Lifescapes

Widow's Tears 2

The plant world is full of complicated surprises. A few days ago, I wrote about Widow's tears (Commelina sp.), also called dayflower. Some of you may know that the spiderwort (Tradescantia sp.) also goes by the names Widow's tears and dayflower. Both of these plants belong in the same family, the Commelinaceae. But they're in different tribes. Yes, tribes. (I told you it was complicated.)

The spiderwort is a New World native. The blossoms range in color from pale pink and lavender to purple, and usually have three symmetrical petals. Jim Long has an interesting post and some photos of the spiderworts he grows in his garden. Spiderworts have been used by Native Americans for both food and medicine. The leaves can be eaten raw in salads or cooked like other greens. The stalks can be prepared like asparagus.

Recently, according to an informative post at EattheWeeds researchers have discovered that the cells of the spiderwort's stamen hairs are “bioassays for ambient radiation levels.” In other words, the tiny blue hairs turn pink when they're exposed to gamma radiation. If you're worried about radiation levels in your garden, consult the nearest spiderwort.

The spiderwort's genus, Tradescantia, is named for a pair of sixteenth/seventeenth-century English naturalists John Tradescant the Elder and John the Younger (we would call them "senior" and "junior"), who traveled far and wide collecting plants and seeds and taking them back to England. John Senior became Keeper of His Majesty's Gardens, Vines, and Silkworms for Charles I. John Junior went to Virgina and brought back everything he could lay his hands on: American trees like Magnolias, Bald Cypress and the Tulip tree, and garden plants, such as phlox and asters and, yes, spiderwort.

The other name, Widow's tears? When the flower wilts at the end of the day (dayflower), it dissolves into a fluid jelly, like tears.

Oh, and Philippa Gregory has written a novel about John Senior, called Earthly Joys and about John Junior, Virgin Earth. Both are on my TBR stack, TBR when I finish writing Widow's Tears.

 

 

Widow's Tears

This is the plant whose folkname I've borrowed for the 2013 mystery in the China Bayles series. You probably recognize it, for it grows across most of the United States, east of the Rockies. The name of the genus is Commelina, and many of the 170+ species are used as food, medicine, dyes, animal fodder, and in the production of paper.

A dye plant? The blue pigment on the kimono in this charming print by an 18th century Japanese woodblock artist is believed to be made from the petals of the Commelina communis. 

You may know this plant by the common name, dayflower: the bloom appears in the morning and is gone by the day's end. It also goes by the interesting--and rather ironic--name widow's tears. If you squeeze the spaethe (the bract that surrounds the flower stalk), a drop or two of tear-like muscilaginous sap will ooze out. And since the blossom fades quickly, some people are reminded of the fast-disappearing tears of a widow who doesn't . . . well, grieve all that much.The Commelinas can be invasive if they find a spot they like--rich soil, a little dampish. But they thrive even in poor soil, and their blue blossoms are a welcome spot of color in the woodland garden along our creek in the Texas Hill Country. You'll find a good discussion of the pros and cons of this plant at Dave's Garden. 

To complicate matters, there's another Widow's tears, in the Tradescantia family. More later about that one....

Is Widow's tears (Commelina) growing in your garden? Love it? Hate it?

Snow Scene: New Mexico

I'm taking a winter break at Coyote Ridge, our place in New Mexico, south of Taos on the eastern slopes of the Sangre de Cristo mountains. I've brought Molly Maguire (our blue heeler) with me; Bill has stayed back in Texas with the rest of our menagerie. We've been getting some good early snows here in NM, and there's been some rain back in TX, not a drought-buster, but enough to boost the possibilities for at least some spring grazing for the cows. The photo was taken from our deck earlier this week: a heavy wet snow that created some power outages but will give us some much-needed soil moisture. New Mexico is drought-stricken, too.

Coyote Ridge is a log house built against a slope, with a deck overlooking a narrow valley and a wooded ridge on the other side, with the snow-covered Sangres against the northern sky. The loft is mine for writing and crafts; Bill has a big wood-working shop behind the garage. He comes out in the summers; me, I'm a winter-time gal. I never got enough snow when I was a kid. I love to spend December and early January here, to enjoy the snow. I don't have to go out to work, of course--if I did, it would be another matter entirely! I'll be here through the first week of January.

Writing projects. I've been taking a break from regular blogging partly because writing about our prolonged Texas drought is dispiriting but also because I've been putting my writing energies into . . . well, more writing. My fall project--a narrative nonfiction about Laura Ingalls Wilder and her daughter, Rose Wilder Lane--is on hold for the moment, while the book (partially written) finds an agent. Looks like that may have happened: when I can make an announcement, you'll be the first to know, I promise.

The current project is Widow's Tears, China's 21st mystery. As it turns out, though, this is Ruby's book, and it's a ghost story, with a back story furnished by the Great Galveston Hurricane of September 1900. Curious about the title? It's a plant in the Commelina family. Some species are used medicinally and as a dye plant. The writing is going well: about 20,000 words so far. And the research has been really interesting. If I get the time, I'll do a separate post about that. The lovely thing about being here at Coyote Ridge: I have the luxury of doing nothing but writing, reading, walking with Molly, and watching the snow fall on the mountain. Can't think of a better way to spend the winter.

One more bit of book stuff: Peggy has posted the page for Cat's Claw, where you can read the first chapter. The book will be out March 6. For those who are tuning in late: this is a Sheila Dawson book, more of a police procedural than a cozy. There'll be two books in 2012: Cat's Claw (March); and The Darling Dahlias and the Confederate Rose (July).

Reading note: Practice is essential. If you’re going to learn to write, it has to be your practice. I’ve been fascinated with the job of learning to write, which is unending. And I enjoy writing. Dealing with the problems it presents gives me pleasure. Sometimes there’s frustration, but if I get frustrated or hit an impasse, I just stop and go back to it later. I don’t like to hear writers talk about how they suffer for their craft. If it’s that bad, they ought to quit.--Wendell Berry