Tell Me A Story: September 2013

Monday, September 30, 2013

PERIWINKLE

Marcia Norwood
America's STORYTELLER
Telling Untold Stories in Photographs, Prose and Public Speaking

Periwinkle

Vinca

Periwinkle has beautiful
blue,
lavender,
purple and
white flowers.

It grows quickly, and is ideal as a
ground cover for shady areas.

Periwinkle can become invasive.

Cut back plants to encourage bushy growth, and to keep them within bounds.

I pull up periwinkle (vinca) vines from the root and transplant them in other flower beds throughout our gardens, and also in containers.

Periwinkle is SO easy to grow, and it comes back year after year even with our cold Missouri winters in the heart of America.

Periwinkle
Vinca

Light: Sun,Part Sun,Shade
Zones: 4-9
Plant Type: Perennial
Plant Height: 4-18 inches tall, depending on variety
Plant Width: Indefinitely wide
Flower Color: White, purple, blue, lavender flowers; variegated leaves depending on variety
Bloom Time: Blooms Mid-Spring to Fall
Landscape Uses: Containers, Beds & Borders, Slopes, Groundcover
Special Features: Flowers, Attractive Foliage, Attracts Birds, Tolerates Wet Soil, Deer Resistant, Easy to Grow

Click on each photograph to enlarge.


Thanks for stopping by!

Come back often,
and bring a friend!

Marcia Norwood
America's STORYTELLER
Telling Untold Stories in Photographs, Prose and Public Speaking

Sunday, September 29, 2013

CANNA LILY?

Marcia Norwood
America's STORYTELLER
Telling Untold Stories in Photographs, Prose and Public Speaking

Canna Lily is not really a lily.

Cannas are tropical and subtropical flowering plants with large, banana-like leaves. They can be grown as annuals in cooler regions in most countries of the world, where they add an instant touch of the tropics to gardens. Canna plants need at least 6 - 8 hours average sunlight during the summer.

According to Auburn University's J. Raymond Kessler, gardeners have used cannas for over 400 years. The plant experienced a surge in popularity during the Victorian era.


Jacob Loose Memorial Park, 5200 Wornall Rd, Kansas City, Missouri. Copyright 2012 Marcia Norwood

I plant canna bulbs in the spring, and enjoy them throughout the summer and fall.

I dig up my cannas out of the ground or pot that they are planted in before winter.

When it's time to dig up the plant - I clean the dirt away from around the rhizomes (a rootlike subterranean stem, commonly horizontal in position, that produces roots below and sends up shoots). Rhizomes are saved in a dry place (like a box or paper bag) throughout the winter.

"I must have flowers, always, and always."

Claude Monet

(1840-1926)

Founder of French Impressionist Painting.

The term Impressionism is derived from the title
of his painting, Impression, Sunrise.

"There are always flowers for those who want to see them."

Henri Matisse

(1869-1964)

French Artist, Printmaker and Sculptor

My Granny Lucille planted canna bulbs all along the shoreline of her second home at the Lake of the Ozarks. The bright red tropical flowers with huge striped leaves waved in the wind as we approached the shore...like a greeting. Red cannas still remind me of summer fun at Granny's lake house.

Longview Marina, Lee's Summit, Missouri. Copyright 2013 Marcia Norwood

Cannas are often grown for their foliage alone. The large paddle-like leaves come in greens, blue-greens and stripes.

Canna flowers come in shades and combinations of yellow, orange, red and pink and are borne on tall stalks coming out of the foliage.

Latin Name: Canna ×generalis and Hybrids

Common Name(s): Canna, Canna Lily, Indian Shot

Have you ever planted a canna bulb in your garden?

Thanks for stopping by!

Come back often, and bring a friend!

Marcia Norwood
America's STORYTELLER
Telling Untold Stories in Photographs, Prose and Public Speaking

Click on each photograph
to enlarge.

Saturday, September 28, 2013

R O S E S

Marcia Norwood
America's STORYTELLER
Telling Untold Stories in Photographs, Prose and Public Speaking

Rose Harvest at Norwood Gardens

Knock-out roses begin blooming in spring, and continue blooming until the snowfalls here in Missouri. I cut roses (Knock-out, Hybrid tea, and Climbers) from April until as late as December.

Armed with
scissors,
garden shears
and
garden gloves -
I cut rose
blossoms and
hips, (the fruit of the rose),
and collect them in baskets.

Roses dry in baskets, and on open weave fabric/cloths on the counter.

"God gave us memory
so that we might have roses in December."

James Matthew Barrie (1860-1937)

Scottish Dramatist and Novelist best known as the creator of Peter Pan

"It will never rain roses:

when we want to have more roses

we must plant more trees."

George Eliot (1819-1880)

English Victorian Novelist,Pseudonym of Mary Ann Evans

"Truth and roses have thorns about them."

Henry David Thoreau

"Marriage is like life.

It is a field of battle, not a bed of roses."

Robert Louis Stevenson

"There is nothing more difficult

for a truly creative painter

than to paint a rose,

because before he can do so

he has first to forget all the roses

that were ever painted."

Henri Matisse (1869-1954)

Artist regarded as the most important French Painter of the 20th century.

Yellow roses were used to convey happiness,

light,

friendship and

new beginnings

in ancient times.

Although In 18th century Europe, the message of a yellow rose changed to something a little darker.

By the 20th century the most accepted message moved back to something joyful.

Mixing yellow roses with other colors carries significance:

CLICK on the link below or COPY & PASTE the link in your browser:

http://www.ehow.com/about_6618897_meaning-yellow-rose_.html

CLICK on each photograph to enlarge.

The rose is a flower of love.

The world has acclaimed it for centuries.

Pink roses are for love hopeful and expectant.

White roses are for love dead or forsaken,
But the red roses,

Ah - the red roses are for love triumphant.
A yellow rose means true friendship.

Give her two roses

(one red and one yellow)
each with a note.

The first note (with red rose) says:
"For the woman I love."

The second (with yellow rose):
"For my best friend."

Thanks for stopping by!

Come back often, and bring a friend!

Marcia Norwood
America's STORYTELLER
Telling Untold Stories in Photographs, Prose and Public Speaking