Hiking Windy Hill - California Buckye In Bloom

California Buckeye is in business on Windy Hill * serving up fragrant blooms to hikers, native bees and butterflies, like the Pale Swallowtail butterfly. This shrubby tree, found over much of the Western United States, is a great wilderness plant counted on by many natives. Before European contact, it was also a food source for native peoples, following an extensive toxic leaching process.

It's not a good neighbor in the  suburbs, however,  since there it may come into contact with non-native bees. That's because it's pollen, though extremely appealing to the European immigrant bees, is toxic to them.

So . . . we love it, but we don't plant it.
*Windy Hill is close to - Silicon Valley, Within the San Francisco Bay Area , is  nearby the 280 freeway

On my Flower-Lovin' Hiker's Bookshelf

              

First Signs of Spring in Atherton

Before I moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, I associated magnolias with the American South. Magnolias grow and bloom like crazy around here too, they love the mild Mediterranean climate. I especially enjoy these blossoms every year, when they pop up in front of the tiny Atherton Library.

Crazed Blooms - Hidden Souls

Early Spring Sings At The Creek

Sixties Children Tune

Cream Cups - Ideal for Fairies

Platystemon californicus - Cream Cups

Poppy heritage
Local fairies dwell herein
Cream cups shine in spring
~ ~ ~
Web Resources
Fairy Housing http://www.hikingedgewood.blogspot.com/2012/11/fairy-houses.html

Fairy House, Tood's Stool or Spoor's End http://www.hikingedgewood.blogspot.com/2013/11/fairy-house-toad-stool-or-simply-spoors.html

Edgewood http://www.friendsofedgewood.org

Co-published with Hiking Edgewood and Postcard From California

The Wake-Robin: Three is Magic (Hiking Windy Hill)

Trillium or Wake-Robin

Spring is, indeed, bustin' out all over at Windy Hill Preserve in the Mid-Penninsula Regional Open Space.

An encounter with the three perfect white petals and trinity of glossy leaves in this small white trillium, or Wake-Robin, is a great way to exit the day-to-day and head for another realm.

When it comes to trilliums, it's easy to accept that three really is a magic number.

Primrosing CA Style

Primrose rises smaller

then other garden flowers.

But just so hope blooms.

Amaryllis: Sure Fire January Blues Reliever

With vacation from work and school well past, and several months of wet or cold to get through in the Northern Hemisphere, it's easy to get the blues in January.

A candy-striped amaryllis bud opening suddenly in a chilly window, reminds me that a good dose of spring time is just around the corner.

Anybody can bloom  in an unexpected place.

Romancing England: Fields and Flowers, Borage

Please click on the illustration above
to enjoy the full beauty of this gentle English herb
* * *

A stirrup-cup speeds the departing guest,

Who tarries overlong at thy door,

When the mistress of the house has much to think on,

And wishes them well away.

To hurry them hence,

Take a handfull of fresh borage leaf,

And grind it well beneath thy pestle,

Chop it well and do mix it 

with thy husband's least-favored wine,

Then may ye hope not to see them again too soon.

Pithy Sayings of Lady Margaret Hoby 

from The Sewing Chronicles of Lady Liz, 
The Secret Diary of a Time Traveling Maid

A Fairy's Favorite Flower: The Fritillary

Please click on the illustration above

to enjoy full-fairy's eye view details

What do you mean how do I know where the fairies hang out at Windy Hill?


You only have to look.

Sewing: Maui Star Flower Quilt

A GOOD mother would slowly and painstakingly craft this quilt stitch by stitch over a year sacrificing all to complete it, her only pleasure the knowledge that her darling child is warm at night. A BAD mother creates a digital version in less than an hour, and then gets on with her own homework.

Please click on the Maui Star Flower Quilt illustration above 

to enjoy all the wonderful starry details

Nasturia-damus: Prophet of the Angiosperms

Please CLICK ON THIS IMAGE to see the lovely detail.

Inspired by the research studies, involving this all-knowing flower, of my facebook friend, Judy Gosnell.

The writings of the mystic Nostradamus have traveled down through the centuries. Yet, how many have heard of the ancient prophecies of the great Nasturia-damus, prophet-queen of the Angiosperms?

Uncovered only recently by a trowel-wielding self-taught historian in a garden bed near you, these fragments of ancient wisdom speak to the ages.

Compare for yourself, only a few of the AMAZING SIMILARITIES between the quatrains of the prophets Nostradamus and Nasturia-damus.

(Nostradamus) Sitting alone at night in secret study; 
it is placed on the brass tripod. 
A slight flame comes out of the void, and 
makes true that which should not be believed in vain.

(Nasturia-damus) Sitting alone at night, beneath the bedroom window; they are planted in the great, sacred urn. A green shoot springs forth from the void, and makes true the belief in the cycle of life.

(Nostradamus) The wand in the hand is placed in the middle of the tripod’s legs. 
With water he sprinkles both the hem of his garment and his foot. 
A voice, fear: he trembles in his robes. 
Divine splendor; the God sits near.

(Nasturia-damus) The hose in the hand is placed in the middle of the urn. With water, she sprinkles both the base of the planter and her feet. A voice, fear: she trembles at the mud about her feet. Divine irritation: how will she get her shoes dry in time for the party?

(Nostradamus) When the litters are overturned by the whirlwind 
and faces are covered by cloaks, 
the new republic will be troubled by its people. 
At this time the reds and the whites will rule wrongly.

(Nasturia-damus) When the compost is overturned, into the middle of the newly seeded garden bed, and seeds are covered by clods, new plants will germinate. At this time the oranges and the greens will rule wisely and well.

(Nostradamus) At night they will think they have seen the sun, when they see the half pig man: Noise, screams, battles seen fought in the skies. The brute beasts will be heard to speak.

(Nasturia-damus) The brute beasts, that sleep beneath the peach and orange blossoms, shall cavort and call beneath the bedroom window of the house of the king and queen pig, in the hour of dawn, until the snoring boars are awakened and forced, bleary eyed, into the kitchen to find a can opener and can of cat food.