Tuesday, September 27, 2011

The Evening Primrose, among other things...

The evening primrose flower is actually quite charming....
The petal texture reminds me a little bit of the washi aka Japanese paper...
As previously mentioned, I shall be looking for ways to make use of this 'miraculous' medicine plant...

A rather large portion of our property is actually slopes...
The gradient is perhaps 15 to 20 degrees?
Some years ago, had made these steps out of recycled wood which we kept aside when we renovated our house...
But we need more such steps to move around the slopes...

And it took me many many more moons to put together a 'walkable staircase'...
So, spent a good portion of my last weekend cracking my head on how to do just that...
After some prolonged contemplation, decided to carve these steps at a spot below our sakura tree...  
Was very pleased to be praised by my missus who came by to inspect...

In between the breaks from carving the slopes, grabbed my camera to shoot some pictures in the garden...
This is the flower of a bonafide grass... I have yet to identify its name...
More so than the evening primrose, this 'weed' is really all over our property...
Lucky thing is, they are not so difficult to pull out...
and I must say that I am quite attracted by that shade of blue... pretty exquisite, don't you think?.


The humble zinnia... as with the evening primrose and the grass with the blue flowers, zinnias have really adapted so well to our potager...
The interesting thing is, although they come in shades of pink, their shapes and petals vary considerably...
The above specimen is the single layer petal...

The Thai basil is one of several vegetables that remind me of my mother...
She used to tend a vegetable garden in the village and  at times, I assisted her...
The Thai basil is growing so well this season...
Its fragrance goes very well with our breakfast pizza toasts and also our evening meals...


The parting shot is a bloom (accompanied by a mini spider) from our Jerusalem artichoke patch... 
It is amazing that we do not really care for this plant and yet, they grow so well...
Its edible tubers are not that palatable for us...
But their flowers make up for their bland taste... 
I think the Jerusalem artichoke flower is better suited to our potager compared to the over-sized sunflower...
The Jerusalem artichoke flowers make great cut-flowers as they do not dry out that fast...
My missus fancies these flowers very much, so I suppose they will remain a permanent feature for many moons ('moon' again?) to come... ;)

16 comments:

  1. Your new steps look great...a lot of work. That little blue flower is most intriguing, nature certainly does an amazing job of coloring this planet with those intricate little flowers.

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  2. Anonymous9/27/2011

    OH! your photos are absolutely gorgeous! I loved them! I also loved reading the details....

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  3. Mr. H... the steps, yes, rather heavy duty work as I use only manual tools... still have quite a lot to do in this area... the blue flower is indeed intriguing...

    Connie... thank you for your compliments... how are your plans coming on?

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  4. I've never seen an evening primrose before. Heard plenty about the health benefits in herbal form. What a stunner!

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  5. "So, spent a good portion of my last weekend cracking my head on how to do just that..."

    You make me imagining you are now sitting on the staircase, in nude, "athletic body is twisted in tension from head down to curled toes. While the right muscular arm supports the pensive head, the left hand is open"

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  6. Yellow flowers always cheer me up. Today I saw some yellow ixora and four o'clock plants around my neighbourhood. They were very outstanding. Today I like the artichoke flower. I am sure it look really pretty in real ;-)

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  7. The steps are impressive, and I also love the Thai basil.

    As for your weed, we are plagued with it here too (Massachusetts, USA), The color bloe is almost unique in the plant world as a true blue with clarity and saturation. Too bad it's truly a weed! Anyway, that is Asiatic Dayflower, Commelina communis.

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  8. Nice flowers of Jerusalem artichoke. I'm still waiting for mine, they are about to bloom... but It's the last warm days going on.. or should I say the last-nights-over-0'-celsius-degrees :).
    I haven't heard about Dahlia's tuber thing and haven't tried :D.
    ...I don't know why, but they just don't look so... edible!

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  9. Matron... which means to say that I really have to do something to reap the benefits from the plant...

    rainfield61... ooh, perhaps some yoga poses under the sakura tree?

    Stephanie... our four o'clock plant has yet to give us flowers... come winter, they wilt...

    Cathy and Steve... many thanks for dropping by! I need to spend many more hours carving those slopes... plan to turn those slopes into some kind of 'terraces' and if all goes as planned, perhaps I'd let the Japanese wine berries spread all over them... ah, so that weed is all over your place too... thanks for the 'lesson' on the name... will look it up in the net...

    K... good luck with your Jerusalem artichoke... I have not tried eating the tuber of the Dahlia as yet... I imagine it to taste a bit like the tuber of the Jerusalem artichoke...

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  10. The weeds' flowers are lovely to look at too! :)

    Wow, you are carving steps? Hard work, that! Your arm muscle must be bulging by now. ;p

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  11. Good job with the stair. Look great and you are a genious and very handy re-cycling those materials. Ah don't forget to post photo the same spot with the stairs and sakura in full bloom. Must look spectacular!

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  12. º° ✿
    ♥ °
    Amigo,
    Seu jardim tem sempre uma surpresa agradável.
    Belas fotos.
    Bom fim de semana!
    Beijinhos.
    Brasilº° ✿
    ✿♥ °

    ..(░)(░)
    (░)(♥)(░)
    ..(░)(░)

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  13. lina... the steps are really heavy duty work... but very satisfying... muscle sometimes ache due to the work...

    Malay-Kadazan girl... I am always on the lookout for materials to recycle... I really enjoy doing so... shall see if the same spot looks good during the full sakura bloom...

    Magia da Inês... thank you for your kind words... I am sometimes surprised by what comes out from my own garden as well... have a great weekend...

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  14. I take Evening Primrose supplements myself - they're great for women's health! But they are also used to treat a long list of other health issues including: whooping cough, eczema and skin conditions, anti-aging, digestive problems, asthma, lowering blood pressure and multiple sclerosis. I wish I was lucky enough to have it growing in my garden too :)

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  15. Tanya... yeap, a large portion of the literature talks about the benefits for ladies...

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  16. Anonymous10/08/2011

    like the steps...well done! Beautiful closeups of flowers!

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