bull's eye

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At first glance, you look at purple coneflower and think, “Oh goodness, another composite.”

And rightly so, the composite or Asteraceae family is one of the most successful lifeform groups on earth—daisies, asters, sunflowers, et cetera—the list is a long one. According to the Royal Botanic Gardens of Kew, the botanical family comprises more than 1,600 genera and 23,000 species. Many look alike. Jeez, do they look alike, a circular disk of sex organs surrounded by a ring of showy petals. For an incoming pollinator, it's a bull's eye.

Composites are so common, and in many cases, so hard to identify, why bother? But purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) is an exception. The flowers themselves are large and magnificent. As the seed head begins to swell, the petals slowly lose their color and droop, forming an umbrella shape, past their prime.

Echinacea purpurea has long been a component of an herbal doctor’s medicine bag, commonly believed to stimulate the immune system.

The flower is now in bloom at Ijams Nature Center and the UT Gardens.

-Photo taken at UT Gardens.

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brash

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I spent several hours this past weekend at Blooms Days, a garden festival held at UT Gardens on Neyland Drive every year. Special thanks to the Garden Girls and Andy for inviting me. If you have never been to these gardens, stop what you are doing and go now!

This past weekend was unseasonably hot. One very bold exotic plant seemed right at home; it reminiscently caught my eye.

The canna lily, originally from the West Indies, i.e. the New World, tropical America, has remarkable foliage. Gardeners have cultivated this bold relative of bananas into a large-flowered, dare we say, brash and sometimes gaudy garden plant. It’s like a New Orleans’ Mardi Gras float, it commands attention, wherever it is.

I remember as a boy, cannas became quite a fad. It seemed everyone in the neighborhood had at least one in their yard.

-Photo taken at UT Gardens

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book talk

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I will be one of the guest speakers at this weekend's Blooms Days on the ag campus of the University of Tennessee.

I'll be talking about my book, "Natural Histories: Stories from the Tennessee Valley" and autographing copies.

Location:
University of Tennessee Gardens on Neyland Drive

My talk times:
Saturday,
June 27 at 1:30 p.m.
and
Sunday,
June 28 at 1 p.m.

Stop by and say hello!


For more information go to Blooms Days.


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