MinxterBLOOM

In 1996 I moved suddenly and in a fit or grief and exultation planted a rectangle with ditch lilies and what are likely Jeruselem artichokes. For years the riot of color -- first orange, then acid yellow -- pleased me and my neighbors. Because of the generosity of a secret garden-benefactor, I plant this combination today:

1. Hyperion daylilies, hybridized in 1924 (Mead). See them at Oakes.
   
2. Thalia daffies (circa WWI) from my favorite vendor, Bluestone.
3. "Yellow" daylily from Home Depot because the fans look very healthy at  8 for $3.  We shall see.

Thalia will go nicely with the thicketed clumps of reliable Ice Follies near by. Since so many daffy plantings feature yellows and golds, I like to plant the other cultivars.  Professor Einstein will, however, arise in my garden next year.  I picked the orange-cupped white because of the name and nothing else.

The Daffodil Seek project of the American Daffodil Society is quite nice.  I have requested the use of thumbnail images from them. Until then, the first image is Thalia from the Missouri Botanical Garden. (linked). The second is from Bluestone Perennials and features Hyperion.     

Thalia Missouri Botanical Garden      

In October I happened across this lovely specimen of Brugmansia or Angel's Trumpet.  The plant is a veritable TREE. Set in the back of this modest Edmonston, Maryland yard, this tropical plant is flourishing. From all appearances this Brugmansia must make do with winter. I will check to see if the owners mulch or wrap the branches with burlap. Look for an update in  late November.

I was astonished to see this magnificant plant doing so well. Typically, Brugmansia is grown as a tender perennial in a large tub and hauled inside for winter.  I wonder if I can get away with this.  However, the plant is highly toxic, which makes me nervous. But ahh the scent:  lemon-kissed lillies. I was riding my bike when the smell took me aback. Backtracking, I found this. The image is not very clear as I took it while astride. The light is low -- approaching sunset -- and the Anacostia bike path is best in daylight.

This image posted at the Brugmansia society website shows a similarly yellow-trumpeted specimen in a large crate. I believe the setting is German. Be sure to enjoy the bright yellow cottage in the background. 

Look at my new neighbors, the darling wee people promised me by Dang Hippie: First let me introduce Little Miss Kokeshi from Japan.  She picked the squat little hobbit door to fit her sweet dumpling frame. I wandered out to the back yard, where St. Francis has stood watch since 1992 and was surprise to find another visitor peeping out from the chute to the radioactive waste tube in my back yard (links to Yucca Mountain).  The second guest is (Himself) Herr Jaeger from the Harz  Mountains of German.  

A German has relocated; he promises to pay rent by cracking nuts.

An international visitor; she beat the hobbit traffic! How can you entice wee people to your yard?  Visit Dang Hippie's site. If you are really good and kind -- and you open a PayPal account toot-sweet -- you may be able to request hinged doors. His unhinged doors are equally charming. And, besides, the fairy folk have magic ways to whisk in and out. You know, open seseme, etc.

"[Moonflowers] are strongly scented, a trifle sickly in character. They are like thin strong silk, so white they appear to be illuminated, even on a fairly dark night."       The Essential Earthman

I cannot find two of my three Henry Mitchell books; perhaps I lent them. I wanted to quote more lines about moonflowers, especially the scene in a southern backyard when  evening guests gather on the patio to watch a brace of moonflowers open.  This video captures the unfurling of the petticoat-sail.  This side view shows what I call the soft-swirl-phase when the expanding bud looks like it belongs at Dairy Queen. You can move the little button to make it run faster. I like these primitive video clips where you can control the speed. Warmed up?  Now onto the next clip.

This YouTube video features a frontal view, with nice narrative from the poster.  When trying to embedd this from the YouTube site, I could not. But somehow I stumbled upon the same video posted here

VOILA!  the embed/clipboard command worked.  The video was posted by a nice soul (cnn66) near Jensen Beach on the Indian River of Florida.  I have a few images of my first moonflower of two week ago. She opened in a rainstorm, keeping her sails trim in that gale. You can also see her day-loving cousin, Heavenly Blue -- queen of the morning glories. But her reign, like the moonflower is less than a day. Visit them at this gallery.

I have a friend, both talented and odd in the best ways: the Handy Hippie.  Among other wooden structures, he builds fairy doors.

I love the idea, however, the sweetie-kins flavor of many of these doors -- a minor fad in some college towns -- is too much. I prefer my sweet things in pie, especially rhubarb or blackberry, or in the evening garden (moonflowers, Miracle of Peru, flowering tobacco). Mr. Handy Hippie toys with selling fairy doors online on through eBay.  As a favor to me, he made these two doors. UPDATE: eBay site with fairy doors and a gnome outhouse that must be seen to be believed.
Fairies:  Beware!   Even fairies must manage hazardous materials. On a lark, I asked for the radiation symbol on this door. A silly neighbor interpreted the door as an outhouse for fairies, with the subtext that the output is so powerful as to require the radioactive warning sign. Hmm. I just intended a sort of sciency symbol. Hey, fairies do science, too.  Think about  John Crowley's underappreciated classic, Little, Big or The Fairies' Parliament.

Hobbit Pi?: Here is the second door, sized to fit a black oak stump. Hobbit-tey and homey, isn't it. The symbol?  pi = 3.14159. I cannot get the Greek symbol to work in this text editor. (Click into the thumbnails to see large images and details).  The round door knob is simply cunning.  (Been waiting to write that word!)

Both doors are hinged, hinged I say! So many fairy doors available online are not hinged, but simply stuck to a surface or propped up.  Mr. Handy Hippie hinges them; you  conjur your own fairy interiors.  Interested?  Drop him a line at sales@thehandyhippie.com.  Tell him Minxterbloom sent you.  PS -- he will do charming doors for you! He has a little darling wee one so he has lots of practice with pink, swirley, ruffled, rainbow, pinafore-ey, fluffi-muffi, furbelow'ed fripperies.