Saturday, July 11, 2009

A Bog to Blog About


Our home sits on a plot of land that is almost but not quite 3 acres. Not big enough to be considered an estate , not small enough to be tract housing. At the back of property is a designated wetlands area, there a small creek runs through our lot dividing it. On maps this small creek is called Cow Pen Creek. Exactly who's cow pen ? We don't know, would be nice though..."Houdini's Cow Pen Creek", most appropriate for our bouts of scant then ample rain fall; now you see it, now you don't !

Deep in this more secluded wetlands is a small pond and, amazingly, a cornucopia of discoveries and delights. The other day I came across yet another mystery plant, again have no idea what it is, have never seen anything like it before.

Gene, our son-in-law, runs a lawn and yard maintenance service and is also a "Cracker" which is a colloquialism for a native Floridian, one born and raised in Florida. Cracker refers back to the days when Florida cowboys used long bull whips that were snapped violently, producing an ear splitting 'crack'. Usually the loud crack of the whip was sufficient to keep their herd of steer heading in the right direction. We thought with Gene's background, there was a good chance he would know what the plant was, but he looked at it, shrugged and called it a weed. Perhaps it is just a weed , however I love the little snowball flowers, obviously so do a species of little black shield bugs or beetles, as they were all over the plant, the bugs I could do without.


Usually plants that attract such bugs would have an offensive odor, not the case here, the blooms have a faintly sweet, pleasant scent and they do look rather pretty in a bouquet.






Photo below shows a bloom just before all the individual blossoms open.

8 comments:

  1. I enjoy your writing style. And, that plant is something else, isn't it. I think it is quite lovely. And, have never seen anything like it in books or gardens or forests or bogs. Thank for sharing the interesting pictures. Mary

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mary - It is quite an unusual plant and also quite pretty. I believe I'm growing rather fond of it, would love to know it's name and more about it, even if it turns out that it is only a weed...but a part of me doesn't wish to accept that. ,)
    Anna

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ooh that is a pretty plant... so mysterious what it is. The look like little white sea urchins? or kind of like fireworks. Maybe they change colour over the summer too?

    ps. come and enter my giveaway, if you like. ;)
    http://cabinandcub.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  4. It looks like something that someone from an alien ship might have planted after landing near your bog late one night while you were sleeping. (Just kidding!)

    I would love to know what it really is.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Sharon -
    Hee, hee...you might be right and those little black shield bugs are really tiny aliens. =)
    There is a website that one can post photos of "mystery" plants and hopefully someone (novice or pro horticulturalist) would identify it. However the website requires user id and password. Guess I should look up the site again and see about joining it as I tend to be finding lots of "alien" plants in my wetland area. =0
    I thank everyone for stopping by and giving my blog a look-see and most of all for posting comments...love hearing from my lovely visitors.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I was going to say the exact same thing as Sharon, too funny! It is quite pod like. They are definitely pretty though!

    Houdini's creek...hahaha!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hi again! I'm back to tell you that I have tagged you on my blog to share some information about yourself with us readers. (If you have the time and the inclination)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hi there! I see you and I have something in common:)! Your work is LOVELY! Let me know if you would like to add one another as followers to help network and increase traffic to one anothers sites! Best of luck to you!

    ReplyDelete

Nothing makes me happier than to hear from those who have dropped by my blog for a visit. I love hearing from you.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...