When you take a flower in your hand ..........

There's a little bit of gold down by the lade this week though not the  £50 million of hidden treasure that is soon to be mined near Loch Lomond.  Wildflowers are still in bloom along Perth lade though few in number.   For a change I stooped down and gathered a few of the yellow dandelions (Taraxacum officinale) to admire as a final farewell to the season.   Strolling further along the little meandering path I came across yellow Nipplewort (Lapsana communis)  growing in the hedgerow.  Then I added some vertical interest from the jungle of grass seed heads.  

I looked down and realised that floral art was effortlessly appearing in my hand. 

"When you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it's your world for the moment."...Georgia O'Keefe

Lesser Knapweed (Centaurea nigra) with it's thistle like purple pink flowers was the perfect contrast of colour along with the dainty little yellow flowers and seed heads from the slender stems of the wall lettuce (Mycelis muralis).

"If dandelions were rare and fragile, people would knock themselves out to pay $14.95 a plant, raise them by hand in greenhouses, and form dandelion societies and all that. But, they are everywhere and don't need us and kind of do what they please. So we call them weeds and murder them at every opportunity".....Robert Fulgham.

The little posy was almost complete though I had to wait until I arrived at my garden gate to add the little touch of chartreuse foam from the sprigs  Lady's Mantle flowers (Alchemilla mollis) and finally a little yellow Coneflower daisy (Rudbeckia 'Goldstrum').

"A flower is an educated weed."...Luther Burbank

Time was short and the light so poor.  I took the little posy  into the garden to photograph  so I could cherish this memory over the dark days of winter. 

“The miracles of nature do not seem miracles because they are so common. If no one had ever seen a flower, even a dandelion would be the most startling event in the world.”

My submission to Wildflower Wednesday
(photos taken on 13th October)

This is a copyright post written for www.leavesnbloom.blogspot.com. If this is your first visit to www. leavesnbloom.blogspot.com you might want to take a second to subscribe to my RSS Feed, http://feeds.feedburner.com/LeavesnBloom 

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"Ever since the creation of the world  his eternal power and divine nature, invisible  though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has  made. So they are without excuse." Romans 1:20

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© 2009- 2011 Leavesnbloom ~ All Rights Reserved.

A living Picture Frame

I just had to share some autumnal views beyond the frame over Perth from yesterday morning.  Autumn in my opinion is the best time of the year to capture this particular scene as it was a favoured time of the year for Sir John Everett Millais to paint his landscapes.  He probably was the  greatest painter of the Pre Raphhaelite Movement and most of his landscapes were painted from scenes in Perthshire.   


This  redstone sculpture made in 1997 called "Millias Viewpoint" by Timothy  Shutter commemorates his artwork and is a living picture frame of Perth changing throughout the seasons.  It's found along the Sculpture Trail along the banks of the River Tay.

The Painter's Palette


Beyond the Frame

 

You can literally step into the frame and become part of the picture!

The "Viewpoint' sits on top of a large mound along the Perthshire Sculpture Trail over looking the River Tay. 

Autumn Leaves 


 
The autumn oak leaves that surround the frame on one side represent his famous painting  "Autumn Leaves" while the cut corners represent immortality. 

............... speaking of autum leaves here are some more from my walk to the view point.

 Rodney Gardens

Norie-Miller Park along the River Tay

I hope that autumn is as colourful for you as it is here in Scotland just now.

This is a copyright post written for www.leavesnbloom.blogspot.com. If this is your first visit to www. leavesnbloom.blogspot.com you might want to take a second to subscribe to my RSS Feed, http://feeds.feedburner.com/LeavesnBloom 

and   my blog so you can stay updated on posts and information! 

"Ever since the creation of the world  his eternal power and divine nature, invisible  though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has  made. So they are without excuse." Romans 1:20

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© 2009- 2011 Leavesnbloom ~ All Rights Reserved.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day October 2011 What's blooming in your garden?

October might be the end of the growing season here for most of my flowering garden plants but there are still a few that stand out in the dull borders. There might have been more in bloom but one large border had a make over in late August and even some of the larger shrubs were moved to new locations. For Octobers Garden Bloggers Bloom Day I quickly went and took a few snapshots of those flowers that are making the most impact in the border rather than those that are just nearing the very end of their season.

Verbena bonariensis

The 6 ft stems are still standing tall though the plants haven't attracted as many butterflies as last year.  

I stood on a stool to get up to the same level as this Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta) butterfly.

Asters  are my perfect pollinators at this time of year and brighten up the dull borders.

My all time favourite is Aster × frikartii 'Mönch' (top photo) which is mildew resistant along with two from the Aster novi-belgii 'Island Series'  (middle and lower photos) which are resistant to mildew too as well as being dwarf.  I've many more but they are young plants and a few are yet to bloom.

Rudbeckia fulgida var. sullivantii 'Goldsturm'

No crop-as seen in the viewfinder/ 50mm f1.4 lens: My submission to "Fill the Frame" at Gardening Gone Wild 

 

I have 3 medium sized clumps of these plants and I think that this is the best year so far for these yellow daisies.  

It has taken the plants about 4 years to settle in the garden.

Caryopteris  'Heavenly Blue'

This plant seems to gets lost in the garden at this time of year. 

I don't think it can compete with the autumn foliage explosion going on in the other border.

Well it would be hard to compete with this...........

  A 10ft long Cotoneaster horizontalis dripping with red berries  and Euonymus alatus 'Compacta' literally on fire!

That's all for today, pop over to Carol at Maydreams Gardens to discover what else is in bloom all over the world. 

A note for my records of what else is in flower on 15th October 2011: 

Rosa 'New Dawn'

Rosa 'Flowering Carpet Red' Standard

 Sedums 

Rosa 'Rhapsody in Blue'

Pink and Purple Petunias (annual)

White Marguerites (annual)

Clematis viticella 'Etoile Rose'

Autumn crocus
Colchicum 'Water Lily'

Oestospermum (annual and perennial varieties) 

Astilbe chinensis 'Pumila' 

Potentilla fruticosa 'Red Ace' 

Potentilla fruticosa - yellow (lost label)

Purple Prunella 

This is a copyright post written for www.leavesnbloom.blogspot.com. If this is your first visit to www. leavesnbloom.blogspot.com you might want to take a second to subscribe to my RSS Feed, http://feeds.feedburner.com/LeavesnBloom 

and   my blog so you can stay updated on posts and information! 

"Ever since the creation of the world  his eternal power and divine nature, invisible  though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has  made. So they are without excuse." Romans 1:20

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© 2009- 2011 Leavesnbloom ~ All Rights Reserved.

The highflyers - coming soon to a window near you!

On Sunday after lunch I spied a high flyer in the garden.  I tried to see if I could get someone's attention at the window...... I needed a camera......... any camera in fact quick!........but no one was there.  Well I ran back into the house and grabbed the first camera that was handy hoping that this visitor would be so intoxicated by my Prunella blooms that he would still be there when I got back ...........and sure enough he was. Who was my visitor?  Well it was a Silver Y moth (Autographa gamma). 

It has been given its name due to the silvery letter Y or Greek letter Gamma on each of its forewings.  It's a member of the Noctuidae family which flies both day and night and is often called an Owlet.
 

I took shots from every angle and wished that I had a macro lens on the camera rather than a 50mm.  It sounded as if the paparazzi were in my garden as I was in continuous shooting mode.  Thankfully he stayed long enough on the same plant for me to get back into the house again and  get the macro.

I could be mistaken but that proboscis looks red 

His wings fluttered at such a speed as he hovered from one flower to the next and he didn't seem to mind a camera lens nearby nor my hand moving some of the Carex grass so that I could get a better view. 

Despite taking 8 frames per second it was still difficult to freeze him in action.

Down south they have had an Indian Summer and many new moths have been spotted on the south coast of England travelling from warmer regions of Europe. 

The Butterfly Conservation Charity  has said that  the Autumn of 2011 has seen the best immigration season for more than five years. (source)

If you look very closely I'm sure I can see a red coil which looks like the proboscis  between the moths palps in this shot

I knew that this moth in my garden wouldn't be one of those special moths as it would be a very brave one to travel up here considering that Scotland had its first official snowfall this past week (click here for the photo).......... we had sleet at 6am on 6th October.


The Silver Y is an immigrant moth from the southern Mediterranean and Black Sea region and migrates  every year to places like Greenland, Finland and the UK.  Here in the UK there are two generations per year and  you've probably seen one looking in through the window at you at night time when the light is on in the room.   

They've been known to fly in swarms of a thousand and more and can be a pest to many as their offspring are very hungry green caterpillars. These caterpillars live on a diet of pea leaves, cabbages and Sugar beet but can't survive once the frosts arrive. 

Once adults they  fly at altitudes of up to 1.2km when migrating and even end up at the Arctic circle.  Now that winter is approaching the adults will soon be thinking about making their way back to Southern Europe. 

"All these pieces of evidence together demonstrate that the moths must have a compass mechanism," similar to that found in migratory birds"  

Using entomological radar, the researchers estimated that in August 2003 about 200 million Silver Y moths migrated southwards over the U.K., travelling at more than 50 km per hour over distances in excess of 300 km per night. "Considering the distances these moths would have flown, and their sophisticated orientation behaviours, it is apparent that many will have reached their over-wintering regions in just a few nights," source

How that caterpillar brain that is so finely tuned just to eat dissolves into liquid and then becomes something 10 times bigger with the capacity to navigate like GPS can be read at this link: How the Moth Gets a New Brain.

Finally this one needed a rest though it's just as well he was resting on a blue piece of wood as I would never have found him if he had landed on a tree trunk.  He has a big journey ahead of him!

You can see the distinctive Y shape on each forewing in this macro

Considering that these little invertebrates only live for about 21 days once they have emerged as moths they sure cover some air miles and they certainly deserve the title of being high flyer's of the noctuidae family.  How awesome a Creator God we have! 

Further reading
Studio shots and video of a Silver Y sipping honey from a teaspoon with its proboscis.

This is a copyright post written for www.leavesnbloom.blogspot.com. If this is your first visit to www. leavesnbloom.blogspot.com you might want to take a second to subscribe to my RSS Feed, http://feeds.feedburner.com/LeavesnBloom 

and   my blog so you can stay updated on posts and information! 

“Some people, in order to discover God, read books. But there is a great book: the very appearance of created things. Look above you! Look below you! Read it. God, whom you want to discover, never wrote that book with ink. Instead He set before your eyes the things that He had made. Can you ask for a louder voice than that?”

— St. Augustine (354-430)

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© 2009- 2011 Leavesnbloom ~ All Rights Reserved.