{"id":530,"date":"2026-10-14T15:54:49","date_gmt":"2026-10-14T15:54:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thecatbirdsang.com\/www\/?p=530"},"modified":"2026-10-14T15:54:49","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T15:54:49","slug":"black-eyed-susans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thecatbirdsang.com\/www\/black-eyed-susans\/","title":{"rendered":"Black-eyed Susans"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They start as hunter green leaves<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">shaped like a heart. Uncoiling from the ground,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">stems emerge with tiny buds, tight as a fist,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">hint of what\u2019s to come. Black centers are hidden<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">underneath sun yellow petals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Unfurling slowly, they straighten<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">to reveal more of the center.&nbsp; Finally,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">petals extend to their full length,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">exposing black eyes to many small &nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">wasp pollinators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Fall comes, flower heads begin to wilt leaving<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">only the centers for birds. Dried stalks<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">are winter homes for beetles, leaves melt back<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">into the mulch covering the roots<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">from winter\u2019s cold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; In the Yard II<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Old Mountain Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>They start as hunter green leaves shaped like a heart. Uncoiling from the ground, stems emerge with tiny buds, tight as a fist, hint of what\u2019s to come. Black centers are hidden underneath sun yellow petals. Unfurling slowly, they straighten to reveal more of the center.&nbsp; Finally, petals extend to their full length, exposing black&hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/thecatbirdsang.com\/www\/black-eyed-susans\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Black-eyed Susans<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poems","category-published-poems"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecatbirdsang.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecatbirdsang.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecatbirdsang.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecatbirdsang.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecatbirdsang.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=530"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thecatbirdsang.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":531,"href":"https:\/\/thecatbirdsang.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530\/revisions\/531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecatbirdsang.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecatbirdsang.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecatbirdsang.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}