Bleeding Hearts

Wind Warning – Day 900

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Simply Exquisite – Photo: L. Weikel

Wind Warning

Get ready. It’s never a good sign when the National Weather Service issues a wind warning. Of course, with two days of temperatures that actually exceeded 80 degrees, the arrival of more temperate weather is inevitably going to arrive with some flash and bang – and probably some wild wind as well.

It feels like there’s going to be more happening ‘in the air’ than mere meteorological activity, although thunder, lightning, and wild wind will certainly make brilliant metaphors. I wonder if a surprise arrest may take place, or perhaps some other type of shake-up.

Astrologically, we might find ourselves experiencing extremely unexpected circumstances, perhaps even ‘earth-shaking.’ This is because the sun and Uranus (the “Great Disrupter”) will be conjunct (seemingly right on top of each other) and the two of them will be ‘square,’ or aspecting  at a 90 degree angle, Saturn.

Saturn is tradition, law, foundations – can’t imagine what a square or challenging aspect between Saturn, Uranus and the Sun might reveal. It should be interesting.

Pink on the left, white on the right – Photo: L. Weikel

Hopeful

I’m hoping the wild wind we’ll be experiencing tomorrow night won’t hurt my bleeding hearts.

Sure enough, just taking their photo and talking to them a couple of time has caused my white Lamprocapnos to perk up and suddenly start attempting to give the dark pink ones a run for their money.

I’ve taken a photo of the two plants, which are side-by-side in our garden. It’s clear that the white ones, on the right, are smaller. Something tells me that the newfound attention that’s being paid to the white plant will payoff in a burst of competitive growth. We shall see.

Lady in the Bath – Photo: L. Weikel

Lady in the Bath

In the meantime, I wanted to disclose to you what I believe is a fairly obscure fact about this flower: besides calling the Lamprocapnos ‘bleeding hearts,’ you could also call them ‘Lady in the Bath.’ And while I’ve tried to give examples, I may have to capture one of the blooms in flagrant delecto. Ha ha. I’ll try.

As I close this post, the wind is already starting to whip around outside my open front door.

Lady in the Bath 2 – Photo: L. Weikel

(T-211)

Sentience – Day 898

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Bleeding Heart Bonanza – Photo: L. Weikel

Sentience

At least twice today I found myself contemplating the sentience of certain Beings that share my home with me. Well, one of them lives outside, just off the edge of my porch. The other – whose specific identity remains uncertain  – can be confidently narrowed down to a field of three who do, in fact, reside in our home with us.

Notice I’m not questioning their sentience. Ha – at this stage, I wouldn’t dare. I’m merely contemplating it. Perhaps even celebrating it. Most definitely acknowledging it.

Floral Proliferation

My first appreciation of the sentience surrounding me has to do with the continued astonishing proliferation of our faithful Lamprocapnos spectabilis – our bleeding hearts. (Sort of a little disquieting to speak of how these flowers are flourishing when you consider their common name. Do we really want to celebrate the proliferation of bleeding hearts?) Hmm. Bears some reflection.

Beyond the wisdom (or lack thereof) in speaking of bleeding hearts with such great affection, I want to point out that my Lamprocapnos spectabilis is utterly delighted by having such lavish attention paid to it. If I didn’t know better (which I don’t), I’d say my tiny bleeding heart that I first began writing posts about a month ago is loving all the attention. This plant is becoming ginormous. ‘Flourishing’ barely covers how well it’s doing and how abundantly it’s bestowing its beauty upon us.

And while I honestly feel as though it’s growing noticeably bigger this year than it ever has any other year, there’s yet another reason why I feel this particular bleeding heart plant is responding to the appreciation and attention I’m lavishing upon it. That other reason is the white bleeding heart plant that’s only four or so feet away from the red one. I’ve been paying but a fraction of the attention I’ve paid to the red bleeding hearts to the white ones. And quite honestly? That plant is not thriving, at least not even close to how well the red one is doing. It’s doing ok, but the difference between the two plants is stark.

I’ll take a photo tomorrow of the white plant for comparison sake tomorrow.

Not So Subtle Dig

The other example of sentience in our household today was something I observed in our bathroom, where we keep our cats’ litterbox.  In fact, when I saw it and the reality of what I was looking at sunk in, I had to check with Karl. I thought for sure he’d done it as a joke or something.

But no.

One of our three cats was either sarcastically sending a message that the box was not cleaned out satisfactorily or s/he was snidely being helpful. We’re pretty sure it was Tigger. Precious is too paranoid to take that much time aiming a poop. Cletus would rather fling his or leave it on our pillow (not that he’s ever done either of these things – I just have a feeling his sentience would more likely express itself in one of those ways). Tigger is the only one who would politely, if passive aggressively, express either displeasure or a sense of humor in that manner.

Either way – the careful placement of the beast’s solid waste directly onto the scooper was a marvel of both adept rear placement and not-so-subtle snarky sentience.

Yep. These are some of the weird things I occasionally contemplate.

You have to admire the aim involved… Photo: L. Weikel

(T-213)

Flourishing – Day 890

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Lamprocapnos spectabilis; aka Bleeding Hearts – Photo: L. Weikel

Flourishing

22 Days Ago – Photo: L. Weikel

On March 28th of this year I wrote a post about the spiky looking sprouts emerging from the earth that I knew would eventually yield blooms that resemble bleeding hearts. I included a photo of the plant and mentioned that it would be fun to pay attention to how much it would change and how long it would take those changes to manifest. I posted an update on the growth status twelve days later. And now, 22 days along, I present you with a flourishing Lamprocapnos spectabilis.

It’s amazing to me just how quickly this plant has burst onto the scene of my garden. I’m glad I documented the scraggly initial emergence, and then its gawky adolescence. Watching this transformation over the past three weeks renews my awe over the utter magic that Mother Earth surrounds us with day after day.

Twelve Days Later – Photo: L. Weikel

Appreciating the Details

It’s so easy to get caught up in our day to day lives and forget to pay attention to what’s unfolding before our very eyes. I realize I do it all time, in spite of my intention to savor the present moments that comprise our lives. Ah, the road to hell.

But hey. Every once in a while I manage to bring my awareness right down to the nitty gritty and witness something amazing – like the explosion of growth shown here. Or the dozen or so goldfinches descending upon our feeders. Or the sun salutations a tulip did today in our garden.

I’ll share the tulip photos tomorrow, perhaps. Unless there’s something more pressing to discuss. I have such feelings over the potential for a new beginning to take root in our country if there’s a verdict in the Chauvin trial that brings accountability. But maybe that’s a topic for another day. Perhaps, if we’re lucky, we’ll discover deep-rooted change is finally flourishing and a whole new wave of awareness and equality will take root throughout our country.

Nine Days Later – Flourishing – Photo: L. Weikel

(T-221)

Progression – Day 867

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Sprouts – Photo: L. Weikel

Progression

A couple weeks ago (or maybe it was only days, time’s been so skewed for me lately), I mused over the possibility of taking photos of the buds coming up out of the ground. I’m pretty sure I specifically made reference to documenting the progression of either the crocuses (croci? crocae?) or daffodils, or maybe even both.

But instead of either of these traditional harbingers of spring, I’m choosing a more unique and perhaps slightly less stereotypical spring blossom to track: Lamprocapnos spectabilis (aka Dicentra spectabilis) or Bleeding Heart.

I’ve been surprised the past couple of years by how this plant seems to almost magically appear, fully formed, overnight. I’m certain my surprise at its dramatic arrival into my awareness is a result of my lack of attention. So I’m seeking to bring more attention to my Bleeding Heart plant this year, and part of my efforts will include documenting the progression of its growth.

Learn Something New

I distinctly remember my mother introducing me to this particular flowering plant when we were weeding behind the stone farmhouse in which I grew up. The garden we had always felt so wild, planted as it was on a small hillside with old mortar and stone walls lining the perimeter. There were snakes and worms and voles and moles in that garden. Bees and salamanders. And among the flowers were the bleeding hearts.

I can’t remember the words my mother used but I can remember the awe I felt when looking at the blossoms and wondering how amazing it was that a plant could so obviously resemble a heart splitting and releasing a single drop of precious blood. It bordered on the magical that a plant could mimic something so human.

Ever since then, I’ve always associated these flowers with my mother. I don’t know why. She taught me the names of lots of things; why do these, as well as the scent of lilacs, always bring her back to me so vividly?

When looking these flowers up (so I could know their proper name), I discovered that the blossom, when turned upside down, resembles something quite different than a bleeding heart, and hence is the basis of its ‘other’ name.

While you can certainly look it up yourself, I’m going to wait until my little sprouts grow up and let them reveal their other name to us themselves.

(T-244)