Crabby Crabs

Alright, it's Sunday night...just hours before the new work week starts. Whoo! Right, haha. Tonight's feature is the Chrysanthemum, which I photographed in my front yard about a month and a half ago.

Chrysanthemums were first grown in Ancient China around the 15th-Century B.C. and have had important cultural significance throughout Chinese and Japanese history. This particular cultivar has been grown at home ever since I was a little kid. When autumn arrived, we were always on the look out for these to flower. Why? Well...when these guys first bloom, the timing roughly coincides with the female Chesapeake/Atlantic blue crab containing roe inside of their shells*. Here's a picture of one of these delicious crabs:

Photo from Wikipedia

Some recipes call for spices but we've always just steamed them without any spices. The crab meat is naturally sweet and the roe is great as well, enhancing the overall taste. While these crabs are good-eating and cherished by many people, especially those along the eastern coast of the United States, its should be noted that their population has been declining drastically in recent years. As with all of our resources, we should take care to use and replenish. I'm no activist but I do believe in moderation. That being said, I hope they make it in the wild so that we can all continue to enjoy them.

Here are a couple of more photos of Chrysanthemum flowers:

*In some states it is illegal to catch and keep female blue crabs that have fertilized eggs under their apron. Those sold at market do not have eggs under the apron but instead, have roe inside of their shell.

Of Hairy Toad Lilies

Greetings! My last post was over half a year ago here on my fledgling blog...not sure what happened. I think it might have been a lack of time and I eventually forgot about posting. In any event, here I am again.

Today, I'd like to share some photos of Tricyrtis hirta, also known as the "hairy toad lily." This year was the first time I saw this flower in my backyard and at first glance, it reminded me of squid (which by the way, are so very delicious!). Here's a photo of a Hawaiian bobtail squid that I found online:

Photo by: William Ormerod/courtesy Margaret McFall-Ngai
University of Wisconsin-Madison

Now here's a photo of the hairy toad lily ("hairy" because nearly all parts of the plant is covered with little hairs):

Pretty close, huh? The squid I had in mind actually had more purplish dots but I didn't know which species of squid of was. Anyway, back to the flower. 

I had taken a good number of photographs of it but had no idea what it was called. Finally, after unsuccessful research by myself (can't wait for the day we can enter a photo as a search parameter!), I posted in the always-informative forums at DP Review and in no time, got an answer. I'm actually still slightly unsure if it is hirta species and not another one like the chinensis. Whichever one it is, I found the flower somewhat mesmerizing. Here are a couple of more photos:

Since this past April, I've taken over 15,000 photographs of various flowers in my backyard with my trusty Panasonic DMC-ZS3. I'll be presenting these photos in future posts so stay tuned!