Around our (Maryland) Yard in December 2013

Earlier in December we had snow but my walk around the yard for this post was on a cold, sunny day later in the month. I decided to focus on the bark of the trees.

When we first moved to our house about 20 years ago, the young oak tree still had a smooth trunk. Now It is ridged - a mature tree.

The cherry tree has developed knobs and scars.

The young sycamore has bark beginning to peal this winter. It won’t become a ‘ghost’ tree quite yet but maybe next winter there will be more of the white inner bark showing after the leaves fly away.

The last picture is not bark - it the tulip poplar in winter, with the dry seeds flying away from the treetop every time the winter wind blows. 

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.

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 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.

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. 

Around our (Maryland) Yard in May 2013

Spring is a few weeks behind the norm but it is quite lush at this point. The iris bulbs that I moved to a sunnier bed last fall have very fat buds. They are quite happy with the change in location and will provide fill for the area until the new azalea bushes we planted this spring can reach their full size.

Our tulips were mostly browsed by deer very early. We only had two that managed to bloom.

I forgot all about the chives that have come up for years where we now have a young sycamore. There is some weeding that will need to be done there.

The usual bird’s nest under the covered deck had multiplied this year; there are two at opposite ends of the support beam. The cats will glare through the boards of the deck at the robin chicks - unable to do more than catch a glimpse of the drama under their feet.

There was a slow moving bee on the dandelion. The air temperature was just warming enough for insects to become active.

The tulip poplar blossoms are still tight buds. I was surprised at how intact the shell of a bloom from last year still seemed to be after the buffeting of winter and spring winds.

Most of the violets that grow in the deep shade under the deck were done but one lingered.

The sweetest scent of the walk around the house was from a bush in bloom. I was surprised that insects were not buzzing around it. Usually they are. Perhaps I timed the walk perfectly - when it was still cool enough for the insects to be sedentary.

Gleanings of the Week Ending April 27, 2013

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

The Cancer Tradeoff - Robert Austin argues that cancer is a natural consequence of our rapid evolution

Dinosaur Embryo Graveyard - From southern China

Like People, Bees Learn From Watching One Another

Breathtaking Photos of Colorful Rock Formations in China - Vibrantly colored exposed rock layers

Plant DNA Largely Unchanged - We have a tulip tree at the edge of the forest in our backyard….and it is pretty much the same as trees that grew in the time of dinosaurs!

Nanoparticle Disguised as a Blood Cell Fights Bacterial Infection - An idea about what comes after antibiotics for bacterial infections….something completely different

Breathtaking Photos of China's "River of Poems and Paintings" - Seems like China is a theme for this week….this is the second gleaning about that country

Research Aims to Settle Debate Over Origin of Yellowstone Volcano - Mantle plumes near subduction zones are more complex that the previous models depicted

Light Paintings Created with LED Wakeboards - Even the photographs show the motion of the athletes…but watch the video too to understand how much work went into the production.

Snowcano - Volcano on Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula…and I see that ‘volcanoes’ is another theme for this week although Yellowstone and Kamchatka are quite different.

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

Around our (Maryland) Yard in January 2013

The temperature was in the 20s on the morning I walked around our yard this month. There was still frost on the ground - coating the hardest of weeds that are green (lower left). The cairn of rock and shells (upper right) has been knocked over by foraging deer; I left the toppled pieces for another day. Most of the seeds from the onion have scattered (upper left) and the seed casings are tattered. Surprisingly the tulip poplar (middle left) seems full of the dried remnants of flowers and seeds from last spring. The trunk of our oak tree (bottom right) has smooth areas from its younger self.

Winter is the starkest of seasons. Every color that breaks the monotony of browns is appreciated: the blue of the sky, the green of a weed, the white of an old shell. Now, as I write this post, I am looking at the maple from my window and noticing a little movement of the branches from a breeze and am glad I am in the warmth of the indoors.