Tag Archives: plants

The Geometry of Nature

Posted on by Bill Chance

To be interested in the changing seasons is a happier state of mind than to be hopelessly in love with spring.
—-George Santayana

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Though his health and family had been broken in the process, he’d found his purpose in life — to share the ancient key discovered anew in the garden: if we feed the earth, it will feed us.
I see that is the secret, too, to living. Though the earth demands its sacrifices, spring will always return.
—- Melissa Coleman

Spring comes early in Texas. Spring comes in the middle of winter. The green shoots that will collect the energy, energize the chlorophyll, store the sugar needed for this season’s flowers are already pulling themselves up out of the black soil.

The curve of the leaves is still pristine – not yet tattered by the windstorms to come or eaten by the insects still sleeping in their eggs. On my way to work I watch the green tips poke up, multiply, and spread out to catch the fire of the morning sun peeking over the horizon.

The dead heat, yellow straw and the dry dust is still a long way off, but it will come. Let them grow when they will – while they can.

geometry2

April is the cruelest month, breeding
lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
memory and desire, stirring
dull roots with spring rain.
—- T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land

Ice and Kale

Posted on by Bill Chance

One of the popular plants for winter garden color here in Texas is Ornamental Kale.  You see beds of purple, green and red cabbage all over the place.

 

Ornamental Kale at the Dallas Arboretum

Ornamental Kale at the Dallas Arboretum

 

Yes, it does get cold here sometimes.

Not right now, though. I took this photo back in late December sometime… not sure exactly when. While a large part of the country is digging out from under massive winter storms, it’s warm and beautiful in North Texas. It was about seventy today, sunny and calm. I was able to go on a long bike ride, the parks were packed with folks, the perfect outdoor day.

Of course, we pay for that in the summer. July and August are toxic. So let me enjoy the good times when I can.

Reeds

Posted on by Bill Chance

Dry winter water reeds, Dallas Arboretum, Dallas, Texas.

It’s a difficult thing when you see something so subtly beautiful and perfect and you know you can never take a picture that conveys the sublime moment. It’s when you understand what a master of ink and brush is trying for.

You have to be there… but you weren’t.

reeds2

reeds1

Bird of Paradise

Posted on by Bill Chance

Bird of Paradise

More pictures from my writing group’s trip to the Arboretum.

Dale Chihuly’s installation is something of wonder. But the plants in the gardens can hold their own against anything any man can create.

Agave

A big agave plant was sending up a shoot, getting ready to bloom. I have always loved the looks of these desert plants. Plus, this is where tequila comes from.

Blooms in the water.

Flower Flats

Posted on by Bill Chance

Down in the Dallas Farmer’s Market there are a couple of plant shops that specialize in bedding plants – annual color. The plants are laid out on the sidewalk in flats and make a beautiful, colorful, carpet.

Blue

Yellow

Purple

Red

Azaleas

Posted on by Bill Chance

On our visit to Lafayette we could not help but notice the beauty of all the azaleas blooming across south Louisiana. No matter how humble your little cottage might be, you can have all the color you want exploding outside.

Azalea in Lafayette, Louisiana

I stepped out of a little restaurant and walked around back to take this picture. As I was raising the camera a couple of guys tumbled out of the business next door. They looked a little mixed between confused and upset and one said, “Is there anything I can do to help you?” – and not in a tone of voice that implied he really wanted to help me with anything.

“Nope, I’m just taking pictures of the flowers.”

“He’s just taking pictures of the flowers,” the guy said to his buddy, in a disgusted tone, and they went back inside without another glance at me.

Azaleas don’t do very well in Dallas, where I live. The soil is not acidic enough – right under the surface is a thick layer of limestone (caliche) that keeps the soil basic. A lot of people do plant them and fight the acidity. Some pour swimming pool acid (hydrochloric) into a trench before planting – the best thing is to dig a big hole and fill it with peat moss. Still, no matter what you do, eventually the caliche will infiltrate the soil and your flowering bushes are toast.

East Texas has beautiful azeleas. I remember, years ago, doing a bicycle ride along the Azalea Trail in Tyler. It was gorgeous. Maybe a road trip this spring would be an idea.

Dallas is right on the edge between two areas of vegetation. To the east, it’s all piney woods, dogwood, and azaleas. To the west – mequite and prickly pear.

None of it is like what I saw in South Louisiana, though. The things seemed to grow like weeds.