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Rossy

@plant_smitten

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Plant obsessed. Their structure, their scent, their color. I garden in zone 7b USA. ”Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished. -Lao Tzu”

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Butterweed/ Packera Glabella. Yellow doesn’t get richer than this. #nativeplantsofnorthamerica by @plant_smitten

I have a special weakness for blue flowers. It is that combination of blue petals and the tender green adjacent that I find so absolutely stunning. I don’t know if there is a color matching that hits your eye like a cupid’s arrow, but this one does it for me.

The unassuming Bachelor’s button/ Corn flower is not only gorgeous but has quite a lovely scientific name: Centaurea cyanus, translating into Blue Centaur. I don’t know if it was called Centaurea cause in the past this plant was untamable and considered a weed among corn fields and crops in Europe. But, I wish this plant would come and invade the heck out my yard! 🤣

In European folklore, Bachelor’s buttons were worn by young men in love, and it was “believed” that if the flower faded too quickly it meant that the love was unrequited.

The Centaurea is also a national symbol in Germany: story tells that when Queen Louise of Prussia was fleeing Berlin, she hid her kids in a field of cornflowers and kept them quiet by weaving wreaths for them with these flowers. Besides, itscolor is the same as the military uniform of Prussia. The symbology of this flower later on got a bit more complex representing some political ideas in Germany and Austria. Eventually, this flower became threatened due to the use of pesticides in commercial crops. Right now, it’s been saved by concerted efforts to bring it back in full force.
Who knew that the humble Corn flower has such history?
I took this picture in Malmo, Sweden last year and I like it so much. This is the thing about beauty, it not only asks us to duplicate it, but it allows us to relive the moment in which we did. by @plant_smitten

When you think all you have is moss…
(And yes, I absolutely love moss! ) but upon closer inspection notice a whole new world emerging as the days lengthen.

1. Red-stemmed Feather-moss (
Pleurozium schreberi)
2 Twisted Moss (Syntrichia ruralis)
3. Beach wormwood (Artemisia pycnocephala)
4. Lenten rose (Hellebore’s orientalis)
5. Buggleweed (Ajuga reptans)
6. Laurustinus (Viburnum tinus) by @plant_smitten

Hibiscus. Danes love their greenhouses and their tropical plants! by @plant_smitten

Weeds and other things…
So here is what I call a“povera” flower arrangement 😉 I made collecting various weeds, a daff, and a muscari bulb from my yard. The tiniest things in nature are simply stunning in their details and simply life affirming. #godisinthedets #macroplants #weeds #daffodils #muscari #springisthebest #bringallthegreen by @plant_smitten

Just look at how the petals fold so gently onto each other. Who doesn’t like a tulip? by @plant_smitten

Blooming now…Solidago. by @plant_smitten

Echeveria runyonii Rose by @plant_smitten

One of my spirit animals😉❤️ by @plant_smitten

I first saw this plant at Pike. The color was just striking! I thought I need this right now! The bright bluish-lilac is one of my most favorite colors and there is a chartreuse quality to it. A vivacity that other colors lack.
I bought one plant and quickly learned how easy was this plant to propagate. Then I learned that the Stoke’s aster was a herbaceous perennial of the Southeastern US. I think what I have is the Blue Danube variety. I have propagated this plant to an incredible degree. I must report that if you live in my zone and you don’t have stokes in your garden, you are missing out big time. This plant not only keeps its foliage in the winter, it profusely blooms with very little care to it. Initially the blooms look like little dots of light, round white tight buds; that later become a wild bunch of shaggy lilac clusters of flowers that pollinators love! If you don’t like bees, don’t plant this! It’s drought tolerant, loves acidic soil. And for some reason cotton tail rabbits don’t eat it! The rosettes of leaves remain untouched while other adjacent plants get devoured. It also brings forth the relationship between native plants and native pollinators. Look at our stunning swallowtails around.
A total native success! by @plant_smitten

Angel’s Trumpet. Brugmansia by @plant_smitten

Just amazing! Cityline Mars hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla Cityline ‘Mars’) by @plant_smitten