Pinkroot

Spigelia marilandica - Indian Pink or Pinkroot.

Pinkroot © 2010 Bo Mackison

While we were in the St. Louis area, we took a morning off from the graduation festivities, and visited the Shaw Nature Reserve, an extension of the Missouri Botanical Garden. It is located south of St. Louis in Chesterton, Missouri, and spans 2500 acres of natural Ozark landscape. We spent most of our limited time wandering the wildflower garden.

I’ve spent much of my adult life identifying wildflowers, but never in Missouri. I came across flower upon flower that I’d never seen before, rather a nice experience to see flowers through fresh, unknowing eyes. But once I returned home, I had to go to my ID books.

I loved this red wildflower with an eye catching yellow star, certainly a showy specimen from the Show Me State! Formally it is known as spigelia mariclandica, but it has nearly a dozen common names, including Pinkroot,  Indian Pink, Woodland Pinkroot and Worm Grass. It is found in the southeastern United States, extending as far north as Virginia, Kentucky, southern Indiana, southern Illinois and Missouri, and as far west as Texas.

On Sunday, it was windy, and even after I’d put up a temporary windbreak, I still had to patiently wait while hoping the breezes would settle. As hot as it was – the high reached 96˚F and the humidity was high – the breeze felt fine to me, but played havoc with most of my attempts to photograph the many wildflowers on display.


Zinnia

Yellow Zinnia Macro-photography

Zinnia © 2010 Bo Mackison

Another photograph of a zinnia from Allen Centennial Garden, University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Gingko on Black

Gingko Leaves at Allen Centennial Garden in MAdison Wisconsin

Gingko on Black © 2010 Bo Mackison

I have always loved the simplicity of the gingko leaf – quite unusual when compared to other leaves, gently formed, a soothing shape. An ancient tree, fossils of gingko biloba leaves have been dated to the time of the dinosaurs.

The gingko. A living relic. A symbol of longevity.

Photographed at the Allen Centennial Gardens in Madison, Wisconsin.

Floating Zinnia

Zahara® Yellow Zinnia at Allen Centennial Garden in Madison Wisconisn

Floating Zinnia © 2010 Bo Mackison

Shooting through the green foliage on this Zahara® Yellow Zinnia plant gave the flower, even the whole photograph a rather green glow. The zinnia appears to be floating in a sea of green. From Allen Centennial Garden, urban garden on the campus of the University of Wisconsin in Madison.

Peony in Pinks

White and pink peony in abstract

Peony in Pinks © 2010 Bo Mackison

This particular peony is from a peony plant I received for Mother’s Day from a very proud 6 year old, my first born, who saved her allowance and a bit of birthday money in order to buy her ‘Mommy’ the “prettiest pink flower in the world.” ( See why it’s good to keep journals. I read that passage not too many months ago, and made a note to myself – use Jeanne’s quote in a blog post when her peony blooms.)

This 23 year old peony has a life lesson to share. When Jeanne gave me the plant, we duly found a lovely place of honor in which to plant it. It was near the window, center of the back yard garden, and Jeanne was proud that her Mother’s Day gift was so highly visible. But we never took into consideration which spot would best suit the peony, and we planted it next to a rather towering fir tree which blocked it from most of the sunlight. Deep shade would be the precise description.

The saying “Bloom where you are planted” doesn’t seem applicable to peonies, or at least to this particular peony. Though it did bloom, it did so with much hesitation. Year after year, it would put forth 3 or 4 blooms – if we were lucky. Though it grew and it was green, it simply was not thriving.

It took us way too long to figure out its dilemma, and then another few years before we actually were motivated enough to uproot the peony bush and transplant it to the sunny side of the house. Now, the sunny side of the house is also the quiet side of the yard – a space between our garage and our neighbor’s garage, and it doesn’t have much foot traffic. Not too many people see the peony in bloom unless they make an effort and walk around the house to see it. But the space is large and sunny and the peony likes the quiet garden.

So now we have a really happy peony. This year I quit counting blossoms once I reached fifty. The peony doesn’t care if it’s in a place of honor where everyone can admire its beauty. The peony does care that it gets its basic requirements for healthy survival – a bit of rain and a lot of sun. When its basic needs are met, it does its best to put on a spectacular show of flowering.

Just like people. When their basic needs are met, they reward you with a good effort. But like the peony, it’s hard to be a spectacular bloomer when you are a sun lover and you’ve been planted in the shade.