Grand Finale

Day 249: The flower beds are winding up in a grand finale, with a last, lavish display of colour from the columbines, honeysuckle and delphinium, and will soon yield the stage to the lesser players of volunteer snapdragons, Nigella and the rest of the supporting cast. I have never been one for putting in bedding plants, although every year I give the thought a brief moment of consideration. It seems so wasteful to plant something, only to have it wither in the hot summer spotlights. Let the stage crew have its day in green workman's overalls. Foliage! Without it, the show could not go on.

Black Barlow

Day 230: Surely at some point in the history of pirates and privateers, there must have been a "Black Barlow," but if so, I have been unable to locate any history associated with that name. Even so, it seems fitting that this columbine should adorn the garden shared by extension with my seafaring alternate persona, Morgan Corbye. Perhaps some day, the fictional Capt. Corbye will find herself in waters dominated by Black Barlow (the temptation is strong to work him into a cameo role at the very least, perhaps more), but for now, his sails are raised well above those of the other more pedestrian columbines in the sea, dark and ragged and yet supreme. Whose name did this "Black Barlow" purloin?  Why, none other than that belonging to Charles Darwin's granddaughter Nora, who hybridized several Aquilegia cultivars which now bear her name in some form or another. "Rose," "Blue," and "Bordeaux" are just a few in the Barlow series. Somehow I can't imagine Capt. Corbye going sword-to-sword with "Pink Barlow," though.