Susan Palmer's Exquisite Now

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  • An unexpected cut flower

    An unexpected cut flower

    There’s a reason they call them day lilies. I assumed they would make disappointing cut flowers. Who wants one that just lasts a day? What I didn’t think through until a couple of days ago was that the stalks have four or five or six buds on them. You cut one stalk, bring it in and every day you get a fresh flower.

    I am on day three of this fine lily. I have three two more buds to go. And I’m kind of excited because this seems to be the year of the day lilies in the garden. They are trumpeting their fabulousness.

    Inside and out.

    Photos by Susan Palmer

  • Dinosaurs probably ate them

    They are huge, OK? When I slip by them at night to run the garbage out, they loom well over six feet tall. Spiny tough. Love a good swamp. That’s gunnera.

    Rumor has it they date back to the Cretaceous period 100 million years ago. And by rumor, I mean scientists have found their fossilized pollen dating back that far. I can just imagine hadrosaurs — the duck-billed dinosaurs — chowing down on these guys.

    They die back to nothing in the winter. In spring, they shove furled leaves up that are tender enough to attract slugs. That doesn’t last long. They get tough fast. Imagine rhubarb on steroids. Rumor also has it that the shoots are edible. But that’s not a rumor I’d trust.

    Gunnera aren’t some weird little fetish of mine, either. All the best botanical gardens have them: Butchart up near Victoria BC; Shore Acres right here on the Oregon Coast.

    I don’t know why I love them. Walking under their sweeping leaves in the summer dark, I sometimes feel the yard is older than old. And, of course, it is.

  • Yes, I’m floating

    This arrived in the email today. The galleys for my book. I know you kids call them ARCs, advance reader copies, but I love the old-school term. It’s piratical and an ocean of excitement, which I will enjoy for a day or two before getting down to the nitty gritty of one last copy edit.

    I expect sometime in the next few weeks that the cover will arrive for additional scrutiny. And I’ll be floating again.

    Sometime in November (Okay, specifically Nov. 20), this little ship will launch.