Laurie

Laughing in Flowers: An Oregon Garden

“The earth laughs in flowers.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Meditations in Motion

I was walking in my son and daughter-in-law’s garden in Oregon one morning this week. The Morning Glories were glorious.

Meditations in Motion

The Black-Eyed Susans were winking at me.

Meditations in Motion

The roses were blushing.

And I was the one who was laughing.

Meditations in Motion

Do you know the name of the plant this bumble bee is visiting?

Meditations in Motion

If we take a step back, do you know what it is now?

Meditations in Motion

How about now?

I will give you a clue: dipping its leaves in melted butter then scraping it through your front teeth is a delicious, but slow way to have a snack.

“I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting station, through which God speaks to us every hour, if we will only tune in.” – George Washington Carver

 

I am linking with Cee’s Flower of the Day, Welcome Heart for Let’s Have Coffee, Debbie at Dare 2 Hear,  Amy at Live Life Well, Raisie Bay for Word of the Week, Susan B Mead for Dancing With Jesus, Embracing the Unexpected for Grace and Truth, Random-osity for Little Things Thursdays, Reflections From Me for A Blogging Good Time, Knit by God’s Hand for Thankful Thursdays, Morgan’s Milieu for Post, Comment, Love, Esme Salon for Senior Salon, My Random Musings for Anything Goes, and Shank You Very Much for Global Blogging.

Please click on the following link to read more funny or inspirational one-liners. One-Liner Wednesday.

Meditations in Motion

 

 

 

 

87 comments

  2. Oh, my, Laurie, I’m so ashamed! My dad was a life-long biologist, and I should know the name of this plant. When I think butter, I think popcorn – no, that can’t be right . . .
    Anyway, your photos are lovely. Thank you for sharing God’s creation with us!

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  6. Beautiful photos! I love the variety of flowers God has created. I have no idea about the mystery flower. Identifying flowers is not my strong point anyway but I’m wondering if it’s one we don’t have here, and I have never heard of dipping leaves in melted butter. Intrigued to find out…

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    • Yes, we were there several years ago. My son went to Oregon State for grad school, so we always flew into Portland and spent a day or two there before traveling down to Corvallis. I love that city!

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  19. That Morning Glory pic almost jumps out of my screen! It is incredible. 🙂

    I was thinking Passionfruit flower in the first pic (check them out!) but when i saw the whole bud i recognised the Artichoke. 🙂

    GWC got it spot on in my opinion.

    They can sometimes be hard work, but a good garden is a gift of Grace that lifts the soul. 🙂

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    • Thank you so much. Coming from an experienced flower photographer like you, I take that as high praise! It DOES look like a passionfruit flower. I wonder if they are related.

      My mom used to have a cross-stitch sampler in her kitchen “Who plants a seed beneath the sod, and waits to see, believes in God.” She was a gardener! 🙂

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      • I just checked.. no relation. 😦

        Interestingly the passionfruit is more closely related to a Rose! I suppose the seed in the passionfruit held the clue? 😉

        It’s hard not to believe in God if you spend much time tending to a garden. I question his insistence in the proliferation of slugs and snails however – does that mean i’m going to hell?? 🙂

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      • Huh! I would have thought they would be related too. Now that you mention it, I can see how the seed in the passionfruit is similar to rose hips.

        I question His apparent fondness for various hideous forms of insects (but I kind of like slugs and snails). I think that just makes us human. 🙂

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  21. Aha! On a recent walk my husband and a couple of friends and I came upon a blooming artichoke, looking just like the one in your photo, growing in a neglected patch of dirt. It was probably a fugitive from a nearby restaurant garden. Nobody believed me when I identified it as an artichoke gone to flower. “No,” they said, “that’s some kind of thistle.”
    “Artichokes ARE thistles,” I said in my fetchingly know-it-all way. My husband and friends remained unconvinced.
    Thank you for helping me be right 🙂

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    • I thought it was a thistle at first too, Jan. My son told me what it was. He did not plant it – it must have been the previous owner of their house. I need to adopt a more fetching manner when I am a know-it-all. Good strategy! 🙂

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  22. Hi Laurie, what pretty flowers. When we moved into this house morning glories trailed all along the front wall and my husband and Dad pulled them up saying they were weeds (I did protest – big time – what’s the definition of a weed?) and they never grew back. Our neighbours have artichoke plants dotted around their garden, but they always pick them before they flower. They do look like a type of thistle too.

    xx

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    • A…that’s a shame about the morning glories! They were so pretty at my son’s house. I guessed thistle at first, but my son told me what it was. I wonder if the two plants are related.

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    • Well, the artichoke was actually in a neglected corner of my son’s garden. I thought it was a huge thistle at first. I have always loved Black Eyed Susans too- my older sister (whom I adore) is named Susan. I have some good sunflower photos too. I am saving them for another post! 🙂

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  25. I had to look through the comments to discover it was an artichoke plant – I’ve never eaten artichokes before! The flowers are beautiful – you picked up where you left off in the Spring Laurie with displaying those delicate blooms.

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    • My mom used to serve artichokes with melted butter as a special treat. You peel off the leaves, dip them in the butter, then draw them through your teeth without actually taking a bite of the leaf. I often use canned artichoke hearts in recipes too. I love taking flower photos, Linda. They don’t move like your critters do!

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      • Interesting Laurie – I must expand my horizons. I did a post today of all flowers. I wanted to go to the sunflower farm today, but we had a storm early morning and storms were predicted for later this afternoon (they never happened, but will now happen overnight). Instead, I used all my pictures from a walk two weeks ago today, all wildflowers. I need to learn my Michigan wildflowers – maybe I’ll pick up a book or find a site online before next Summer. I did see a Killdeer that day – my first. I’ll be able to generate another post with the rest of the pics and will include it then – I spent over four hours walking that day. I saw this bird and based on following a few local photographers who feature a lot of Michigan birds in their Tweets, I identified it. It didn’t want to sit still – I’m embarrassed to say I took about 25 shots of that bird, two were something I can actually use. Flowers ARE easier to take pictures of!

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      • We have kildeer nesting in the fields near us too, Linda. They are beautiful and I love hearing their distinctive call. When they have chicks in the nest, a parent will fake an injured wing to lure you away from their nest. Amazing! They do not like to sit still.

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      • This one was not making any noise and I just Googled and found their call. Very distinctive and I’ll have to remember that for the next time I see one. This kildeer was as you said – not sitting still and all over the place.

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    • Yes, the bees loved these artichoke flowers too. They were usually covered with honeybees and bumblebees. I can imagine that 15 artichoke plants might be too much of a good thing!

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  35. I love that a walk through the flowers brought you so much joy and your photos are beautiful. I’m not overly keen on artichoke, but I didn’t know that they flowered on top. I hope the bee had good time in there! Thanks for linking up to #wotw

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    • I am really enjoying doing flower photographs. Trying to improve my photography skills. I would not have known the plant was an artichoke if my son hadn’t told me.

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  39. Wow! I would have never guessed that! Not sure why after the last picture. I just kept thinking Burdock! lol. Beautiful pictures!!!

    Thanks so much for linking up @LiveLifeWell!

    Blessings,

    Amy

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