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Mystery Solved

First I have to say Happy Birthday to Brother Brent and Niece Alicia! Yay!
I got cards yesterday. Hopefully I'll send them sometime soon. I still haven't sent Anna's present from September 11. It's been bumping around behind my truck seat for a month. Dang.

**And now, our regularly scheduled post**

Three summers ago, I saw some awesome flowers in a garden in Seward. They were smothering the plants they were on… bright and red and plentiful. What was even more fun is that I didn't know what they were. I usually know any plant I see. I read garden encyclopedias in the winter time before I go to bed. It helps me make it through the long dark.

Anyway, I asked Brent to collect some seeds for me. It was one of my best presents from Christmas 2006. The seeds sprouted and grew. This plant is a biennial. It lives for two years. The first year, it's a clump of thread-like leaves hugging the ground, and the next year it sends a spike four feet into the air that is covered with screamingly red flowers. My plants bloomed this summer, reviving my curiosity, but I didn't get to a garden center. And now the plants are dying. They'll drop seeds for next year, but the new plants won't flower until 2010.

So how was the mystery solved? The only magazine I have a subscription to is Taunton's Fine Gardening. When each issue arrives in the mail, I read it cover to cover. It's awesome. As I was reading this latest issue, there was a feature about fine-textured plants, and there it was: Standing Cypress (ipomopsis rubra).
Yay! I know what it is! And yay! It's not invasive!

What mystery shall I solve next?

11 Comments

  1. Lauren

    1. Yay! Good to know that something from Seward can survive in Baltimore. It makes me feel better about visiting you sometime.

    2. Is that tripod for your sprinkler? ‘Cuz if it’s for your camera, ur doin’ it wrong.

  2. Kim

    For your next mystery, I would like you to solve who shot JFK. I look forward to your answer tomorrow.

    • Carol

      …or who shot JR? [No, wait, we do know that one, don’t we?]

  3. kiwe

    It’s my birthday too! I ‘m glad you solved your mystery! Now could you find the fountain of youth!

    • Brent

      Hey, that’s great- Alicia and I have something in common with Kiwe!

      I’m happier to share a birthday with you than with Matt Damon.

      My favorite celebrity October 8 birthday-sharer has always been Eddie Rickenbacker.

      • Brad

        Hey, my pastor just used Eddie Rickenbacker in a sermon illustration. Just this past Sunday. That’s weird. I wouldn’t otherwise know who he was.

      • kiwe

        I always thought Matt Biondi was cool and he was born on the 8th too.

        • Brent

          Ha! I read Matt Biondi’s Wikipedia entry, which says:

          “He now works at Parker School in Hawaii as a math teacher. He was voted the meanest teacher in Parker School, 2007. He is well known for his bragging of trophies and awards and likes to talk about his swimming career every second of class.”

          I’m glad I don’t have a Wikipedia article…

  4. Peggy

    Happy Birthday kiwe!! Happy birthday Brent!! Happy Birthday Alicia!!

    Congratulations Brad…on your success…that is a lovely flower!!

    Now off to find out who the heck Eddie Rickenbacker is…

  5. Lauren

    Happy Birthday Everybody!

  6. Carol

    …and tomorrow is “Happy Birthday, Kadeem Neptune” Day (I kid you not! Poor soul is only 11, too…but maybe when he’s 12 his name will fit him better…?), as well as HB to: Paul Foelber, Thurman Frey, Ellen Mangels, Joanne Williams…just about anybody who’s anybody!

    May I please change my birth month to October now, too?

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