Florida Haiku and Short Verse

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 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

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 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 

gulf seashore haiku Florida haiku, Gulf seashore by Kevin Songer... ... gulf's cool waters crash drowning out all other sounds but for seagull's cry ...

Florida nature senryu - haiku for mid week, Candyroot, Polygala nana. Florida Wildflower Poetry, Haiku, Senryu, Candyroot, Polygala nana by Kevin Songer …  I know I shouldn’t pull plant and sniff candyroot, but no one’s looking … Candyroot calls to everyone who has ever pulled up the plant to experience the strong aromatic spicy scent of the roots. Interestingly, candyroot requires ants to collect the plant’s seeds for the  food value  of the seed's coating. Once underground, the seeds then germinate up through the ant's bed. Candyroot’s yellow flowers sit atop stalks rising from a basal rosette of succulent-like leaves.

Tuesday morning Florida native plant and wildflower haiku, Purple Muhly Grass Florida Wildflower Poetry & Art, Purple Muhly grass, Mulenbergia spp. by Kevin Songer … sweetgrass baskets muhly and pine needles weave art of carrying rice … Purple muhly grass lines the median of many native plant landscaped downtown streets in Florida. During late summer the blooms form a cloud-like top to the grass in brilliant white, purple and pink shades. This grass gives important communal habitat to birds and small mammals and once established is extremely drought tolerant. Muhly grass has a long history of ethnobotanical uses by native Americans and early settlers.  Woven from plant leaf blades, early plantation workers carried rice and other goods up from the fields in muhly grass baskets and satchels. Green Gardening Matters' post on muhly grass offers helpful hints on growing the grass as well as more of the interesting history of the plant.

Weekend Catesby Lily Short Verse Pineland lily, Lilium catesbaei, Kevin Songer ... flames in the flatwoods fire in the wiregrass wet soil quenches not ... Damp soil pine flatwoods are such a special place and this is where I usually see Catesby lily growing en masse.  Catesby lily flower is one of the largest lily flowers native to North America.  Brilliant hues of orange, yellow and red attract a number of pollinators to the top of stems reaching up above wiregrass below.  Pineland lily is truly an amazing Florida native wildflower.

Climbing aster, Symphyotrichum spp. ... lilac stars climb wreathed through cypress, bag of yarn not twisted more ... Climbing aster can be reliably found in full lush bloom, even in the driest and hottest of summer droughts.  This shrubby vine produces masses amounts of highly fragrant luminous purple and mauve flowers. Once the vines start weaving through trees they form an almost impenetrable barrier.  When no other summer drought flowers can be found, climbing aster is there to feed hungry monarch butterflies.

... fruit frog eyelash high turkey leg vines wrap, purple green earth trip trap ...

Ticktrefoil ... another yard weed impossible to get rid of important to keep ... Stick tights, Desmodium spp.