back to the dirt

I realized the other day I haven't taken a botanical photograph in ages. For a while work had me behind a desk but recently I was able to make a great change and get back to the dirt. Having survived the first week I relished in the option to sleep in this morning, even though I was still up by 8:30. A little sore but so much happier as I sit here sipping cup number two. The other day I was working on a slope and people kept asking what the tall perennial flower was down at the edge in the dappled mid-September sun. "It's just so beautiful", they would gawk.

Japanese anemone (Anemone x hybrida) is a plant worth knowing about if you don't already. In sun or dappled shade these upright herbaceous perennials can get to about 3' or 4' tall and flowering by late summer or early fall. Most anemones bloom much earlier in spring, like Anemone canadensis and other native species of this large genus within the Ranunculaceae family. One of the common names you hear for many anemones is windflower, which likely derives from "anemos", the Greek word for wind (Flora, 2004). In all their forms anemones are a excellent woodland plant, loving organic-rich soil and good drainage and a good chunk of sun. Discover them emerging from the leaf litter in early spring before everything else comes to life, or enjoy the later Japanese anemone, with all of its cultivars, while we welcome the cooler temperatures and the changing of the seasons. Someday I will have them in my woodland garden and you can all come over and visit.
Hepatica acutiloba I thought was now considered Anemone acutiloba, but perhaps not. Whatever. Cool plants. Check 'em out. I need a shower.