More beauty from the garden of Randy_B

Teresa,

The first picture is a dragon arum (Dracunculus vulgaris) that bloomed by the walkway to our front door this past week.  The triangular magenta part is the spathe, the black rod is the spadix, and the actual reproductive parts of the flower are hidden at the base of the spadix, deeper in the flower.  On this one, the spathe and spadix are about 18 inches long.  Two other smaller ones are blooming on the other side of the walkway.  Besides the size, the unusual thing about this flower is that it's pollinated by flies... so the spadix smells really bad on the first day it opens.  To my nose, it smells like hot spoiled milk and a gas leak, with a base of dead rat.  We invite neighbors to come smell it every year.

The other pictures are of our hybrid Echiums in the back yard, a cross between the shorter tower of jewels (Echium wildpretii) and the taller tree echium (Echium pininana), both from the Canary Islands.  They're both single-stalk plants; the first kind has red flowers, and the second has pale blue flowers, so the hybrids can be red, pink, pale fuchsia, or pale blue.  The pink one that's blooming is just under 10 feet tall.  The individual flowers are on stems that extend outward with new flowers, so the skinny shape gets a bit bushier.  The other one that's just starting to bloom (more of a fuchsia color) shows some of the hybrid variability, with several branches and an inability to support itself, and it's a bit more than 10 feet tall and still growing.  (The side branches break off under their own weight while blooming.)  These plants are biennials, and they die after blooming and setting seed.  In the full-length photo of the pink one that's fully blooming, you can see what a 1-year-old plant looks like behind the poles on the left side: a low rosette of leaves.  We have six that are at this stage scattered across the yard, and hundreds of new seedlings started this past winter.

Randy_B

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My thanks to Randy and other "Frog Applause" readers who are helping me keep "Frog Blog" afloat while I temporarily struggle with content...

Gophers

 Gophers don't have to be rabid to do this.  They're just feisty. 

"Although they attempt to flee when threatened, they may attack other animals, including cats and humans, and can inflict serious bites with their long, sharp teeth."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gopher

The one in the picture is a Botta's or valley pocket gopher (Thomomys bottae).  This species of gopher prevents wear on its claws in our heavy clay soil by digging with its teeth.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botta%27s_pocket_gopher

Thanks to Randy_B for the gopher links and accompanying text.

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Guitar-shaped forest

Farmer spends decades growing guitar-shaped forest in memory of his late wife.

Read about it here.

Thanks to coltish1 for the story!

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Victory roll hairstyle

Victory rolls were most popular during 1940 to 1945, during World War II. Some theories exist as to the style's origin, the most commonly repeated of which are linked with World War II and the postwar movements. One theory associates victory rolls with the aviation aerobatic maneuver of planes that would spin horizontally as a sign of victory or celebration, as the style was supposed to resemble the movements of the air crafts. Another associates it with the allies' victory over Germany, as it was symbolic of the women at home helping their loved ones fighting overseas.

The style was popularized by film actresses such as Ingrid Bergman and the majority wore this style to frame their face so it fit the beauty standards of the day. The style could be worn with two victory rolls or with a single roll. After 1945 the popularity of the victory rolls declined as the style was now to have the top of the head smooth, however some women still wore victory rolls on the sides of their head.

Gene Tierney

Angela Lansbury

Ingrid Bergman

Julie London

Lena Horne

Deanna Durbin

Betty Grable

Yvonne de Carlo

Ann Sheridan

Lauren Bacall

Marilyn Monroe

Judy Garland

Eartha Kitt

Lucille Ball

Jane Wyman

Rita Hayworth

Ida Lupino

Veronica Lake

Katherine Hepburn

Maureen O'Hara

Barbara Stanwyck

Coleen Gray

Rosalind Russell

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Creative logos, packaging, etc.

Outdoor sign

Divorce lawyer's business card

Logo for Tokyo Olympics

Ruler with pen

Maintenance humor

Polish sign for a veterinary clinic

barn incorporated into barcode (barn-code)

Wolverine bag

Milk carton packaging

Mirror Lake sign

Tabasco ad

Mr. Chicken logo (note the rooster with the r and period.)

Optometry office

Toilet paper packaging to look like boom box

Coffee and cookie mug

Creative box for cookies

Flooring at U.S. Postal Museum

Lazy Susan refrigerator

Book title: DUNE (from every angle)

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Johnny Crawford

John Ernest Crawford (March 26, 1946 – April 29, 2021) was an American actor, singer, and musician. He first performed before a national audience as a Mouseketeer. At age 12, Crawford rose to prominence playing Mark McCain in the ABC Western series The Rifleman, which he was nominated for an Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actor at age 13.

The Rifleman, 1961

In 2019, it was reported that Crawford had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.

Johnny Crawford died at age 75 on April 29, 2021.

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