Category Archives: Flora

A Healthy Range

Posted on May 25, 2021 by sputterpub

The price I pay for shade is bloom delay.The cost of filtered sun is leggy limb.The plants are healthy, by and large, today,but parasols of eucalyptus dimthe light intensity, as redwood armsand jacaranda branches modulatethe brilliant zap that gooses as … Continue reading →

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Overgrowth

Posted on May 23, 2021 by sputterpub

The garden needs a pruning now, becausetoo little rain all winter had me turnthe sprinklers on so early. We’ll have lawsor regulations soon that we decreaseconsumption, and we hope it’s just a pause,but honestly, I think our climate’s toast.Too few … Continue reading →

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First Wisteria

Posted on March 19, 2021 by sputterpub

I saw my first wisteria Mondayat 9 a.m., in 46 degrees.I shot a picture walking, on my wayto stock my pantry with some groceries.The purple blossoms formed a scant arraybut promised spring in Berkeley more than bees.My own wisteria’s a … Continue reading →

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Plum Petals

Posted on March 2, 2021 by sputterpub

Plum petals show like snowflakes on the woodbeneath my feet, against the crooked limbsabove my office shed. Their whiteness skimsand flits on wind as if they understoodtheir blossom purpose has been served. I couldavert my glance – no other act … Continue reading →

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Late Theft

Posted on December 6, 2020 by sputterpub

Well finally the leaves begin to turn;the fall has been delayed by climate change.For weeks our land and forests were a-burn,and now the local fauna’s acting strange.The critters that should shelter won’t adjourn –they flit and fly and don’t reduce … Continue reading →

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Thanks to LC

Posted on November 8, 2020 by sputterpub

Persimmons start to ripen in the treeoutside my window. I was not the gard-ener – my neighbor’s into botany –she asked if she could farm the little yardbetween us and I hastened to agree.She made the labor look like nothing … Continue reading →

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Anemone

Posted on September 26, 2020 by sputterpub

My garden stalks now with anemone,the daughter of the wind in purple dress.I never planted it. Love’s deityanointed ground with tears of her distressaround the mortal she could not possess.She made a monument of mauve and goldthat cools my heated … Continue reading →

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Florulence

Posted on August 31, 2020 by sputterpub

When the roses don’t compel my close attention they thorn-snag my flesh

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Fern Volunteers

Posted on August 17, 2020 by sputterpub

This year, beneath the young persimmon tree, a clutch of ferns unfurled. They seemed to feather symbiotically: beginning tightly curled, and opening beneath the summer shade, like fans abutting bark, retaining earth near roots the tree has laid within the … Continue reading →

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Benign Neglect

Posted on July 23, 2020 by sputterpub

My garden attitude’s benign neglect; I never went for soil on my hands or stooping. I’m so old my neck is wrecked from telephones and tension – I don’t need to stress my knees and back as I’d expect if … Continue reading →

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