Collecting, and the art of noticing

A recent Garden Rant post by my friend Lorene Edwards Forkner had me thinking about the things I focus on when I walk, walks around the neighborhood, on a beach, or in a city we've traveled to. Chances are during that walk I'll stop to pick something up, occasionally it ends up in my pocket (sometimes it's not enough just to see it, I need to live with it too).

Lorene's blog post reviewed the book Still, by Mary Jo Hoffman: "STILL began as a daily project where Hoffman would photograph a piece of nature collected from the landscape surrounding her home in Shorewood, Minnesota, then post the image to her blog by the same name. That was January 1, 2012, and every day since has found the artist adding to her collection."

Reading those words I glanced to my left, at a collection of shells and beach glass from our outing to Port Townsend, WA, back in August.

More from Lorene's review: "The power of observation pins our attention, slows time, and grounds us in place. We are what we pay attention to, and what we pay attention to becomes a part of us. Hoffman writes, “What four thousand images (and counting) have shown me is that the daily discipline of looking at the world eventually becomes the habit of living in the world.”" 

Gerhard recently commented on one of my posts saying: “You manage to see things that most people wouldn't even notice,” I took that as a great compliment. 

This seedhead (from an Arisaema consanguineum) has been moving around the house for a couple months now. I'm still not done looking at it.

Ditto for this flat white rock from the trip to Port Townsend, along with the tiniest horse chestnut I've ever seen, picked up when I went to collect a plant (a rooted piece of Parthenocissus henryana) a local blog reader generously offered me.

This wooden dish holds eucalyptus bits I brought back from our recent trip to the Los Angeles area...

As well as the final "hairy balls" from the Gomphocarpus physocarpus I grew last summer, they've dried and split open to reveal their seeds.

I'm hoping to plant those seeds this spring and have a nice crop again next year.

In the corner of our dining room there's a built-in with 3-shelves where more found items I've collected have ended up. I did a selective purge a couple years back and took a flat of interesting things to Françoise Weeks (I can’t think of a better place for them to end up), but more have followed me home.

I picked up those ginormous acorns on a garden visit in Austin, TX, the banksia seed cones came from a visit to the Davis, CA, Arboretum with Gerhard.

That's one of our magnolia's dried seed cones, vintage matchboxes I bought in a Paris flea market, and a metal car that belonged to my uncle.

Also can't help but keep every protea flower I've ever purchased, they dry so well!

Dried leaves from Lyonothamnus floribundus ssp. aspleniifolius - Santa Cruz Island Ironwood.

I have a feeling this collection of dried and dead things (there is a jaw bone in there), might give some people the heebie-jeebies.

Yep, that's a dead dragonfly.

I've been stashing things in this ceramic planter for years now. I'm sure there's some forgotten treasures at the bottom.

On the left the dried seed head of the only bloom I ever got on my Pachystegia insignis (in the small brown vase), and a fluffy seed head from a clematis bloom, along with Andrew's artwork.

So what about you? Are you a details person? Do you find yourself stopping every few feet on a walk to admire something from the natural world? Are you tempted to collect these things? 

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All material © 2009-2024 by Loree L Bohl. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

The Story of Seeds, Unit Study Book No 152

I discovered this little booklet at a used bookstore in North Hollywood, CA. It's a shop Andrew always enjoys visiting, and they have a decent garden section.

I'm a sucker for vintage garden books and love ones with drawings, this one ticked both those boxes.

Have you ever seen a plant sprout in a bird's nest? I have not, but now I'll be paying extra attention.

I had a datura in a container on the patio at my house in Spokane, one of its big seed pods burst and I watched ants carrying the seeds away, down into the cracks of the patio. I'd hoped maybe they'd manage to store one or two of them in a place where they'd burst and grow in the spring. I don't know if it ever happened because I moved to Portland.

A sign in the woods that says "Do Not Pick"? 

I hope you enjoyed some of the pages from this little booklet as much as I did. It's now been passed on to its next owner, my friend Ann, lover of seeds.

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The Center for Urban Horticulture, part of the University of Washington Botanic Gardens

Since I was already at the Center for Urban Horticulture to see the paper botanicals exhibit I decided to explore the campus...

I first visited this extension of the University of Washington Botanic Gardens with the Garden Bloggers Fling in 2011. That visit was brief and I think I spent most of my time in the Miller Library.

I'd always wanted to really explore the area and I spent about an hour walking around.

"The Center for Urban Horticulture, opened in 1984, is part of the University of Washington Botanic Gardens. It includes a 16-acre landscaped site with buildings and gardens, and the 74-acre Union Bay Natural Area, which provides publicly accessible wildlife habitat (more than 200 bird species have been sighted there) and an outdoor laboratory for UW research."[source]

There are also greenhouses, which I was hoping I could walk into.

No.

Darn it!

Those were some impressive cordylines, before last winter hit (I am assuming).

They're all staging a come back, although it will be years before they have trunks like at again.

Ha! A pine and an agave sharing a container.

That's something you don't see every day! Agave parryi ssp. huachucensis.

Sempervivum at its feet.

It's time to see what's at the top of the steps.

Nolina some somebody (?) to the side.

Part way up the steps is this handsome arctostaphylos (noID).

Oh look, there's an agave tucked in there...

Arctostaphylos x densiflora 'Harmony'

Dryopteris erythrosora 'Brilliance'

Colchicum

Lycoris squamigera

Now we're walking out to the area known as the Farm...

The orange arrows point out Husky Stadium, the only thing that reminds you you're in a very urban setting while strolling this very rural feeling farm.

Oh, check out this cool thing...

Looks like an oven, do the heat source and the food both go into the top space?

There are lots of flowers at the farm, this I knew from following Riz all these years.

There's a composting toilet too!

Another interesting structure.

With a seed library.

Looking inside...

Wheelbarrow art.

Well that's a tempting seat, don't you think?

Comfy too.

With a nice view. I enjoyed it for a few minutes and then it was time to head to the car and start the long drive back to Portland.

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All material © 2009-2024 by Loree L Bohl. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.