The Sensational Helichrysum bracteatum (Tuesday's Truths WK 129)

Welcome to my one hundred and twenty-ninth segment of Tuesday's Truths which is occurring on the Tuesday of National Gardening Week.

Hence, in honor of that fact, I'll give a shout out to a flora variety known as Helichrysum bracteatum (AKA strawflower). I've grown this in my rooftop garden over the years and quite some time ago, I created the mini movie which documents a week in the life of this flora variety. It is posted atop this entry and can also be seen within my Vimeo Channel as well as You Tube Channel. Additionally I have written about these flowers in prior posts here on Blogger.

A web-page for The Spruce admits that "The name strawflower doesn’t do much to excite the flower gardener" and goes on to say that "it might elicit images of a plant that's withered and tan—but the real strawflower blossom will bring vivid colors to your landscape and craft projects alike. Strawflowers resemble daisies in form, but unlike daisies, the petals are stiff and papery. In fact, they aren’t true petals at all, but modified leaves called bracts."

Wednesday's Wisdom: Observing the Little Things

A few days ago (June 9th 2017), I posted a clip of Connie Chung interviewing Marlon Brando (in 1989) on my personal FB Page. During the interview, Ms. Chung asked Marlon Brando what he had been doing since he "left" the acting profession.

His answer? "I've spent hours and hours watching ants going up and down my sink, picking up the crumbs, finding where they come in from - they come in to get away from the cold weather..."

I can't say I've spent hours and hours watching ants in my home, but, I have observed them interacting with strawflowers (AKA Helichrysum bracteatum )which grow in my rooftop garden.

An example of this can be seen in the first photograph atop this blog entry. This particular image is included in both the digital,

and softcover,

version of Words In Our Beak Volume One.

The book makes a great Fathers Day gift, and that holiday, will occur in just a few days from now (Sunday, June 18th)!

In any event, while Brando has confessed to spending hours and hours watching ants, I admit that I've spent hour and hours watching a fledging (who is a European starling) making discoveries in my garden (as seen in pictures directly below).

European starlings are merely introduced in Words In Our Beak Volume One, however, much detail re them will be discussed in a subsequent volume. Stay tuned.

ADDENDUM FALL 2018: 

The non-hardcover version (or versions)  of Volume One within the Words In Our Beak book series that are mentioned in this entry may only remain available for a limited time, but hardcover versions of Volume One, Two and Three can now be found wherever books are sold. Please click here to go to my blog post that provides details as to where you can get these books.

MY BOOK SERIES

Additionally, I have rendered some images from these books into other formats and they are available via Fine Art America (FAA). Some of my other photographs (Black & White Collection, Kaleidoscopic Images and the famous Mandarin duck who visited NYC) can also be found on my FAA pages.

No April Fools Day Prank OR Fake News: Dandelion has been retired!

On this April Fool's Day, I'm sorry to report that the announcement made by Crayola yesterday, regarding their retiring the crayon color known as dandelion; was not a pre-April Fool's Day prank!

And it was not fake news either!

The crayon known as dandelion (pictured above) will no longer be a part of any of their crayon collections. It is my understanding that some type of blue color will be replacing dandelion, which seems problematic to me given Vincent van Gogh's philosophy on the color yellow. He is known to have claimed, "There is no blue without yellow and orange," which is something I wrote about here on Blogger in 2011!

Yellow has been an important color in my urban garden, as evidenced by the members of the fauna community who visit my place; as well as by the flora which has grown here.

Tuesday's Truths WK 31: February's Last Day (For 2017)

Welcome to Week Thirty of my Tuesday's Truths series. Today, February 28th, is the last day of this month for 2017 (since its not a Leap Year); and this year, the twenty-eighth coincides with the eve of Ash Wednesday, also known as Shrove Tuesday. I've written about both of these events in prior posts here on Blogger in by gone years, and if you'd like to refer to them (respectively) please click here and here.

In any event, according to one Holiday Insights Page, another truism re February the 28th, is that its flower of the day is Helichrysum Bracteatum (AKA strawflowers).

An image of this flower variety is posted atop this entry, and it is a photo that you might recognize as I included it in this past Sunday's blog post, where I mentioned the fact that some of the strawflowers which I've grown in my rooftop garden were featured in one of my garden-themed movies,  A Week in the Lives of my Helichrysum bracteatum (Strawflowers). This movie can be viewed in my Vimeo library, or if you prefer, you may also access it via a prior entry here on Blogger.

Strawflowers come in many colors. A number of photographs of this interesting flower in various colors, along with fun facts regarding it, are included in Cam's book, Words In Our Beak Volume One.

As it happens, the strawflower, was picked by certain people in my high school's graduating class to be "our" class flower. Those school days were very painful times for me, therefore, I'm most grateful to be able to associate this awesome flower with good times in my garden (which is on a rooftop in NYC); and not as flora from The Class of XXXX.

ADDENDUM FALL 2018: 

The non-hardcover version (or versions)  of Volume One within the Words In Our Beak book series that are mentioned in this entry may only remain available for a limited time, but hardcover versions of Volume One, Two and Three can now be found wherever books are sold. Please click here to go to my blog post that provides details as to where you can get these books.

MY BOOK SERIES

Additionally, I have rendered some images from these books into other formats and they are available via Fine Art America (FAA). Some of my other photographs (Black & White Collection, Kaleidoscopic Images and the famous Mandarin duck who visited NYC) can also be found on my FAA pages.

....and the winner IS...?

Cam, "my" cardinal whose familiar to many because of the success of her book, Words In Our Beak Volume One

can be seen in the image atop this entry, where she is in my urban garden, the setting for her book.

A copy of this  particular picture is included in her book, where she confesses facts about what truly makes her flap her wings! One of the confessions that Cam did not admit to is something I will share here — if you promise not to tell her — is this: she gets very excited about award ceremonies such as The Academy Awards, which will take place this evening.

Cam was featured (exclusively) in my first bird-themed mini movie, Words in my Beak, which can be viewed on Vimeo. Cam liked the title very much and modified it for her book, which is something that she did admit to doing in her note to the reader.

In any event, because The Oscars are tonight, I though I should give some recognition to those who have been featured in my movies; starting with the ones which are bird-themed. These include, in alphabetical order: Cam’s Wisdom: Time Flies, Enjoy Those Near and Dear to You While You Can;

Emily's Antics;

Harper’s Bizzarre Antics During GBBC 2015;

“Hollywood Finches” Honoring Bragging Rights;

Meet the Finches;

Preview for Words In Our Beak Volume One;

and, as mentioned earlier in this post; Words in my Beak. By the way you can read more about the birds included in the aforementioned movies, here on blogger, by clicking on the following links:

Baltimore oriole, Cardinals, House Finches and Northern mockingbird. Note that one of the images of house finches seen above (the seventh image) is included in my fauna-flora-insect-themed postcard collection.

"another year over AND a new one just begun . . . " PART TWO-D (June 2012)

Today's post is part two-D of a series of posts pertaining to a year-end review for special occurrences in my rooftop garden for the year 2012 (this series is described in part one as well as part two-A of this topic) and in today's entry I will be reviewing the month of June for the year 2012.

"If it's Tuesday, it must be tumblr . . . " Week No. 23

As you can see my "If it's Tuesday, it must be tumblr . . . "  weekly feature has a new look! From this Tuesday forward, I'll provide links to the new content, but as always once you are at tumblr you can scroll around and see images or read content that is not included on this Blogger Blog.

Image above's story on tumblr: “A faithful friend is a sturdy shelter, he who finds one finds a treasure; A faithful friend is beyond price, no sum can balance his worth …”  Click here to read.

Image above's story on tumblr: “Waiter, there’s a fly in my soup . . . ” Click here to read.

Image above's story on tumblr: "Once the paparazzi convinced one  of the Helichrysum roseo-niveums which grows in my urban (NYC) container garden (first image shown here) that she was indeed, 'camera ready' . . . "  Click here to read.

Image above's story on tumblr: “Do you see what I see? Do you hear what I hear?” Click here to read.

Image above's story on tumblr: "TWO THUMBS UP!" Click here to read. 

Image above's story on tumblr: Memorial Day Reflections. Click here to read.

"The groundhog is like most other prophets; it delivers its prediction and disappears."

If, dear reader, you are familiar with the Bill Vaughn quote,"The groundhog is like most other prophets; it delivers its prediction and disappears," (which is "serving" as the title for today's blog entry), you may find yourself wondering if yours truly is like the groundhog, as I have "disappeared" from being "on the air" here on TLLG since February 2nd 2012 (Groundhog Day), which was the last time I posted here, letting you know that the things that I grow in my rooftop garden were poking their heads out of their winter gear to see what the groundhog had to say.

"We have gotta say good-bye for the winter."

Mama Reindeer, seen in the "middle" of the image posted above, is someone whom you may recognize, dear reader, as she came with her twins (standing to her right in the aforementioned image), to spend the 2011-2012 Christmas season in my urban (NYC) garden, and as of today's posting, January 2nd 2012, they are still here. 

The Gathering of Rosebuds

"Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, 

Old Time is still a-flying: 

And this same flower that smiles to-day"
 To-morrow will be dying."

Most everyone is familiar with the aforementioned "quote" as it includes the words which are the opening stanza to Robert Herrick's famous poem, To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time, a poem, that was the inspiration for the painting, Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May, by John William Waterhouse. The painting is pictured above in an image from Wiki.

As Wiki concurs, Herrick's poems were known for their "overriding message", that "life is short, the world is beautiful, love is splendid, and we must use the short time we have to make the most of it".

Oh, Wednesday's Wisdom, Where are you?

Today is Wednesday, a day I usually "reserve" for Wednesday's Wisdom, but I am not sure that I am feeling so wise about my personal or business related affairs today, on this Wednesday the Fourteenth of December, bringing us to the point where we only have eleven days until Christmas, when folks — if they are not already — will sing, "and so this is Christmas and what have you done? Another year over, a new one just begun . . . .", the lyrics from John Lennon's, Happy Xmas (War is Over). The song is haunting to me because I find it to be a reminder of what I have not achieved and what I've failed in doing, as described in a previous blog post on TLLG regarding this song.

"If it's Tuesday, it must be . . ." tumblr. Week Twelve "Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished."

It's Tuesday, so it must be tumblr but before I  lead you there, here's a little (as usual) digression: The images posted above are of my still-flowering-in-December Tropaelum majus (Nasturtium) and White Swan Echinacea both of which I grow in my urban (NYC) terrace garden. 

Additionally, my Helichrysum bracteatum (Strawflowers) and the roses, from all three of the shrubs that I have of them, are still thriving. This is quite unusual for this time of year in New York City, as by now we have usually had some snow.

"That's Life": Pearl Bailey's Influence on my Helichrysum bracteatum

The images posted above are of one of the Helichrysum bracteatum AKA Strawflowers that grow in my urban (New York City) terrace garden. They were taken on December 5th, 7th and 8th respectively. Like most of the things (80+) which I grow there, they love to sing. In fact, as you may recall, from a previous blog post (which you may read by clicking here), soon after this past Thanksgiving my Helichrysum bracteatum flowers, along with my White Swan Echinacea, were singing Cyndi Lauper's Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.

This past week, however, they were singing, "That's Life", and putting emphasis on the following lyrics:

"That's life, I can't deny it, 

I thought of quitting, 

But my heart just won't buy it. 

Cause if I didn't think it was worth a try, 

I'd have to roll myself up in a big ball and die."

"If it's Tuesday, it must be . . ." tumblr. Week Eleven

As you know, one of my missions as The Last Leaf Gardener is to give the things I grow a voice, and I often do this by giving them the opportunity to author their own entries on TLLG. 

A few (there are many instances throughout TLLG) examples of this are entries which have been written by my Physocarpus opulifolius (Coppertina), as well as by my Helichrysum bracteatum (Strawflowers), my Ophipogon planiscapus (Black Mondo Grass), and one of my roses.

And, as you undoubedy recall, I also permit some of the objects in my terrace garden as well as some of the figurines which "live" in my indoor succulent garden to express their point of view. If you'd like to refer to the most recent blog posts on TLLG where this occurred, you may click here for the viewpoint of a terrace garden object, and here for the thoughts of Lucifer, one of my succulent garden figurines). 

But I digress. Today is all about the ram (pictured above) who is visiting my succulent garden for the holidays. He has inspired me to remind you of a passage from E.B. White's Charlotte's Web  (White is a TLLG fave please click here to see related posts.)

The ram, is a significant character in Charlotte's Web, because he is the one who tells Wilbur (the protagonist who is a lovable pig) that he is going to be killed and eaten after Christmas; this "conversation" prompted the friendship between Wilbur the pig, and Charlotte the spider. However, my little ram is not so malicious or mean spirited as the ram in White's story, and he wanted me to share a passage with you that is from Charlotte's Web.

"If it's Tuesday, it must be . . ." tumblr. Week Ten

Another Tuesday has arrived, and yes, if it's Tuesday at TLLG, it must be tumblr, but before I send you there, I'll remind you that it is also the last Tuesday in November! 

You certainly would not surmise that it is this late in the calendar year from the happenings in my urban (NYC) terrace garden, as evidenced by the photograph of my Helichrysum bracteatum AKA Strawflowers, above (which I took yesterday).

"If you obey all the rules you miss all the fun." OR "Flowers, they just wanna have fun. . . "

Today is the last Saturday in November, and twenty-three days (including today) have passed since I "featured" Thomas Hood's poem in a blog entry on TLLG, about the "NO" in November which I'll post here again:

No sun - no moon!
No morn - no noon -
No dawn - no dusk - no proper time of day.
No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease,
No comfortable feel in any member -
No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees,
No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds -
November!

The reason I've returned to this poem is that, fortunately, most of my fun loving things that I grow in my urban (New York City) terrace garden apparently decided to consider Katharine Hepburn's quote, "If you obey all the rules you miss all the fun", and to stick around for at least the duration of November, therefore defying the "no flowers" norm (and perhaps an unwritten "rule") Hood cites in his aforementioned poem.

"There is no blue without yellow and orange." Insights & Controversy Regarding the Color Yellow PART THREE

And now . . . continued from
 Part One and Part Two of 11-11-11 post:

Therefore, on the authority of my beloved Tropaelum majus, they were nearly inconsolable when they heard the yellow quote, and their sadness resulted in some of the yellow things which grow in my rooftop garden such as my Helichrysum bracteatum AKA Strawflowers and one of my Rose Shrubs, pictured below (respectively in images taken on this past Thursday morning just after all the "yellow-rhetoric" of the things which grow in my garden had occurred), to go on the Internet, searching for other artists who fully appreciated the color yellow, and that is when they found one of Vincent van Gogh's quotes about yellow, which is "How wonderful yellow is. It stands for the sun."

It is not surprising to me that my Helichrysum bracteatum or my yellow rose expressed their concern (by looking for a LIKE "yellow" quotation) over my Actinida kolomikta, Actimida and Hakanechola Macra feeling slighted over the quotation attributed to Degas regarding yellow, for they are not shy about standing up for themselves — or others — as evidenced in the blog posts that each of them have authored. To refer to my Helichrysum bracteatum's blog entry on TLLG, please click here and to refer to the blog post my yellow rose authored on TLLG, please click here. 

My yellow rose has been quite the little activist lately; remember how miffed she was at New York Botanical Gardens for their "eye-candy reference"? If you have not had a chance to "hear" her point of view on that, click here  to see the blog entry on TLLG where her "friend" the yellow Tropaelum majus (Nasturtium) has been included; and you may also, by clicking here, see what she posted on facebook about the New York Botanical Gardens still using "eye-candy" to describe flowers.

"There is no blue without yellow and orange." Insights & Controversy Regarding the Color Yellow PART ONE

Today has the unusual "feature" in having the date of 11-11-11 and in honor of that, today's posting will not be my new "feature" of having Friday being Follow-Up Friday (mentioned here), but instead I have three parts (one for each eleven). Part One is being published at 11:11 AM, Part Two is being published at 1:11 PM, and Part Three at 11:11 PM.

The setting or scene for this three-parter is evident in the image posted above, which is an aerial (partial) view of my rooftop garden (in NYC) and it is what is featured in the image at the top of part one of today's blog entry. 

This image was recently posted on both facebook and nybg's (New York Botantical Garden) tumblr, and it was taken by Juan V this past Tuesday. To the right of his photograph, you can see my Actinida kolomikta and Actimida AKA Kiwi Vines, and in the lower lefthand corner of the picture, you can see my ornamental grass known as Hakanechola Macra AKA Japanese Forest Grass All Gold. They are the protagonists in this three part blog entry for this And now, "11, 12, 13" weekend. And now, without furthur ado, I give you PART ONE:

It's St. Thérèse de Lisieux's Feast Day!

Happy October! It's the month when the leaves on the trees will be changing colors (at least in the northeastern part of the United States where I live), the month featuring Oktoberfests, and the month that ends with Halloween, a holiday for which I have a designed unusual greeting cards. 

My cards for this occasion are very unique as they are a petite wrap-around variety, which means that they fold out into a picture which is suitable for framing.

Today is also the feast day of St. Thérèse de Lisieux. She is the saint who is often referred to as "The Little Flower." 

I thought of her this morning, as I was in my rooftop garden, where I was reflecting on the fact that I had moved into my apartment eighteen years ago today, and what a blessing it is for me to have a garden (especially since I live in NYC)!

Standing outside in my garden, in the wee hours of this Saturday morning, when most of New York City is sleeping (even though it claims to be a city where no one sleeps), I noticed one of my Helichrysum bracteatum (Strawflowers), striking an odd pose —  just as it was beginning to awaken for the day — and it was an almost prayerful "pose" at that, as evidenced in the photograph which I took of it and posted below.

This prompted me to think of one of St. Thérèse de Lisieux's quotes which is this: "I had wondered for a long time why God had preferences and why all souls did not receive an equal amount of grace […] Jesus saw fit to enlighten me about this mystery. He set the book of nature before me and I saw that all the flowers He has created are lovely. The splendour of the rose and whiteness of the lily do not rob the little violet of its scent nor the daisy of its simple charm. I realised that if every tiny flower wanted to be a rose, spring would lose its loveliness and there would be no wild flowers to make the meadows gay."

I am sorry to say that I barely have even a fraction of the faith that St. Thérèse de Lisieux was known to possess. Her picture (seen below) hangs above my desk as a reminder.

St. Thérèse de Lisieux

FALL 2018 ADDENDUM: 

I no longer actively produce event program covers, invitations and the types of greeting cards described here or on my website but arrangements might be able to be made under certain circumstances. My focus is on the Words In Our Beak book series, pictured below...

MY BOOK SERIES

...whose stories are told from the point of view of Cam, a female cardinal, whose photo is on the cover of each book. Words In Our Beak’s goal is to open readers to a simple understanding of the winged world and their environment. Set in my rooftop urban garden in New York City. Words In Our Beak is directed to children and adults who are curious about birds, and want to learn about them from a unique perspective. The books include hundreds of images of flora and fauna, links to movies, as well as to informative narratives that have been created by the author.

Please click here to go to my blog post that provides details as to where you can get these books.

Additionally,  I have rendered some images from these books into other formats and they are available via Fine Art America (FAA). Some of my other photographs (Black & White Collection, Kaleidoscopic Images and the famous Mandarin duck who visited NYC) can also be found on my FAA pages.