sprite writes
broodings from the burrow

November 17, 2017


not native, fall, and reminder
posted by soe 2:12 am

Three beautiful things from my past week, now part of Carole’s Three on Thursday:

Banana Tree Flower at D.C.'s West End Community Garden

1. As you might be able to tell, this is a banana flower, cultivated by the Japanese for a more temperate climate than other species. What is not obvious from my photo is that it’s growing at my community garden, right here in D.C. The tree is about ten feet tall and that flower is larger than a football. The tiny banana fruits you see are apparently inedible, filled with only a little bit of fruit and lots of black seeds. I’m sure that now that we’ve had a freeze, the flower has died, but this was last Friday morning, still blooming well into November.

2. With the cold snap, the gingko trees dropped many of their leaves prematurely, so instead of a nearby block turning golden, as it usually does in the autumn, the street was covered with green.

First Orchids of the Season

3. My orchids usually bloom right around Thanksgiving. That also coincides with the birthday of my Uncle George, who sent them to me for my birthday the year before he died. This will be our fifth season together, and the flowers began unfurling yesterday morning. I’ve moved them from my office windowsill to my desk for the moment so I can enjoy the day-to-day differences at this stage. It has a second stem shooting off in the opposite direction (those are roots you can see in the background) and the other surviving orchid has a stem growing, too, but it usually holds off blooming until the new year.

How about you? What’s been beautiful in your world recently? (And, oh! Would taking part in the Virtual Advent Tour next month make your life beautiful? If so, sign up!)

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