Florida Nature Poetry & Art, La Mar & a Cup of Tea

Monday Nature Verse - La Mar & Cup of Tea

Florida Nature Haiku-Senryu by Kevin Songer

...
rumbling storm vibrates
oceanfront window panes
and my cup of tea
…

Florida Nature Poetry & Art, Monarch Butterfly’s migratory flight across the gulf

 Florida nature poetry for Wednesday, Monarch Butterfly’s migratory flight across the gulf.

Monarch butterfly feeds in preparation for it's winter migratory flight across the

...
one last nectar sip
as kaleidoscope gathers
over the shoreline
nature's refinement
eight hundred miles cross the gulf
waves swallow many
the strongest survive
maybe luckiest rest in
oyamel fir trees
…
#monarch #butterfly #arttherapy #pensacolaart #pensacola #biglagoonstatepark #floridastateparks #naturepoetry #haiku #poetry #floridanature #nature

Florida Nature Art & Verse (Haiku), Fragrant Water Lily

Tuesday nature poetry, Fragrant water lily, Nymphaea odorata

Florida Nature Haiku & Art, Fragrant Water Lily by Kevin Songer

…

sweeter scent none else
shallow blue fishing spot
blooms bugs and bass
…
lazy kayaking
lily pads circle round and round
floating two eyed log
…

Florida Nature Poetry & Art, Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea)

Florida nature poetry for Monday, Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea)

Florida Nature Poetry & Art, Purple Coneflower by Kevin Songer

...
too many’s a crowd
genetic diversity
is survival’s key
purple coneflower
displays its finest array
intently seeking
long distant bee for random
cross pollination

...

Florida field of Echinacea purpurea, Purple Coneflower by Kevin Songer

Purple coneflower depends on long distance bees to spread pollen across hectares, enhancing genetic biodiversity.  In turn, bees profit from Echinacea's nectar sustenance. 

Florida Native Plant & Wildflower Poetry, Buttonbush, Cephalanthus occidentalis

Florida Native Plant & Wildflower Poetry, Buttonbush, Cephalanthus occidentalis

Florida Nature Haiku Poetry, Buttonbush, Cephalanthus occidentalis

...

slough bush quiet rustle 

loud cicadas hush as wood

duck leaves her nest,

gliding across still pond,

below bees busy with sweet

buttonbush blooms

...

#floridanativeplants #florida #pensacola #pensacolaart #arttherapy #haiku #buttonbush #wildflowers #poetry #natureart #cephalanthus #wetlands #waterbirds  #swamplife #pollinators #bees 

Florida Living Wall and Green Roof Plants, Nature Found

Some of my best learning experiences with green roof and living wall plants come from Mother Nature.

Florida Living Wall & Green Roof Plants Nature Selected (ferns), Ft. Pickens, Pensacola by Kevin Songer

Mother Nature is especially instructive about nature irrigated plants growing in sea salt influenced areas; up the sides of masonry walls and across barren roofs.

Florida Living Wall & Green Roof Plants Nature Selected (Bidens alba & ferns), Ft. Pickens, Pensacola by Kevin Songer

These photos here were taken on the ocean front walls of the old brick Fort Pickens in Pensacola, Florida, US.

Old forts and other relic structures that have been in existence over time are plant laboratories, experiments in drought, heat, wind and salt tolerance.

Florida Living Wall & Green Roof Plants Nature Selected, Ft. Pickens, Pensacola by Kevin Songer

Another fort, Castillo de San Marcos in St. Augustine, Florida as been surveyed by biologists and the limestone walls found to grow over fifty different species of plants. 

Although in reality most green roof and living wall designers do not use these specific plants typically found growing across structures, the knowledge gained from examining wild roof and wall plants is invaluable.

Identifying and classifying these found plants as to their Genus and Family classifications can help select other related but more suitable to vertical landscape plants.

Florida Living Wall & Green Roof Plants Nature Selected, Ft. Pickens, Pensacola by Kevin Songer

Moreover, understanding the C3, C4 and CAM photosynthesis pathways evolved by these plants provides a solid basis for green roof and living wall design.  

Examine those plants you seeing growing downtown when you are out and about.  Nature has so much more to teach us than the most detailed scientific manuals!

Florida Nature Fun Poetry - Haiku for Thursday, Feathers, Wind and a Seagull

Florida Nature Fun Poetry - Haiku for Thursday, Feathers, Wind and a Seagull

Florida Haiku, Feather, Wind and Seagull by Kevin Songer

...
stout wind today
pull feather from the sand and

out pops a seagull
...

Florida Wildflower Haiku & Art, Lyre Leaf Sage, Salvia lyrata

Florida Wildflower Haiku & Art, Lyre Leaf Sage, Salvia lyrata

Florida Wildflower Haiku & Art, Lyre Leaf Sage, Salvia lyrata by Kevin Songer

...

native purple blooms
hummingbirds steal a sip and
chase off butterflies
…
Lyre-leaf sage is a Florida native and drought tolerant wildflower I see growing across lawns, along roadsides, in fields, meadows and under the forest canopy.

Lyre-leaf sage leaves are lyre-like in shape with deep purple and green colorings. Their light blue flowers provide nectar for hummers and butterflies. The over-lapping leaves of adjacent lyre leaf sage plants keep other weeds down and provide a neat, well-cropped perennial native ground cover appearance. Lyre leaf sage has been one of my favorite and most reliable green roof plants.

Lyre leaf sage has also been used traditionally as a cancer cure. This healing practice was based on a theory that because the plant quickly spread, creating densely populated patches, it must be a natural cure for likewise rapidly spreading cancers. 

Lyre leaf sage is an amazing Florida native perennial, landscape or green roof plant superb in its attraction to pollinators, hummingbirds, bees and butterflies.

Florida Wildflower Haiku & Nature Art, Seaside Oxeye Daisy, Borrichia frutescens

Florida Wildflower Haiku- short verse for Tuesday, Seaside Oxeye Daisy, Borrichia frutescens

Florida Haiku & Nature Art, Seaside Ox-eye, Borrichia frutescens

…
sometimes cant tell if
sun bleached oxeye masses or
winged southern whites
…
Seaside oxeye daisy is relatively salt tolerant and often grows along brackish channels near the coast. Seaside oxeye daisy faithfully produces scores of yellow aster type flowers that attract many butterflies but especially kaleidoscopes of winged southern whites. I usually find seaside oxeye daisy grown side by side with black mangroves. Wildlife will utilize this plant’s leaves and flower heads for forage when food becomes scarce.