Chamomile after the petals are gone

Chamomile

I sleep better when I drink a little chamomile tea before I go to bed. Chamomile is a relaxant and can even "help combat depression, stress and anxiety." It also is soothing and healing for the skin. Keep a little chamomile cream around for burns and insect bites.

When I first discovered that those little flowers I saw on a dirt driveway were a useful herb, I was delighted and amazed. Close up the flower and even the knobby flower heads look very humble and even seem like they could be a noxious weed. Not at all. They are hardy little plants that frequently grow on paths and abandoned road beds. I suspect that the aggressive practice to spray herbicides along highways and roadsides have discouraged this little flower. This makes it even more special that I found several little places in my neighborhood where chamomile is blooming. The flower in the photo grew in the gravel parking lot of a nearby church. At a neighborhood park several blocks away chamomile grows in the gravel pathway.

Poppy

My neighbors all want part of my poppy plant. The color is quite a shock even in the middle of all the spring colors everywhere. I'd like a dress with a skirt as light and ruffled as these poppy petals and as vividly vermilion. I could wear it to a garden party.

The poppy blooms don't last long. Spring rains make them even more transient. No need to hold visions of the flowers too tightly. With my camera I'll capture fantasies and reflect on the beauty at my leisure.

Irises

The Starling Dilemma

I'm watching a sad drama unfold in my backyard. A baby starling fell from its nest and can't get home. The neighbor cat who looks like Sylvester tried to catch it. What a dilemma. Do I let nature take its course and prevent the bird from dying of starvation or do I give the bird a chance to live? No simple answer and the outcome will probably be the same.

Sometimes we think we must interfere and save animals. Would a prime directive (to not interfere) lead us to a better relation with nature? Or have humans already interfered beyond the point of no return by living and dominating all corners of the earth.

It is ironic that this small bird is a non-native species commonly considered to be invasive. Aside from any value judgement on another being, my impulse is to relieve another's suffering.

The cat is here as part of human habitation and does not hunt for food, but for sport. When he made his move, I chased him out of the yard.

The parent bird lurks nearby with food in its beak.

My Favorite Flower

Wild Bleeding Heart