Yellow Lily – A Photo Visit in My Garden

Yellow Lily at Chicago Botanic Garden

Yellow Lily © 2010 Bo Mackison

It’s a cloudy day in Wisconsin, a good day to share this bright bit of yellow – a day lily photographed at the Chicago Botanic Gardens this past weekend.

I sooooo wanted to call this photograph “Lello Lily” in honor of my youngest who pronounced the word ‘yellow’ by substituting ‘l’ for the ‘y’ — and did so long after she could easily say the word ‘yellow’ correctly. She simply loved the way it sounded. Often another family member would call something ‘lello’ also — it always brought on the giggles.

She will so love the sound of these two words combined — ‘Lello Lilly’.

Awakening – The Wild Onion in Spring

Awakening © 2010 Bo Mackison

Couldn’t resist trying to capture the almost abstract lines of  these three drooping stems. Looks like the flowers are from the onion family, but uncertain of an ID. Photographed in a private garden in Madison, Wisconsin.

Composition in Rock Garden

Hens and Chicks in Rock Garden at Allen Centennial Garden on UW Campus

Composition in Rock Garden © 2010 Bo Mackison

Macro-photograph of Hens and Chicks in the Rock Garden at Allen Centennial Gardens at the University of Wisconsin – Madison.

Breaking Free

Chives, Emerging

Breaking Free © 2010 Bo Mackison

So goes the journey called life.

Pagoda Plant

Downy Pagoda Plant or Blephilia ciliata or Downy Wood Mint

Downy Pagoda Plant © 2010 Bo Mackison

Another wildflower that I photographed on my brief foray to Missouri. This is Blephilia ciliata, commonly known by a variety of namesOhio horsemint, Downy Pagoda Plant, Downy Woodmint. It is a Missouri native perennial which grows in dry open woods and thickets, clearings, fields and roadsides in the eastern two thirds of the State.

It is a member of the mint family, and while aromatic, it is not as strong as most mints I’ve come across in the more northern climes. It appears to be attractive to butterflies and bees, at least it was in the wildflower garden at Shaw Nature Reserve.

The flowers are blue to purple and bloom from May through September. The plant grow in a circular column, sometimes having as many as six or seven pagodas full of flowers. The larger ones seem to outgrow themselves, and a few were tipped over with the weight of the hundreds of blossoms.