Seeing the Forest and the Trees

Posted by Kanga.

I’ve been enjoying the plethora of trees. The city is spred out over a large area and heavily forested. We spent the afternoon in the botanical garden.

The mud dauber wasps made it challenging to find the women’s restroom.

Can you see the frog?

Here he is.

This was the most unusual flower – golden shrimp plant.

Despite the heat, it was a pleasant afternoon.

Urban Bees

Posted by Kanga.

DaddyBird noticed these bees taking up residence in a potted plant just outside the entrance of our apartment.

There isn’t that much follage in our neighborhood – a few potted plants, but not a lot of gardens or parks, so it is a little surprising to see “wildlife” in the heart of the city. These little fellows are making the best of the situation.

Oregon Green

Posted by Kanga.

The geography of Oregon includes many different ecosystems – coastal, mountain, valley, semi-arid desert, rain forrest, dry forrest, grassland, and more. It is a beautiful slice of the Earth. Here are a couple of sites from the wet, green mountain range.

I thought these were white flowers until I got up close. They are white berries instead.

Edibles

Posted by Kanga.

My sister’s green thumb is not limited to pretty flowers. Here are some edibles.

Zucchini squash

Green apples in the tree, which is heavily loaded this year. Plenty to eat and give away.

Raspberries just beginning to ripen. Yummy! These are my favorite kind berries. Food of the gods!

My sister’s green thumb

Posted by Kanga.

My apologies for having so many pictures in this post, but I had great difficulty choosing just a few. These are the beautiful flowers growing in the garden around my mother’s & sister’s house.

Complicated Plant

Posted by Kanga.
Previously, I had seen a very large version of this plant that sent up a giant stalk and then put out tiny and rather silly looking flowers. So, when this one appeared in front of the library, it gave me a change to document it’s reproductive process.

First, it sends up this tall stalk and clumps of buds.

The blooms are mostly just pestles and stamens and it blooms up the stalk.

Then come the seed pods, which fall to the ground.

You might think, as I did, that this is the end, but NO. There’s more.

There is a secondary bloom stage in which leaves and blooms come out of the same clusters that produced the first blooms.

KL Flora pt2

KL Flora

First, let me correct a slight faux pas in the previous post. DaddyBird did go to France, since he landed in Nice in order to get to Monaco, but Monaco is a separate country and not IN France. Some of you may remember that Grace Kelly was the Princess of Monaco. Silly me, I should have remembered.

Now, back to Kuala Lumpur for the flora. I’ll let them speak for themselves.

Oregon – California

This is the view from my sister’s home north of Prineville, Oregon. Nice.

This is the Oregon/California border. Every car stops just long enough to answer the question “Do you have any plants or fresh produce?” The intent is to stop the spread of pests and plant diseases. It has been a long time since there has been an infestation, but they keep asking the question.

I think this is the Klamath River, taken at a rest stop/park near Yreka, California.

This oak tree had a large investation of mistletoe, a semi-parasitical plant. This is common in oak trees.

Update on dates

The dates are starting to ripen. Apparently, the date season is from mid-May to mid-August. These are the first on campus that I have seen starting to ripen.