Tag: leaves

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01/16/2024 walk to OU duck pond

It’s 22 degrees F and sunny and with very light north wind now, so we walked over to the OU duck pond to see what was happening. All the geese and ducks were at the north end at a patch of open, flowing water on the creek. We also saw two Belted Kingfishers tangling in the air – squabbling? Courting?

A woman in a long blue quilted coat looks into an iced over pond at some big slider turtles.
Paula spotted one big slider turtle under the very thick ice!
Three turtles (two close together near shore and one farther out) under cracked ice that’s at least half a foot deep b
Can you find all three? They were all moving under the ice, which looked at least 4-6” thick.
A big iron sewer or water cover with the tidy graffiti described in the caption as well as a small geometric pattern of partial squares at right angles. Briar the dog sniffs the concrete under the lid.
“think, look, listen”… smell?
Paula holds a purplish leaf of the spring beauty. It’s very narrow and long, with dry tan bits of bermudagrass around it.
Paula remembered where she saw Spring Beauties blooming last year and after a few minutes of searching we found several leaves! No buds yet.
Briar’s fluffy tail near a geodetic survey marker in low bermudagrass and small forbs.
We also noticed this geodetic reference survey marker for the first time. Dog for scale.
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12/30/2023 spring beauty expansion

I point at the base of each long skinny green leaf with my first two fingers
I was showing Mom today how one of the two Spring Beauties she gave us have survived. She pointed out it now has two stems from the same plant! I can’t find the second plant which was another foot or so away. I accidentally pulled up its single leaf last year while weeding out Star of Bethlehem lilies and I suspect that killed it.
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11/26/2023 minor plant miracle!

My seemingly giant finger pointing at a very tiny sprig of green emerging from an otherwise gray stem.
I was examining the stems and base of the two scarlet peas we dug up in early fall from the doomed prairie (sold for building on) in town. I’ve been watering both since we moved them. Today I noticed a tiny green shoot emerging from one stem of one plant! I’m going to try to grow this species from seed too but it’s nice to know at least one made it.
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11/18/2023 prairie verbena yay!

The deeply incised leaves of prairie verbena (plus some hitchhiking oxalis) against dark soil. I’m pointing at it with a gray and textured glove.
I think the seed from home being fresh helped, as one came up very quickly this summer. All of these happened after we bought two plants at the native plant festival haha.
I’m pointed my gloved finger at a little verbena seedling nested among bigger green leaves with many veins.
This verbena seed took almost a year I think to come up, and now two little seedlings are up too. So the many of them just want to take their own time. Its leaves are different. More like I expected for Verbena halei but I had it labeled where I thought it was prairie. We shall find out!
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10/15/2023 thistle rosettes in the wild

A fingertip sized baby thistle!
Bigger thistle baby!
Another thistle rosette
They apparently overwinter this way
This rosette I’m not sure if it’s texanum or undulatum. I haven’t seen any undulatum seeds up yet in my pots.
This is the same individual as to the left, showing the white closely hairy underside of the thistle leaves.
These five thistle rosettes are probably mostly or all texanum, based on that only my texanum seeds have germinated into similar size rosettes. These are all at my parents’ house, where I got the seeds. Yay!
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11/04/2023 saffron season

A big fuzzy bumblebee visits the purple streaked petals and yellow and red center of a saffron flower.
The original saffron patch after being divided this spring has three plants big enough to flower! A bumblebee was visiting one!
A cluster of several saffron plants with two buds and one open flower
I didn’t divide this patch very well oops.
I hold a single saffron plant with two green leaves coming out of the ground with a slight pale sheath around the base near the soil
In the front yard, I had planted three patches the last two seasons. So far only one is up and no visible flowers. someone else here near Norman had several at this stage. I think the smaller bulbs don’t flower the first season and need to grow more.
Half a dozen saffron plants with long thin green leaves in a clay pot, from above. The middle plant has a fully open flower.
Judy reports one flower from her bulbs planted in the spring after the division! Hers are in a pot.
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10/29/2023 first freeze forecast tonight

Piles of vegetable greenery on a concrete front poor with a black double door in the background
So, in spite of rain all day and temperatures in the 30s F, I went out and cut all the plants. That’s the giant pile of cut basil on an overflowing Rubbermaid tub and assorted cut off pepper plants nearby. The rest of the day was getting basil leaves off the stems.
An inch thick basil stem cut off, with my hand nearby for scale.
The basil stems were so big I had to use the loppers to cut them at the base.
A blue-gray rubber made plastic tub almost full of bright green basil leaves
3608 grams of basil leaves. This is 7.95 pounds. Yes, we did tare the tub weight. Yes, it is a lot of basil. No, I don’t even know what’s going to happen.
Close up view of a red and blue striped leaf hopper. Its legs and tip of snoot grade to yellow. It has tiny hair like antennae.
Leafhopper
A small true bug nymph on my fingers. It’s small enough that you don’t see around my whole finger. The brown colors are speckled
True bug nymph
A brownish jumping spider with iridescent green pedipalps peeks out from its web, which holds a bright green basil leaf folded over as shelter.
Jumping spider
Close up of the face of a praying mantis. It is watching me.
Praying mantis
We had several little friends come in on the basil. All were released back into the shelter of adjacent plants outside.