Searching for the Sun

I always check Jilly Bennett's blogs first thing in the morning. She blogs about Menton and Monte Carlo, both located on the sunny Mediterranean coast better known as the Cote d'Azur. I do this because I need a daily shot of sunshine; I'm a California-born girl, after all. I was raised on sunshine and outdoor living. It's difficult to find both during an Iowa winter. This morning, tho, I was disappointed. Once again France is suffering with unusual cold, snowy weather. Snow on the Mediterranean? Not very often, but there's snow there today. So, I had to take matters into my own hands and search my photo archives for a bit of summery color and warmth. Makes me feel better just to look at these beautiful flowers! How about you?

I took all these flower photos last June in the Betty Ford Gardens at Vail, Colorado.

Being "Non-Native"

Queen Anne's Lace is prolific along roadsides and in ditches this time of year. So prolific that many people think it's one of our native wildflowers; it's not. It was introduced from Europe as a medicinal plant and from it carrots were developed. As a 'non-native' it could be considered a weed, an intruder, something that competes with its natural surroundings. Queen Anne's Lace, however, has made herself right at home here and contributes most positively to any neighborhood she finds herself in. She's a beautiful flowering plant that welcomes bugs and butterflies, birds and bees.

When I think about my ex-pat friends who live both here (Randi) and abroad (Laury, Kristin), I think of this lovely wild flower. Non-native, yes. But living beautiful lives, wholly engaged and involved in their adopted communities, welcoming all the local flora and fauna and feeling right at home!

Butterfly Weed

I moved to Red Bell Farm the summer of 2003. On my first trip north on Settlers Trail, I spied one of my very favorite Iowa wildflowers...butterfly weed. Here it is complete with the tiny visitor it was named for. That first summer back in Iowa there were only two small plants along the roadside; today when I took this photo, I counted at least 20!! I think that speaks well for Iowa conservation practices...no herbicides sprayed along roadways to kill weeds. The plant's scientific name is Asclepias tuberosa, and while it is a native wildflower in Iowa, it can also be grown domestically in your garden. It attracts bees as well as butterflies. I like to imagine what the Iowa tall grass prairie must have looked like before the farmers put plow to it...mile after mile of swaying grasses with these lovely orange spots of color tucked randomly throughout.

Hollyhocks

I had so many more photos of my week in Vail, but when I got home and saw my hollyhocks in glorious full bloom, I knew I had to share them with you. I picked up a little baggy of seeds at the Winterset Historical Center the first fall I lived here at Red Bell Farm. The woman behind the desk had collected them from her hollyhocks and was giving them away. I scattered them along the front of my house without even digging holes to plant them in. And they flourished!Although many people think hollyhocks are too old-fashioned to plant, I love them! They are big and bold and powerful flowers. Their deep red color looks beautiful against the cream siding on my house. The plants are so loaded with the heavy flowers that they are bending over the walkway to my front door. To me, hollyhocks shout "Summer!"