MinxterBLOOM

      

This book is significant in book design as well as botany documentation.  The images are huge and true-to-life. Basilius Besler worked for the prince-bishop of Eichstaatt (Bavaria) in his extensive gardens. Said P-B wanted a codex or book documenting his garden.  The book's title translates as The Garden at Eichstaatt. Besler worked for more than 16 years on this project. 'Hortus' -- like 'herbal' -- has come to mean botanical compendium.

Key:  Left to Right 

Sunflower (Helianthis), Centaura, Narcisisus,  Calendula? 

Lilium, ?, Rosa, Paeonia 

Malva, Fritillairy,  Iris germanica Prickly pear cactus 

Hortus Eystettensis

von Basilius Besler

Nürnberg 1613

A facsimile edition of this important

hortus is available soon through this German Publisher.

  Visit the British Library web exhibit about this fine book.  See selected plates for sale here.  I covet Plate 186, which looks like Turk's Cap lily (Martagon species), though 'tis called hemerocallis, which we know as day lily.

before they wilt. Yesterday and today in Suburban Maryland feel like the dog days of August. 

Sweltering. Oppressive:  Weather for the likes of August's yellow and orange flowers and not the roses of early June.  Here are my large walkway planters last week.  Today, the pansies lie exhausted and spent.  The twee-turtle is for the Terps I teach at the University of Maryland.  The tiny Alberta Spruce trio in the planters are the three Wise Men of holiday time. Caspar is first, then Balthazar, and finally Melchior near the house. I bought these styrofoam planters last year at steal-away prices.  Why the fuss and bother, since I am not given to container gardening? I nearly broke my ankle on the sinking brick walkway.  A tree once stood in the front yard; 40 or so years later, a mild sinking, as the root system finally collapses makes the walk unsafe.  Planters are less than new bricks, though I do not begrudge the masons and bricklayers their well-earned due.  I will replant these containers soon with silver-purple petunia, magenta spreading verbena, and a velvety purple petunia for scent.  The spruces stay of course, to give winter interest and the fine shape of conifer-cone-pyramid.

  
Terp Grad 2008: Sunflower Day, indeed!  Happy we are, click into thumbnail for details.

captured by this ancient poem and round. The first version uses reproduction instruments:

Middle English or this Creative Commons round version.
Svmer is icumen in,
Lhude sing cuccu!
Groweþ sed and bloweþ med
And springþ þe wde nu,
Sing cuccu!
Awe bleteþ after lomb,
Lhouþ after calue cu.
Bulluc sterteþ, bucke uerteþ,
Murie sing cuccu!
Cuccu, cuccu, wel singes þu, cuccu;
Ne swik þu nauer nu.
Pes:
Sing cuccu nu. Sing cuccu.
Sing cuccu. Sing cuccu nu!

----
Visit the British Library website for an illuminated sheet exhibit of this early song. The flowers are flax from PW's garden.

In the course of conversation, a friend mentioned that his Siberian irises are about to bloom. This being last week, I expect that the bloom is underway. I remarked that these irises might be the duotone of "Butter and Sugar," a significant breakthrough for Siberian iris. The default color for this iris is blue, lavender, purple, and blue-cast mauve.
Prof. Dr. Otto Wilhelm Thomé Flora von Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz 1885, Gera, Germany
"No. They are plain yellow, just like the wild iris that have invaded the Pacific Northwest. My father called the USDA years ago, and was told 'Siberian Iris coming down from Canada.'" I thought on this, thinking he knows rather what he talks about, having grown up near Seattle in a dairy farming family. But, the idea of yellow and species-form Siberian iris continued to nag. What to do? Wiki and google, of course. Wiki says and displays the blue-tones I expected. More wiki work and more google work makes me think that this iris might be Iris pseudacorus, or yellow flag or sweet flag. Pages from the Pacific Northwest suggest that yellow flag marched through this area, beginning at the turn of the century. Let's start with the Wiki-entry on yellow flag here. Nice pictures on the Wiki-page. Here are some pictures courtesy of JC's garden, conveniently located next door. Well, is this the mystery iris? Eventually, I'll report if my sleuthing and instincts are born out. As the final evidence here is commentary about yellow flag's march in the Pacific Northwest.

" . . .the earliest New World record of this plant was made by Fernald who collected it in the wild in Newfoundland in 1911; it was established in British Columbia by 1931; by 1950, Gray's Manual reported its distribution as "Newfoundland to Minnesota"; by 1961 yellow flag was reported to be so plentiful in Canadian swamps as to "have the appearance of a native plant" (Cody 1961)"
"An agressive shoreline weed."
Finally, a tiny thumbnail of "Butter and Sugar" available from White Flower Farm.
Currier McEwen cross ("Butter and Sugar") I like this flower, however, I aspire to adopt the lushious and royal "Caesar's Brother."
"Caesar's Brother," regal Roman

Sources:Permission granted to use under GFDL by Kurt Stueber, www.biolib.de, see Wiki-Commons entry; and White Flower Farm.

Last year, Love-in-a-mist, Nigella damascena, sprouted up in shades of mauve to white. I did not recall a blue blossom because as most gardeners would agree, we truly notice blue. Blue is really a gardening holy grail. Purple-toned blues abound, but the sky blue shade is not easy to achieve. Here are my blue notes! The small smudge of mauvey-purple is the first burst of Verbena-on-a-stick, or lollypop vervain, Verbena bonariensis. See a fuller explosion at Plant Delights, plantsman to the horticulturally-adept.

Nigella Lawson is the gorgeous food personality who several male friends imagine sharing a kitchen with. Food fact: Nigella seeds, also known as black cumin, sometimes adorn Armenian-style cheese twists.