Flowers and Shadows #ShadowshotSunday

Today, on a day promising storms this afternoon, I decided to post a couple of shadow pictures from yesterday.

Taken at a local farm market.

My shady back yard, with shadows and golden hour lighting.  Nothing in this picture is yellow; the gold is provided by the sun's angle in what photographers call the Golden Hour.

Joining Lisa at This and That: A Blog, for her #ShadowshotSunday.  

 

My Red Trillium #ShadowshotSunday

For #ShadowshotSunday, brought to us by Lisa at Lisa's Garden Adventures, I take you to my back yard where I've had a red trillium for years.  We purchased this as a young plant at the annual Ithaca, New York Plant sale.  

It is up against a brunnera plant (the blue flowers)- the brunnera are trying to take over our shady back yard, in fact.

Here's a better look at it.  It appears in early spring and at some point the red flower appears.  I love its variegated leaves - that is why I purchased this particular variety.  I am a sucker (technical term) for plants with variegated leaves.  After blooming, the plant disappears (by mid summer if not earlier) until the following spring.

And yes, there is one flower.  It will produce one seed, which is carried by ants to a nearby piece of dirt.  Right now I have this original plant and two babies.  One baby has a tiny flower.

We were warned by the grower who sold this plant to us that it would take years to bloom and indeed it did.   Not only that, when the bud appeared, it took two or three years for the flower to look like it was opening.  In fact, the flower has never opened all the way.

I wonder if it ever will. Maybe the plant isn't happy because it isn't in a forest.  It does get a lot of sun until the trees grow their leaves, which they now have. You can learn more about trilliums here.

Finally,here is one of our brunneras.

Will you come out of the shadows and join up with Lisa's #ShadowshotSunday linky on her website?  We'd love to have you.

Summer Blooms - Guacamole and Captain Kirk

What do guacamole and Captain Kirk have in common?

A better question might be: have you ever wondered about how they name varieties of flowers?

I toured the flower gardening of guest photographer today. She loves hostas, and some of hers are still in bloom.  According to Wikipedia, there are over 3,000. registered and named varieties of hostas.  

So how do they go about naming new varieties, when over 3,000. names are already taken?

Like, for example...

Guacamole.

I guess you could say the leaves of this hosta are about the color of freshly made guacamole.

What really impressed me was the lily like, fragrant flower.  Didn't smell anything like guacamole.  The flower is distinctive for a hosta, which are grown mainly for their beautiful foliage.

Next, was Sum and Substance.

The sum and substance of what?

Remember this hosta.

It is called "Rememberance".  (Incidentally, the slugs have been munching away on hostas locally, so please excuse the holes in the leaves.)

Finally, does viewing this hosta make want you to tour the galaxy and explore strange new worlds?

If it does, it is because this variety is called Captain Kirk.

Hostas make me glad I have shade in my back yard.  They are very easy to grow, come in all sizes from miniature to gigantic, various leaf colors from blue-green to variegated green, and are bothered by few pests other than slugs. (A plus for my friend is that deer don't like them.)

I still don't have any insights into how these plants got those names.  But I'll remember them the next time I wonder if Captain Kirk really liked guacamole.

Do you like hostas?  Do you have a favorite type or color?