Revisiting Wheaton Park and Brookside Gardens

Earlier this month, I decided to walk around Brookside Gardens with a guest from out of town and had a different experience than I anticipated. When we got there the parking at Brookside Gardens was limited by construction and full. There was no parking next door at the Brookside Nature Center either. I remembered a path through the forest from Wheaton Regional Park’s play ground to Brookside Gardens…and found parking near the playground.

I had not been to Wheaton Park for almost 20 years (we went to this park frequently when my daughter was the age to enjoy it) and it had changed dramatically in those years. Gone were the wooden structures that supported slides and swings and climbing walls. All the supporting structures now are brightly painted metal. There is more color in the slides (yellow tubes) and synthetic mulch (blues and greens). The hill has been terraced to reduce the erosion since the heavy use thins the grass. I liked that the park had been renovated….and that it was still a popular place.

There are still animal sculptures just the right size for children. I managed to get this picture when the elephant did not have a rider.

The path was just as I remembered through the woods - asphalt and wide enough for maintenance vehicles. And then we were at Brookside Gardens. The hibiscus will have to be brought in soon but the flowers were enjoying the last of the warm days. Seed pods were showy on some plants. The lily pads did not have flowers but there were buds; would they have time to bloom? The mums were just beginning to open.

Gleanings of the Week Ending October 25, 2014

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.

You Probably Never Realized How Marble Is Harvested, but It's Beautiful - A short video, with big equipment cleaving very large blocks of marble from the mountain (in Italy).

Klyde Warren Park Wins Open Space Award - I walked through the Klyde Warren Park in downtown Dallas last spring (posted about it here). It is well deserving of the award --- and a visit if you are in the area.

Smart List: 50 Great Blogs & Blasts - There are a lot of great places where education topics are presented, discusses, argued….there is a lot going on. I try to take a couple of education courses per year in Coursera; I have been surprised at the wealth of materials available, how tech savvy teachers are becoming and the ability of student to utilize the online tools in a focused way. Learning expectations for K-12, college and throughout life are increasing because there is a blossoming of learning opportunities!

Olive oil more stable and healthful than seed oils for frying food - I was glad to see the results of this study since there is so much confusing information out on which oils are best at high temperature. I have always used olive oil as the primary oil for all my cooking.

Positive subliminal messages on aging improve physical functioning in elderly - I liked this finding that positive subliminal messages on aging led to individuals’ positive age stereotypes which then strengthened their positive self-perceptions….and then improved their physical function.  Perhaps what we learn most from this kind of research is a recognition of how often negative stereotypes appear in our media; older people have to intentional either avoid or supplant those negative messages about aging.

Air New Zealand's New Hobbit Video Is Greatest Flight Safety Film Ever - What fun!

The Sun Is Beautiful When Its Magnetic Field Is Angry - I had to include at least one solar related post this week. We tried to see the partial eclipse on Thursday but it was cloudy in our area.

Which States Have The Most Restrictive Voting Laws? - I included this post since the mid-term elections are coming up; early voting has started in a lot of states. There is quite a lot of variability in voting laws.

In East Coast Marshes, Goats Take On a Notorious Invader - Evidently, goats have been used to control kudzu in the south but this study extended to marshy areas with different invasive species.  What a great way to reduce the use of herbicides (which have broader negative impacts on the environment while they kill the invasives).

Birth season affects your mood in later life, new research suggests - Some the descriptions of the statistically significant trends are so general that they sound like horoscopes. Do you fit the trend for the season you were born in?

Fall Arabesques

I’ve been photographing leaves on the ground for the past few weeks and am sharing them today in celebration of fall. The leaves had to be positioned just as they had fallen - or been blown into position.

Some of the colors are muted yellow or brown. The vivid greens and reds are there too.

The backdrops are varied too: grass - asphalt - pebbles - forest mulch - bricks.

What about the other things in the pictures with some of the leaves? A feather, moss on a fallen log

How many trees can you recognize by their leaves in these pictures? Poplars - oaks - maples - dogwood….at least.

Gleanings of the Week Ending October 18, 2014

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.

Corruption of health care delivery system?  - Most of us probably realize - at least occasionally - that the US healthcare system is a profit-driven service industry, where commercial interests overcome just about everything. I know that I don’t trust my doctor as much now as I did 20 years ago! Unfortunately - this study was more about documenting the problem rather than suggesting a solution.

Video Proof That Cats Are Furry Work Saboteurs - Fun! Anyone that has a computer and a cat can identify with the antics in this video.

These Are the 100 Most Interesting Geologic Spots In The British Isles - From the Geological Society.  The site that the article highlights is here.

Two posts about things Tucson….where I may travel later this year: Rehabbing Trails in Saguaro National Park and Surpassing Expectations Tucson Streetcar Ridership Enjoys Great Beginning

These Mirrors Are Part of the Biggest Space Telescope - The silver and gold mirrors for the James Webb Space Telescope

Conservation and Food Security: The $115 Billion Question - Increasing focus is on crop wild relatives (CWRs) - plans that are closely related to domestic agricultural crops. Over the past 30 years, at least 60 CWRs have contributed more than 100 beneficial traits to 13 major crops such as wheat, rice, tomato, and potato.

Yosemite Nature Notes: Monarchs and Milkweed - A short video about milkweed and all the insects (and birds) that come to it.  Are you ready to go out and plant some milkweed?

South Australia Achieves 100% Renewable Energy for a Whole Working Day - So - it can be done. How long will it be before some part of the US is able to do this?

Photo Break: America Puts on Its Fall Colors - I couldn’t resist at least one ‘fall’ post this week. Our area of Maryland is quite colorful.

Newport RI - Day 3

Day 3 in Newport was full of photography opportunities: sunrise from the Cliff Walk (40 steps), Blithewold Gardens, and Green Animals Topiary Garden.

Sunrise from the Cliff Walk

The sunrise was colorful - in the sky and the water. The cliff walk offers expansive views to the horizon and close views of waves crashing against the rocks below.

Enjoy the sequence below from just before sunrise to the brightness of early morning.

Blithewold Gardens

There is a mansion but it was not open on the day we were there. We were tired of house tours from the previous day in Newport anyway. I liked the stone steps and fountains near the house.

The garden include a sculpture exhibit. My favorite was feathers. Unfortunately, it was not a breezy day so the feathers were not moving enough for the chimes at their base to move.

And everywhere there were paths leading through lush vegetation.

The slide show below includes a photo toward the sky from inside the bamboo maze and a bee on a Franklin Tree blossom!

Green Animals Topiary Garden

There is a house in this garden that includes a display of antique toys. But the draw for this place is the topiary forms. I couldn’t resist including the pictures of a bee on a dahlia and monarch butterfly (one of the few I’ve seen this year) in the slideshow below - along with the topiary.

CSA Week 18

When the CSA shares first started back in June, I always tried to have both crispers pretty empty when I picked up the weekly share. It didn’t work this week because I was away for too much of the week. I had Romaine lettuce, green beans, hot peppers, and escarole left (having made kale chips to get the kale out of the refrigerator earlier in the day!). All that fresh produce filled almost an entire crisper.

Unfortunately - all the items for week 18 are in the refrigerator now along with what is left from week 17. The crispers are overflowing with the added:

• Red leafed lettuce (upper right)
• Red Russian kale (lower left)
• Rainbow chard (yellow and pink stems at the top)
• Broccoli (upper left)
• Arugula (lower right)
• Scallions (the green tips peeking out to the left of the broccoli)
• Eggplant (purple and white with an elfish looking cap)

I managed to eat the last of the green beans, a hot pepper, two chard leaves, and some arugula in a stir fry for dinner which helped the crowding a little. Then again - the crowding is really bounty worth celebrating...good eating in the days ahead.

Sweet Potato Crop 2014

I clipped the leaves from my sweet potato plant was grew in a trough on my deck all summer over a week ago … enjoying that bounty in salads. Now I have harvested the sweet potatoes themselves. There are 5 good size sweet potatoes and two smaller ones. I cut up the enlarged roots (about the diameter of my little finger but orange inside) for a stir fry before I remembered to take a picture!

I planted a sweet potato that sprouted last October and enjoyed it as a house plant during the winter.

It went out on the deck as soon as the weather was warm and I added a bell pepper and zinnias to the pot. But the sweet potato vine was the dominate plant. I’ve already got the ends of the vines rooting in my kitchen and I’m preparing to plant them as houseplants. Now that I know the leaves are edible, I might trim the plants for fresh salad ingredients this winter - long after this crop of sweet potatoes has been consumed.

Fourth Mint Harvest of the Summer (2014)

The weather is getting decidedly cool here in Maryland so I have made the last mint harvest of the year. The weather and the additional plantings have made for a very good harvest this year. Almost every pot on the deck has some mint in it; I pushed stems from the early harvest into pots and they are overflowing just about everywhere they were planted. The pot that I planted last year has stems growing round the inside rim of the pot (I discovered this when I made my final harvest)! The front flowerbed has grown vigorously as well. It would have been even better had I watered it more consistently between rains.

Most of the mint I am drying and then combining with black tea to make a ‘blend’ for winter.

I have re-purposed a soup tureen to hold the blend; it looks great on the cabinet next to the ‘tea’ maker. One eighth cup tea in the basket of the tea maker makes a ‘just right’ carafe of tea to drink either hot or cold.

I am also putting some mint leaves in the smoothie maker with water and then freezing the resulting slush in ice cube trays for use in smoothies or soups during the winter. It’s a bit more work and requires freezer space but I like the flavor of fresh mint!

Ten Days of Little Celebrations - September 2014

Noticing something worth celebration each dayis an easy thing for me to do. The habit of writing it down reminds me to be grateful for these and a myriad of other things in my life. This month has been full of ‘little celebrations’ - as had been the usual for the past few months. Here are my top 10 for September 2014.

Lingering summer foods. I savored the yellow tomatoes and watermelon this month - knowing that the will not be fresh from local fields very soon.

Great Falls of the Potomac. There is something about re-visiting sights and sounds close to home. It has been several years since I’d walked around the place. I’m already planning another outing once the leaves begin to turn.

Belmont is another place close to home. I had been there a few times but not enough. It is a place to savor.

BioBlitz at Belmont. I was volunteer naturalist for 3 of 4 days of the BioBlitz. It was exhilarating and exhausting!  There was a lot to celebrate but most memorable was the joy the 5th and 7th graders had in discovering and insect or plant or bird that they hadn’t noticed before.

Mating Insects. It’s that time of year it seems. As part of the BioBlitz we saw ladybugs and wheelbugs….getting ready for overwintering of their kind. It’s a celebration of the continuity of nature.

Symmetry - furniture - motion. Last month I celebrated symmetry and tiles - something I was learning about in a Coursera course. This month - now toward the end of the course - there was a section on symmetry in furniture. The designed talked about his work and showed examples when the motion of the furniture is real and others when it is a visual deception. I was intrigued and delighted!

Emily Dickinson. Dickinson was one of the first poets to be discussed in the Modern & Contemporary American Poetry course I am taking via Coursera. I find myself celebrating the memory of my changing perception of the poet between my high school days and now.

Mint…and more mint. I’m celebrating my mint crop this year….and will savor it all winter long as hot mint tea.

A rainy day. Sometimes a rainy day is just what I need; there was only one rainy day in September and I celebrated staying indoors and at home. It’s good for recovering ones balance - ready for whatever comes next.

Leggings. I found some denim leggings at the thrift store that appeared new….and they fit me perfectly. A bargain worth celebrating!

Backyard View - September 2014

I am starting a backyard photography project for this fall: taking a picture of our backyard trees about once a week. September was my time to decide on the logistics. The camera positions are marked on the deck railing with duct tape and red marker. I decided to take two orientations and then pick a favorite for each month. So far the red marker seems to be holding up better than the tape. The duct tape seems to stick but then curls up on mornings when there is a thick dew.

The first day I took the picture at mid-morning. Too much light…and a tweak to the plan: take the picture as soon as possible after sunrise or make sure the day is cloudy.

For September - I like the portrait orientation so they are the images I selected for this first slide show. As the leaves change on the maple and tulip poplars there should be quite a change seen in the October series. It’s also clear than lighting makes quite a difference even when there is no direct sunlight.

Belmont

I’ve participated in several programs at the Belmont Manor and Historic Park as a Howard County Conservancy Volunteer over the past month. September is a good month to see maturing seeds - in the trees: Maple

Dogwood

And sweet gum.

There are other plants going to seed: grasses

And fluffy seed pods in the meadows.

The flowers are mostly done for the year although I did photograph a chicory that was growing at the edge of mowed path.

But it is the very air of the place - looking up to into an old sycamore,

The top branches of other trees,

And starlings swirling - that is the most special.

Belmont is a place with a long history and one looks out from the mansion that is somehow not as important as the vista.

The Deck Garden - September 2014

I walked around the deck before beginning the harvesting. There are signs of fall. Some of the leaves are not quite so green. Both the sweet potato and carrots have some yellow leaves are parts of leaves. The sweet potato has done very well in the trough container; the soil is heaving and the sides are bulging….a sign that the part of the plant under the soil is as robust as the vines above. There is a pepper that came up from immature compost in the trough too!

The tomatoes are leaning on garden ornaments and stakes. Pretty soon - the weather will get too cool and I’ll pick them all to (hopefully ripen inside). The carrots and beans will come in too. I am re-potting one of the small aloes to bring inside. The big one will be sacrificed since I don’t have enough indoor space to dedicate to it.

I’ve enjoyed the deck garden this summer. Green has been the dominate color although the zinnias, marigolds and morning glories offered some variety. It surprised me how much textures and shapes caught my attention even from the kitchen window. I am already planning the new things I’ll try next summer!

CSA Week 15

Week 15 of the Gorman Produce Farm CSA - it’s another week of great food!

There is a little bow wave of garlic, potatoes, and winter squash from previous weeks - but those foods keep for weeks and months. I did make a fabulous custard with leftover baked butternut squash this past week; mixed up in the smoothie maker with just a little honey, baked into a light consistency custard, and then drizzled with maple syrup just before being eaten. Yum! I’ve also enjoyed the small purple potatoes in stir fries (only 2 at a time to not get too overwhelmed with calories. We made a bit batch of spaghetti sauce to have made good use of some frozen tomato sauce I’d cooked when I was overwhelmed with tomatoes a few weeks ago.

The big surprise to me this week is that sweet potato leaves are edible!  Evidently they can be used raw or cooked.  I’ve going to try them both ways and, if I like them, go ahead and cut the leaves from the sweet potato on my deck to enjoy; supposedly it is a good thing to do a few weeks before the sweet potato harvest.

I traded the poblano pepper for an additional bundle of Dinosaur Kale since I enjoy kale chips so much.

Notice that I got all yellow tomatoes too!  They’ll look beautiful with the red leafed lettuce.

Note that I’m using my own bags rather than bringing any plastic produce bags into the house. It feels good to avoid items that will become trash (or recycle if they stay clean).

Chaos Garden in September 2014

The chaos garden has onions in bloom (I am letting them go to seed so there will be more next summer),

Cone flowers going to seed (more flowers for next year’s garden), the new rosemary growing tall, lemon balm coming back from old roots, and so many other plants that have found their way to the patch.

But I spent the most time photographing a red spotted purple butterfly posing near the hydrangea. It posed on a leave near the hydrangea for several minutes - tired from an afternoon of cool breezes, opening and closing its wings, moving its proboscis.

After it fluttered away I noticed how much the news leaves on the hydrangea had been browsed by the deer even at this time of year when there should be plenty of other food for them.

Zooming - September 2014

Late summer and early fall is a time of transition…lots of changes to capture in photos. There are seed pods

And seeds.

Insects going about the business of feeding,

Mating and growing large enough to move to the phase of their life to overwinter.

The birds are through their nesting and getting ready for migration. There was a bright yellow mold that emerged from a knot in our deck railing after a rain.

And - last but not least in this collection of zoomed images - the bright colors of flowers and chard stems.

HC Conservancy - September 2014

I took a walk around the Howard County Conservancy’s Mt. Pleasant farm before a volunteer naturalist training session last week. The walk around the meadow started out cloudy and the temperature was near perfect. I took a picture of the dogwood just beginning to turn to fall colors along the drive to the farm house as I walked from the parking lot.

The sculpture of the owl in the natural play area for children is taking on a darker patina as is weathers.

I took lots of milkweed pictures; the pods are maturing and beginning to split…and lots of milkweed bugs.

The meadow has some fall blooms. Purple is a popular color (thistles and ironweeds and poke weed)

But yellow of goldenrods are overwhelming.

There was a cut up tree trunk along the stone fence that had quite an assortment of shelf fungus.

Along that same stone fence were two snake skins - one hanging from a tree that seemed to be growing roots into its own trunk and another along a tree branch.

A tidy nest was visible in the very young tree - probably fresh from this summer but now abandoned.

And last but not least - a huge caterpillar of a cecropia moth! I’m glad one of my fellow hikers spotted it!

Great Falls of the Potomac - Part 2

Day before yesterday I posted about our visit to the Maryland side of Great Falls with a focus primarily on the water. Today my focus shifts to plants.

There are rocks on both sides of the boardwalk out to the viewing area for the falls. These rocks may have been scoured by the river at some point but it has been quite some time. Lichens are quite thick in many places and tiny leaves have found enough decayed rock and dust in some cracks to support their roots.

Mosses carpet some areas - usually a lower place in the rocks that holds water.

Taking a broader view of a side channel of the river that is still enough to reflect the rocks and small trees - the size of the trees tells the tale of how long it has been since the last big flood along this stretch of the river.

The water of the C&O Canal bed is placid and it is late enough in the season that some of the grasses are heavy with seeds. Do you see the moth resting on the top of this one?

Jewel weed is still blooming. It is interesting that the plant was used to sooth poison ivy but often grows in the midst of the itch producing bane of summer for many.

Tiger Swallowtail - 2014

There have not been as many butterflies in our area this summer so I was delighted to photography two enjoying my deck garden in August and this week. In August, the butterfly weed and marigolds were the big attraction. Note how battered the edges of the wings look in this view of the feeding insect (with the butterfly pot decoration overhead).

I’m always surprised at how hairy the area where the winds and body overlap looks…at the powdery blue…at the delicacy of the whole wing.

From the side, the body looks robust compared to the legs and the proboscis. This insect spent quite a lot of time with the marigolds - so maybe the flowers will produce a lot of seeds.

This week the draw for the tiger swallowtail was the zinnias. When the wings are held vertically they are folded a little as well. Their ribs show more.

It was a breezy day so the insect would flatten itself to maintain its stance on the flower. The wings look very symmetrical when they are fully extended.

Notice that the edges of the wing are battered in this one too. This butterfly spent quite a long time at with the zinnia - flying away for a few seconds and then returning - and I’ll keep the seeds that develop over the next few weeks.

National Arboretum in August 2014

I posted about the magnolias right after our visit to the US National Arboretum a few weeks ago…but there was a lot more to see. There are so many areas of arboretum. Even the parking lot near the visitor center hosted large crepe myrtles with their shaggy bark!

There was a lot of construction around the administration building. The koi pond was dry but the garden around the fenced area still included a pine with forming cones standing at attention among its needles.

We headed to the China/Asian Valleys - having learned from previous visits to not try to see the whole Arboretum in one visit. The garden was shady and inviting on an August day. Many of the flowers had faded so the overwhelming color of the garden was green. We picked up a map but decided to simply follow the paths rather than look at it. The walk was easy but generally downhill toward the river (and we knew we would have to come uphill eventually).

I like the moon shape in the lantern among the foliage.

The one pink bloom left on a hydrangea was a welcome relief from the green only scenes.

The steps up to the pagoda were part of the climb back to the upper part of the garden…and the exit.

Just as the crepe myrtle bark in the visitors center parking lot - this flower with the ants on the border of the parking area near the magnolias!

Favorite Memories of Summer 2014

Today - the traditional ‘last day of summer’ - I am savoring the memories of the past 3 months. It has been cooler than usual in my area (Maryland, near Baltimore) so the outdoor activities have been especially pleasant. Here are my top 5 memories from this summer:

The Deck Garden. The plants on the deck are a daily draw to go outdoors. There is always something changing - new flowers blooming, a tiny tomato forming, sweet potato vines spilling over the edge of the pot then the deck…and blooming, and all the associated insects and birds enjoying the plants (sometimes causing some damage) and the water in the birdbath and the pot saucers. I may change some of the plants next year - but using every available pot for something is definitely something to continue from now on.

Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens. The place made my list because it was a new experience. I still enjoyed places I have been many times this summer (Brookside Gardens and the National Arboretum and the Howard County Conservancy Mt. Pleasant Farm) but the lotuses at the aquatic garden with the dragonflies that abounded were a high point of the garden visits this season.

Josey Ranch Lake. What a pleasant surprise it was to walk around the small lake near the library in Carrollton TX! It hosts such a variety of resident birds (although I did wish the nutria were not there).  It became the high point of ‘sights’ for the two weeks I spent in Texas this summer.

CSA Veggies. This was my first participation in a Community Supported Agriculture farm and I’ve enjoyed the enhanced flavor of fresh-from-the-field vegetables. I will do it again next summer!

Classes. I become more aware all the time of just how much I enjoy being a student. Whether the classes are online (Coursera and Creative Live) or ‘live’ at the Howard County Conservancy…classes have the effect of broadening my horizons and tweaking what I do. It may not be healthy to grow larger physically but growing mentally is always a good thing.

Happy end-of-summer 2014!