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Hosta 'First Frost' 30 August 2026 |
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| Suzy |
The blue coating on hosta leaves is
called a waxy bloom or epicuticular wax, and the physical condition of having
this powdery, grayish-blue waxy covering is described as being glaucous.This
layer is not made of blue pigment. Instead, microscopic structures in the wax
scatter light—specifically reflecting blue wavelengths—which creates the
optical illusion of a blue color over the green leaf underneath.
I have been
lax in writing blog. I am no filling holes. While today is 30 August, 2026 I
will be placing it for August 26 even though the scan of Hosta ‘First Frost’ is
one I did today.
After my
daily bike ride as I was about to open my front door I noticed the blueness of
the hosta. Because it is usually in the shade the blue colour has persisted and
the overcast sky which projects more UV light makes the leaf that much bluer.
I
immediately thought of that sad Miles Davis compostion, Blue and Green from his
Kind of Blue album. The song has a special although melancholic connection with
me.
In 1966
while I was in the Argentine Navy as a conscript I had an Argentine girlfriend
called Suzy Bornstein. She thought I was uncouth and uncultured. She took me to
see Prokofiev’s The Fiery Angel, insisted I see the film Help! and then exposed
me to a strange Japanese film called The Woman of the Dunes.
I was
staying at a pension run by a retired submarine officer of the German Navy of
WWII. One rainy and cold Buenos Aires winter he told me that Suzy was on the
phone. “Alex don’t ever call me back. I
am leaving you for the first violinist of the Teatro Colón Symphony Orchestra.
You will never amount to anything. Goodbye.”
I became
horribly depressed but discovered that the trick was to hit bottom as then
going up was the only option. So I listened in my portable record player to
Astor Piazzolla and the Miles Davis album Kind of Blue. I would repeat over and
over Blue and Green.
In 1987 I
returned to Buenos Aires. I rang the bell on Susy’s door. When she opened it
she said, “Aren’t you going to kiss me?”
She died of cancer 3 months later.
