Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Little Things and Thanks Lisa!

This is a tiny, tiny flower.  I found these at the edge of our woods.  It is a Sedge more specifically Carex pensylvanica or Pennsylvania Sedge.   This is a native plant in Minnesota.  It grows well in Oaks, which was no surprise to me.  There is a little ditty that goes Sedges have edges, Rushes are round, Grasses are hollow, What have you found?  No one but a plant geek like me is probably interested..BUT  did you know that Sedges do not have a ligule?  Only Grasses have ligules, now a ligule is easy to find, and can be found in all grasses..it is the little tongue like projection at the junction of the leaf and the leaf stalk.  Next time you grab a piece of grass to stick in your mouth have a look see.  Oh come on..you never put grass in your mouth?  To me it has a kind of a fresh greens taste..

This is a bunch of little Grape Hyacinth's or Muscari.  Tiny, tiny blooms that look like bunches of grapes.  I remember when my eldest daughter planted these one fall all in a row, she was surprised by how small they were when they bloomed the next spring..in plant catalogues they are portrayed as being much larger than they actually are.   They are so tiny that if you ever plant them, plant a whole area of them. I love their blue color.
I received a package in the mail yesterday, I won Lisa's give away over at South View Farm.  What I won was a to die for woven dish towel.  Lisa said to report back to her after I have used it to dry some dishes and I will..BUT when I first saw this "towel"  I thought..it would be perfect upstairs on my hutch that Far Guy built..what do you think?  Thanks Lisa! I love the earthy sage color, and from now on when I look at this fabric towel that you wove, I will think of you:)

13 comments:

Judy said...

My Gram used to get free bulbs for grape hyacinths with orders she would place...we would plant them and then not knowing what they were, we would pull them as weeds...some are left and now I know what they are and just enjoy them...beautiful color...

DayPhoto said...

I have grape hyacinths everywhere, they are my 'bringer of spring'. I also enjoy very much your plant lessons.

Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com/

LadyFi said...

FAbulous flowers... at last - a true sign of spring!

Lanny said...

What a beautiful place for your towel!

I love muscari for their blue they make a great back drop for other flashier spring bulbs. And your right, because of their size you do have to plant a lot iffin' you're wantin' to see a lot. I liken them to a lake or a river where the other flowers poking up out of them are like the ships or boats or swans on the river. Ahh the frustrations of catalogues. Even the discriptions don't really help correct the mistake I make in my head, sometimes I feel like I need to have a ruler out with scrap colored paper and tear myself a "prototype flower" before I get all excited about where I'm gonna use something.

Anonymous said...

That's a pretty towel you won from Lisa. I enjoyed reading about the sedge - what a tiny little thing! Someone planted Muscari here in a little patch and I love the true, blue color also.

DJan said...

Wow! That is a beautiful "towel" there, Connie, and I think you've got the right place for it, all right. And all those beautiful muscari, I didn't know their name but they do look just like some other flower I've seen in yellow, only blue.

Gail said...

I love the towel just where it is, I believe it has found its home.

I have never heard the saying sedges with edges, I shall have to remember that for plant identity. Cute little rhyme.

lisa said...

I think you put the towel in a very nice place! You defiantly don't have to use it as a dish towel! The flowers are very pretty, I have never heard of the sedges with edges either! I did like the rhyme!

Ed said...

Love the Hyacinth pic..:-)

CTG Ponies said...

Always love the flowers! The towel is far too nice for daily use. I like what you've done with it.

Linda said...

I noticed the sedge in my outer yeard looked ready to bloom.....it's covered in snow today. I love the dishtowel and all that good stuff you've arranged on it too ;)

Andrea said...

I LOVE your posts about plants...I guess I'm a plant geek too. (I usually go by "gardener" though and just keep the Latin names to myself for the most part.) And the towel was hand woven? I love it! I'll have to go over to her blog and check it out. Weaving is one of the things I've always wanted to do...(that, and making soap.) At some point, I will.

Pamela said...

our grape hyacinths are all gone -- although I saw a few growing wild (escapees) along the path where I walk!