Lupine Finally Blooming

I love lupine. I used to have a lot of it on my Templeton property. The drought killed most of it up on the hill when there was no rain. The seeds I planted in my herb garden rarely grew. It's been years since lupine was there, even though the seeds for it have been in the ground. Today I went home, and although the property, including the herb garden was overrun with weeds, I saw lupine finally blooming again. I love surprises like that. 

Here's a closer look at the photo above.

Lupine supposedly is a perennial plant, though I always considered this form of it annual. I've seen a shrub form in Cambria at Moonstone beach that I'm sure was perennial because it's always there. There are at least 82 species of lupine in California. All species are related to the pea, but the seeds are toxic. The plant's name Lupinus spp. means "wolf" because it was thought that lupine depleted nutrients from the soil. Instead, though, like other legumes, their root nodules add nitrogen to the soil that it needs.

The photo to the right shows a bit more of the overgrown garden on a slope. Behind the lupine, to the left of the title, is an overgrown clump of thyme I need to harvest and dry. It's already blooming, but it's flowers are too tiny to see in this photo. The lupine chose to emerge among the irises that have not  bloomed yet. The large lavender,  oregano, and sage plants are out of sight in this photo.

The lupine plants you see here came from seeds I collected one day from a vacant lot in San Luis Obispo while I was on a walk. The pods were ready to explode, and the timing was perfect. They have bloomed a couple of times before in wet years, and it's a joy to have them back  this year.

Lupine and other wildflowers don't have a long blooming season. Wouldn't it be nice to enjoy seeing them in your home all year round? Why not pick and press some while they are in bloom? Here are some how-to and craft idea books, and even a microwave flower press you can browse through at Amazon if you like to do things yourself. If you don't have time to make  something lovely with wildflowers yourself, why not buy some of this lupine wall art for one of your walls? Here are some beauties from Zazzle.

 Lupine and California poppies Canvas Print USA, California. Lupine Bloom Close Up Wood Wall Decor USA, Washington State. Alpine Lupine Canvas Print Purple Lupine Flowers Wall Graphics USA, Oregon, Nesika Beach. Lupine and Oregon Wood Wall Art

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Insects Love Spring Wildflowers

Looking for wildflowers? So was I today. I searched along a trail I enter from the north end of Oxen Road in Paso Robles. I found many wildflowers along this trail last year. After all the rain, the wild grassy weeds were so tall they almost covered the few flowers that have appeared, but the insects were finding them. I could hear the buzzing. Insects love spring wildflowers.

The photo on the right
shows most of the wildflowers that were growing along the path I took. You can see the purple vetch, the yellow fiddlenecks, and the red clover. I hadn't realized until I looked them up that the fiddlenecks are related to borage. 

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 Borage-and-Calendula, Beautiful Borage Greeting Card




This greeting card from my herbal collection shows the blue borage growing in a flowerbed next to the orange calendula.

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The first insect I saw on my walk was this ladybug in the vetch and grasses. 

Here is a closer look at the vetch in the midst of the wild barley (foxtails.)

As I walked I could hear a lot of buzzing. Unfortunately my camera is broken and the zoom doesn't extend anymore, or if it does, I have to turn off the camera to retract it. That's why I could catch only this honey bee in the lupine or clover. It's hard to tell which she is after. There were also plenty of bumblebees foraging, but I'm not brave enough to try to get a macro shot of one. They were not close to me anyway, and they were very fast. They would not pose like the ladybug did.

Below is some of the fiddlehead in a collage.

 National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Wildflowers: Western Region
The Audubon Field Guide to North American Wildflowers is one of my most useful books in identifying wildflowers, and I have several. Sometimes you can't find every flower in one book. I like the way this book is arranged by the color of the flowers. I especially like its color plates. It's easy to find what I need quickly. 

The Peterson Field Guide to Pacific States Wildflowers is best known for the drawings of the flowers and their parts. Unlike the Audubon guide it does not have the actual photographs. Most authorities recommend using them together since the Peterson guides have more actual information, and the drawings are very detailed whereas the Audubon guides have the colored photo plates. You can find a wider selection of field guides, including those for your area on this Amazon field guide search page. 

The other two books are just for fun. How to Be a Wildflower is more of a journal related to wildflowers. The coloring book is an educational 64-page book of wildflowers to color from a model sticker, It is suitable for anyone over eight years old. 

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 A Field Guide to Pacific States Wildflowers: Field Marks of Species Found in Washington, Oregon, California, and Adjacent Areas : A Visual Approach ... Detail (The Peterson Field Guide Series ; 22) How to Be a Wildflower: A Field Guide Peterson Field Guide Coloring Books: Wildflowers (Peterson Field Guide Color-In Books)

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Where Have All the Real Flowers Gone? Not to Graveyards Anymore

Willow Creek Mennonite Cemetery, © B. Radisavljevic

When I was a child there were certain holidays when my family would visit the cemetery with flowers for all our family members who rested there. They were real flowers, most from our gardens. I remember the search for the containers by the graves and putting water in them with the flowers. We lovingly left them to honor our loved ones. During my childhood, I don't think I ever saw an artificial flower on a grave.

In some cemeteries, that's about all I see anymore. I can think of many reasons why. The cemetery pictured above is an old one in rural Paso Robles. I'm guessing that many families have no surviving members in the area. I don't think I saw one real bouquet on a grave. I can't help but wonder who leaves the artificial flowers. It is those who leave the area after burying a family member they don't expect to visit again? Does the church associated with the cemetery take care of it? The church is no longer in that location. It is evident someone cares for the graves to keep them free of weeds.

Perhaps it just seems more practical these days to leave flowers that won't wilt. But the real flowers are a reminder that we all fade and die.

"As for man, his days are like grass.  He flourishes like a flower of the field; for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more. But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon those who fear him..." Psalm 103: 15-17

Do you still see real flowers on graves? Why do you think artificial flowers seem to be replacing them in many cemeteries? Is it only in the West where a flower planted on a gravesite would not get water? Some cemeteries no longer allow people to plant flowers beside graves, and, sadly, potted plants are often stolen.

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My Light Purple Iris Finally Bloomed

Today I will share the favorite flower in my garden.  Taxes are finished and it's been hard to get time to take pictures outside my neighborhood while I've been working on them.

 I think this iris is indicative of all that's happening in Paso Robles gardens this week. Every thing is bursting into  bloom. It's hard to choose a favorite iris, but light purple is one of my favorites. White is also beautiful. They all are.

What Jesus said about the lily applies also to the iris - Not even Solomon in all his glory was arrayed like one of these, even though they did not to work in order to grow more beautiful. Their Heavenly Father clothed them. So we should not be anxious about what we shall wear, either. We should trust our Heavenly Father who cares even more for us.

The flowers featured in the greeting cards below also came from my neighborhood. The lupine photo was taken near Rotta Winery in Templeton. The colorful garden is my neighbor's on the next block who always has beautiful flowers. All these flowers are in bloom here now. You can find just about any flower on any product at Zazzle -- from greeting cards to iPhone cases and teapots or mugs. I invite you to click through and look around.

 Inspirational card with lupine flowers Borage-and-Calendula, Beautiful Borage Greeting Card

Surprised by a Hidden Trail

I had been very busy inside today and by 5:30 I still hadn't decided where to take my photo walk -- especially since I had a meeting at 7. I finally had no choice but to go to the meeting area a few minutes early, drop my husband at the meeting place, and take a walk, knowing the meeting would probably start late, as usual. So that's what I did.

The meeting was in a home on Oxen Street in Paso Robles. As I was coming down the hill to the home, this was the view at the top of the hill before I went down. (Above)

I had walked in this residential neighborhood before, but not very far. I parked down the road past the house where the meeting way and then started to walk up. I saw some children coming toward the sidewalk from what appeared to be a path to the right. When I asked, they said it was indeed a walking trail. So, of course, I decided to explore it for a few minutes.

As I started down the trail, the first thing I noticed were the wild flowers in bloom. There was clover, and a lot of yellow flowers I can't name. But the most beautiful flowers were the lupine. I look forward to having them bloom every year.

As I continued down the path I saw a bridge ahead, so I continued on. It turned out that it was over a creek that actually had water in it. That's a rare site during this drought.

Naturally, I crossed the bridge to see the creek. There was a tall oak on the other side of it that reflected into the water. I was torn as to whether to get the reflection or the height of the tree. I chose the reflection.

Because I was trying to capture the reflection of the tree in the creek, the camera was too low to capture the sky, which was beginning to display the setting sun. The path back to the car led me through the wild flowers again and I kept pausing to take pictures of the sky.

I shot it through the trees, with the tops of the trees, and with buildings in the background -- however I could only capture the pastel colors, since the sun itself was already down. I will leave you with this final photo of the sunset as I climbed back up the hill toward my car and the meeting.

To me, a sunset is God's final blessing to mark the end of day. Have you had any surprises or special blessings today?

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