Longwood Gardens Ferns - September 2013

There are always a few ferns that catch my attention in the Longwood Gardens Conservatory. There is a Fern Passage that is lined with them. Usually I am focused on fiddleheads - those tightly curled beginnings of fronds.

This time I noticed one but was almost immediately more interested in the sporangia on the underside of the fronds. This is where the spores are produced that will become the next generation of ferns. The patterns of the fronds and the sporangia have a precision and symmetry that is quite appealing.

Longwood Gardens Pitcher Plants - September 2013

In a short hallway off the fern passage at Longwood Gardens there were planters dense with pitcher plants.

I remember being intensely interested in insectivorous plants when I was in elementary school. They were so different than anything I had ever seen in north Texas where I lived. One year I found some in a catalog and managed to convince my mother to order them for me. I got tiny plants: a Venus Fly Trap and a Pitcher Plant. The Venus Fly Trap did not last very long but the Pitcher Plant endured for about 6 months.

They never got as big as the plants at Longwood and they never flowered. It still is thrilling to see them - and know what they are - in the gardens I visit.

Gleanings of the Week Ending September 28, 2013

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.

Arctic on course for ice-free summer 'within decades', scientists say - Where will the polar bears go in an ice free summer?

The Arsenic in Our Drinking Water - Scary findings. Evidently arsenic causes problems at lower concentrations that previously thought.

John Green on health care expenses in America - A fast paced video about how American health care expenses and outcomes compare to the rest of the world. Does anyone want the status quo? The answer has to be ‘no’ but we definitely have a challenge agreeing on how to change the system.

Antibacterial Products Fuel Resistant Bacteria in Streams and Rivers - Yet another reason to read the labels on liquid soaps, toothpaste and other cosmetics…and avoid triclosan. I’ve noticed recently that there are more companies that are removing it from their products so the research and consumer choices are having an impact.

National Park Quiz: How Good Are You When Quizzed On Fall In The National Parks? - I am not a quiz taker any more - but I enjoyed scanning through this one about national parks.

For Scientists, Early to Press Means Success - A study that included 1400 biologists from around the world. Do the results apply to other scientific fields? It seems logical that they would….and should be used to guide the early career of scientists (beginning while they are still in school).

Introducing The Landscape Architect’s Guide to Boston - A guide to the green spaces of Boston. A similar one was published last year for Washington DC. If you are going to be walking around either city these guides are another source of information about the city landscapes.

10 More Fascinating Photos That Look Like Paintings - A collection from 10 photographers.

Ancient merchants are responsible for modern horse genetics - Isn’t this something that was always suspected…and we just have the DNA analysis technology to prove it now?

Geography in the News: Cobras - From National Geographic

Zooming - September 2013

I did a ‘Zooming the in Garden’ post last month and enjoyed it so much that I am initiating a monthly ‘Zooming’ post. Here are my favorites from September 2013. They are all either insects or plants!

 

Longwood Gardens Water Lilies - September 2013

The courtyard of pools that hold the water lilies at Longwood Gardens is one of my favorite places in the gardens. The lilies were full of blooms and bees. I always like to capture the flowers with the most insect activity. The magnification often gives the flowers an unworldly look. Their colors are so vibrant and that is just what our human eyes can see; the insects probably pick up on even more. There are also some lotus pictures mixed in the slide show below. The pink or white flowers with petals that look crumpled are the Victoria Regia water lily; a book from 1854 available on the Internet Archive includes lithographs by William Sharp of this water lily.

I posted several times before about the water lilies at Longwood: November 2011 and August 2012. 

Around our (Maryland) Yard - September 2013

The temperature trend is down (not cold exactly but definitely cooler than August) and the flowers are fading. There is one dahlia still blooming.

The chives that were just beginning to bloom in August are already creating seed pods this month.

The highpoint for color are the clusters of pyracantha berries. This has been a good year for the bush. I’ll cut a small bunch to bring into my office soon.

A Walk around the Howard County Conservancy - September 2013

Fall is a great time to take a walk around the Howard County Conservancy in Maryland. They have a fall festival planned for October 5 but the weather was so good this weekend that my husband and I decided to walk around on our own. We enjoyed being about to hear the insects and birds - and the signs of fall in both the meadow and the forest areas.

What do you think about the owl sculpture? It looks out over the nature play for children.

There are paths mowed through the meadow. The milkweed is ripening. We saw some that were splitting own and others that were still enclosed in a velvety husk complete with a milkweed beetle colony.

ThistlesThistles waved amid a sea of goldenrod.

There were young trees planted in the meadow; they still had protective tubes around their trunks. The dogwoods are easy to spot since they turn deep red while all the other trees are still green.

The wild carrot is making seeds. They look like a tangled ball…and they are a non-native plant that is quite prolific in North America.wild Carrot

It was a pleasant walk of just over a mile according to my husband’s pedometer...and we’d worked up an appetite for lunch. This is a place to come again as fall progresses.

Longwood Gardens Spider Mums - September 2013

The conservatory at Longwood Gardens had a display of spider mums that seemed to glow in the sunlight shining through the glass wall. They start out as tightly furled bundles that look tangled but then uncurl in graceful arcs. Some the small spirals at the end of petals are maintained. These flowers are truly one of the glories of fall.

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.

Longwood Gardens Indoor Children’s Garden - September 2013

Mosaic under water

Dragon stair railing

Water umbrellas

Bird nest fountain

Floor mosaic

Hummingbird fountain

Ibis bubblers

Newt fountain

The Indoor Children’s Garden at Longwood Gardens was empty of children when we arrived earlier than usual last weekend. Every other time we have been in the gardens there have been at least a few children there - and sometimes it was pretty crowded. My daughter enjoyed the precursor to this enlarged garden when she was young. She delighted in the child height fountains where she could put her hands in the water. When the garden was renovated several years ago, even more water features were added and there is a visual richness beyond lush plantings that includes sculpture, mosaic, and stained glass.

The garden light is dappled - leaning toward the shady side. The stained glass lends color and tall plantings of bamboo create walls of green or round vertical elements extending from low growing plants.

Birds and lizards are the dominate themes for the fountains: peacock, hummingbird, ibis, robin, and newt are included in this post. Some are at a height for a toddler…others are about right for a child of 4 or 5. One fountain had some water toys. The best times to enjoy this garden with a child would be on a warm day….and it would be a good idea to bring a towel for when they are ready to trek onward to another garden.

Longwood Gardens - September 2013

We had a beautiful day last weekend to make a day trip to Longwood Gardens in southeastern Pennsylvania. I’ll be making thematic posts in the next week or so - but am showing the ‘best of the rest’ today.

We arrived within about 30 minutes of the garden opening and immediately headed for the conservatory since tripods are allowed during those first hours and my husband had some particular photographic experiments in mind. We wandered through the Indoor Children’s Garden (one of the upcoming thematic posts) before there were any children enjoying it.

The large conservatory rooms and exhibition hall were lush with green and every color of flower imaginable. After briefly going outside to the water lily display (another upcoming thematic post) we passed through the Mediterranean Garden and then, after a lot of picture taking in the orchid house (another upcoming thematic post) all the way to the cascade garden on the other end of the complex from the Children’s Garden before taking a short rest on an outdoor bench to look at the map to decide what else we wanted to see in the conservatory; the answer was the tropical terrace and silver garden. The ‘flower unfolding’ series below of one of the tropical plants from the tropical terrace.

Chimes TowerAnd then it was out into the rest of the garden - full of colors and textures. The fountains were lively (upcoming thematic post); my favorite is always the Italian Water Garden. The Meadow is closed to renovation and expansion until next summer but there is a wonderful border of wild flowers along the fence. The Chimes Tower rose from lush vegetation covered with ivy. There was a model train in one of the gardens and ripe vegetables in the demonstration garden. I’ve picked some of the best images for the slide show below.

I-95 over the Susquehanna

Interstate 95 crosses the Susquehanna north east of Baltimore. We were traveling from the Baltimore area toward Philadelphia early enough in the morning on a day trip recently to see the mists coming off the water between the bridge and the railroad bridge that crosses the river at Garrett Island and further way the Pulaski Highway (US 40) that crosses the other end of the island. The mists were moving like ghosts over the water.

Coming back later in the day, the mists had burned away looking the other direction from the bridge. There were boats on the water and further way the rapids where the river becomes rocky.

The river scene was a good bracket - beginning and end - to the sights of the day.

Gleanings of the Week Ending September 7, 2013

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.

Patent Overlay Mapping: Visualizing Technological Distance - Powerpoint of graphics depicting how patents cite each other in the 2000-2006 time period. The first series is by companies (Samsung, DuPont, IBM, and Philips) and the second is by research topic: nano biosensors, dye-sensitized solar cells, and graphene). The whole paper is available here.

Is being overweight OK after all? - A look at the analysis of weight and mortality  (not quality of life). The studies were adjusted for age, gender and smoking but not for fitness or chronic disease indicators.

Massive Stick Sculptures Resemble Castles, Nests and Cocoons - I like the size and shapes of these structures. It looks like the artist is creating about one per month (upcoming installations listed on his web site here). I’d like to see one. The closest to me would be the University of Virginia (Charlottesville, VA) in October… or maybe I should plan a return trip to Cheekwood Botanical Garden (Nashville, TN) next March.

Our Cultural Addiction to Phones, In One Disconcerting Video - How often have you seen scenes similar to this video? The impact this cultural addiction is having on relationships is still developing. I am glad that the people I am around most of the time are more focused on the people they are with than their phones.

Half of the U.S. lives in these 146 counties - is yours one of them? - The answer for me is ‘no’ but several of the counties that boarder where I live are on the list.

NASA Moonshot Will Test Laser Communications - A precursor to commercial internet satellite services using optical connections instead of today’s radio links.

Going Solar: Options For Homeowners Infograph - Solar panels are not the only option

New Effective Treatment for High Blood Pressure? Removing Tiny Organ - Interesting finding…but is there a side effect of removing the carotid body connection to the brain? Isn’t it still potentially treating the symptom rather than the cause…and whatever is causing the high blood pressure may still be shortening life?

Out of Sync - Your body has multiple clocks…what happens when they are out of sync? Why eating when you normally are sleeping is a bad idea.

2013 International Bedroom Poll - Comparing sleep times, attitudes, habits, and bedtime routines of 25-55 year old people from around the world. (PDF)

Plants on the Deck

I just finished reading May Sarton’s autobiography from when she was in her 50s - Plant Dreaming Deep. She describes her move to Nelson NH. The garden around the house appears frequently in the book: how it looks from various windows of the house, the cutting of flowers in the morning, the weeding and planting of the afternoons, the taming of brush to reveal a stone wall, the agony of a drought when there was not enough water available for the plants.

I’ve experienced similar thoughts about the garden at my house - particularly with the plants in pots on my deck. It is not a particularly large grouping (this year) and there are only a few types of plants: zinnias, cardinal flowers, mint (3 kinds), and basil (2 kinds).

Hummingbird and cardinal flowerThey are visible from the window over the kitchen sink, through the French door from the breakfast area and the screened in part of the deck. The most frequent viewing is from the kitchen window - when I wash vegetables, get a cup of tea, or stand leaning over the sink to eat a juicy orange or peach. I notice the butterflies, hummingbirds, and goldfinches most frequently from there. There is a chair in the breakfast area turned to look outward for longer observation. When I sit on the deck - I sometimes look at the pots but am more frequently listening to the bird and cicada songs.Tiger swallowtail and zinnia

The plants each have their own mini-story.

The zinnias are from seeds my sister saved from her garden. They are degenerates of hybrids but I find the variety appealing and the insects/birds love both their nectar and seeds. I also like to cut a single flower for a bud vase on my desk.Goldfinch and zinnia seed pod

The mint has been propagated from various places around the house and into pots via cuttings. My favorite is the variety that grows in my daughter’s old turtle sandbox although I cut all varities to dry for use with black tea to make my favorite beverage: mint tea. Mid-way through the season I was introduced to the notion of creating pots of plants that included three components: thriller, spiller, and filler. Mint will be the “spiller and filler” for next year.Mint (pot and turtle sandbox) on right and zinnia on left

Zinnia and cardinal flowerThe cardinal flower was a gift from a volunteer organization I worked with earlier in the season. It is expanding into the large pot I put it in. It will be one of the “thriller” plants for next year. I may start another pot from seed as well. It certainly likes to be kept wet; discovering a long lost, half-full bag of peat moss in the garage just before I created the pot was fortunate. I already have a few mint plants that have taken root at one edge of the pot.

The basil seeds were gifts: seed balls from my daughter and a collection of seeds from my husband (that I thought might we too old to sprout). I cut a few leaves for a salad or sauce several times a week and have - so far - kept it from going to seed.

I keep the plants hydrated with water collected from cleaning fruits and vegetables - unless it is very hot and more is needed. The zinnias visibly droop when they need water; they are the indicator plant for watering.

I am full of plans for next year already. More large pots on my wish list for birthday and Christmas - and I’ll look for pot sales too. And I’m thinking of plants for next year too:

• Thrillers: zinnias, cardinal flower
• Fillers: basil, parsley, mint, cilantro
• Spillers: mint, sweet potato

The rest of the flower beds and gardens around the house are not completely unnoticed, but the pots on the deck are the ones I see most frequently. They are a very special luxury!

Discoveries during Outdoor Chores

Yesterday I was out early - to avoid the heat of the day - to clean out the weeds growing between the house and the bushes. My husband had noticed them when we were re-installing screens on the windows after replacing the screen material. As I was gathering my tools - I noticed something on my long handled pruners. At first I thought it was a large spider; on closer inspection it was a mantis. I went inside to retrieve my camera. The insect moved from the wooden to the green metal part of the handle which made it easier to see his posture. He posed for pictures and hung on with more vigor than I expected when I decided that I really did need to get to work rather than continuing to watch him.

After the contortioned work of cutting the bushes where they would not brush the shutters and pulling the weeds that were growing in the narrow space between them and the brick of the house, I made the first trip to deliver the plant debris to the forest behind the house. As I rounded the corner, I noticed how wonderful the pyracantha berries looked - with some green and some orange. The bush is full of bunches this year and I’ll probably cut some branches for a fall centerpiece when they reach their full orange glory.

There is always something that is changing or new outdoors…and chores often give us enough time to realize it. Outdoor chores provide a great opportunity to slow down and savor the natural world.

Chives Blooming in the Garden

A clump of chives survived the overwhelming growth of lemon balm in our garden for the past few years and is blooming gloriously this year now that the lemon balm is mostly gone (cutting the tops then digging out the roots of the lemon balm being one of my August projects). The chives that are too close to the edge of the garden are being pulled too - but most of the clump is well placed and will stay.

There are lots of insects that like the flowers of the chives. By far the most numerous and persistent on a recent afternoon were blue winged wasps (Scolia dubia). A tiger swallowtail butterfly did not linger long enough for a picture. The cone flowers and zinnias were evidently more attractive to it. A cabbage white stayed a little longer but it too was off to other flowers very quickly.

Last year the chives had a few flowers and I enjoyed photographing them. I am anticipating that the clump will expand for next summer because more seeds will find their way to the tilled soil. I'll have plenty of the thin green leaves to enjoy in salads!

Dove on a Park Bench

Last weekend, while walking around Brookside Gardens, I noticed a dove walking on the ground. I tried to get positioned for a good picture but it kept moving away. Then - it fluttered up to the arm of a park bench. The bird looked perfectly relaxed and ready for a picture.

After posing on the arm for a minute or so, it moved up to top rim of the bench's back…for a bit more posing. The feathers were ruffled making the bird look bigger.

Then it flew into a nearby tree and waited patiently for me to get a few pictures. After I took the picture below, the bird turned in the other direction. Was there some important bird-logic about keeping the left side facing me?

Chicory - the Blue along the Roadside

One of the botanical surprises when I move from Texas to Maryland many years ago were the small blue flowers that grew in the weeds at the roadsides: chicory. Sometimes chicory grows between segments of curb; a crack in the pavement is enough to give them purchase. They bloom profusely in our area after rains or heavy dew throughout the summer. Even in the places where the weeds are mowed, the chicory survives. The plants simply grow low - spread out rather than up - and continue to grow new buds and bloom for all the warmer months of the year.

I walked to a weedy area to take these pictures and got an added bonus for the walk: seeing one of the few monarchs of the season. It celebrated while taking a picture of it. The monarch butterflies are not as common in our area as they were years ago. The milkweed plants that they like to lay their eggs on are not seen as frequently either.

Morning Moon

It is easier to wake up before sunrise with the shortening of the days. One morning last week I was up early enough to see the moon through the pine trees. This picture gives the impression of a pearl held firm in a many-needled setting. The few minutes outdoors with the moon and the birds waking up to sing were a good start to the day.

Gleanings of the Week Ending August 24, 2013

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.

Restricting Food and Fluids during Labor Is Unwarranted, Study Suggests - I can remember being very thirsty with only rationed ice chips when I had my daughter years ago. And I was ravenous by the time she was born (and only offered a rather stale boxed lunch since it was out of the normal food service hours in the hospital). Hopefully this study will be a starting point to change the food and liquid restriction rules.

These alien-looking ice sculptures formed all on their own - A collection of images from some very cold places. What a cooling post for August!

Astronomers Take Sharpest Photos Ever of the Night Sky - Using adaptive optics that have been developed over the past 20 years at University of Arizona.

Creative Fashion Illustrations Made with Leaves - Sparse lines - and then leaves. They work together to create appealing images. My favorite is the first one.

Fascinating Friday: 80 Maps That Explain Everything - Pointers to collections of maps from Buzzfeed and The Washington Post. It turns out that maps are good ways to display lots of data in an intuitive way.

State of Flux Images of Change - Pictures of the changes in the earth over day, months or years from NASA.

Iron Is at Core of Alzheimer's Disease, Study Suggests - Yet another reason why we shouldn’t get higher doses of iron. The foods I normally consume easily get me to 100% of the iron requirements - so fortified cereals and iron-contain multi-vitamins are of my grocery list completely.

Fall in the National Parks: Some Great Activities to Put On Your Calendar - Includes the following national parks: Voyagers, San Francisco Maritime, Acadia, Capitol Reef and Grant-Kohrs Ranch.

Amaranth: Another Ancient Wonder Food, But Who Will Eat It? - Chia - quinoa - amaranth - nutritious options abound.

The Common Cook's How-Many Guide to Kitchen Conversions - Very handy for the kitchen!

by ShannonLattin.
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