our state flower

white pine cone and tassel
Pinus strobus

maine state flower

seriously? 49 states with colorful flowers and we get a pine cone and tassel. a what? not that we don't love our white pines. we do. but we're a bit stuck here. can you guess our state tree? the white pine. our state nickname? "the pine tree state". thanks goodness for the black-capped chickadee, our state bird. if trees could fly….

this is a photo of a concrete planter filled with seasoned white pine cones. it sits quietly in a corner of our house. every 3-5 years, a bounty crop of pine cones is produced. last year was one of those wonderful years. in spite of all the sappiness, i do enjoy collecting freshly dropped cones in the fall and saving them for fire starters.

tomorrow, i am going to try to blip a Pinus strobus tassel, also known as a candlestick. in what other state does it take two days of blipping to post your state flower?

all this said, i adore maine. it fits me right.