Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Audrey and the A Plants

Audrey is not well… I gave her a new big pot last year, and she thrived (throve?) outside all summer, under shade cloth. But since coming inside last fall, it’s clear she’s unhappy. Audrey is a big Philodendron selloum, adopted from a friend who was moving out of state—about six years ago, I think. So Audrey and I have done well until recently. As she drops one after another of her huge leaves, I’m thinking it must be overwatering (because of that bigger pot) and I’ve been trying to dry her out.

It’s an “A” day over at ABC Wednesday, and it occurred to me to list all the plants I know personally that start with A, in no particular order but without resorting to any external aids. Maybe it’ll bring back other memories of the A-list plants in my life. A stream-of-consciousness look at phytodiversity. (Haven’t gotten far yet; this could take a while.)

A Plant Alphabet for A

Araucaria, agave, aloe, avens, Acer, Acanthus,
Anemone, apple, ash, alamo, Agapanthus,

Abies, Asclepias, Acacia, Aglaonema, Aeonium,
Artemisia, Aletes, Astragalus, Allium,
Alopecurus, aster, Androsace, Asplenium...


Amorpha, Andropogon, Agrostis, Achillea
Alyssum, Argemone, Actaea, Aralia, Aquilegia...


Amanita, Acarospora, Agaricus...

Okay, that last line is cheating a little, but fungi were plants when I grew up in botany.

(Can't believe I missed Amaryllis... but Granny Smith caught it! Please let me know your favorite A plants if I missed them—or share a story about one!)

——
Thanks to Chuck Pyle for this concept, which I’ve barely executed at this point, but I might get back to it. Chuck played a song Saturday at the Arvada Cowboy Poetry Celebration that listed all the small towns in Colorado (under 3,000 in population). It was a tour de force that had the audience spellbound. Very melodious, too; it was amazing how many town rhymes he found! He calls it Little Town Tour—check it out!

By the way, the previous post also started as a bit of an "A" post, so you'll find more "As" there.

7 comments:

Kate said...

Love the A plants!

Kate
cholulared.blogspot.com

D Herrod said...

Hopefully Aubry will pull through.

photowannabe said...

Hope your plants pull through. Fun choices for the letter A.

Carol said...

Nice photos...love all the info...I thought philodendrons were supposed to be hardy and easy to keep....

Rinkly Rimes said...

Next time list all the plants that DON'T begin with A!!!! That should keep you busy!

pictureeachday said...

I'm a Coloradan too and listened to the 30 second sample of Chuck Pyle's song. What a fun idea! I'd love to hear the whole song sometime.

Your knowledge of 'A' plants definitely puts me to shame.

Tumblewords: said...

Wow! I had no idea. To me there are only two plants - green or gone. Love this post!