Brookside Azaleas

The azaleas were glorious at Brookside Gardens last week. The day was cloudy – the best we could do with the weather pattern that seems dominated by rainy days recently. I got 3 selective focus shots that I liked - successfully tricking the automatic focus algorithm of my point and shot Canon Powershot SX710 HS to create the image I wanted. There were dark pink with the same color blurred in the foreground and side,

Light pink with some purple azaleas making the blur in the foreground,

And yellow azaleas with yellow blur in the foreground bottom and sides.

I also tried pictures of azaleas with other plants – like these flowers that had fallen onto a bed of ferns

And some that were blooming next to a pine.

While I was photographing the azaleas near the pine – I noticed a relative of the azaleas that also blooms this time of year – a rhododendron.

Even though the clouds were pretty thick – it was bright enough to see the reflection of azaleas in the pond.

Everywhere we walked was full of azalea color. If it has been drier – the benches would have been used! Walking around it was still a celebration of springtime in Maryland.

Goslings at Brookside Gardens

Last week one of the high points of our visit to Brookside was a group of 7 relatively new goslings making their way through the garden. When we first saw them they were on a grassy slope near the center of the gardens. There were two adult geese herding them along.

I made a last photography just before we left – they had made is safely to the little stream that runs along the edge of Brookside Gardens. The stream is a much better place for the goslings than the ponds because there are turtles in the ponds that are big enough to drown the little ones. (A larger version of the first three images is available by clicking on the pictures.)

In between the grassy hill and the stream – the little group crossed a parking lot with sloping curbs easy enough for the goslings to climb,

Continuing though pine needles and buckeye debris,

Traversing a patch of grass,

Circling some rounds from a recently cut tree,

To reach a gentle slope down to the stream,

The goslings frolicked in the water (it looked like they were rejoicing to finally get to water),

They stayed relatively close together and to the adults at first,

Then became braver – exploring the sides of the stream!

Earth Day Celebration at Dallas’ Fair Park

There was a 3-day Earth Day event at Fair Park in Dallas while I was there and I enjoyed walking around the exhibits. It was a warm spring day and I forgot my hat – but I stayed in the shade enough not to get burned. I took pictures of some of the restored art deco facades while my sister stood in line to tour one of the Tiny Houses.

We saw some other exhibits and then stopped for lunch (and rest) at the Old Mill Inn. They had a dress your own hamburger basket that was well worth the price. The dining room is in the main room of the mill with beams originally held together with pegs (some metal brackets have been added at the ends of some of them) and a wonderful stone fireplace. The water wheel still turns outside. The building was evidently built very early in Fair Park history and has been used for various purposes over the years.

The Earth Day event was well attended and I hope the area can be revitalized. One time when I was in the area previously it seemed abandoned. For this event, exhibit buildings were put to good use but many of the museums and rides (like the swan paddle boats) were closed. The water feature that held the swan paddle boats did not seem big enough for them – not sure how they are supposed to work.

The best freebie from the event was a mini-garden tool bag. It is perfect for small pots. It won’t stay pristine for long!

Ten Days of Little Celebrations – April 2016

April was full of springtime activities. Volunteer activities took me

Outdoors with 7th graders in a stream looking for macro invertebrates (and seeing bluebirds and tree swallows on the way to the stream),

To my daughter’s elementary school (15+ years ago) for an outreach program with a barred owl and his expert handler

Into the flurry of activity helping preschoolers craft butterfly models (our of coffee filters, clothes pins, pain, and pipe cleaners), and

To the county STEM fair as a judge – hearing about a project that taste tested mealworm cookies!

There are multiple reasons I celebrate these volunteer activities --- the interaction with the students, the topics, and the frequent connection to the natural environment.

I saw two birds that were worth celebrating (along with the bluebirds and tree swallows already mentioned): a male wood duck at Brookside Garden and loons at Centennial Park.

I enjoyed some traveling and celebrated

Being TSA Pre for both flights – it makes the passage through security faster (and not feeling like I have to get stuff out and off…then back together)

Helping build a chicken coop,

Baking carrot cakes that turned out yummy for 2 birthdays,

Earth Day at Dallas’ Fair Park (and remembering times I had been to the Fair Park many years ago).

And finally – I celebrated a day just being at home!

About Trees

I volunteered to be the ‘tree lady’ - staffing the tree nature station at the family event following the 5K Green Run at Belmont last weekend. Some of the children just enjoyed looking at tree cross sections (tree cookies) and buds cut from trees around my yard earlier in the morning (tulip poplar, black walnut, red maple, and sycamore) with magnifiers while others were keen to fill in all the blanks in the booklet to earn the Howard County Conservancy’s Junior Naturalist Badge. Most of them left my table and headed down the slope to look at some trees up close – sweet gum, white pine, and sycamore. The sugar maple around the corner from the carriage house got some attention too.

It was a good day to be outdoors – sunny and a near perfect temperature. The turnout was not huge – but enough to make it worth the effort.  It was good to see children learning something new about the natural world…and enjoying the outdoor activities (the tree nature station was one of three stations).

I didn’t take a picture of the whole table – just two of the small branches I took as ‘living’ examples. The black walnut has leaf clusters coming out of knobby stems.

The sycamore is just beginning to pop its buds! I had some sycamore leaves pressed from last summer to illustrate how big the leaves would eventually get. Looking at the branch at it is now, that size increase hard to imagine.

The black walnut and sycamore are far behind the tulip poplar that already has leaves as big as a hand and big flower buds. The red maple is already shedding its seeds while the green leaves rapidly unfurl.

Zooming – April 2016

The images I selected for zooming collages this month – all reflect springtime. The Carolina Wren that scouted out nesting locations and selected an old gas grill that we had not gotten around to arranging to take to the landfill (not it won’t go until the wrens are finished with it, the blossoms of a fruit tree and maple samaras…

Horse chestnut leaves, gingko male flowers and leaves, and a daffodil….

Another type of maple samara, a dove in the sunlight, and dogwood flowers….

A goldfinch, robin and bluebird looking a little scruffy (getting their spring/summer plumage) and the beginning of dandelion flowering….

Morning glories and irises from Texas (they had a very mild winter in the Dallas area and lots of rain so the gardens are well developed) ….

A lizard and water lilies (also from Texas).

It’s a vibrant spring and we’re enjoying the cool mornings and near perfect afternoon temperatures in Maryland.

Texas Garden

I was visiting in the Dallas area last week. It rained most of the time so activity was skewed more to things done indoors…..but the sun came out long enough for some garden pictures. The plants are growing well with the early warmth (and following a milder than usual winter) and plenty of moisture.

Irises are still blooming. The bulbs have been moved around as they have gotten too thick in beds either in this yard or in yards of friends and families. My mother remembers where they came from originally.

Pink Preference Sage that was planted years ago by my grandmother is showing its color too. It fills it area with its pleasant pink and green. She got the first plant from one of her sisters.

Mourning doves inspect the garden from the pathways.

The Oxalis is growing in rounded mounds. The mounds grow and the flowers open when there is plenty of light then close again at night or when the clouds are thick.

Garden ornaments peak through. The plants have been propagated from a small bed that my grandmother had started in her last gardening years.

The same is true for the white and yellow clumps of flowers that interrupt the edge between the patio and grassy yard.

The buttercups started the same way. These come back from seed every year at the base of a 24-year-old rose bush my grandmother received as a gift for her 80^th birthday; it had huge blooms that were just past prime so I didn’t photograph them.

A morning glory blooms through a fence – grown from seeds found when cleaning out a room after an aunt died.

The garden is the past translated to present beauty!

Gleanings of the Week Ending April 23, 2016

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

Cancer’s Vanguard (exosomes) and Immune Influence and Under Pressure – From The Scientist, graphics explains some recent research findings about cancer.

Texas and California have too much Renewable Energy – There have already been instances where spot prices for power have turned negative. Large-scale storage is needed for renewable energy…and does not exist.

Fertilizer’s Legacy: Taking a Toll on Land and Water – Massive amounts of legacy phosphorous has accumulated and will continue to impact aquatic ecosystems for a very long time. The study used data for the past 70 years for 3 rivers.

The Impact of Climate Change on Public Health – Four Infographics…. there is no good news.

Buzz Aldrin’s Plan for a Permanent Presence on Mars – Part biography…part of what ‘going to Mars’ should mean.

Breakthrough Toothpaste Ingredient Hardens your Teeth While You Sleep – Not only new technology to ‘significantly reduce tooth decay’…but new ways of marketing to both professionals and consumers. I thought at first that it was all about new ways of getting the positive action of fluoride in a more effective way but toward the end of the article it says they are working on a fluoride free version.

Behind-the-Scenes…Smithsonian’s Natural History Museum – Warehouses of collections.

8 Great Food Documentaries – Short descriptions and links to trailers for some food related documentaries.

Photographer Michael Nichols on Yellowstone – A place I’d like to visit again…once is not enough.

Effects of BPA Substitutes – Not good at all. Why wasn’t research done on the replacements for BPA before they became replacements?

Belmont Manor and Historic Park – April 2016

I volunteered for a preschool field trip and finished up a Master Naturalist project at Belmont Manor and Historic Park this month so was able to look around at the spring unfurling there. Early in the month – the maples provided a lot of color. The red maples are indeed very red.

The sugar maples are more subdued but still colorful compared to a lot of other trees that were still looking like winter time in early April.

I’ve already posted about the Horse Chestnut buds and the Ginkgo from earlier in April. Someone commented that there was a female tree somewhere because last fall there was an awful smell from some kind of fruit tracked into the nature center by a field trip group. I had somehow missed the female tree, so I made a trip specifically to photograph it. The male tree was unfurled a bit more – everything a little battered looking because of some frosty mornings.

The female tree is not as far along and the structures are not as large. The buds near the base of the tree are still tightly curled. I’ll continue to take pictures of both trees through this season (and try to avoid stepping on any fruit in the fall since they are reported to smell like vomit).

The black cherry was full of new leaves and reproductive structures by mid-April

And the Dawn Redwood (a deciduous conifer) was getting new needles.

I enjoy the stands of lilacs at Belmont. They remind me of several family homes I visited as a child.

Dandelions are everywhere.

I checked the bald cypress by the pond in mid-April. Tree swallows were buzzing past close to my head as I hiked down – they must have already staked out the nesting boxes and are defending them from anything that comes close. The bald cypress was not as far along as the one I photographed at Brookside earlier. The buds on the lower branches were still very tight.

Higher up the buds were just beginning to open.

And the dried cattails from last season were full of noisy red-winged blackbirds. They’re defining their territory too.

Mt. Pleasant Farm – April 2016

The Howard County Conservancy’s Mt. Pleasant Farm is bursting with spring scenes this month.

The pear tree in the orchard was blooming profusely at the beginning of the month;

Most of the blooms were gone within a week.

The apple trees in the orchard were just beginning to bloom when the pear tree was mostly done.

The wood frog’s eggs had hatched and the tadpoles were numerous in the Honors Garden pool.

The trees were just getting new leaves but it was enough to almost hide the farmhouse in this view from the meadow.

Montjoy Barn has more color around it – more than the old red doors.

The nesting box in the meadow is a choice place for both blue birds

And tree swallows. They had a tussle as I was walking up the path and the bluebirds were in possession as I continued my hike.

We’ll have to wait until almost May for some of the trees near the farmhouse to get their leaves.

Centennial Park – April 2016

Last week I walked part of the way around Centennial Park – observing and enjoying spring.

There were a few flowers in the raised bed by the headquarters but you had to look for them.

The boat rentals are not open yet for the season but are neatly stacked and are colorful.

Redbuds have been planted. Some are quite small. Even the larger ones have a delicate look about them.

Many of the trees are starting the process of making seeds.

Some are further along than others.

Some just seem to have leaves that start out very colorful and then turn green as they unfurl completely.

The Canadian Geese were loud on the lake as usual but some of the them were comparatively quieter --- laying low and keeping their eggs warm.

There were loons in the center of the lake. Most of the time these birds are closer to the Atlantic coast.

The lake itself took on a different character with changes in light – dull compared to the springtime shore

Or brooding as the camera adjusted to a too bright sky.

The path was rimmed with green – grass

Or moss.

Pine cones look different with the backdrop of grass and dandelions

And pine needles.

Last but not least – the dogwoods flowers are open and on the verge of expanding.

At this point, they have a tulip-like shape.

3 Free eBooks – April 2016

My picks this month range in publication date from 1850 to 2015!

King, Derrick. Cambodia, Laos, Thailand – 9900 km, 7 Weeks. 2015. Available from Internet Archive here.  I liked that this was a book with lots of pictures of these countries…and relatively recent (early 2012). Many of the pictures included people that provides scale to the rest of the structures – such as the tree and ruin in the one a clipped to include with this post. There are other books about his travels that he has posted on the Internet Archive as well.

Thomas, Edward; Cameron, Katherine. The Flowers I Love. New York: Frederick A. Stokes Co. 1910. Available from Hathi Trust here. I didn’t look much at the poetry…the visuals were too wonderful.

Bacon, M.A.; Jones, Owen. Fruits from Garden and Field. London: Longman & Co., 1850. Available from Hathi Trust here. Skip the poetry (the font makes it a challenge to read and just enjoy the visuals. I liked that the flowers and fruit were almost always included….then maybe an insect as well.

Brookside Garden Scenes

Gardens are more than just plants. Brookside Gardens has some good examples of physical structures that provide framing for the living part of the garden.  I photographed forsythia in two settings: with a curved brick wall

And reflected in the pond. Which scene do you like the best? I’m always partial to reflections.

The color of pots – and their shape – frame the flowers within.

The bench provides a sense of scale for the holly and redbud.

The maze is quite simple – a place to walk around slowly…and contemplate.

The conservatories always hold treasure like this bunch of bananas. Soon the roof will get a white wash to keep the conservatory from getting too hot during the summer.

This part of the conservatory will be used for the butterfly exhibit in a few months. Right now you can barely see the water in the center and the surrounding rocks…they are just enough to give platforms and backdrop to the dense plantings.

So – walls, ponds, benches, a maze, conservatories, bubbling water and rocks….there is more to Brookside than plants!

Fern Feathers

When I was at Brookside Gardens in late March, I thought at first I was seeing feathers sticking out of the brown bald cypress and moss mulch. But it was dried ferns from last fall! They were close to the boardwalk – protected from being stepped on because they were lower than where everyone walked.

I looked at the structure more closely and it was obvious they were ferns that had simply dried and remained standing.

Some of them almost glowed in the dappled sunlight that

Made its way through the still bare branches of the trees above.

I wonder how long they will last into the spring and summer. I’ll look for them again each time I go to Brookside.

Horse Chestnut

There is a Horse Chestnut at the end of the row of trees along the drive to Belmont Manor and Historic Park. I’ve been photographing the opening of its buds over the past few weeks and arranged them in a series for this post.

The first photographs I took were on a morning after some high winds that had broken off a large dead branch and it had broken off a smaller branch that was very much alive with swollen buds almost ready to open.

The unfurling starts with the bud opening at the top

And the tight packed leaves beginning to emerge (note the scarring on the stem from last year’s growth)

As they open begin to separate from the tight fold – it is obvious that there is a fuzziness about them.

The bud begins to look very crowded with a lot of leaves

And that perception continues as the leaves unfurl enough to look like leaves but still retaining the fuzziness on their undersides.

I will continue the project until the blooms emerge….I’m not sure at this point where the blooms originate. Remembering from last year they are large clusters of flowers that appear well after the leaves unfurl completely.

Ginkgo Buds

Ginkgo trees are often included in ornamental plantings; the male trees are appreciated more than the female tress because the fruit smells like rancid butter or vomit. The trees I’ve photographed so far have been male trees. I started about a week ago with a tree at Belmont Manor and Historic Park. The buds were just opening and the leaves were spiraled into themselves.

The male cones were tightly clustered around the leaves.

The next day I photographed the ginkgo buds on the tree near the conservatory at Brookside Gardens. The stems of the leaves had elongated a bit making the leave poke above the rest of male cones.

I took pictures that showed the whole bud since they are quite different than other trees.

The buds are so long that they look like short branches.

The tree begins to look tufted with the new growth.

Yesterday, I was at Belmont again and took pictures of the ginkgo again. The leaves have grown significantly; they are large enough to identify the tree as a ginkgo – even though the buds give it way earlier.

The male cones are now at right angles to the bud

Or drooping down over the bud.

The tree is full of greentuffs: male cones and leaves.

I learned that there is a female tree somewhere at Belmont since there was a problem last year with stinky fruit. I’ll look for it next time I go to Belmont.

Brookside Wetland

The boardwalk between the Brookside Gardens and Brookside Nature Center goes through a wetland where a little stream of running water runs and after rains the ground is soggy. The fence to keep the deer out of the garden crosses the area and the boardwalk. By the end of March, the skunk cabbage is rapidly spreading its leaves under the Bald Cypress trees (see the cypress 'knees' in the picture) and the red winged black birds are screeching and move around in the trees jockeying for territory and mates.

A few of the of the skunk cabbage have blooms – those odd looking purple and white structures hugging the base. In other years those blooms can be seen when snow is on the ground but this year March was very warm.

The plants like to very wet areas but not necessarily in places where the water is constantly in motion.

Most of the time the cypress knees look old and worn. But they must be growing too this time of year since many of them amongst the skunk cabbages has a smooth reddish sheen that was new growth.

As I neared the gate going back to the nature center, there was a cardinal in a holly – on the garden side of the fence. I posed with its feathers fluffed…between songs.

The little stream that runs between the wetland and the parking lot has a rocky bottom – probably scoured with the runoff from every rain. Wet rock always looks more colorful than the dry.

National Arboretum at the end of March 2016

Last week we walked around a small part of the National Arboretum. The day was sun and the sky was a great backdrop to the spring greens of these new leaves

As well as the evergreens with cones on their branches.

There were a lot of trees in bloom.

The camellias were nearing the end of their season

Leaving a carpet of temporary color at the base of the trees.

We were a little late for the deciduous magnolias but I enjoyed the walk through the section of the arboretum anyway.

The trees still had plenty of color at eye level

And looking up.

One tree only had three blooms left – but one seemed perfect to me.

Or maybe this pair are the best. It’s hard to choose.

There were several kinds of white deciduous magnolias blooming as well.

Sometimes the seed pods left after the petals fall away are as interesting as the flowers!

Wood Duck at Brookside Gardens

Last week I saw my first wood duck – a lone male sharing the pond at Brookside Gardens with a lot of Canadian Geese (the usual birds there) and at least one red-eared slider. The first picture I took was from pretty far away but I knew it was not a mallard right away.

The bird swam around gleaning edibles from the water surface. I took pictures from every angle and have selected my favorites for the slide show below. I was fascinated by the bird itself – sometimes the water being calm enough to reflect the head and the red around the eye – other times the water creating moiré patterns – the color of the water changing depending on the way the light reflected. The 4th image of the slide show has the red-eared slider poking hits nose out of the water; based on the side of its nose, it must be a big turtle. I hope the wood ducks find a pond near their nest with fewer turtles since the turtles at Brookside are big enough to take ducklings.

As I started away, I overheard a little boy point out the duck to his mother. She told him that it was probably a mallard. He, very confidently told her, “No, it’s not.”

The wood duck flew up and out of the garden as I continued my walk. 

When I got home I watched the video of wood duck ducklings dropping from their nest that I included in my gleanings list back in June 2012. The male is not involved with the ducklings….but the video is still fun to watch.

Cherry Blossoms

This week was the week for cherry blossoms in our area. We didn’t get down to the Washington DC Tidal Basin but I enjoyed the trees at – even though it was breezy and cold when I was there yesterday. It is spring break for a lot of the schools in our area so the garden was full of more than just week-day regulars: there were lots of children enjoying the gardens too.

But the best tree for me this year was the one in my own yard. I trimmed some of the longest scraggly branches last summer and the tree has been spectacular this year.

And it has the advantage of being near at hand to photograph on every sunny day until the wind blows the last blooms away. This little clump of blooms was growing on the trunk just as it transitions from smooth bark with large lenticels to the rougher bark of the trunk. There is even a bit of lichen growing just below the clump of new growth.

The first 6 images of the slide show are from 6 days ago. The rest are from yesterday. In the earlier pictures there are still some flower buds visible. They start out very pink. The petals are pink too until the flower opens almost all the way. It is that little bit of pink that I like the most about the cherry trees. Enjoy the show!