These Tulip flowers lasted several days in their vase and then provide an additional period over which they beautifully declined.

Aristolochia sempervirens. This evergreen vine begs a closer look to examine its flowers which are many over several weeks. Like all evergreens they will shed their leaves as no living organism is truly forever.

Foliage and stems generally last much longer than flowers. These stems of Rhodocoma capensis were removed after they dried on the plant. Arranged in a spiral, outside under the roof, this will last for months. The center ring is defined with the dried inflorescences of one of my Agapanthus.

Puya mirabilis blooming this summer in my garden. Many flowers are in fact momentary, even by our standards. Photographed every few minutes you would see this in continuous motion, altering its form, with literally no stasis period.

Puya mirabilis photographed barely more than a full day after initial opening.

A floral arrangement utilizing Chrysanthemums I photographed at Portland’s Lan Su Chinese Garden.

Understanding the New Phylogeny of Angiosperms, part 2

We tend to think of evolution as a historical process, something that occurred in the past which has resulted in life today, with us at the pinnacle.  Humans with our opposable thumbs, our relatively high ratio of brain to body mass, our consciousness…our souls, we often argue, are the ultimate life form.  We have a hard time imagining that this is not the case, that we as a species, are a part of a continuing process, that some day will fade from the Earth, as other species, more evolved and complex, develop.  This is what happens to organisms over seemingly impossible long periods of time. It has happened and is still happening to plants.   It won’t happen today or tomorrow and this doesn’t mean that what we are or what we do doesn’t matter…because in evolution…’everything’ matters. Continue reading →