You know you are getting somewhere in life when people come running to do you favors you forgot they owed you.
Not that anyone could forget Mr. Alard De Oude, botanist extraordinaire. It was not so much his elegant appearance, although he was making a striking entrance into senior years with his shock of silver hair, but his warm spirit and stunning smile. My youngest daughter, Laura, thought that he could smile at plants and make them grow, and her baby brother Laurence just wanted to snuggle up, like a big beautiful heliotrope, in his arms.
Mr. De Oude was in San Francisco for a conference, and came by to see me because he knew I was injured. He brought with him a small case, and in it was a special gift to me -- a set of bulbs.
“You had said to me that you wished there was something you could do to show your wife your appreciation for how she is caring for you,” he said. “There it is – call them V.T.'s Torch Lilies, for so they are.”
“How much do I owe you?”
“You paid me. Do you not remember that entire disaster on Gitmore 3?”
“Yes – what a mess.”
“I wasn't there because you warned me in advance.”
“I did?”
“You do not remember, Marcus, but you said to me that although the ruling star looks a lot like that of Earth, it was really a small pulsating variable that was irregular, and like an old volcano, would be trouble when it woke up. That is what happened. I would have been far out in the wilds doing botany, nowhere near any kind of help, had I been there. You saved my life. That little bit for you in the case – the least I can do.”
He smiled.
“There are many colors there,” he said, “and they will provide you interest afternoon, evening, and night – clear skies or evening fog, every background will show one to perfection, and at night, all of them glow in the dark, hence half the reason for their name – Torch Lilies. The other reason is their height – they will come up to your eye level.”
The above stunner burst open in the evening sunset-colored fog, rivaling the sunset colors, while this one a few days later was equally stunning in its purple majesty.
Others were at their best against clear skies … this one set its translucent lavender bud envelope against the blue sky and framed floral centers exactly the same color as that sky...
… while this one set forth a sea green bud envelope and showed a variety of different colors, like the swirling of the sea against a sky with cloud shadows and sun:
Two lilies had a bud envelope of black, and this one was traced with pink …
… while this one subtly set forth a rainbow of colors …
But as night approached – the floral centers of this variant looked like flames, surrounded with a swirl of smoke as the glowing elements of these flowers began to ramp up...
And then came night, and ironically, this one looked the most like one would expect a flower of its type to look – such a perfect contrast of pink and green!
But of course, right next to it was a color combination that reminded one that Mr. De Oude had gotten these from somewhere nowhere near Earth.
And, some of these recalled, though glowing in the dark, the soft coloring of their daytime companions ... a light-colored envelope with a subtle play of torch like colors within ...
But then came the "flaming colors" ... red hot...
Anybody need fireworks?
How about some midnight sun?
Needless to say, V.T. – Mrs. V.T. Kirk – was very pleased and appreciative, so much so that on warm days and especially on rare warm nights, she enjoyed sitting out in the midst of them, their ever-changing variety forming great stimulus to her and our children's minds in addition to being lovely. An added boon we did not expect was when her fleet colleagues found out about them.
“A couple of commodores were wondering if I might be willing to have a wandering eye,” she said, “but one said to another, 'No chance – you can see those Torch Lilies from orbit! Baby Kirk [my cousin J.T is the fleet captain they consider the real Kirk] has outwitted us again – she's not going to leave a man who can procure worthy things like that!”
She and I rolled laughing about that, while the Torch Lilies – visible from orbit apparently on clear nights -- shone on.
This singular fractal in Apophysis formed for me a great study in both palette and rendering background ... because the fractals are transparent, I had to not only think of what colors looked best with their complex swirling form, but best ON -- looked best ON to set up contrasts and tease out subtle color variations to create a garden patch worth of a day's events ... from noon until night!