May 31, 2009

Spiderwort

Snakeroot (Is that a critter at 1 o'clock?)

Great Solomon's Seal

Through the kitchen window

May 24, 2009

Weekly, through the window

When all was brown, I longed for green. Now that mosquitoes are out, I'm dreaming of white.

The Black Locusts along the road have exploded.

Bumblebees pollinate the sweet scented flowers.

At just the right time of year, O happened upon the Black Cherry chapter of John Eastman's The Book of Forest & Thicket, which explains these odd growths. I'd always wondered about them. They're Wild Cherry Pouch Galls created by the mite, Eriophyes padi.

The unique structure of a Green Dragon leaf

and the Green Dragon flower.

It's rare that a light breeze isn't blowing these flowers to and fro so I ran outside in my pajamas yesterday morning to snap the Fringe Tree flowers. It's a native tree and seems to be tolerant of varied conditions but is slow growing so isn't particularly popular in landscaping.

The Paw Paw didn't flower as heavily as last year but a half dozen or so survived last week's final frost.

Throw away your lawn mower and the most incredible things appear:

Solomon's Seal

Fleabane

These are all over the yard. I don't remember them being so abundant in years past.

Virginia Waterleaf

I didn't know how delicate, lacy, and crazily complex the flower was till I uploaded the photo. It reminds me a bit of northern Bogbean with its floral filaments, really pretty. (Click to enlarge.)

We planted a few Jacob's Ladders; they're doing well and spreading.

In the garden, lettuces are healthy.

We moved the chives outside the garden fence to a place where they can spread. I let them flower.

And now, for my dirt-y little gardening secret. I don't have a clue what I'm doing. My method is to throw things in the ground and deal with them when I have to. These peas, for example. The instructions say to plant 2" apart in double rows spaced 6" apart with 24" between each set of rows. I can't grasp that geometry. They're early dwarfs so I'm not too worried about the details.

Tomatoes are planted along the house; I hope they have enough air circulation. A couple plots remain vacant for cukes and whatever I may stumble across at a garden center.

I started some basil from seed that's doing okay but not exactly gangbusters. I'd love to have enough to make heaps of pesto. If the seedlings don't take off soon, I may fill the empty spots with plants from a nursery.

May 21, 2009

Goose Family (photo by O)

We're not sure what happened with the geese this year. We saw a single hatchling for about a week, then three, then four, then none for two weeks. This appears to be the larger firstborn with a single sibling.

Mom, eating sunflower seeds

This lactating raccoon has a nest of babies in a nearby tree. When we were full-time wildlife rehabbers, we raised and released dozens of orphaned raccoons. Perhaps this is the granddaughter of one of ours.

May 17, 2009

Through the kitchen window
-or- There goes the view

Tree reflection

Sycamores are among the last to leaf out
(zoom to admire the bark)

Butternut catkins

Ragwort growing wild along the road

6 flowers on this Wild Geranium plant, and 6 bees

Nannyberry flower, the aroma wafts about the yard on a breeze

Cornus alternifolia, Blue Dogwood, Pigeonberry, Alternate-leaved Dogwood

Among my favorites, the scent is sweet and lemony. The flowers, berries, leaves and overall form are really breathtaking.

Why I Don’t Hate Snakes

Years ago, when we were planting native trees and shrubs and flowers, naturalizing the property, we would occasionally go into town, visit a pet store, and say, “Give me all of those.” Whether or not we had any money, we felt the need to free the poor captive turtles or snakes, and would make 3-digit credit card purchases in the name of freedom. (We now see the foolishness of our ways, knowing that a) we could have spread pet store diseases into healthy wild populations, and b) credit cards are best left in drawers at home for real emergencies.)

But back then, one fine Spring day, O purchased a dozen Garter Snakes and--thinking the offer would be a great gift--made me promise to release them. I agreed, thinking it would be easy enough to dump a bag o’snakes on the ground, then run like hell. I was apprehensive on the long drive home, the brown lunch sack squirming and slithering between us on the seat. I steeled myself for the drop ‘n’ run when O informed me that I had to release them one by one. Manually.

There was nothing I could do to save face except agree. And so we parked the old black pick-up, I reached into the bag, grabbed one small snake gingerly between my thumb and index finger, pulled it out and let it go before I could register the slimy creepiness. The next one I was able to hold a nanosecond longer. It wasn’t so slimy. The next, even longer. Not so creepy. And by the time I got to Snake #12, I was thoroughly entranced with its lithe grace, was sad to let it go, and wished for a dozen more.

May 12, 2009

Bankside bench in the shadow of the Sycamores

We planted marigolds around the perimeter of the garden last weekend. Lettuces, spinach, radishes, turnips, and peas are up. Hooray!

May 10, 2009

The first Garter Snake of the season, sunning by the back door

Through the kitchen window

Doll's Eyes or White Baneberry

Wild Ginger

Wild Columbine

Mayapple

Dame's Rocket, not native, distinguished from Wild Blue Phlox by 4 petals instead of 5

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Heartfelt thanks to The-Grizzled-But-Still-Incorrigible-Scribe-Himself at the beautifully writ and lovingly photographed Riverdaze for my very first blog award!

I hereby share this award with some very talented bloggers whom I follow:

Cliffs and Ruins
My Muskoka
Whose blog is it anyway? (Brody's Blog)

May 8, 2009

"Kiss me, Lady, you won't be sorry."
"Ha," I said. "Do I look as if I were born yesterday? It's frogs who turn into princes, not American Toads." And I walked away.


O snapped Ghost Deer and friends walking through the back yard.


Virginia Creeper climbing up the trunk of a Honeylocust. I learned the very hard way, not to wear soft-soled shoes in Honeylocust territory.


Wild Hyacinths appeared along the river where we've never seen them before. We wondered if they came by bird or flood. They made me think of my favorite Leonard Cohen song, Take This Waltz.

May 6, 2009, later that day

After the rain

American Beech, two seasons

Standing in a bed of Mayapples

Camera blindly held at ground level 'neath a patch of wet leaves

Mayapple flower

May 6, 2009

Wild Geranium with Insect

We've planted some oaks over the years: White, Red, Black, Pin, Shingle, Bur, Swamp White, Shumard Red, Post, and Scarlet. Most are native to our county, or adjacent counties, 'though they wouldn't all necessarily grow in this particular environment naturally.

White Oak

Acorns have been slow in coming; last year, we found just one, a Swamp White. This year, we're seeing oodles of catkins on many of the trees and we're hoping for a big crop.

Butternuts, or White Walnuts, are flowering, too. I've never tasted one before and would love just a nibble this fall.

Butternut catkins

Chokecherry flowers

Chokecherries spread like crazy, the flowers smell lovely, and the birds enjoy the berries.