Intimate Landscapes – November 2015

This is the second month for my Intimate Landscapes series (after reading Eliot Porter’s Intimate Landscapes book (available online here)) featuring images from the month that are: smaller scale but not macro, multiple species, and artsy.

A dance of colorful leaves on green grass. Tulip poplar and maple leaf shapes are easily spotted.

Sturdy fronds of a fern among, mostly brown, leaves. Maple and tulip poplar leaves again…maybe some beach and oak too.

The zinnias died back at the first of the mornings in the 30s but the sunflower continues to be green…and blooming among the dried stalks of everything else.

The onion seed pods had lost most of their seeds – rattled way by the wind. The trunk of the sycamore and its huge leaves provide no shelter for the wind.

Our Maple

I took pictures of our  maple (actually it is our neighbor's but close enough to the property boundary that we rake about half the leaves) as it changed this year. On October 10th it was still mostly green.

By the 24th it was red at the tips of the branches.

Three days later – on the 27th – it was red all over.

On the afternoon of Halloween a lot of leaves had fallen and the sun shining through the remaining leaves caught my eye.

Yesterday – almost all the leaves had fallen and it was obvious that our neighbor’s yard crew had blown the fallen leaves and left exposed dirt. I am going to rake the leaves that are covering grass but leave the ones that are on dirt. Next spring I’ll need to consider what we can do for the area under the maple that has lost its grass as the tree has gotten larger. The roots of the tree are so dense that I don’t know that even shade loving plants will survive…but that is a project for next spring.

For now I’ll savor the last few leaves on the tree and the smell of leaf tea as I rake way the leaves from the grass and into the forest.

Big Fall at Mt. Pleasant

This past week has been the peak for falling leaves at the Howard Country Conservancy’s Mt. Pleasant Farm. On Monday it was breezy and leaves were flying. On Wednesday, I decided it was sunny and a good day to photograph the trees that still had some leaves. Today I am posting this before I make my trek there…and anticipating that there will be fewer leaves left on the trees.

It was relatively calm and the leaves were drifting down. This maple has a thick carpet of leaves that has fallen recently

Since the carpet still had a lot of color.

The sunshine and clear sky made the color seem all the more brilliant although the foliage was thinning.

Even the gingko has started dropping its leaves.

But in almost every direction there were some trees that had already lost their leaves – like the maple in the rain garden that was so brilliantly red just last week. I always think of the brilliant leaf colors as the last hurrah of the season before everything is hunkered down for winter.

Zooming – September 2015

The zoomed images included in these collages reflect my travels in late August and early September…and I’ve uploaded them in a way that you can see an enlarged version by clicking on the image.

Can you find zoomed images of

• Sunflowers (hint: they are not open all the way)
• Queen Anne’s lace (hint: from underneath)
• Maple leaves (hint: already changing color)
• Jewel weed (hint: it’s yellow rather than orange)
• Thistle pod
• Morning glory
• Zinnias (hint: one red, one pink…the hummingbirds checked them out frequently as they prepared for their migration from Maryland)
• Chipmunk
• Crow (really it was a boat tail grackle but the tail does not show in the picture!)
• Onion flowers

Enjoy!

 

 

 

The zoomed images included in these collages reflect my travels in late August and early September…and I’ve uploaded them in a way that you can see an enlarged version by clicking on the image.

Can you find zoomed images of

·         Sunflowers (hint: they are not open all the way)

·         Queen Anne’s lace (hint: from underneath)

·         Maple leaves (hint: already changing color)

·         Jewel weed (hint: it’s yellow rather than orange)

·         Thistle pod

·         Morning glory

·         Zinnias (hint: one red, one pink…the hummingbirds checked them out frequently as they prepared for their migration from Maryland)

·         Chipmunk

·         Crow (really it was a boat tail grackle but the tail does not show in the picture!)

·         Onion flowers

Enjoy!

Middle Patuxent Environmental Area

Last weekend, we hiked the Wildlife Loop Trail in the Middle Patuxent Environmental Area. It was an outing that had been on my list for this spring and it finally was at the top. It is less than 15 minutes from our house!

The trails are rustic. There are two documented trails that have different entry points. The Wildlife Loop (the one we chose to do in this first trip to MPEA) was the trail originating from the parking lot at the Trotter Road parking area. We walked along old farm roads or mowed paths. The vegetation was lush with vines - sometimes with obvious invasive plants like honeysuckle and multiflora rose...and then there was the native grapevine too. Some areas along the road had been turned into meadow and the milkweed was getting ready to bloom.

Some of the trees were kept cleared of vines and were doing very well. I always enjoy seeing the heart shaped leaves and seed pods of redbud this time of year.

One of the maples was growing very fast and this branch must have been tall enough to be above browsing by deer.

The trail meanders downhill toward the river and then back up. Close to the end - I noticed leaves with droplets of water accumulated around their edges. It was a nice finale.

I’m already planning another hike to MPEA. I want to hike the other trail…spend more time at the river’s edge…go as early as possible while it is still cool…and remember bug spray!

Backyard View - May 2015

The wall of green filled our backyard view in May. At the beginning of the month the maple tree (to the rightside) still held all the season’s samaras. They whirled away with the wind at mid-month as can be send by the image series below taken about a week apart.

The scar from the large branch that fell from the tulip poplar is visible. There is a hole in the green wall high in the tree. It will take several years for the tree to fill the gap.

Last but not least - the sycamore is at its most beautiful this time of year - with unscathed leaves that seem edged with white and seed balls dangling on their long stems.

Spring Trees - 2015

Part of the joy of spring is watching the plants unfurl from winter. I particularly like the trees and shrubs because the leaves come out in all kinds of ways…in clumps…as single buds...folded…coiled…pleated. I’ve collected a number of pictures of the new leaves over the past few weeks and have put together the slideshow below. Enjoy!

Backyard View - April 2015

Our backyard made up for the cold of March. At the beginning of the month - the maple was red with its tiny flowers and then developing samaras.

By the 19th the tulip poplar was turning green and red part of the maple was mostly gone.

The samaras were developing nicely.

The violets were blooming in the lawn

As were a few dandelions!

Yesterday I was late getting out for my photo and the sun was already in the top of the maple but the green shows through the crowd of yellowing samaras in the lower part of the tree; the samaras will mature and begin to fly away from the tree soon.

The cherry and plum trees (in the front yard) were so beautiful this year that I couldn't resist including them in this post too!

Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge

After we left the barrier islands - our plan was to visit some of the inland wildlife refuges so our first stop was the multi-refuge Visitor Center in Manteo. We picked up the maps and brochures for all the refuges we wanted to visit. I couldn’t resist photographing the colorful tile band in the visitor center restroom!

Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge was the first refuge we visited. As we turned onto the wild life loop road (gravel), we were thrilled to see otters frolicking in the canal. I benefited from my husband walking ahead of me and getting most of their attention. They were huffing at him to go away when I took this picture.

There were a few wildflowers. This one had a spider!

The maples were further along their seed production than our tree in Maryland.

I only saw one mushroom but this was lovely nestled in this moss and pine needles.

Fiddleheads were everywhere. The forest was wet…lots of places for ferns to grow.

The pines were releasing a lot of pollen. Our car was covered with the yellow dust when we returned from our hike.

We used our car as a blind to photograph 2 vultures on the other side of the canal from the wildlife drive. The black vulture (on the left) was feeding on a raccoon carcass as we drove up. The turkey vulture (on the right) was waiting patiently at first - but then seemed to become more assertive and the black vulture flew away and the turkey vulture settled in for a meal.

There were also turtles. They were very sensitive to any noise and would plop in the water very quickly. I was glad to catch these two…complete with reflections.

And last but not least, as we reached the highway out of the refuge we spotted an alligator in the canal by the road. He seemed to be dozing in the sun at first. As I used the full zoom on my camera - he opened his eye. What an ending to a visit to the refuge!

Zooming - April 2015

There were so many zoomed images to choose from this month…and it is only the 16th! I couldn’t resist a clip from one of the Zentangles to include with the brilliant spring color of maple flowers (my back yard) and skunk cabbage (Brookside Gardens) early in the month.

Brookside Gardens is full of photography opportunities in April. Some is old growth like evergreen ferns and dried flowers from last summer. Other things are the harbingers of spring - bulbs and witch hazel blooming. There are more birds around too.

The rest of the images are from our loop trip from Maryland down to North Carolina to visit wild life refuges. I’ll be posting more images in the next few weeks. The images below are from the barrier islands - lots of beaches…pines...shore birds…turtles.

And then we crossed the sound to the wetlands. The colorful tile (rightmost clip below) is from the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge visitor’s center. We saw otters, spiders, mushrooms, fiddleheads, maple samaras, vultures (turkey and black), and an alligator! There was a formal gardens too (camellias, daffodils, statuary)!

Flowers on the Maple

The deer can reach about as far up into the maple as I can. It took some stretching to catch a branch to lower it for photography. I have a new camera this year so opted for getting close rather than using the loupe like I did last year.

The flowers are not large…but their deep red color is one of the first signs of spring in our backyard each spring. The birds and squirrels seem to be enjoying the flowers but they don’t strip away the flowers completely. The deer have made quick work of the flowers (maybe the buds didn’t even get a chance to open!) on the lower branches. Hopefully the deer will find other food as the season progresses and the tree can have some leaves on those branches this summer; if not - I’ll have a harder time reaching the maple flowers in spring 2016.

Backyard View - March 2015

Our backyard was snowy for more than half the month of March this year. At times the maple branches would begin to look red - but this it would get very cold again and the tree would turn back to the very wintery looking gray/brown.

This first picture is from March 4th. The forest floor was full of fog that morning because the air was warming and the snow was melting during the days but freezing again each night.

On the 20th we got more snow and it coated everything. The snow was surprisingly light but there was no breeze to knock it off the branches. It was a good day to be indoors.

The last picture is from March 30th. The maple does have red flowers on its branches. I’ll have to go out on the next sunny day to see if any of the flowers are low enough to photograph. The deer browse the tree heavily (so the low branches are devoid of flowers). The holly back in the forest and the long needled pines are about the only things that do not have a ‘deer pruned’ look this time of year.

Zooming - March 2015

The first half of March has been full of winter weather…and then a thaw.

The ice coated pines, deer browsed azalea, frozen drips on the bushes and the red buds of maple adding some color - all were topics for photographs in March.

Later we got a snow that was not heavy but it stuck to the tulip polar branches, sycamore seed pod, and cat tails. The lady bugs seem to like the indoors this time of year. I couldn’t resist adding at least one Zentangle ®to the Zoom collection this month.

When the thaw stated to occur - the Master Naturalist class made a trek into the woods and found fungus very easily: jellies, shelf fungus with pores rather than gills, and several kinds of lichen on stones and tree trunks.

By the end of the month there will be a lot of spring color. I’m already looking forward to compiling the Zoom collection for April!

Backyard View - February 2015

Our backyard has been snowy for most of the month. It wasn’t that we got a tremendous amount of snow - just that it lingered for a long time because temperatures never got warm enough to melt it completely. A few times the grass began to show a little.

There were tracks through the snow too - mostly deer. They have a route between the houses and through our backyard to the forest. Sometimes they linger in the yard - look around. There is not enough for them to eat anywhere right now. The squirrels are active on sunny days. They are enjoying their store of acorns. So far they have not dumped any of the bird seed we have on the deck. The birds make their rounds to our water (heated bird bath) and seed several times a day: cardinals, titmice, chickadees, blue jays and doves. The crows are around too but not on the deck.

I’ll start weekly pictures of the backyard in March since I anticipate quite a lot of changes during the month!