Day 4  of a Seven Day Bouquet, White flowers.

 “In the field of natural history, things escape us because the actors are small, and the stage is very large and more or less veiled and obstructed. The movement is quick across a background that tends to conceal rather than expose it. In the printed page the white paper plays quite as important a part as the type and the ink; but the book of nature is on a different plan: the page rarely presents a contrast of black and white, or even black and brown, but only of similar tints, gray upon gray, green upon green, or drab upon brown.” John Burroughs.

I’m thinking about this… yes, can be… but maybe not, too?

The stage IS very large.

And sometimes more or less veiled, cloaked in what obstructs.

But isn’t a background that conceals also part of the plan?

Can’t we also “see” on a page of green upon green,

or drab upon brown?

Sometimes I think we see more lovingly when the veil is on.

I love ink that rises from the printed white page and challenges me to question if I believe the same type.

While I agree there can be truth in the above passage, I think I prefer another passage two pages over in the essay. 

“To a hasty traveler through the land, the farms and country homes all seem much alike, but to the people born and reared there, what a difference! They have read the fine print that escapes the hurried eye and that is so full of meaning. Every horizon line, every curve in hill or valley, every tree and rock and spring run, every turn in the road and vista in the landscape, has its special features and makes its own impression.” John Burroughs.

When we know a place, we read the fine print. We find the contrast among the green upon green.

And the training ground sharpens our eye so we can read the fine print in any book we visit and find meanings that help us along our way.

Your Day 4 bouquet is delivering eight white flowers blooming now at the ranch. 

Most are small actors, one is teeny tiny, and each have dainty features that while concealed against the large stage are as equally grand when exposed. 

The white dots in the picture above are Corn Salad, Valerianella amarella. The height of each flower cluster at the Lost Madrone Ranch is only about 4-6 inches, and yet because corn salad grows in masses they can hold their own on the stage.

There is more corn salad blooming this year than I have ever seen, with most hilltops dotted similarly to this picture. 

A grouping of flowers looks dainty, like lace.

When you read the fine print you find tiny individual flowers with five petals that look like fan blades the size of the tips of my fingernails.

If you’re a regular reader of Take Comfort, you know I love pops of orange color in nature, and every flower had multiple orange visitors!

I zoomed in on this plant that had not bloomed yet, and I laughed because the flower buds actually look like kernels of corn in a salad!

Prairie or Plains Fleabane, Erigeron modestus, is another flower that dots the landscape.

They don’t carpet a hilltop, but they are present across the ranch in small groupings.

When the wind blows they are in constant motion as is evident by the blurry picture below.

 

 

But I included it for you to imagine them swaying together in all directions at the same time. They look so fun and happy.

Singled out, they are sweet in every form —  an opening bloom,

at their prime,

and even while journeying to their end.

Blackfoot Daisy, Melampodium leucanthum, is another happy flower.

It is blooming now and will continue to bloom all summer.

Every clump makes me smile.

A favorite flower of mine is White milkwort, Polygala alba. Each plant can have many stems that stretch upright to over a foot tall.

They are prolific along the roadside, and on a windy day they wave as if lining a parade route.

But I like them best as a single stem, reaching up and aglow in the sunlight.

 

A flower that just looks fun is Barbara’s buttons, Marshall caespitosa.

This plant grows erect to 1 and 1/2 feet tall with a disk shaped flower that I never tire of studying.

The flower starts out a bit orderly.

But the floret eventually gets curly and frilly, looking like little streamers at a celebration.

Yes, there are more technical terms to describe the parts of this flower, but I’m not a plant expert, so I’m good with my “observers” description.

Plus, zoom in and look closer at this flower. There is definitely a party going on!

Crow Poison, also called False Garlic, Nothoscordum bivalve, was abundant across the ranch this season, so much so that I ignored taking pictures of it. Here is the one picture I snapped with my iPhone.

And a better camera shot of this flower from last year.

The most challenging flower to photograph is Baby’s Breath or Bluets, Stenaria nigricans. This is the flower I referenced at the beginning of this post as teeny tiny.

The stems are thread thin and the plant seems always in motion with the slightest air movement.

This is my best attempt at zooming in on one of the flowers.

And the last flower in your bouquet today is White Rock Lettuce, also called White Dandelion, Pinaropappus roseus.

If ever a small flower was equally grand to the large stage that concealed it, I would argue for rock lettuce.

Rock lettuce may have similarity to the most famous dreaded weed, the common dandelion, but I’ll let it speak for itself as to why I think it is extraordinary.

 

Take Comfort… until your bouquet delivery tomorrow.