Yesterday evening, the sky opened up and there was a big rain storm. Recently it’s been up in the 100°s and the rain was a nice break from the extreme heat. But after the rain, just before sunset, the sky turned a strange shade of gray and yellow. I went outside to get a better look and noticed that a few of my neighbors were doing the same thing.
I couldn’t really capture the strangeness of it but here’s a half-dead flower for you to look at.
08/16/10 8:16 PM
07/30/10 1:22 PM
Tumblr-users: click on the image to see it large, on a dark background.
![This Century Plant in my neighborhood created a very tall bloom at the beginning of the summer. And now it’s dead.
From Wikipedia:
[The Century Plant] has a spreading rosette (about 4 m/13 ft wide) of gray-green leaves up to 2 m (6.6 ft) long, each with a spiny margin and a heavy spike at the tip that can pierce to the bone. Its common name derives from its habit of only occasionally flowering, but when it does, the spike with a cyme of big yellow flowers may reach up to 8 m (26 ft) in height. The plant dies after flowering, but produces suckers or adventitious shoots from the base, which continue its growth.
07/22/10 5:12 PM](http://yournewfavorite.com/photo/1280/850810210/1/tumblr_l611jgDLVm1qz6k80)
This Century Plant in my neighborhood created a very tall bloom at the beginning of the summer. And now it’s dead.
From Wikipedia:
[The Century Plant] has a spreading rosette (about 4 m/13 ft wide) of gray-green leaves up to 2 m (6.6 ft) long, each with a spiny margin and a heavy spike at the tip that can pierce to the bone. Its common name derives from its habit of only occasionally flowering, but when it does, the spike with a cyme of big yellow flowers may reach up to 8 m (26 ft) in height. The plant dies after flowering, but produces suckers or adventitious shoots from the base, which continue its growth.
07/22/10 5:12 PM
06/02/10 3:50 PM
My friend Holley has an Etsy shop called Dead Flowers where she sells carefully crafted hair accessories. If you want something cute to put on your head this summer, you know where to go.
04/29/10 8:10 PM
If the summer of 2010 is anything like the summer of 2009, everything green will turn brown soon. Last year we had 100+ consecutive days of 100°+ weather. So indulge me while I document the spring flowers. They won’t last long.
