Early March - Signs of Spring

Our yard is showing signs of spring. 

The few crocus that escaped the squirrels are almost done for the year. The daffodils and hyacinths are taking over the show. The maples look flocked in red from afar but full of bursting buds on closer inspection (see my post from two weeks ago about the edge of spring to compare).

The deer are still hungry. I put some plant stakes around my day lilies and tulips to deter them but noticed this morning that they've nibbled the tulip leaves. The bottom branches of the maple tree have no buds remaining; it is very obvious how far the deer can stretch for food.

March Celebrations

March is just about here. What is there to celebrate? Here are some ideas:

St. Patrick’s Day on the 17th. You don’t have to be Irish to enjoy the green. My favorite green drink is a mint chocolate milk shake but there are plenty of others. Celtic fiddle music and dancing also are popular ways to celebrate the day.

Kites. March is breezy and the temperatures getting a bit warmer make is easier to indulge in outdoor activities. March is a great month to dig out the kites from the closet and enjoy their flutters overhead. Many communities have kite festivals during March. The one in Washington DC is associated with the Cherry Blossom Festival and will be held on 3/31.

Cherry blossoms (and other flowering trees). Washington DC is celebrating 100 years of the gift from Japan this year so there are a lot of extra events from March through mid-April. The dogwoods and fruit trees will begin to bloom in many parts of the country in March … so take a walking or driving tour through an area where they grow.
 

Early flowers. Crocus, daffodils, hyacinths, tulips…the early blooms of the year. Celebrate spring in a garden - either your own or a public one.

Brookside Gardens Conservatory - Feb. 26

Yesterday I posted about the outdoors part of our walk around Brookside Gardens and Nature Center. Today the post is about the Brookside Gardens conservatory. As always it was a lush, moist stroll.

The banana palm has a bunch of green fruits and the bird-of-paradise is blooming. I photographed them so many times before that I focused on other plants this  time. The colors nestled in the greenery were a delightful contrast to the browns still outdoors.

Colors that blend and mimic sunrise/sunset...colors that are delicate and hint at fruit to come...luxurious purple. Petals delicate and sturdy - some that look like dragons that can snap or start out like folded oragamy papers or unfurl to flutter individually from their interlocked bud.

And then there are the plants that point their flowers downward...to the side...or upward to soak in the sun.

The conservatory always has something worth seeing. 

Brookside Nature Center and Gardens - February 26

It was cool but sunny at Brookside Gardens and Nature Center in Montgomery County Maryland today. The nature center held a Maple Sugar Festival...complete with tasting of the clear sap from trees as well as ices made with the finished maple syrup. The contrast in sweetness between the sap and the syrup is pretty dramatic. The day should have been good for sap dripping into the buckets on the trees (cold nights, warmer days) but none were dripping while we were there. The event was well attended; we were fortunate to find a close in space in the parking lot for the Gardens visitor center. 

There are the beginning of spring in the garden with some fruit trees blooming...and the very early blooming bulbs (snowdrops and crocus). Lenten roses are blooming too. Daffodils are starting but now near their peak. The tulips have barely sprouted. At this time of year the shelf fungus on fallen trees is particularly noticeable because there is no foliage to hide it.

I'll post some photos from the Brookside Gardens Conservatory later in the week. It was a great day for for an early spring photography outing.

Rose Bouquet

A dozen roses wrapped in cellophane and tissue paper…or maybe in a large crinkly glass vase with a florist's bow.  I like the ones that: 

• Are the colors of the sunrise. There are so many colors to choose from and it is not even necessary to use a florist; larger grocery stores have a selection.
• Smell like roses. This is more challenging. Somehow the breeding for beauty and durability has reducing the fragrance in most cases.
• Start out as slightly opened buds and then unfurl. The partially open flower is the most beautiful to me but I also like the flowers to unfurl and drop their petals so that I can scatter them in a favorite flowerbed.
• Have healthy stems. It is always a disappointment when the stem begins to bend just a few inches below the flower - either from the weight of the flower or because of some damage to that part of the stem. I cut the stem past the flower end of the bend and float the flower with its shortened stem in a bowl of water.

They are a welcome occasional gift; I’d not appreciate them as much if they were bought too frequently. As it is, I get them once or twice a year and they act as a spark to remember the event.

I like roses on their bush even more. I enjoyed a trek through the rose garden in Tyler, Texas a few years ago even though it was a very cold morning (and I did not have a coat with me). And the rose garden is one of my favorite parts of Brookside Gardens….but that will be another post and will have to wait until the roses start their 2012 blooming.

The Symbolism of the Spiral

Almost all primitive cultures seem to create spirals --- pecked into rock, painted on to cave walls. They appear in nature --- the fiddleheads of ferns, the snail shells. 

I’ve always liked spirals and enjoyed drawing them as doodles. They imply multiple things to me…perhaps one of the reasons I find them so attractive. 

1. Continuum of time… past - present - future
2. Perspective looking from now…is it backward (history) or forward (future)…it is good to consider both positibilities
3. Curves seem a more natural shape to life…not right angles and straight lines that humans seems to love creating. Curves are comfortable.

What does the spiral symbolize to you?

Quote of the Day - 2/19/2012

No one can observe and analyze beautiful things in nature or works of art without increasing his capacity to appreciate and therefore enjoy the best. - Henry Turner Bailey in Photography and fine art

~~~~~

The quote today is from a book published in 1918 - just as photography was gaining wider popularity. It seems logical to me that having the discipline to notice beautiful things in our everyday activities does indeed increase our ‘capacity to appreciate and enjoy the best.’ I was given a new camera for Christmas 2010 and used it as a springboard to dramatically increase my forays into botanical photography (and photography in general). Now I find that I ‘see’ more than I did a year ago….and enjoy the challenge of capturing what I find.

Henry Turner Bailey was Dean of the Cleveland School of Art when he wrote the book. My favorite images are of things I recognize like the Jack-in-the-Pulpit on page 30 (small version at left) and the dogwoods on page 31.

Note: I’ve provided links to the hardcopy version of this book on Amazon but it is freely available on the Internet Archive to enjoy on line: Photography and Fine Art.

The Edge of Spring?

There seem to be a lot of signs of spring already. The winter has been very mild here in Maryland so far and there seemed to be a lot of birds singing as I made my way around the yard this morning.

The hyacinths are up and one is blooming.

The maple buds are just about ready to burst (all the buds on the lower branches have already been eaten by the deer).

Tulips are peeking through the mulch. Even the lilies are sprouting (the ones in the photograph have not been discovered by the deer yet…a clump a few feet away have been nibbled to the ground).

Are their signs of spring in your neighborhood?

Quote of the Day - 2/4/2012

Love me or hate me, the desert seems to say, this is what I am and this is what I shall remain. - Joseph Wood Krutch (books)

~~~~~

Our surroundings leave an impression. Krutch gives us one for deserts - “Love me or hate me…this is what I am and this is what I shall remain.”

What impressions do you have about the place you are right now --- or places you remember? Here are some ideas to get your brain storming started.

Forests say “We’re better as a diverse tribe.”

Plains say “It’s best to see things coming from a long way away.”

The mountains say “While being closer to the sky has its challenges, it has the advantage of being above the fray.”

The shores say “Ending and beginning are often combined; the boundary can change.”

Brookside Gardens Conservatory - Feb. 1

The conservatory at Brookside Gardens in Montgomery County, Maryland is a warm moist building full of plants that need protection from winter. It is one of my favorite plant places, particularly when the plants outdoors are still mostly dormant from the winter. Yesterday was warm enough to enjoy outdoors but the plants were still braced for winter….so the conservatory was the place to get the ‘green plant’ fix. One side of the conservatory was somewhat in disarray…not quite recovered from the model train exhibit that is always there for the winter holidays. Even with that work going on, the conservatory is a mass of greenery. There are orchids and bananas and bird of paradise; there is even a corner of cactus. The water trickling through and the smells of lush vegetation make this a place to savor. Enjoy my photos from yesterday!

 

Pictures from the outdoor part of Brookside Gardens posted here.

Brookside Gardens on Feb. 1

It was a sunny, spring-like day in Montgomery County, Maryland - a perfect day for a walk around Brookside Gardens. Crews were out trimming trees and taking the holiday lights off bushes and trees. The beds of bulbs were covered with nets to keep the squirrels at bay. Enjoy the photos from my walk. I’ll share photos from the conservatory tomorrow.

Lacy and wonderful even after exposure to the winter cold. This kale actually looks better now than it did earlier in the season.

The only tree blooming profusely....doesn't this scream 'spring time'?

I've been taking pictures of this shelf fungus growing on a stump since last fall. I love the green in it.

Soon there will be loads of daffodils but there are only a few this early. These were in a sunny but protected bed along one of the forest paths.

Brilliant colors...before the leaves appear.

Like the kale - the nandinas have been through the winter and still look beautiful.

Quote of the Day - 1/22/2012

There is a hint of desert in the yellow plains, a measure of openness and the suggestions of surprises. - The Kookaburras' Song: Exploring Animal Behavior in Australia, 1st Edition

~~~~~

This quote is from a book about Australia but it could just as easily be about ‘yellow plains’ anywhere in the world.

I am familiar with the yellow plains in North America. The ones that I think of first are the seemingly endless fields of ripe wheat. The wind ripples through the grain creating waves and eddies that are visible nearby but further away the eye smoothes the vision. The vastness of the wheat field is the same as the fastness of the blue sky above. Both appear infinite. And so it is that anything that breaks the monotony of the field or the sky will be a surprise - a hawk…a row of telephone poles…a combine beginning the harvest.  You notice these things more when the background is just the wheat and the sky.

The other area is the high plains of the Texas Panhandle where scrubby grass grows. It is green when the rains come but turns to a straw yellow when it is dry. In this land there are miles and miles of very flat land broken only by the highway and the yucca along the fence rows. There may be some occasional cows and derelict grain elevators along railroad tracks. And then, the biggest surprise of all, Palo Duro Canyon.

Do you have images of ‘yellow plains’ in your memories…what were surprises for you?

Quote of the Day - 1/20/2012

In the earliest periods of human history, 4 foods were recognizably important. In the North there were apples and honey.  In the south there were olives and grapes. - Fruits and Berries (The American Horticultural Society Illustrated Encyclopedia of Gardening)

~~~~~

Do we associate fruits and berries with locations in our modern world? I do…but it isn’t north/south as much as type of place where they most likely grow. Here are my associations: 

• Blueberries in close proximity to rocky forests
• Apples with locations that have crisp temperatures (not overwhelmingly hot)
• Oranges and bananas with the tropics
• Strawberries of the short and sweet season before the heat of summer comes in any place that has well drained soil

Of course, agriculture is a business that responds to consumers.

1. Food is shipped all over the place so we have a blueberry season in North America in the summer and then our grocery stores have blueberries from South America in January.
2. Cultivars of popular fruits and berries have been developed to produce more than once during the season; strawberries are available all through the year although they are the still the least expensive during the short and sweet local season.
3. Bananas and apples can now be suspended in storage for longer than ever before; our fresh fruit may have been picked months before it is eaten.
4. A thin film (hopefully edible since it does not wash off and we do eat the skins of many fruits) is placed on many fruits and it keeps them fresh longer after they are removed from storage.

In European history, the North’s apples and honey and the South’s olives and grapes are powerful associations. Now that most of us are not farmers, we experience the availability of our food more indirectly and those associations are blurring. This year I plan to make weekly visits to a local farm stand as soon as the season starts to ‘go local’ for produce --- to be more linked to the food sources in my immediate vicinity.

I still appreciate the fresh blueberries of January from South America.

Cattails in Winter

Cattails grow at the edges of just about every pond in my area so they are a common sight throughout the year. Their winter appearance lacks the green lushness of other times but their explosion of down makes them worthy of notice on a winter walk. I've read that native peoples used the down as absorbant material for diapering babies; the peak collection time for cattail down would have been about now.

Some of the cattails somehow keep their seeds a bit longer...retaining typical velvety brown appearance until well into winter. The picture to the right was taken in January. Perhaps the velvety brown ones are just a few days behind the others. Someone told me a story years ago about cutting cattails in the late fall for a dried flower arrangement....and having them explode a few months later inside her house. What a mess that must have been!

I'm satisfied with observing them outdoors - a highpoint of a winter walk.

Quote of the Day - 1/14/2012

The passage through the garden is often via stepping stones, which are very skillfully placed precisely to control the speed and direction of walking.  These inner gardens are sometimes damp mossy places … - Bryan Albright and Constance Tindale in A Path Through the Japanese Garden

~~~~~

I am thinking of gardens…a favorite pastime on a cold January day.

Gardens are different than a natural assemblage of plants in that we have somehow modified the place to meet our intention. I love the contrast of the rock garden and lush plantings…and I need to keep my own garden plans as simple as possible since I have a history of benign neglect after an initial flurry of activity. Stepping stones are something that I do relatively well.

Unless the garden is a very small plot that can be seen and tended completely from its edge, a path is needed into it. Stepping stones perform that function and become part of the garden itself. Somehow the plants, mulch or pebbles around stepping stones draw them into the whole of the garden; dirt or paved paths tend to act as dividing lines.

I am not skillful enough to place stepping stones ‘precisely to control the speed and direction of walking.’ The stones are placed along a route I want through the garden at comfortable step intervals and meet their generally pragmatic function. The picture below shows the stepping stones through the front garden to the water faucet; in the summer there are lilies growing around the stones; the red mulch is evident now. One of my most successful groups of stepping stones is in an area that frequently gets muddy under the deck. They are placed a little further apart than a comfortable step and go in every direction from the door of the house into the garden and yard.

In public gardens, stepping stones are rarely seen. Pathways are paved to handle the increased numbers of people walking through and wheel chairs. The pathways are straighter too. It is a sacrifice we are willing to make to increase the accessibility of the garden.

Quote of the Day - 1/11/2012

To say nothing is out here is incorrect; to say the desert is stingy with everything except space and light, stone and earth is closer to the truth. - William Least Heat-Moon

~~~~~

When we think of deserts, sand dunes are likely the first image we have…space and light…sand (a phase of stone turning to earth dust)…the blueness of the sky a welcome change from the mono-color of the sand.

Another image is of a lone saguaro cactus. I’ve made several trips to locations within the Sonoran desert (the saguaro’s desert) over the past year; while the saguaros don’t grow as closely as trees in deciduous forests, there are indeed forests of them. And there are lots of plants growing in the rocky soil around them. It would be hard to walk cross country and not be caught by the thorns almost all the vegetation seems to have. The vegetation creates a fortress for the land. There is a beauty in these places that hold their own before casual interlopers.

Do we look at land and see ‘nothing’ because it isn’t in a form we know how to exploit - to grow food, to generate energy? The desert is a place to recognize that too often we decide to change something before we understand it. 

Quote of the Day - 1/10/2012

Few plants evoke such nostalgia as the towering hollyhock.  A favorite since Shakespeare’s England, its stately spires of flowers inspire images of country gardens and cottages. - American Horticultural Society Practical Guides: Annuals & Biennials

~~~~~

Hollyhocks remind me of a great aunt. The image of the flowers growing in the bed to the side of her house surrounding the steps to the side door - which just about everyone used as the main door to the house - is so vivid even after more than 40 years. If I didn’t have that memory, would this quote resonate with me? Probably not.

Do you have a hollyhock memory or are there other flowers that always trigger nostalgic thoughts?

Or approaching from another perspective: think of people that were important to you as a child and into young adulthood. Is there a flower you associate with them? It seems so for me; I associate:

• One grandfather with cannas because he grew so many of them. They were planted to be visible from the road and often screened the vegetable garden that was just beyond. Progeny of those cannas grow in my parents’ garden today.
• One grandmother with roses because she helped me make bouquets of them from her yard to take to my elementary school teachers.
• The other grandmother with gladiolus because everyone cut the long spires from the garden to put under the picture of her as a teenager. She seemed to enjoy having the flowers in the house when she returned from a day at the office.
• The other grandfather with black walnuts - I know not a flower…but I’m counting it anyway - because there was a black walnut tree beside the garage where he had a workshop where all his grandchildren enjoyed small projects with him. 

Favorite Things to do on a Lazy Winter's Day at Home

It's a January afternoon. The Christmas decorations are put away, the kitchen is cleaned up from lunch, and the laundry for the week is almost done. This is a lull after the flurry of winter holiday activities....what would you do with 4 hours available? My list is below (not in priority order):

1. Take a nap....for about 30 minutes.
2. Get outdoors. The day was unseasonably warm but even had it been snowing, getting outdoors would have been on the list.
3. Read a good book by a window. Natural light always seems better...and I enjoy the view from the window too.
4. Cook. There has been a tremendous amount of good food recently so I'm enjoying getting back to the more normal foods like a wedge of pomegranate while I let soup simmer.
5. Plan the spring garden. I am not real serious about this yet...for now I'm just looking at catalogs that came in the mail and browsing web sites.

Desert Botanical Images: Spines

Spines are a dominant feature of desert plants. They appear in a myriad of colors and shapes. The images below were captured on a recent trip to Arizona so these colors are the ones that show in winter.