I hope I haven't used this picture already -- I don't think so. Somehow in 18 years of blogging (!) I don't think I've ever accidentally repeated a picture, and I don't want to start now! This is one of our foxgloves, and it's unusual because the flowers are pure white. Normally white foxgloves have some kind of pattern inside the blossom -- spots or streaks, or maybe a slight pink tinge -- but not this one.
And then there's this foxglove, a different plant, which is also white -- and which has that weird, trumpet-shaped flower at the top. It reminds me of the golden figure of the Angel Moroni that stands atop Mormon temples, blowing a horn.
This is the strangest crop of foxgloves I've ever grown in my life. So many white or pale ones, and many of them seem very spindly. I cannot remember where I got the seeds, but I'm pretty sure I harvested them from one of our earlier plants -- maybe this one?
Meanwhile, our Rachel de Thame lupine is looking quite...robust. That weird little flower at lower left is what's left of a flower stalk that got eaten by slugs. Only a few little nascent blooms survived to grow to maturity.
The library was slightly calmer yesterday, but we still had numerous classes of kids coming in and ransacking the shelves. I really want to talk to the kid who thought it was OK to leave a shelf looking like this:
I mean, seriously. Do you put books away like that at home, kid?!
So, yeah, there's a lot of perpetual shelf-straightening going on, and in between I'm writing to graduating seniors and departing students and trying my best to get everything back. Whew!
Olga woke me up at 5 a.m. this morning, practically scratching at the back door to go outside. I had a feeling she'd heard or sensed (smelled?) a fox, and sure enough, when I opened the door I saw one bound away across the garden and disappear behind the shed. Olga didn't see it, but she had a good time following its scent through all the shrubbery. I'm amazed she sensed it from indoors. Sometimes her senses seem dulled by age, and sometimes she still seems pretty darn aware.
Now I'm going to try to catch up on answering the last few days' comments. Sorry I've been so delinquent!
I'm wondering if the kid did that on purpose, maybe at one time or another you had cause to chastise him about eating in the library or something.
ReplyDeleteI love your foxgloves, I tried growing some once lomg ago, hollyhocks too, but didn't recognise the plants when they came up and thought they were weeds so yanked them out. Now I just enjoy them in other yards.
My post today is also about Foxgloves.
ReplyDeleteThe elderly grumpy librarian in charge of the old fashioned library I worked in during the first years of the 70's once said to us library assistants "if no one muddled the shelves then you wouldn't have a job!"
I think the different flower has something to do with flower breeders coming up with upwards facing foxgloves..which may be pretty busy make no sense for the insects in a rainy climate!
ReplyDeleteI think the boy does leave them like that at home!! And yes...your grumpy librarian was right 🙂
Olga is doing well..just think how dulled our senses are in comparison.
Yes, unforgivable to leave books spine out. Discipline him!
ReplyDeleteLooks like this kid was at least looking for something. I know such a boy who used to leave quite a few things like that, he is a young man now and sometimes I still recognize his ability to leave a mess behind. I am his mother. Sometimes it is related to some kind of attention disorder.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn’t care if you shared that image before, it’s magnificent.ç
ReplyDeleteThe kid who left the books like that surely doesn’t even put the books back on the shelves at home.
Did you hear about the lightning storm in San Diego years ago that had a direct strike on the Mormon temple’s Angel Moroni and turned him black? It was at a time when the church was still known for being very racist. Poetic.
I imagine that kid doesn't put anything away at home.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading your comment on my blog and reading your blog post, perhaps I can suggest electrified netting around the bookshelves.
ReplyDeleteIt looks as if your seeds are reverting to type. Interesting to see how they grow.
ReplyDeleteYes I expect that student does leave stuff like that at home. Probably oblivious to the expectation of spines out.
I've noticed that the volunteer zinnias which come up from previous years' seeds sometimes seemed to have morphed into simpler blossoms. I'm sure there are people out there who know all about this (botanists, for example!) but I am content to just observe the situation. You surely have some beautiful blooms.
ReplyDeleteYay for Olga! She still has her spidey senses!
And boo for messy, non-responsible students who do not know how to treat a book.
At least the students have been looking at the books? I remember when I was a volunteer at the High School library. I would be shelving books and find a book out of place. So I would go to put the book where it belongs and find another book out of place and so on and so on. I was led all around the library to different shelves as I returned each book to its proper place. It was a silly game some student was playing, I guess! Kept me busy for a while, tho! :)
ReplyDeleteThe white foxgloves are beautiful!
ReplyDeleteAs for the disposition of library books ... you are working with teenagers,so go figure the mess! It is job security!
I have never seen pure white foxgloves. Those really are gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteThat's a perfect description of that trumpet shaped bloom. It does look like that golden angel.
ReplyDeleteI can't imagine leaving a book shelf looking like that!
This is a good year for Foxgloves. I also have a few. I've never seen a 100% white Foxglove. It is particularly beautiful. I do not leave a mess in my wake; that said, my son does and seems totally unaware of doing so. Maybe a poster showing a photo of the messy shelf followed by a neat shelf with a caption: "Please leave shelves ready for the next student."
ReplyDeleteThere are many of those along the road on my walk. They are mostly pink with some white thrown in. That book arrangement would drive me nuts! (which is its purpose)
ReplyDeleteMy home shelves aren't perfect, but I never put books in backwards. That would bug me.
ReplyDeleteSteve, thanks for reaching out to Debby. Much appreciated.
ReplyDeleteSpindly foxgloves are usually a more wild variety
ReplyDeletethat white foxglove is gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteI don't know how dogs sense what's going on outside ut Minnie does too.
Bridal foxgloves!
ReplyDeleteAnd the answer is YES, that kid probably does leave his shelves like that at home.
That white foxglove is a stunner. I hope Olga never catches the fox!
ReplyDelete