one mahonia leaf

The color of old mahonia leaves has been spectacular this spring. I harvested lots of them for recent arrangements (not an easy task, given how prickly they are), but these two leaflets got special treatment because they were so very red. I cut a slit in the top of the lemon before wedging them in. This "arrangement" is over a week old and hasn't changed a bit, A mahonia leaf might fade a bit over time, but it couldn't wilt if it tried.

tulip-tree flower--gift of a squirrel

It's always been clear to me, when these tulip-tree flowers land on the ground, that they have been snapped off by something, and I guessed it was squirrels but didn't know for sure until---ta da--last week when Estelle Porter told me she had actually observed it. I'd love to know why they do it, because where they snip the flowers off--usually about 1/2 inch down the stem--doesn't seem to make sense, food-wise. Maybe that's a good spot for sipping sap?  

Marion David gave me the sweet little vase (which she made).

Crossvine (Bignonia)

LOVE this native vine. Flowers are sort of terra-cotta colored and hang in beautiful clusters. They look like trumpet vine, but aren't. This is crossvine, or Bignonia, which blooms in spring (as opposed to trumpet vine, a woodier vine, which blooms in summer). I've used crossvine flowers in half a dozen ways today--in big and small arrangements--but my favorite, naturally, is this windowsill-sized arrangement.  It's just one little leftover cluster of flowers in a small black vase (with a snippet of borage behind to help hold it up).  I love the way the flowers show up against the black vase.

radish thinnings

Thinning radish seedlings today, I wound up with these in my hand. Thought I'd put them on my sandwich for lunch, but they were so pretty, I put them in a tiny vase instead.