Pied Beauty

Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889)

Glory be to God for dappled things—
For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;
For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches' wings;
Landscape plotted and pieced—fold, fallow, and plough;
And all trades, their gear and tackle and trim.

All things counter, original, spare, strange;
Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)
With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;
He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:

Praise him.

Friday, May 21, 2010

White Alder Flower

 Or Cuban Buttercup or Turnera subulata.  This pretty little flower opens in the morning and tends to close in the hot afternoon sun. Its cousin, the yellow turnera, or Yellow Alder Flower, or Turnera ulmifolia, seems to leave its flowers open for longer during the day.

(Yellow Alder Flower photo courtesy UpstateNYer, via Wikimedia Commons)

But I can't help it.  I love the little face of the white flower.  This charming Zone 9 perennial grow to about 2' in height and is native to the West Indies and Brazil.  The yellow ones, especially, can be invasive in climates like South Florida or Hawaii, but here in Zone 9A, they should eventually freeze back.  Both varieties root easily from cuttings and are normally available at independent nurseries in the summer.

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