Potomac Sunset

Norma Merritt of the Tanta-Cove Garden Club shared this photo of a sunset over the Potomac River above Mount Vernon:

Adkins' Native Plant Arrangements

Rain Ends for Soup 'n' Walk

Saturday's Soup 'n' Walk at Adkins Arboretum was rearranged to accommodate Mother Nature. Instead of walk first and soup later, we started with a program on fall color followed by a delicious lunch and, by the time we were ready for our docent-guided walk through the 400-acre native plant preserve, the rains had stopped.

The menu: Roasted red pepper and corn soup, cabbage and carrot slaw with toasted nuts, pumpkin bread with cream cheese and sweet potato pecan pie. "Nature, Nurture and Nutrition."

Flowering dogwood (Cornus florida) (above r).









Strawberry Bush (Euonymus americanus) (above) was throughout the forest.

Wild mushrooms (above), mosses (below l) and one of Adkin's four native orchids (below r) with green leaves and dried out blossoms.

Tupelo or black gum tree (Nyssa sylvatica ) (above l) and the blue fruit of the Viburnum nudum (above r). Ann and Bill (below l) and wetlands foot bridge (below r).

Elizabethan Gardens

The Elizabethan Gardens next to the First Colony site at Manteo, NC on Roanoke Island is a subsidiary of The Garden Club of North Carolina, Inc., an affiliate of the National Garden Clubs, Inc. We stopped this time only to shop for plants at the gift shop!

Seashore Gardening

The plumes of pampas grass blow in the breeze, Nags Head, NC, October 20, 2007.

Sunflower (helianthus) or false sunflower (heliopsis)? In the front, orange and yellow marigolds (Tagetes), red globe amaranth (Gomprhrena globosa) and and Agave americana.









Mexican bush sage (Salvia leucantha).

Joyce's Brugmansia

For the third time this year, the brugmansia (above) on Joyce and Floyd's front porch is in bloom. This South American plant is also known as Angel's Trumpet. It's flowers become very fragrant in the early evening.

A sheltered row of patriotic impatiens (below) thrive several doors away.

Urban Sky Gardens

These urban sky gardens are on the upper floors of commercial buildings on the north side of the 1000, 1100 and 1200 blocks of Pennsylvania Avenue NW. They are spied from the 270-foot observation deck in the clock tower of the Old Post Office Pavilion. Though perhaps not fully "green roofs", they nevertheless absorb rain and pollution and release oxygen while providing secluded park-like settings high above the noise of the streets below. Right click on photos for a larger view.

Right click here for other views.

Bulb Sales Continue

Larry and Amy (above) selling on October 13. The amaryllis arrived and almost sold out in one day! Crocus almost gone as well.

Jane Redmon Demonstrates Sogetsu Ikebana

Jane Redmon is certified as a teacher, first degree, by the Sogetsu School of Ikebana, the Japanese art of flower arranging. Ikebana arose in the Sixth Century with the introduction of Buddhism to Japan. Over the centuries the practice of Ikebana moved from the religious to the samurai classes, a simplified form was introduced in the Fifteenth Century for all classes, and in the late 19th Century the practice was included in the education of women. The Sogetsu School was established in 1929 by Sofu Teshigahara who taught Ikebana as a freer, expressive art form.

More traditional arrangements encompass three lines representing heaven, man and earth. Arrangements are composed of 1, 2, 3, 5, 7 or 9 elements and each element is usually represented by a similar number of units. For example, Redmon's first arrangement involved 3 protea and 5 chrysanthemums. Many practitioners avoid 4 elements because the Japanese word for 4 is similar to the word for death. Empty space is as much a part of an arrangement as is line and mass and color. In addition to natural plant materials, Sogetsu may include decorative man made forms and paper.