Cambridge – Pleasures of Plants

Appreciate Wreaths

Holiday wreaths fit happily within the realm of ‘Pleasures of Plants,’ so one late December day I photographed several on my street and a bit beyond.The longer I looked, the more I appreciated their common and distinctive features. All are circular, continuous, connected, intertwined. Some are mostly evergreens, while others keep bare branches.

Edible Plants and Memories of Minna Lee, part three*

Words from Annie Monahan, Photos from Marjory Wunsch , photos from Lee family album

Edible Plants and Memories of Minna Lee, part two*

Text and photos by Renee Kasinsky and Tina Gram; Text by Harold Snedcof, photo by Marjory Wunsch; text by Linda Harris, photo from Lee/Levy family album

Edible Plants and Memories of Minna Lee, part one*

Photos and texts by Ellen Kramer, Barbara Nachmias-Kedesdy, Barbara Hubschman, Sandy Millikin, Ethan Gould

Abundant Bouquets Generate New Journeys

Thanks to a generous gift subscription from my sister, a tightly packed box full of fantastic blooms is delivered monthly to my door. Finding enough places to put them all can be a challenge, so I strive to send some off to other welcoming homes…..A future post may focus more on where the blooms have come from, but this one looks at where they went.

Join in Praises for Roses in Vases

Earlier in January, when I asked friends for photos of indoor plants, Sandra Millikin sent three from her home in England. All were roses in vases, each bouquet distinct and inviting. Her titles and evocative captions added context. The words and images suggested significant stories behind the roses’ arrivals and arrangements.

Sunflowers from Past Summers

“For ( Ekua) Holmes, the sunflowers represent a radiance that “sustains us even when things are not how we want them to go.”

Sharing Roses of Sharon

Some ways I’ve share roses of Sharon in recent years:
• dig up and transplant selected saplings that grow up below the original bush…
• sweep and scrape loose shriveled remains fallen on the sidewalk .
• take photos of successive stages of a blossom…
• take short videos of blossoms lifting/shifting in warm winds …
• cut branches with buds and blossoms ( a source of tiny active ants) to fill a vase… .

Bare Trees Work with Winter Skies

As buds begin on branches, I recall that blossoms, leaves and fruits will reduce the chances for sky and sun to interact with the structure of bare trees. While eyes and iPhones focus on compelling colors and layers of growing green, I’ll lose sight of dramatic or intricate patterns of tree trunks, bark, limbs and branches for the next three seasons. This post presents reminders of what winter trees will offer again as autumn ends.

Blossoming Trees in Early May 2014

An old apple tree and a relatively young cherry in my yard have almost always blossomed simultaneously. These photos are from one day in May almost seven years ago when I tried to record their sudden abundance and interplay.