by magnolia seedpods
Numerous seedpods like this appear under the magnolia trees every year after the gorgeous flowers finish. I’m used to seeing them underfoot on the lawn but haven’t looked at them REALLY closely, until the other day when we were sitting under the backyard tree, seeking some shade from the hot sun. I picked up a few of these underfoot and felt curious and inspired to scan them, as I often do with intriguing things I pick up.
What a wondrous surprise – the furry bases, the pattern of circles and the scale-like shapes that remind me of some ancient classical architectural features!
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I am sorry to have been so silent on these pages for so long; I can’t believe I wrote only one post in June. This long-lasting heat wave has made me very sluggish, it takes all my energy keeping our garden watered. Thoughts of California-like droughts and forest fires are on our minds here in BC after our mild snowless winter and exceptionally warm and dry spring. We had something like 3 mm. rain in May and about the same in June and the long range forecast continues the same.
I have missed posting about the summer solstice as I usually do and now, today is Canada Day! Happy 148th Birthday, Canada!
July 1, 2015 in Canada and BC, Current Events, Nature, Photoworks by Marja-Leena
Marja-Leena, to celebrate Canada-day I got a review of translation of MaddAddam into Finnish published, I completed the text before I left for down south to see and take care of my grandchildren. Now the text got handled and is readable in my blog in link in the last paragraph (very bad English that was, sorry!). The net paper is a critique site for translated literature into Finnish.
You found a very fine plant. You definitely have an eye for all wonders that you see around you. And that again is a wonder, because you have over there such huge number of variation in the nature, also of course in vegetation. I recently read a scientific text explaining, that the reason for some places just growing and flourishing is volcanic soil. It’s been looked somewhere in detail (I can’t say that I understood what exactly is going on), and the conclusion is that the Earth simply would not be habitable without active volcanoes.
Strange that it is July again. It feels like yesterday was last year. Time seems to be flying.
Ripsa, I know that you do a lot of book reviews and note that you are one of the more prolific on the site you mention! (Will go read it later, thanks!) I have not read those books by Atwood, shame on me. However I recently read and enjoyed the English version of ‘Memory of Water” by Emmi Itäranta after reading about it somewhere, and luckily it was in our library. Interesting that she wrote both the Finnish and English versions herself.
I am now reading an excellent book about Sibelius, also from our library. I mentioned it before here.
Kiitos, thanks for your kind words about my “eye for all wonders”. Yes, we have such wonderful trees and plants here, and likely volcanic soil too!
Oh yes, time flies, even when you do not do much in this heat! I hope your summer warms up after your cold and wet spring.
Ah, what a wonderful eye you have for the beauty and elegance of natural forms, Marja-Leena. These are magnificent, but all the more so because of your care in scanning them and the high quality of your presentation. I especially like the second one.
I too blogged less than usual this past month. Our weather has been wonderful enough (even though we’ve had more rain than usual) that the walks have been longer and more frequent – a very happy occurrence. I hope things change out there soon. Of all the worrying things going on in the world (and there are many), the worst is climate chaos.
Susan, thanks for your kind words too! I’m delighted when I find things like this and can share them here with such an appreciative audience. How wonderful to have long frequent walks! Too hot for exercise here these days though hauling the watering hose is work! Yes, this drought does make us all think of climate change and water shortages, and how we will be fighting over that soon.
I shall certainly look more closely at magnolia sees in future! They are spectacular, and I have been dismissing the plant once the petals disintegrate. Our garden is on chalk, so we don’t have any magnolias, and I generally see them in parks and gardens – thank you for opening my eyes to beauties even better than the showy flowers.
We have not had enough rain here over Spring, but not as seriously short of moisture as you. Our heat has only been one day at a time, so it’s only my small pots that I have to water. This year is a vegetable fallow year for me for various reasons. As for hauling a hose, you have my sympathy – I remember what it is like!
The warming has brought more destructive beasties to our garden. The berberis sawfly caterpillars have almost killed our several berberis shrubs. We had to spray them, there were so many thousands of them! I have seen hardly any ladybirds this year. All the changes seem to be accelerating too. Sigh.
How awful about the berberis caterpillars! I’m not familiar with those. Now that you mention it, I’ve not seen ladybirds either. One of my basil pots has been invaded by the cabbage butterfly caterpillars. I squished one but haven’t found the other(s). Aphids here and there as usual, nursed by the ants. Life on the farm, as they say. I’m glad I no longer have all those pots of tomatoes and peppers to water – it had been getting too much though this certainly is the summer for them.
We were blessed in having a magnolia on this property when we bought it over thirty years ago, and another just adjacent next door by the street. They are very large now (though not the huge southern variety). The seeds don’t look that interesting on the ground but in scanning them larger, I now appreciate the intricate design and beauty! Our tree is starting its second lighter flowering.
They are rather wonderful aren’t they, I like the spotty pattern on the stem.
I’ve been feeling lackadaisical about blogging of late. Partly it’s that I’m putting off other things and don’t feel I can be blogging until I’ve done xy&z first, partly the heat, preferring to be outside or needing to be tending the garden, partly just not getting round to things…
Never mind!
Lucy, I see that Europe is having quite an extensive heat wave too, so we’re feeling the same! Keep cool and enjoy the slower pace of life.
It cooled down to the normal temperature here, as it has been quite cold since March. Green winter as we say. Arctic air masses decide our seasons. Good advice you have there, “enjoy the slower pace of life”! We will.
Ripsa, the heat makes me terribly lazy and a bit cranky at times. We eat a lot of salads for I cannot bear to cook or even barbeque. We read a lot and we watch some DVDs in the evening, so that is good.
What is not good is that watering restrictions have been tightened everywhere and forest fires are increasing! We noticed a brown haze in the sky to the northeast the other evening and this morning the entire west is a sickly brownish tone, even as the sun shines in a clear sky in the east. Have a look at these photos. And here is the fire report. All very early in the season with a long dry summer still ahead.
Busy times here–I’m glad you aren’t awash in posts I’ve missed! I love magnolias, and they and the flowers and pods have popped up in my work here and there…
I’d like to send you some of our rainrainrain.
I imagine you are most famliar with the southern magnolia, different from those that grow here. Do send us some rain, pretty please. It was 35C (95F) here today and the smoke is BAAD!
Hope things are better… As a child, I used to think it magic that if you stepped on a pod, out would pop a bright lipstick of a seed…
Thanks, the weather has been a little less hot thanks to a wee bit of rain on the weekend. The smoke haze is gone too. I’m still being lazy and quiet here, sorry!
This seed pod with lipstick is the southern magnolia, I take it? Sounds marvelous! Ours are tough things that don’t split.
I’m sorry for the heat up your way. I know how much you hate it. We recently had a couple of insufferably muggy days,but today it’s pleasant. We had some rain last night.
Hattie, the long range forecast says sun and heat for weeks ahead but I pray for rain, especially now to help fight all the many forest fires and to clean the air!
We’ve been enjoying some sunshine in the last few weeks here in the north east of England, but leavened by the occasional showers and even heavy rain (it was quite heavy last night, for instance).
I’m delighted to find that even though you haven’t been a busy blogger, you are at least posting now and then – the magnolia seeds are quite wonderful! In an effort to get back into a more active life after a log and sometimes troublesome couple of years, I find that many of my old blogging pals have fallen asleep. Is blogging dead? Many of those same pals have apparently transferred their allegiance to Facebook .
Harry, lovely to hear from you! I still follow your blog via a feed and was happy to see you back. I too have noticed a lot of bloggers have stopped or rarely post, and yes, many are into FB or Twitter, which I have resisted. This summer I seem to have become one of those lazy bloggers, and maybe it’s because I’ve been blogging so many years (11!) I’m just repeating myself, I feel. Sometimes I’m just too lazy to write much.
The heat and smoke from forest fires in our province have been draining but yesterday and last night we finally had a wee bit of rain and cooler temperatures. Hopefully we’ll have more for the sake of our gardens and forests!
Here’s to keeping up our blogs!