Tuesday, May 03, 2011

Swept away

This plant is called broom, or scotch broom. It's genêt in French, and I've talked about it before. Right now the broom all around us is flowering. It seems that every year there's more of it. That's not good because it's one of the plants that Ken is allergic to, although it's not the main culprit. That would be cypress, mostly found in the Mediterranean climate, not here.

The flower of the genêt, or broom, plant.

Thunderstorms were predicted for most of Monday afternoon, but they never really materialized. We had a little rain, and there were one or two flashes of lightning in the late evening, but nothing like what was predicted. We're expecting some more rain this morning, then a clearing and warming trend for the rest of the week.

The rain is good because it's been so dry and the garden and plants really need it.

7 comments:

  1. Yellow's my favorite color, and I really love this flower.

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  2. Broom is Illegal in Oregon, you can't even smoke it & it listed as a noxious weed. I always let volunteers stay.

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  3. Bit of trivia: Geoffrey of Anjou, King Henry II of England and father of Richard the Lionheart took his family/dynastic name from the Latin version of genêt; 'planta genista'. House of Plantagenet sounds better than House of Broom :-).

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  4. Yes, I've heard the "news", my concern is how much truth there is to it.

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  5. Scotch broom is really invasive and poses a serious risk in areas that are prone to fires. In the years since the Oakland Hills fire, neighborhood groups have worked hard to eradicate it from the hills. Stuff burns like crazy.

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  6. I miss rain, they so seldom get it and when we get it it is a nasty sudden intense downfall, not at all comforting like a slow gentle drip.

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  7. cubby, they're tiny things, but there are a lot of them on each shrub. Very pretty.

    stephen, I understand it's very invasive, which I probably why I'm noticing more and more of it every year.

    niall & antoinette, yes, very interesting!

    starman, you're not one of those conspiracy theorists, are you? ;)

    susan, no surprise there!

    michael, I know what you mean. We get those downpours from time to time and they make me nervous.

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