It's that time again. I have a test tomorrow morning, so I'm sure to do anything but study. Brownies are in the oven, grocery shopping is done, and now I find myself blogging....
In case you were wondering, another thing I like about summer: CONEFLOWERS!! Yes, that is correct, coneflowers. Officially, these flowers are called Echinacea purpurea maxima. My translation: big...purple...whatever "echinacea" means. Here they are outside of our house:
And with a little buzzing bee on top....
Want to learn more about them? You can look at my Evidence Base (sorry, Alicia, putting in subtle SLP references clears my conscience) right here.
The reason I really like them is because I have never seen them before moving to Virginia! And the way they grow is so neat! They start as a regular-ole flower (think sunflower ish) and then the leaves fall back over time to create a "cone" (or, if you're me, and you have to compare everything visually, something that looks like one of those badminton birdie things...catching my vision??)
My mother-in-law, a gardening extraordinnaire, and my friend Paul's mom, an everything-that-is-alive extraordinnaire, pointed them out by name last summer. Before then, I just stuck with "big purple flower" - which is, might I remind you, the rough English translation of the scientific name! Who knew!
I could probably tell you what a hibiscus looks like, an orange blossom, a sea grape, and even more exotic things like birds of paradise and bromeliads, but I don't see the likes of those around here much. Guess it's time to get used to some new garden favorites! (Although, let's be serious, I'll be leaving the gardening up to the lovely employees of our apartment complex.) Another thought...the name "echinacea" was always the green dusty junk my mom gave me when I felt like I was getting sick. NOT a flower.
Ya learn something new every day, huh? Hopefully I can now channel my energy into learning something about Fluency Disorders...but don't hold your breath. Because the brownie timer is going off!
CHEERIO
And Iiiii learned that echino means "spiny" in Greek. So there ya go.
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