In Bloom

PRETTY THINGS: This is MPA's first spring in our new-to-us house, and we're enjoying watching our yard come to life. 

The home's previous residents must have loved flowers, because they are all over our yard, in great volume and variety.

These crazy looking things have started popping up all over.

We had no idea what they're called, but fortunately my Facebook friend Jason is a landscape designer, and he let us know they're Kniphofia or "red hot poker."

Jason reports "they're a pretty common plant," and I believe him, as I've seen them all over the neighborhood.

There are also there crazy yellow, multi-tiered flowers everywhere.

Another Facebook friend of mine shared my photo to a plant identification group and learned they're hlomis russeliana, also known as Turkish or Jerusalem sage. 

Yet another friend warned me the Turkish sage might 'take over,' and suggested I pull it. Hmm, I'm going to have to read up on that. I rather like the Seussical looking plants.

Out back, we also discovered this crazy leafed wonder. 

Get past the green and you find this wild purple blossoms with what look like black swords sticking out of them. Friend Jason says "it's a type of arum Lily."  Yet another friend posted a photo of black lilies, and that's exactly what these look like. Mystery solved!

From Wikipedia, I learned they're formally called Dracunculus vulgaris (Dragon Arum). How cool is that - we have DRAGON lilies!

These pretty little clover-like lovelies below are hidden away under other plants. They look kind of like butterflies to me.

This towering flower I knew to be foxglove.

 Super cool looking, but also very toxic.

 We have pink ones and white ones ... 

 And we'll have to wait and see which color this one is.

I'm more of a 'plants you can eat' person, so I'm happy that we at least have some rhubarb.

 It looks very healthy!

 Check out CJ's stalk. We look forward to making a dessert with it!

There is also a fig tree. Though it's rooted in the neighbor's yard, lots of branches hang over into our space. We can't wait to pluck some figs this summer!

All in all, we had a fun 'field trip' in our own yard, and it was cool how through my Facebook friends we were able to crowd-source info about our plants! (Oh, that reminds me, the amazing pink flowers at the top of the post are a succulent called delospermum, or "ice," per Jason.

I Googled the flowers, and on a site called Hostasdirect.com, I read that they're called 'hardy ice' not because they withstand the cold temperatures, but due "to the appearance of the flowers and leaves, which are said to look shimmery as if covered in frost or ice (in reality, they are covered in hairs that reflect and refract light in a manner that imitates sparkling ice." No wonder they're so shimmery in this photo.

ON THE HORIZON: We learned on Tuesday that the mission operations team for NASA’s New Horizons probe has awakened the piano-sized spacecraft from its robotic hibernation. The reason for the wake up call? Hew Horizons is scheduled for a January 1 flyby of an intriguing object on the solar system’s edge, known as 2014 MU69 or Ultima Thule.

To date, New Horizons is most notable for having flown past Pluto in 2015, and returning stunning photos of that far away planet. (Yes, I said it! I'm of the age where we were taught our solar system has nine planets!). 

Anyway, New Horizons confirmed its wakeup call with radio signals received at 11:12 p.m. PT Monday. Hooray! (It had been in resource saving mode since last December!) Mission Operations Manager Alice Bowman of APL reported that the spacecraft was in good health and operating normally, with all systems coming back online as expected.

We learned that Ultima Thule, the focus of the follow-up mission, is a billion miles beyond Pluto and more than 3.7 billion miles from Earth in a region known as the Kuiper Belt.

We couldn't help but wonder, out of all of the bodies out there in space, why is NASA targeting Ultima Thule?

An artist’s conception shows NASA’s New Horizons probe silhouetted by the sun, with the Kuiper Belt object known as Ultima Thule or 2014 MU69 dominating the scene. (NASA / JHUAPL / SwRI / Steve Gribben)


It’s thought to be an icy object much smaller than Pluto, and preliminary long-range observations suggest it could consist of multiple objects.

CJ did a little digging and learned that Ultima Thule is estimated to be about 30 kilometers long. The closest distance New Horizons will come to MU69 is expected to be reached on New Year's Eve 2018.  From an article in New Scientist, CJ found out that MU69 has been chosen for study because its distance from the sun means that it has been in deep freeze since the solar system's early history. The composition of MU69 may reveal facts about the early solar system and its formation.

We'll definitely be following along on New Horizons' latest assignment!