Doodle Town by Melissa Lomax for August 11, 2021

“Flower arrangements”.

When I was a kid, we planted tomato seeds. The sprouted and grew, and tomatoes formed on the plants that looked just like what we bought in the grocery store and tasted even better. It was Amazing.

My August lilies. They have a big mound of leaves in the spring. The leaves die away leaving bare earth. Then, around the first or second week of August, stalks with crowns of sea shell pink lilies poke their way out of the ground as if by magic. In fact, some folks call them magic lilies. I started out with 3 bulbs over 30 years ago. This year I had over 20 stalks of lilies.

Radishes. I owned a house for a short time, and set up a small garden along a thin strip of ground between the driveway and the neighbor’s fence. Planted tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, 3 different kinds of hot peppers, and some radish seeds. After a month or so, everything was growing up nicely, except there was this big ugly brush at the end of the garden, that I thought was a bush left over from the previous owners. Eventually, the stalks were 6 feet tall, and covered in little spiny needles. Finally, I gave up and bought some heavy leather gloves and pulled the stalks up. At the bottom was this big ugly ball of woody-like root that turned out to be a massive radish about half a foot across. Didn’t know radishes did that. I planted a couple more seeds, and harvested them when they were a more manageable size. Those went together well sliced on crackers with cheese, some of the cherry tomatoes, and sliced peppers.

This: https://www.deviantart.com/xunlimited/art/Cactus-Flower-104254074

Mother In Law Tongue, or Sanseveria Plant. It started, 45 years ago, as one, wee, small plant, a house-warming gift from my BFF’s Mom. I added another plant from the planter my parents gave me, when the daughter was born. Well, they grew tall, they grew out of pots, I divided them too many times to number, I gave away pots of them…Now, I again have 4, 12" pots that need re-potting & they stand FIVE FEET TALL. Interesting fact; they are desert plants, so I put them outside in mostly-sun every year when the night-time temps are no longer under 50° & they get a constant supply of rain water. So, every Summer, in July, they bloom!!! They have a very intense, concentrated sweet scent. I’ve been told that desert blooms are very intensely scented, b/c dry air tends to not carry scents/odors as well as more moist air, so their scent is intensified to attract pollinators more readily.

Swamp Milkweed. We purchase it from Agway but the aphids sucked the life out of them before I could get my Monarch caterpillars to mature and they never came back the following year. I searched all the growers last year and this spring but no one had them. Lo and Behold I spotted milkweed in a vacant lot. Dug some up and transplanted in my wildflower garden and within two weeks there was a caterpillar. I’m doing my best to help the Monarch Butterfly population because Milkweed is the only plant the caterpillars will eat.

A 127 pound cabbage in Alaska.

A few years back I bought swamp milkweed. I needed milkweed for some Monarch caterpillars I’d found in a hand-picked bouquet a co-worker’s beau dropped off at the office. The only variety at the local nurseries that late in the season had boring white flowers. I grudgingly put it in the ground, thinking of the future generations of butterflies that would enjoy it even if I didn’t. Starting the following year, that plant always comes back split. One side has the advertised white blossoms, while the other sports far more attractive two-toned mauve and rose blooms.

The most interesting thing about plants to me is their will to live. Plants will grow in the most desolate of places, push through asphalt roads or cement sidewalks and even right through rocks. They may look fragile and delicate, but they have great strength.

I’v seen these before they’re nice hope ur plant grow healthy (smiles)

I’ve seen some really interesting plants on David Attenborough documentaries!

I used to plant bean or cress for biology. But actually I loved a plant I recently bought for my room. It’s a fern.

I have milkweed. Love that stuff

A beautifull mushroom growing on the pavement. There’s still a lot of nature in the city. You just need to look, and you’ll see weeds making their way up or birds flying around.

Groves of old growth Redwood trees.

The different kinds of beetles attracted to grape vines I planted a few years back. Their colors are outrageous!

In my neighborhood a small broad leaf tree had grown out of a crack in the sidewalk to just over knee high. One of our neighbors decorated it with battery powered fairy lights and ornaments. We were all invited to add decorations. It was December 2020. Covid pandemic. Every night on my walk I would stop and be filled with peace and hope at the sight of it. Small miracles can be powerful.

Butterflies mating!

In my small garden, a bird must’ve dropped a sunflower seed. That plant is well over 6ft high and the flower looks to be almost a foot and a half in diameter!!!