The Rosh Hashana Mystery Plant

Happy Jewish New Year! In a few hours, it'll be 5769.

While I wouldn't describe myself as a particularly observant Jew, my Conservative upbringing makes me constitutionally incapable of working on the High Holidays (happily, I can garden). Since Rosh Hashana begins tonight, I won't be blogging tomorrow which gives you an extra day to help me identify this (native?) southern Illinois plant.

I'm hoping this isn't a weed because it was the only plant of integrity growing among morning glories and other invaders but hey, I've been sucker-punched before. Its stems and leaves are fuzzy, it grows in full sun nowhere near water and the soil's thin and powdery gray (truly). Figure 8" tall.

photo credit: Ketzel Levine, NPR

 

Among the changes now ushering in 5769 is a huge improvement in the way we can interact on Talking Plants. Next time you leave a comment, you'll be asked to sign in as a member of the NPR community. Don't balk; it's painless. Fill out your profile, do the confirmation e-mail dance, and voila: in addition to posting, you'll be able to comment on all NPR stories and connect with community-minded NPR staff.

There's also a blog re-design in our future which may enable you to post pix directly to Talking Plants instead of having to go away and post in the TP Flickr pool. You can hardly stand the excitement, right? A toast, then, towards community and connection in the New Year...

12:23 PM ET | 09-29-2008 | permalink

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