Flower of the Day (FOTD): Acanthus

It’s been a week — no, more — since self has posted a flower picture for Cee Neuner’s Flower of the Day (FOTD) Challenge. Her flower today is Acanthus.

Self posted a picture of it on Facebook and asked if anyone knew the name for this flower, which grows along one side of her yard. A friend from Malta was the first to answer: “It’s called Acanthus, and it grows all over the Mediterranean. Its image is often carved into tombs.”

The man who built this house (in 1939) was from Italy. He planted a magnificent walnut, and all kinds of fruit trees (which have died one by one, over the 30 years she’s been in this house). Perhaps the fruit trees and the acanthus reminded him of his native country. Perhaps he was homesick.

She saw massive specimens in Filoli, the last time she visited, maybe a year ago (They were allowing a small number of visitors, everyone had to be masked)

Funny, another friend, who has a large, beautiful garden, told her it was “a weed” and grew wild. It’s definitely not a weed. She remembers, the first ten years in this house, the spikes were profuse, and very tall. But climate change is a thing: every summer in the last 10 years, that patch of side yard has been exposed to the most punishing sun. The leaves turned brown, and no flowers appeared. Until this year.

Stay cool, dear blog readers. Stay cool.