Rita Briar she/they

@ritabriar

Writer of SFF, Secretary of WisCon, gardener of a tiny yard USian told to be white; bisexual and non-binary For: kittens & kindness; Against: kierarchy & prison Pic alt: self-portrait in brush pen Banner alt: eclipse pic from pi day 2025

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Rita Briar she/they@ritabriar· 10d

Definitely not ... Do you have pics tho? Void floof tax:

A fluffy black cat stretched out on a bed with front paws tucked, one paw over her face. She has a tiny white spot on her tummy. (Actually she has a series of them, but only one is visible here.)

Rita Briar she/they@ritabriar· 10d

Update:

Mallow on a jean skirt on a person on a couch. Mallow is tan, white, and brown, with dark gray tail, ears, and face markings. Couch is bright effing blue.

Rita Briar she/they@ritabriar· 10d

Here's one from my pathway that needed pulled. It grows in 3 directions, not 2 like grass! ... ... ... Well, I think it's cool, so I'm counting it.

A single sedge plant, looking like a grass, except coming from the center in 3 directions instead of 2!

Rita Briar she/they@ritabriar· 19d

Got a new-to-me vase

Forest green & turquiose vase with a few scarlet sweet william, purpley-blue bachelor's buttons, and yellow snapdragons

Rita Briar she/they@ritabriar· 26d

This week's #bloomscrolling post hilights flowers that look like aliens and Dr. Suess conspired on flower design.

White Cleome flowers with lavender-pink streaks softening spidery clusters of buds and seeds.

Pink-lavender bee balm flowers that look like balding muppet heads, the domes in green.

Speaking of balding muppets, lavender coneflowers with spikey orange-and-black centers. Petals around the centers are relatively normal. In the background, pinky-brown froth made of plant material, aka Queen of the Prairie flowers. Also, a progressive pride garden flag for wrath month.

Rita Briar she/they@ritabriar· Jul 6

In dappled shade, cat with white boots and bib, black stripes on short, tan fur. Cat is staring at the camera, with tail up and curled nearly in half. Cat might be high on catnip and/or wanting crunchy food.

Rita Briar she/they@ritabriar· Jul 3

Got a bumble-bee visitor the other day. Bee balm is especially healthy for bees if they have to over-winter at all. #bloomscrolling

Lavender-pink bee balm flowers, one with an enormous bumble bee probing into it. Each flower looks like a very shaggy muppet head at the top of a long stem of leaf-shaped leaves arranged opposite each other, alternating at 90-degree angles.

Rita Briar she/they@ritabriar· Jun 29

I'm visiting Tuxo-Claes and she is a very silly cat. 💜

Rita Briar she/they@ritabriar· Jun 25

Garden going strong I love how echinacea look like unfolding alien pods as they bloom.

Cottage-style piles of native blooms and foliage surrounding a garden flag that says "Gardening is Punk" with a tattoo-styled graphic of a trowel and flowers. Blooms include pink-purple coneflower aka echinacea with bright red-orange centers, dots of purple-blue spiderwort, clusters of pink common milkweed, and a few sprays of pink queen-of-the-prairie. The flag is repaired with cross-stitch and safety pins. The bed has a curved boundry between it and the lawn.

Rita Briar she/they@ritabriar· Jun 25

I love poppies. From dirt and dirt-colored seeds, lovely color and texture.

A section of yard about 3 feet / 1 meter wide planted with poppies, which dot the blue-green foliage with pink, frilly double blooms. To one side is a wooden fence with an indeterminent tall plant growing near it and where the fence turns is a yucca in full bloom.

Rita Briar she/they@ritabriar· Jun 18

No hissing was involved in this encounter, they've come so far!

Elder Cat and Void Floof together on a light blue sheet loosely on a bed. Void is a fluffy black cat, curled up with ears sticking up off one side and eyes barely visible below them. Elder is a color point cat, cream with dark brown feet, tail, face, and ears, stalking away from Void and looking at something on the floor off the bed.

Rita Briar she/they@ritabriar· Jun 16

Yes! Latest from said cat:

Mallow, named after a toasted marshmallow, sprawled on a faux-wood floor. She looks very interested in something off-screen, but unsure she wants to bother with it. She's white with grey markings and some rust tintings on her face, front legs, and tail, plus her back looks like a lazy rubbing of an engraving of a striped cat. One dark stripe goes from her elbow to her side for no apparent reason.

Rita Briar she/they@ritabriar· Jun 15

Poppies in two variations so far this year #BloomScrolling

Light pink single poppy flower held upright to show off a large pistil surrounded by many stamens and four dark maroon-red splotches, one in the center of each petal. The hand holding the flower is light-skinned and is also holding a KN95 mask. In the background is more poppy foliage, which is a bit ruffly with pointy-looking fringe and also is a bluer green than plants in the further background.

Light pink doubled poppy flower with petals ruffled almost rose-thick. The outer five petals are the largest. The large stamen in the center peeks from between the crowded petals. The pink seems to be darker closer to the center of the flower, but it's hard to be sure. Less poppy foliage and more other foliage is visible in this picture.

Rita Briar she/they@ritabriar· Jun 8

Bachelors Buttons has started! My grandma loved these. (Idk what the blue dot to the left of the flower is, that doesn't exist in meatspace.)

Single round purplish-blue bloom on a tall stem that has whorls of thin foliage and other buds on other branches of the stem. Varied foliage in the pot below, another pot nearby, wooden deck below both.

Rita Briar she/they@ritabriar· Jun 6

Salvia and chives, a pink and purple combo #bloomscrolling

Globes of pinkish-purple chive blooms leaning over spikes of bluish-purple salvia blooms. Leaves of violet, dandilion, and ornamental grass also visible. Dead leaves as mulch on the ground underneath.

Rita Briar she/they@ritabriar· May 26

Oh hey @sjgochenour.bsky.social I see you lurking on my bloom scrolling thread. Look what popped this week!

A two-foot-tall apple tree just starting to produce shoots above its grafting tape. Bare dirt around it.

Rita Briar she/they@ritabriar· May 26

My lobelia "Husker Red" popped today! This is another plant admired and gifted from my mom. The foliage is usually more red than green. I wonder if it needs a bit of water in this heat. #bloomscrolling (Last one for today!)

Enthusiastic white trumpet-shaped flowers, trying to be seen (by bees) against a sea of shiney quince leaves. Foliage is red on its edges and undersides, matching the stems.

Rita Briar she/they@ritabriar· May 26

My columbine made it! If you remember that last year I had two, well. Maybe the other one isn't blooming yet. #bloomscrolling

A calmer fuschia than the rose, these blooms look like they might be housing aliens during space travel: 5 cones clustered in a circle , all open in the same direction. Leaves have a neat scallop pattern along the edge and seem to grow in clusters of three. This also is a shady area.

Rita Briar she/they@ritabriar· May 26

Spiderwort, a plant I think I grew from seed from the local conservationist group, early in owning this house. #bloomscrolling

A tangle of long, thin leaves with bold dots of bright purple-blue to rival the iris earlier in the thread. Smaller blooms that come across as a delightful surprise.

Rita Briar she/they@ritabriar· May 26

This is false indigo from my grandma. Behind it, a thick cover of wood anemone, a plant I thought was too cool to grow for me. That's also in bloom. #bloomscrolling

Blue pea-like blooms running up long, graceful stems in a shady area. Smooth leaves are in flat clusters going up other stems. In the background, mounds of star-shaped leaves dotted with small white blooms.

Rita Briar she/they@ritabriar· May 26

I should maybe include #bloomscrolling in on these pics. The whole point is to spread their joy! These lovely iris came with the house. I keep trying to mix in other colors, and also these can survive hardships that kill off other iris. This year, I have other survivers that declined to bloom.

Close up of some bright screaming-yellow iris growing at a slightly awkward angle. European style iris. Two full flowers, one bud, and one faded bloom are visible. In the background are the iris foliage and leaves from Queen of the Prairie, which isn't blooming yet. Small plants and light brown plant litter cover the ground.

Rita Briar she/they@ritabriar· May 26

This one is from my mom. I admired hers when I visited, so she brought a few clumps when she visited. This is the clump that survived.

A dark, bright purple iris clump growing at the boundry between rock and grass. It's a Siberian-style iris, with thinner leaves and flowers than the European style. Flashy and gorgeous.

Rita Briar she/they@ritabriar· May 26

This is the climbing rose that came with the house. I'm pretty sure it's growing from the root stock, but it's so vigorous and pretty, it's hard to care.

A bright fuschia-pink rose climbing up a blue stucco wall. Three blooms and several buds are showing.

Rita Briar she/they@ritabriar· May 21

She's fine now, though!

Long haired black cat pouncing on something invisible by launching out of a smooshed felted cat cave.

Rita Briar she/they@ritabriar· May 13

One more stage

Grape hyacinth, lemonade-yellow tulips, and salmon-red tulips dotting a sea of green foliage. Seed heads have been cut back.

Rita Briar she/they@ritabriar· May 6

This mix continues to evolve

Tulips are pink & yellow, red, and bright yellow. The grape hyacinth are fading, but still purple or blue for about an inch at the tops. The older tulips have left behind interesting seed heads with dark, vertical stripes.

Rita Briar she/they@ritabriar· Apr 30

Next flower over has started up, an allium. I've seen similar ones called "giant globe allium" but I don't know anymore exactly which variety this is.

Close-up of a pinky-purple ball of star-shaped blooms. In the background, similar bloom balls on long stems.

Rita Briar she/they@ritabriar· Apr 30

Okay but it got even better #bloomscrolling

Tulips in yellow, pink, red, and light yellow with red patches interspersed with purple/blue grape hyacinth. In the background, a clump of young goldenrod and another clump of yucca. Among the bulbs, poppy seedlings.

Rita Briar she/they@ritabriar· Apr 26

Oh, no! Ellie says heal well:

Ellie, looking relaxed and a bit concerned

Rita Briar she/they@ritabriar· Apr 23

This blend of bulbs got its color this afternoon.