Around our (Maryland) Yard in November 2013

The November highlights in our yard are seed pods and leaves. Last year the blazing stars were very popular with gold finches but the birds have not found them yet this year.

The onion flowers have ripened and the seeds rattle in the pods - spilling into the garden.

The cone flower petals have dried and fallen away leaving the spikey seeds. They’ll be more of them next year. (Although the zinnias will be some competition…I put the zinnia stalks I cut from the pots on the deck into the same garden area and their seed pods were quite numerous too.)

The seeds from the tulip poplar are also flying everywhere. They tend to get caught at the edges of our driveway and the corners of the deck.

The seed pods are interesting in structure….the colors in the yard come from the leaves. The green chlorophyll dies first and the pigments in the leaves show through.

I love the sequence of colors in the sycamore leaves in the slide show below.

The maple behind our house was one of the last in the neighborhood to change colors…but it turned its usual glorious red. I enjoy the color on the tree and then as a mass of leaves on the grass. That tree necessitates the most concentrated raking of the season because the leaves all fall at once and are too heavy for the wind to blow them away.

The oak tree often seems to go from green to brown but this year the leaves have displayed more color variety. Each leaf has a unique pattern of rust, yellow, and green.

Before Frost

We’ve already had a few mornings with temperatures in the 30s at our house in Maryland and have completed the outdoor chores that prepare us for winter this past week: 

• Bringing in the hoses
• Turning off the and draining the water lines on the outside
• Removing the solar sunflower and glass butterfly stakes from the outdoor pots - they will last longer without being in the outdoors during the freezes and thaws of winter
• Cleaning the glass birdbath bowl and brining it indoors for the winter (it is turning into the centerpiece on the dining room table) 

Of course, we still have the raking of leaves left to do. The maple tree that is usually the one that makes the thickest carpet on our lawn still has most of its leaves!

Brookside Gardens - October 2013

Brookside Gardens was full of fall last weekend - colorful foliage and the display of mums in the conservatory. I was a little disappointed that they did not have pumpkins and gourds on display as they have in the last few years - but it was interesting to see the preparations for the lights in the gardens that begin at Thanksgiving.

Indoors there is always the draw of lush tropical foliage in the conservatory and the literate frog sculpture in the visitor center.

 Outdoors the colors of fall abound - with some of the trees completely changed (like the dogwood) and some still mostly green (like the ginkgo).

And take a look at both directions from the entrance bridge of the conservatory parking lot:

Of course there was more...so the rest of my photo picks from my October walk around Brookside Gardens is in the slideshow below.

Around our (Maryland) Yard in October 2013

Our Maryland fall has been muted this year. Most of the trees have not achieved the brilliant colors of years past; the few that do are flashes of brilliance that provide a splash of color for a few day and then drop all their leaves to the ground. I find myself appreciating the play of light through oak leaves this year and the splotches of color on maple leaves that fill a tree that looks ‘green’ from a distance.

The front flower bed is mostly gone to seed. I haven’t seen the birds easting the seeds of the blazing stars but the bare rib of some of the seed plums is evidence that the feast is not going totally unnoticed. We’ve had freezing temperatures for the past few mornings but there is still a dahlia blooming - resting on the sidewalk that probably retains enough heat to keep it warm.

The tulip poplars are losing their leaves and their seeds without becoming the blaze of yellow. They tower over our yard and their leaves wave in the wind….and whirl away.

Last but not least - the onion seeds are scattering as the wind shakes them like at rattle out of their cases. I hope some of them come up next spring as new plants.

Leaves of October 2013

Usually we are in full autumn color by about this time of October. This year some trees have not turned very much yet, although they have started dropping leaves.  Some branches of our oak are reddish brown in the sunlight while a lot of green leaves are still on the tree.

The same goes for the sycamore.

The maple had not dropped very many leaves at all although there is a brilliantly colored leaf among the green.

Elsewhere in our neighborhood individual trees have already dropped most of their leaves. We will not have the usual colorful swath up and down our street with the trees on each side turning in synchrony. Perhaps our very dry August is to blame. I’m still holding out hope that the maple I see from my office window (the one that is still green) is going to be full of yellow and red by the end of the month!

Leaves in September 2013

We are getting closer to fall every day. The reddish-purple leafed plum tree has already shed a lot of its leaves judging from what is on the lawn but still looks as lush as it did in the summer. Isn’t the color enhanced by the sun shining through the leaves?

The sycamore has patches of color that seem reddish in the sun but that are brown in the shadows and on the grown. The leaves seem light in on the tree in the breeze but thick, almost leathery, on the ground. Our tree has benefited from being in our garden where it gets a bit more water; the trees in the parking lot islands have already lost quite a few leaves because there was so little rain here in August.

OakOakThe oak tree is getting some swaths of color in the sea of green. The sun brings out the greens from summer than linger on.

The tulip poplar has not lost many leaves yet but the leaves are looking battered at this point and the yellow they will become as fall progresses is already apparent when the sun shines through them.Tulip Poplar

Some of the maples in the neighborhood have a few red leaves but our tree is still green - everywhere.Maple

I am enjoying the closer look at the month to month changes in our trees this fall. Take a look back at the August post to see the leaves from a month ago.

Anticipating Fall

Several of our trees seem to be anticipating the crisp days of fall before they arrive. The sycamore, oak, plum and cherry all look healthy but the grass around them is littered with a scattering of leaves. The oak tree is dropping mature acorns on the driveway. The maple and tulip poplars are still entirely green and the grass around their bases is clear of leaves.

Fortunately the leaf fall is light enough to be neatly handled by the weekly lawn mowing - which is still required by the rapidly growing grass.

Leaves in August 2013

We have four types of trees growing in our yard that are abundant in our region: sycamore, tulip poplar, oak and maple.

The leaves are looking a little battered at this point in the season. The sycamore has tiny holes in its leaves.

The tulip polar has round marks where the leaf has died. It looked like they were higher density on the branches closer to the ground. 

The oak has some places where the green chlorophyll is already beginning to die…the harbinger of fall.

The maple leaves look the best this year. A few years ago that tree was the one with the round dead spots. The tree is recovered from a heavy load of grapevine that was cut a few years ago at the ground. The vine died but it held onto the tree and is only now beginning to break into pieces and fall to the ground.

In a few months the maple leaves will be red; the tulip poplar’s leaves will be yellow. The oak will look deep red when the sun is shining through them but look brown on closer inspection. The sycamore leaves will curl and fall - tough and leathery - some of them will last until the next season relatively intact. I’m going to do a leaf post each month through the fall…so stay tuned.

Brookside Gardens - July 2013

Brookside Gardens in July - full of lush green backdrop to colorful blooms. I’m starting off this post with critters rather than plants - because I was so pleased with the images I captured. The first was a dragonfly perched on a water lily flower that was just beginning to open. Instead of darting away, it seemed to pose for a picture.

The hummingbird moth on the butterfly bushes was always on the move. This one was red and black and a little larger than the one on my Blazing Star flowers included in my July 10th post. I had seen this same type of moth at Brookside in 2011 but had missed seeing one last summer.

And finally - there were robins everywhere. I took a few pictures and was surprised to discover when I got home and reviewed my images on a large screen that one of the robins was banded - on both legs!

There was a bit of whimsy in the pool with the lily pads: toy ducks. Two of the little ones looked to be sinking. The large one had been given a straw hat.

The lotus plants were full of large leaves. The white flowers were close to the railing - positioned well for photographs.My favorite was one that showed a flower with a seed pod just beginning, a seed pod that had already shed the rest of the flower and a bud. I'll check the lotus patch every time I go to Brookside until frost! A flower with pink edges nestled among the leaves almost hidden from view.

And now for the slide show with the rest of the best from my July walk around the gardens.

Around our (Maryland) Yard in July 2013

Our July has included enough rain to keep the yard very lush. I took a series of pictures looking up through the trees in our yard. The foliage in all the trees is in prime summer condition. I’ll do a similar collage in the fall.

Another series I am starting this month is watching the maturing of the tulip poplar seed pods. There is finally a branch low enough on our tree to watch the developments every month. The image on the right is what the two green pods will look like next summer.

The rest of the walk  around our yard is captured in the slideshow below. I appreciate the dahlias, blazing stars, zinnias and hydrangea bush this year because the day lilies have been so thoroughly enjoyed by the deer; the buds get eaten right before they open! I’ve included the green pyracantha berries; they’ll be a glorious orange in the fall.

Reading the Landscape: Summer

Every landscape picture can turn into a ‘reading the landscape’ puzzle. What can you tell about the place from the picture above?

The lawn is green and recently mowed. The tracks of lawnmower are still visible.

The trees are darker green than they would be in spring…and quite lush. It is summer.

Looking at the leaves - The closer tree appears to be a maple and the one behind the maple is a tulip poplar. Both trees are quite common in the mid-Atlantic area of the eastern US. The picture does not show the size of the trunks or the height of the trees. The tulip poplars are generally the tallest trees of the forests where they grow.

Past the mowed part of the yard, there appears to be small opportunistic plants and beyond that it appears quite dark. Perhaps it is the edge of a forest. 

March 2013 Snow

We got the best snow of the season yesterday in our area of Maryland. It clung to the trees until the little breezes and temperature caused it to plop to the ground or trickle away. One of the early pictures of the day was of the dense oak twigs piled high with snow (to the left). It looks like a black and white abstract drawing to me.

We went out for a drive to enjoy the beauty of the snow. I liked the way the snow clung to the dry grasses from last summer with the flocked spruce in the background. It was a shot from an open window - the car simply stopped in the middle of a country road.

When we got back from the outing, we made snow ice cream: fill a large bowl with snow, add milk (I used half-and-half that I had frozen from an early time when snow was forecast but didn’t materialize), 1 cup of sugar, and flavoring (I used 1/2 teaspoon vanilla and 1/2 teaspoon coconut). I add red food coloring so that I can tell when everything is thoroughly mixed. With an electric mixer it only takes a few minutes to create the treat.

By the afternoon the wind and melting had revealed red maple blooms and the hyacinth bed.

This was a year that the groundhog got it wrong….we are not having an early spring. With the snow scenes so beautiful and the streets cleared easily, I could simply celebrate the beauty of the day, take photos and remember that spring will be here soon.  

The Room that is my Own

One of the assignments for the Aboriginal World Views and Education course I am taking on Coursera was to write about a meaningful place. I am posting what I wrote for the class below (after subitting it to the course's forum).

~~~~~

The room that is my own is my most meaningful place. It is a place where favorite things collected over many years are enjoyed: Georgia O’Keeffe posters on the walls, a vase of 30 year old peacock feathers from my grandmother, some macramé wall hangings from my sister, windchimes from my mother-in-law, a dream catcher from my daughter, small keepsakes in the pockets of the window sheers (mismatched earrings, a cloisonné belt buckle, a tarnished metal rose from my mother, dried maple leaves, bookmarks). The large window reveals an edge of rooftop with a gutter where birds like doves and house finches come to get water and nesting material. Further way, there are maple and tulip poplars that are the edge of the forest. In the summer it is a wall of fluttering green. The winter a flock of blue jays visits almost every day. Sometimes I see deer. Last summer there was a doe with two fawns that visited regularly.

My computer is in this room - the window to the broader world. One of the two screens is usually running a slide show of collected images that I particularly like. I have a Swopper chair in front of the computer and bounce while I am thinking or reading. On a table to one side I have materials for doodling.

The meaning comes from the richness of perspective the room provides….my history through the items collected there…the outdoors through the window…the access to information out in the world via the internet…the creation of new things first through thought and then writing (journaling or this blog) or doodling. The integration of sedentary pursuits with some level of activity (the Swopper chair) over the past few years has been a positive experience from both a mental and physical perspective. It has been evolving for the past 20 years….fitting to what is happening in my life at the time. This place is one where I am alone but not too alone since it is ‘the room that is my own’ in my family home.

Around our (Maryland) Yard in March 2013

Early March is still winter this year but there are a few signs of spring. The hyacinths are up and their buds are showing, the tulips are just out of the ground -their leaves still spiraled and tipped with pink. The debris from last year’s lilies is protecting the tulips from the deer. The cairn is still tumbled. The buds on the maple and cherry are not quite as advanced as they were at this time last year although they are enlarging compared to last month. Only the very tips of the maple twigs are turning red so far. The aging self-fungus and moss add some welcome color among the browns of winter. The pine cones and tulip poplar shells lend texture but continue the brown theme of winter.

Fallen cairn

Tulip

Hyacinth

Shelf fungus

Moss

Pine Cone

Tulip Poplar shell

Cherry buds