Saturday, May 20, 2017

Another Big Spiky Flower


A few days ago I was showing off our foxglove, and today I want to turn our attention to another colorful spire rising in the garden -- our lupine.

You may remember this plant didn't do so well last year, primarily because of slugs. We'd planted it in a flower bed where it was closely surrounded by other plants, and some critter ate through the stem just as it was blooming. I built a splint for it, remember? And then it got eaten again, and that was that.

Well, we took it out of the ground and put it in a pot where it could stand alone, like garden royalty, untouchable by the peons and serfs. We put some slug pellets in the pot around the base, although I don't think any slugs have even been close enough to get killed. And this is the result! Not too shabby, although we live with the recognition that it could be devoured any day.

Dave and I have both had a crazy week -- Dave with concert preparations, me with inventory and day-to-day library stuff. We didn't even see the visiting nieces for 36 hours -- they got up after we left for work on Thursday and came home after we'd gone to bed, and yesterday morning, same thing. We finally caught up with them yesterday evening, when they came to Dave's end-of-the-year high school concert. (I say "Dave's" concert, but there were other teachers' students performing as well, and of course the kids were the ones in the spotlight!) The show turned out really well, and I'm not just saying that as a loyal spouse.

The nieces spent time down by South Bank and the Tower Bridge, which they kept calling London Bridge, until I pointed out to them that London Bridge was a different bridge entirely and very non-descript. (And that the old London Bridge is now in Arizona.) They seemed crestfallen, and I felt like a killjoy. But they can't very well go home with their bridges confused, now can they? They're thinking about going to Paris for a day or two, and I hope they carpe diem and do it. I wish I could go with them, but, alas...work.

Yesterday my coworkers and I were laughing about some of the terrible book covers in the library. This is my personal favorite:


Yes, it really is a book about an evil swimming pool. Or at least a pool at the center of a series of crimes. I haven't read it, and I doubt you will either.

We also have a copy of "The Jungle Book" that makes Mowgli look like a scary gigolo:


We're thinking we need to make a display of bad cover art. It amuses us, anyway.

10 comments:

Yorkshire Pudding said...

Joan Lowery Nixon is one of my favourite writers. She is on a par with William Faulkner and D.H.Lawrence and closely related to another of my heroes - Richard Nixon the famous lupin grower who resembled a slug. Now how do you respond to a comment like that?

Ms. Moon said...

In my opinion, Mowgli is about a million times scarier than that pool. Good Lord!
But the lupine is exquisite! Long may she reign!

ellen abbott said...

the lupine is gorgeous, like a bluebonnet on steroids. that book cover, the dark and deadly pool...everything about that picture is dark except the pool.

Sharon said...

I love the cover art idea! There really are some strange looking book covers out there.
Many years ago, I read a story about how McCulloch bought London Bridge and had it shipped here. The story said that he thought he was buying Tower Bridge and was disappointed when he learned it wasn't. He strongly denied such a claim but, I wonder.

The Bug said...

Gorgeous lupine! Just to prove you wrong (and because I'm already bored with my captivity), I just checked the ebook of The Dark and Deadly Pool out of my library. I'll get you know what I think. It's book one in a series! Ha!

A Cuban In London said...

Loved this post. Took me a few years to memorise all London Bridges. I use to confuse the Millennium Bridge with Blackfriars. :-)

Those book covers are hideous! :-) I had never seen that Mowgli one before. I think that with a face like that he would be the one trying to cast a spell on the snake. :-)

Greetings from London.

Red said...

Most weeks in school are crazy. It's always a very busy place.

jenny_o said...

I love lupines (which we call lupins in Canada) but they are considered a nuisance plant here! There are numerous highway interchanges in our area which have masses of lupins down the embankments, and they are beautiful - but no one wants them in their flower beds because they crowd out everything else and attract insect pests. One man's weed is another man's beautiful flower, I think.

Now I can't get Mowgli's eyes out of my brain ... urk

Alphie Soup said...

And lupins! They are on my top flower list too. Along with the peonies of the previous post...
Now for your foxglove answer: we do have native foxgloves here, pityrodia terminalis are native to Western Australia. The digitalis variety in your garden are exotics (foreigners) and therefore a pest when they grow in the wild.

Alphie

37paddington said...

Those book covers! Both very scary yet cheesy too. Was it here that I once read that there is no tired like the tiredness of a schoolteacher in June? It's that crazy time of year again. Soon enough summer will be here.