Althouse: At the Close-Up Café...

April 23, 2015

At the Close-Up Café...

... take a closer look at whatever you like.

19 comments:

Big Mike said...: Is that the controversial Siberian squill again? Beautiful flowers but the official designation as an invasive species is troubling.; 4/23/15, 12:32 PM
Ann Althouse said...: I took that picture at Olbrich Gardens, which is full of squill now.; 4/23/15, 12:50 PM
Pianoman said...: Fred: "I saw death rising from the earth, from the ground itself, in one blue field."
[picks up a blue flower]
Fred: "A present for my friends... at Thanksgiving."; 4/23/15, 1:26 PM
Etienne said...: The two of us napped, in a field of blue flowers
Waking at once, to the faint smell of honey
The buzzing and flapping, made both of us jump

Lyrics delayed as the author recovers.; 4/23/15, 2:27 PM
Meade said...: "but the official designation as an invasive species is troubling."

Official? What office? The Weed Commissioner?; 4/23/15, 2:32 PM
Big Mike said...: @Meade, my source was this, which I belatedly recognize has no official standing. The obviously heart-felt plea in the final paragraph coupled with the reference to "infestations" of the plant lead me astray. My apologies.; 4/23/15, 2:45 PM
Jaq said...: In Vermont we have "official weeds." I have a friend who gets payed to brushhog "Poison Parsnip" on his own property by the State of Vermont. It's a bounty, I guess, on the weed. When he does it he has to suit up pretty good, because the stuff can be pretty miserable to be around when you are mowing it and can cause burns on the skin.; 4/23/15, 4:10 PM
Jaq said...: It's Bill Shakespeare's Birthday and the anniversary of his death today. I guess he is like Mark Twain, who came and went with Haley's Comet, except he came and went with April 23rd.; 4/23/15, 4:13 PM
Jaq said...: I need a device that shocks my fingers every time I throW in a random capitalization. Or I need to comment slower.; 4/23/15, 4:24 PM
Jaq said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 4/23/15, 4:27 PM
Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...: I do like close-ups of flowers. Thanks.; 4/23/15, 4:49 PM
Meade said...: @Big Mike, apology accepted but not necessary. The comments at your link are good and worth reading. My own observations, over 40 seasons, is that Scilla does not choke out — and is compatible with — any native wildflower in the Midwest. The Native Plant Movement folks, with many good features, could stand to calm themselves down a bit, I think.; 4/23/15, 7:25 PM
theo said...: "Poison parsnip" AKA "Hogweed" is in the parsnip family and is getting prevalent in upstate ny.

About twenty years ago I encountered one on the side of the road and immediately wanted one for my garden.

It was six feet tall with a span of about half as much. A giant "Queen Anne's Lace.

Went home and looked it up. Yikes.

Glad I didn't lift it for my garden.; 4/23/15, 9:57 PM
Annie said...: Lost the link but it looks like the young man accused of rape by the 'girl' wearing a mattress on her back, is suing Columbia for not protecting him. After the case was tossed by a judge.; 4/23/15, 10:53 PM
lonetown said...: "Is that the controversial Siberian squill again? Beautiful flowers but the official designation as an invasive species is troubling."

I wondered what those pretty blue flowers were in my lawn. Another goddamned invasive species.; 4/24/15, 5:41 AM
rhhardin said...: Ontario has a list of noxious wildflowers that you're obligated by law to pull out, in Ontario Weeds.

Every person in possession of land shall destroy all noxious weeds thereon (Weed Control Act).

Bull thistle
Canada thistle
Chicory
Common barberry
European buckthorn
Dodder
Field bindweed
Goat's beard
Johnson grass
Milkweed
Nodding thistle
Poison ivy
Ragweed
Russian knapweed
Russian thistle
Scotch thistle
Sow thistsle
Cypress spurge
Tuberous vetchling
Wild carrot
Wild garlic
Yellow rocket

That would more or less eliminate all the Ohio color through spring, summer and fall.; 4/24/15, 6:24 AM
rhhardin said...: One trouble with Amazon's suggested additional purchases is that once you buy one romantic comedy that sucks, it suggests others that suck.; 4/24/15, 6:26 AM
Meade said...: "Ontario has a list of noxious wildflowers that you're obligated by law to pull out, in Ontario Weeds."

Pull out? Pulling out half those plants on the list would only cause them to multiply. Especially Canada thistle.; 4/24/15, 10:49 AM
Michelle Dulak Thomson said...: I think that's lithodora and grape hyacinth.; 4/24/15, 7:13 PM