Sunday, October 7, 2007

Foxglove



Here's my tribute to the English cottage garden! Each year I get a four inch pot of Foxglove and put it in a larger pot. I usually get one or two nice stalks like this. This year there were several white stalks blooming and then at the last moment, this pretty pink blossom shot up. I'm thinking of trying to winter it over inside to set out in the ground next spring.

Don't laugh! It is just such microcosms that make up the One Acre Wood!

Ex-shammickite at the Rook's Nest posted about a serendipitous occurrence, then I found another!

Granny J at Walking Prescott posted about the Yavapai County Cowbells annual quilt raffle. I was reminded that my Dad won a lovely quilt raffled off by the Cowbells. It featured blocks of embroidered flowers, one for each month of the year. It was bordered by a pink much the color of the Foxglove and I was allowed to use it as a bedspread when I was a teen.

When I went to visit Joni at My Piece of Heaven, I found that she has made a very similar quilt. In fact, the embroidery patterns could be the same as the patterns used in the quilt my Dad won in about 1950. She gives a link for a site where one can go to download the patterns and see her lovely finished quilt.

Katie at Cosmos has alerted me to the fact that Monday October 15, bloggers all over the world are encouraged to post regarding the environment.

Katie says, ' The idea is to inspire thousands of bloggers to publish a post on that day about an issue of their choice pertaining to the environment.'

She goes on to quote the blog behind the idea:


The best way to participate is to post on your blog something that relates to the environment. Your post can be about anything to do with the environment. So you could write a post which is offtopic for your blog OR relate the environment back to your topic in some way.


For example, if you had a blog about programming and technology, you could write about applications used for the environment, how to make your office more sustainable, how to stop wasting paper, why technology will save the environment, or just write about an environmental issue which has nothing to do with programming!


As another example, if you wrote about restaurants, you could write about kitchen practices that make for a more environmentally friendly workplace, food packaging, produce made from sustainable farming or any of a multitude of topics.”

I'm planning to participate.

9 comments:

meggie said...

Nice post! I must go now & check out your links.
You asked about the rose in my post, I dont know what it is called, it is a miniature & I cant believe it is still alive! I love the colour.

Anonymous said...

I love foxgloves, Linda. Once I tried to settle them in my garden, but they bloomed only for one summer, the next year they were gone. I have never tried again. But in the woods where I like to walk I see them every year. I guess they are wild flowers and like a wild environment.

The Dutch wise woman Mellie Uyldert writes in her book "Hidden energies of plants" that the foxglove is a plant of quiet places carrying secrets. It was a holy flower to the Celtic Druids in old Europe.

Joni said...

The foxglove is lovely. I wish I could grow some here, it just doesn't like the heat and dryness of my area. I also wish I could see the quilt you talk of, I bet it was awesome!

Linda G. said...

meggie, miniature roses are so sweet! I don't ever remember seeieng one that color before. I remember an old rose called Peace with those colors.

Olivia, thanks for the foxglove lore! I love to learn new things about plants I love. How lovely to walk in the woods to see them growing wild! I have had only one winter over outside here!

Joni, I don't know what happened to that quilt! It was my Dad's and it was draped over something in my parents bedroom for years, but then????? I forgot to ask my Mom last night, but will try to find out what ever happened to it.
Yours is equally beautiful, and seeing it reminded me of that quilt, and the girl who slept beneath it as well!

Mary Beth said...

What a beautiful flower! My one bit of knowledge about foxglove is that it is highly poisonous. They are always poisoning someone with foxglove in the English mysteries:)

Linda G. said...

Mary Beth, another interesting bit of lore! English mysteries are the best!

Granny J said...

Don't forget that many foxgloves are bienniels -- grow one year, flower the next, go to seed & die -- tho my dictionary says that some are perennials. Digitalis is the alkaloid.

Linda G. said...

Right gj, and digatalis is still used for some heart problems! Amazing when you think about all the new and different drugs!
I'm hoping this is a perennial as the one that wintered over before bloomed the next year..my fingers are crossed!

Marion said...

I believe I had foxglove winter over in northern Maine, although I'm not entirely sure. I planted only perennials, I remember that.

You asked me about the fudge-peanut butter frosting (on my Hubby's glutin-free cake). I don't have the recipe handy as it was on the bag of GF cake mix, but I have at times bought a can of choc fudge frosting (wheat-free) & mixed in enough chunky PB to please the Celiac guy.

The brand name of the GF choc cake mix is Pamela's Products. They probably have a Web site, so Google it & see.