Dusty Rider

The wildflowers in this area are dying from lack of rain. I rode for almost two hours and didn't take but a very few pictures of just one.  People were watering their flowerbeds, but the hills and dales are bone dry and brown. I was disappointed, BUT...when I uploaded my shots became happier. You see, there were just these yellow fellows, but my pictures were satisfactory. Of course I had to research as I didn't know what they were. I only knew what they weren't! Would you have stopped for these? Probably not.

They looked better as I got closer...

Below is an internet picture of the back. I 'fixed' the background so it would show up better.

It is known as a Field Sowthistle. Its history is interesting - to me, at least. The below information is from one of hundreds of pages I found concerning the perennial.

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Crepis vesicaria

Native to:

Albania, Algeria, Austria, Baleares, Belgium, Canary Is., Corse, East Aegean Is., France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Kriti, Madeira, Morocco, Netherlands, Portugal, Sardegna, Sicilia, Spain, Switzerland, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkey-in-Europe, Yugoslavia

Introduced into:

British Columbia, California, Connecticut, Great Britain, Hawaii, Ireland, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Poland, South Australia, Victoria

Well, I learned something today.

My Succulent

The identification came from a Google research resulting in the following information.

Mini Blue Chalksticks (Senecio or Curio serpens) (Rowley): A tidier, more compact version of the larger Blue Chalksticks. Its finger-like leaves are a deeper blue and grow to 1.0"-2.0" long. They have a powdery coating of protective farina that thickens in bright sun, so the plant can take on a more silvery hue in summer.

Mini Chalkstalks makes a wonderfully low-maintenance, drought-tolerant ground cover in frost-free climates, but it can also overwinter indoors near a sunny window or under a grow light. With time and plenty of sun, it can even cascade from containers. It produces a classic Asteraceae flower: a white pompom made up of tiny, fragrant blossoms.

So now I know.... and I wait for the blossoms to open. 

mountaincrestgardens.com

Victory Again...Different

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A vole is a small rodent resembling a mouse but with a stouter body, a shorter, hairy tail, a slightly rounder head, smaller ears and eyes, and differently formed molars. There are approximately 155 species of voles. Wikipedia

If you would like to know more about them please go to this link that is a very good site for information.

http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7439.html

Mystery Seeds

When at the campground in SC this past September and October I noticed that another permanent resident had a vine in her side yard that intrigued me. It was a bit scrawny and grew from a hanging pot and twisted around the shepherd's hook.  The lady seemed to never be at home whenever I passed by, but once I caught her coming in.  I asked her what kind of vine she was growing and she didn't know. She received the seed in a gift can which called it a Jack in the Beanstalk, with directions of how to grow it. She threw the can away! She then told me that in the summer it produced a lovely large purple flower. I never saw the flower. 

Actually, the reason it attracted my attention was that there were only two hanging long seed pods on the bare stems and I wanted one. They looked like giant pea pods.  So.....I asked her if I could have one when they had dried. 

One morning I discovered MY pod on my porch deck. Whoopee!!!! I did see her later on that week to thank her. She told me that several others were stopping by when they saw those pods and she was afraid that someone would pick them and take them away so she beat them to it!  She kept one and asked me what I was going to do with mine. I told her I would dry it, open it, save the seeds, and next year plant them to see what vine it really is. I also told her I would try to accomplish, by internet research, its identification.

I was afraid that, because they hadn't dried on the vine they weren't ripe enough to pick, but just decided to dry the pod and reap the seeds anyway. So I did. When the pod finished drying in my PA home it really rattled and was tough to open. BEANS! I have purple/pinkish beans! 

I have spent hours trying to know what my precious seeds are. I have just about given up and hope that I can plant them and have them sprout and grow and produce flowers and more wonderful ten inch pods.