The Euphorbiaceae is a widely diverse group of plants having about 300 genera and 7,500 species – everything from invasive spurge through succulents to poinsettia. The plants often contain milky sap. I find the differences astonishing.
The familiar poinsettia pictured here is Euphorbia pulcherrima ‘Fismars’ (Mars™ Red). It is certainly a bright holiday plant.
Euphorbia ‘Diamond Frost®' is an annual. The mature height is 12 to 18 inches. I would like to try it in some of my pots next summer. Since the plant is drought tolerant, has a cascading habit and likes full sun, it should do well in the pots on the deck.
All I have to do is find it.
The familiar poinsettia pictured here is Euphorbia pulcherrima ‘Fismars’ (Mars™ Red). It is certainly a bright holiday plant.
Euphorbia ‘Diamond Frost®' is an annual. The mature height is 12 to 18 inches. I would like to try it in some of my pots next summer. Since the plant is drought tolerant, has a cascading habit and likes full sun, it should do well in the pots on the deck.
All I have to do is find it.
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Longwood Gardens
I visited Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square yesterday with the Coplay Garden Club and came home on sensory overload. http://www.longwoodgardens.org/
Pierre du Pont bought the Peirce farm in 1906 and began creating what would become Longwood Gardens. Today, extensive educational programs, plant research, performing arts programs, and displays keep visitors amazed.
After a spectacular lunch, we started in the Main Conservatory which was built in 1919 and houses 20 indoor gardens and over 5,500 plants.
An over-the-top display of pink poinsettias (Euphorbia pulcherrima 'Pink'), grey dusty miller (Senecio cineraria ‘Cirrus’), pink amaryllis (Hippeastrum 'Vera') greeted us in the Orangery. The Main Exhibition Hall fashioned a peaceful splendor with fountain, palm trees and evergreens.
Winterberry enhanced the natural flow of the East Conservatory. The park-like setting is complete with a stream and grass and accented with red cyclamen (Cyclamencoum) and white Easter Lilies, (Lilium longiflorum).
And that was just the beginning of our tour of 4.5 acres of covered gardens. I’ll continue with more of the highlights next time.
Pierre du Pont bought the Peirce farm in 1906 and began creating what would become Longwood Gardens. Today, extensive educational programs, plant research, performing arts programs, and displays keep visitors amazed.
After a spectacular lunch, we started in the Main Conservatory which was built in 1919 and houses 20 indoor gardens and over 5,500 plants.
An over-the-top display of pink poinsettias (Euphorbia pulcherrima 'Pink'), grey dusty miller (Senecio cineraria ‘Cirrus’), pink amaryllis (Hippeastrum 'Vera') greeted us in the Orangery. The Main Exhibition Hall fashioned a peaceful splendor with fountain, palm trees and evergreens.
Winterberry enhanced the natural flow of the East Conservatory. The park-like setting is complete with a stream and grass and accented with red cyclamen (Cyclamencoum) and white Easter Lilies, (Lilium longiflorum).
And that was just the beginning of our tour of 4.5 acres of covered gardens. I’ll continue with more of the highlights next time.
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