Compass plant: In bloom this week

Compass plant. This is Silphium albiflorum, aka rosin weed and white flowered rosin weed—a rather hard-to-find perennial, even in its native Cross Timbers region. We're at the southern and western edges of its range, and since it's not a particularly pretty plant, even in bloom, it's not likely to make its way into the nursery trade. Also, it likes a dry, calcareous soil, vey lime-y, an extreme that most gardeners shy away from. The flowers and leaves are stiff, with a sticky secretion (hence the name rosin weed)that attracts dust. The leaves are said to be oriented north-south (hence compass plant), although I couldn’t see that they were. An oddity: the ray flowers produce seed, and the disk flowers don’t. Clued to that by my trusty wildflower book (Ajilvsgi’s Wild Flowers of Texas) I can see the difference.

Calleb's scarf. Back in 2001, when I was doing research for Indigo Dying, I met Lisa Shell, of Kai Ranch, and went to spend a day with her. Lisa introduced me to her Angora goats. showed me her fleece, her yarn, her spinning and weaving, and generally got me hooked on fiber. When I left, she gave me a big sack of partially-felted mohair. It wasn't spinnable (at least, not by me, not at that stage of my inexperience) but I stuck it away in my fiber stash. Hunting around for felting fiber last week, I found it and rejoiced. Ran it through my drum carder, felted it with some blue-dyed merino, and made this scarf, which is soft as a cloud but surprisingly stable. When I wear it, I'll think of Calleb, a handsome and supremely self-confident goat. You can see his photo on Lisa's ranch website. Lisa spins, dyes, and weaves her mohair (yes, exactly as in Indigo Dying!). Here are some of her beautiful rugs. And here's a photo of Lisa and me, with her goats, on an ordinary happy day, six years ago, when my love affair with fiber began--and goes on still.

Reading note, from Always Beginning, by Maxine Kumin: I am grateful for every such ordinary day, knowing that these will draw to a close somewhere beyond our seeing. I hope to go on picking vegetables, pulling bindweed out of the fields, enjoying the birds, the dogs, even our elderly cat, whose last season this likely will be. . . Going on is, after all, the ultimate pleasure of our lives.

Comments

[Leslie]

Susan,

I saw the scarf the day you posted it. My reaction was extremely sensory: Oh my, how soft it is. I really felt like I could touch it.

It is a beautiful still life shot, too.

The photo is so clear one sees the individual fibers! What camera do you use?

Leslie

[Susan J Tweit]

Susan, what a gorgeous felted scarf! I'd love to introduce you to our friend PJ Bergin, who is a fiber artist here in Salida, with the most fabulous felting set-up in her downtown studio. And do you know Donna Druchunas' Sheep to Shawl blog? You might enjoy it.

I loved the photo of Silphium too - it reminded me of some fieldwork I did in the prairies in Illinois & Iowa - there's another species of Silphium there.

I tagged your blog with the Eight Random Facts meme (it's not a real tag, just a virtual one by linking to you). The rules are on my blog, and it's fun if you want to play - it's just another social networking thing and a way to reach out to new readers.

[Dani]

What Beauty is This! :)

[Linda Mandeville]

The scarf is beautiful Susan. You know, INDIGO is one of my favorites. I have read it so many times--in part because I was so facinated about the dying process.
And thanks for the quote--"I am grateful for every such ordinary day..."
I so love ordinary days!