Fall Colors

Some photos I took recently: native sunflowers, mountain mint, goldenrod.

Circular Polarizer

This morning I went for a walk and played around with a circular polarizing filter on my camera. I took a series of before and afters:

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After

La Marche des Scythes

"La Marche des Scythes" is a piece for harpsichord by Joseph-Nicolas-Pancrace Royer (1705 - 1755). Fiery, virtuosic, moody, humorous; I have trouble believing fingers can move like this. The growling of the bass is fantastic.

Skip Sempé has the best performance I've heard.

Jean Rondeau has an impressive performance also, but a little less precise.

Silence

I like this observation from Fr. Ray Blake, which I saw on Fr. Z's blog:

Why do attacks on the Church always begin attacks on contemplatives? It was the Carthusians the French masonic government first attacked in 1903, just as bloody Henry had begun his English Reformation with martyrdom of St John Houghton and his Carthusian companions. 

The silent Church is always a greater threat than the chattering Church. The chattering Church is easily manipulated, it depends on its own resources, its own wisdom and insights, it is receptive to novelties and eager for change. The silent Church is close to Christ, it contemplates the essential mysteries of the faith, it is in the World but not of it, it depends not on its own resources but the Power of God. It is united to an unbroken Tradition.

I really must watch Into Great Silence again soon...

Dissonance

Looking at a keyboard, we see a compromise. The notes in our Western scale are derived from Pythagoras's "pure" ratios, but these pure ratios do not fit neatly into a twelve-note system. D-sharp is not really the same note as E-flat, nor is E-sharp really the same as F, and so on. Thus, Western music has had to compromise, resulting in intervals that are almost pure, but not exactly. Modern equal temperament, for example, is based on the square root of 12, not a pretty number at all, but close enough for our ears. In this system, the only pure ratio is the octave. The result of these impure ratios is more dissonance.

Italian composers in the 17th Century were not happy with this compromise, however, and began composing music for instruments with more than 12 notes to the octave. One instrument is the cimbalo cromatico, a harpsichord that has 31 notes per octave.

Take a listen to this "uncompromising" music. I think I like music with more dissonance better. All those pure ratios, oddly, make me feel dizzy and uneasy.

Late Bloomers

Some perennials wait until the end to bloom. Such are Lion's Tail (Leonotis leonurus) and Salvia 'Anthony Parker'. All summer long these two gradually grow to become 3-to-5-foot leafy balls, and then in September explode in flower.

Lion's tail is a member of the mint family from Africa. It is naturally pollinated by the African equivalent of hummingbirds, which I believe are called sunbirds. Our hummingbirds want nothing to do with them, however, though butterflies love them. I've read before that lion's tail can be smoked and it's like a milder form of cannabis, though I have no intention of trying.

Lion's tail (Leonotis leonurus)

I love when the sun back-lights these.

Salvia 'Anthony Parker' is a hybrid between pineapple sage (Salvia elegans) and Mexican bush sage (Salvia leucantha). This is my first year growing it, so I'm unsure how it will survive winter. However, both parents (which are also excellent fall-blooming sages) survive most winters here, so I'm confident in 'Anthony Parker'. The flowers are most vibrant in morning, withering somewhat in the heat of the day. Bumblebees love it and often sleep on it overnight. Unlike pineapple sage, the leaves have no fragrance.

Salvia 'Anthony Parker', Salvia greggii in background

I found a velvet ant crossing a gravel path. When I was a kid, velvet ants were my favorite insects. They aren't actually ants, but a kind of wasp, and the females have no wings. They walk very fast and supposedly have painful stings.

The Iconic Jonquil

Bulb planting season is just around the corner. I've been digging around my mom's yard, redoing her flower beds, and in the process unearthed hundreds of daffodil bulbs. 

I was amazed by a daffodil called 'Trevithian'. I first bought 30 of these bulbs eight years ago. This year I dug up about 400. I've given some away in the past, which means the population might have grown to 500 or 600.

Narcissus 'Trevithian'

'Trevithian' is a special kind of daffodil. It belongs to the division Jonquilla, the jonquils. These daffodils descend from Narcissus jonquilla and other closely-related species from the Iberian peninsula.

Jonquils usually have from 1-3 flowers per stem, rounded, rushlike foliage, and a strong, sweet fragrance. Jonquils are also among the most successful and prolific daffodils in the Deep South. In fact, driving along a rural highway in February and March, you're likely to find them growing in roadside ditches and abandoned lots.

Narcissus jonquilla var. jonquilla, which blooms late.

Narcissus jonquilla var. henriquesii, which blooms early.

Some Narcissus jonquilla var. henriquesii bulbs I grew from seed.

To me, the jonquil is an iconic, legendary flower. It embodies the idea of a people and a place. I am fascinated in all aspects of this plant.

'Trevithian', technically speaking, is a triploid jonquil hybrid, meaning that it has three sets of chromosomes instead of the usual two. This causes the plant to be (mostly) infertile (the reproductive cells cannot divide normally), more vigorous, and more robust (every cell is larger to accommodate the extra set of chromosomes). Most Jonquil cultivars are triploid, caused by crossing tetraploid (4 sets of chromosomes) standard daffodils with N. jonquilla and allies, which are diploid (2 sets of chromosomes).

'Trevithian' in twilight

Another jonquil I've grown is 'Hillstar'. 'Hillstar' is special among jonquil cultivars in that it is tetraploid, and therefore fertile. This means that 'Hillstar' can be crossed with other fertile daffodils to produce fertile offspring. It is therefore useful in breeding. I also like 'Hillstar' because it's a reverse bicolor. The petals are yellow and the corona becomes white as the flower ages. It blooms a few weeks later than 'Trevithian'.

If you look closely at the photos, you see 'Hillstar' has anthers with developed pollen whereas 'Trevithian' and 'Bell Song' (below) do not.

Narcissus 'Hillstar'

Another jonquil I've grown is 'Bell Song'. Like 'Trevithian', it's triploid, but it blooms at the end of the season and is not very prolific (none of the pink daffodils are in the South, as far as I know). Still, it comes back reliably every year.

Narcissus 'Bell Song'

This year I've decided to test out many other jonquil cultivars, including some white, pink, and orange ones. I'll hopefully have some nice photos and reviews by next spring.