Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Mystery solved


My last post included a mystery flower that came up among some Hostas I saved from the bulldozer in my neighbor's garden.

Today, a call from my #3 daughter gave me the answer, in Japanese "Nirin-sou". I ran out to check her information with the actual flower. Yes, there were two flowers rising above each group of leaves, though one in each pair had finished.

A trip up to my bookcase brought me the rest of the information. Anemone flaccida or Flaccid Anemone. There are several species of anemone in Japan, all spring blooming and sharing a habitat in and along the edge of forests.

No wonder Norie could identify this as her area is surrounded by this habitat.

There is very little information on Japanese plants in English, but a while back I purchased a small field guide on Wild Flowers of Japan by Ran Levy.
For a few years he had a weekly article in the Japan Times (newspaper), the "flower of the week".
I clipped those articles and kept them in a small pocket album among my nature books. When his book came out in 1995, I quickly snatched one up.

As long as I had my book out, I checked out another picture I had grabbed outside my Monday English class.

The picture wasn't so good but the battery on my camera died so there was no second chance.

Sure enough, these were also in his book. Genge (Chinese Milk Vetch) also called Renge or Renge-sou is another early spring to summer bloomer.  The pink color didn't show up so well in this picture.

And one other thing still growing is my + piece.

I have decided to stop at 44 rows and add four inch borders. It will make a runner for my coffee table to match the one topping my trash bin.

I can't imagine making a whole bed-size quilt of this pattern but I wanted to try it out and this will fit the bill. Tomorrow's sewing group will get me a bit closer to the finish.

The weekend will be a busy one. I have a date to make batik eggs with my granddaughter. (she would like to have another cookie factory but I hope I can convince her the eggs will be just as much fun).  The choir will sing three services Sunday, and from there I will be off to my pack's pinewood derby. (It was the only date we could get a room big enough to set up the track and accommodate our group).  My car is all ready to fly. I guess I should carry along a charged battery. I'm sure this weekend will bring more than one photo opportunity.

Happy Easter!

9 comments:

  1. Lovely flowers Julie, here we have what are called " Japanese Anemones" I will post a flower or two for you. Those "cross" blocks are lovely. Cheers, Jean.

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  2. Good to see the flower mystery solved. Sounds like your book is very useful, too.
    Great work with the plus quilt. It is looking good.
    Good luck with your busy weekend.

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  3. I am bad with flower names, just know the basic ones. I think a quilt like that is nice to just keep adding onto as you get scraps and eventually it will be a bed sized;)

    Debbie

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  4. Have a wonderful blessed Easter Julie! blessings, marlene

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  5. so glad you have been able to identify the little flowerx Have a fun weekend with the family xx I agree the table runner choice is the best option .. it would be a bit manic for a full quilt x

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  6. What a busy weekend. I hope you find some time for sleep in the middle of all that activity!

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  7. At first I thought this was anemone nemorosa, much beloved in Sweden as one of the first signs of spring, but it has six petals, not five like this one. Anyway it is a lovely addition to your garden.
    Love your +quilt, and think it would make a nice bed size quilt, if you had the stamina and patience - I know you have the stash!

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  8. Hi Julie, what a pretty flower !
    Your table runner will look so pretty and colorful. What a fun pattern.
    We hope that you and your family had a most joyous Easter ! Blessings, from Marina and Daryl

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  9. At first I thought it must be in the creeping buttercup family, the leaves look so similar. Glad you got it IDed. Happy Easter to you and the family. I have been using my phone not my laptop recently, via Bloglovin', and have discovered that a lot of comments have not arrived on blogs. I've gone back to the Blogger reading list on my computer to read and comment! I think that quilt design could cause a headache and think you are right to stop at 44 rows!!

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