Our Tulip Poplar

Our tulip poplar grows at the back of our yard – at the edge of the forest between a pine and a maple. Its leaves began to turn yellow relatively early in the fall but some of the leaves stay on the tree until the very end of the season. The first picture in this series was taken on October 10^th; the tulip poplar already had yellow leaves while the maple was almost totally green.

By October 24^th, the poplar had yellow and brown leaves and some were beginning to fall to the ground. The maple was red at the branch tips and had not dropped many leaves at all.

By October 27^th, the poplar a thinned a bit.

And by November 7^th, both the maple and the tulip poplar had lost all their leaves!

We moved into our house about this time of year over 20 years ago and the flying yellow leaves from the tulip poplar are the ones I associate the most with fall at this house. The trees are the tallest in the forest behind our house so they are impossible to ignore. The shape of the leaves is easy to recognize. Those leaves deteriorate rapidly from yellow to brown to mulch.

The seed pods last longer. They stay on the tree and release their seeds throughout the winter and into the next spring.

The tulip poplar was not a tree I ever saw growing up in Texas. When we moved to the east coast – to Virginia and then Maryland – they were one of the first trees that I noticed….and I like having one in my backyard so that I can see it every day.

Fall at Centennial Park

I missed the peak of fall foliage at Centennial Park. In mid-October there was still a lot of green (see post here). This past weekend, some of the trees had already lost quite a lot of their leaves…although there was still plenty of color. When we first got there on Saturday morning, the sun was in the treetops and there was a mist rising from the lake because of the temperature differential between the water and the air (it was a cold morning).

There were a few clouds in the sky and contrails across the sky.

I walked around a little to look around and let the sun come more. I noticed: dew on fallen leaves. This one is a tulip poplar.

Drifts of leaves in the parking lot. Many of the red ones were from a nearby maple.

The view straight up to the sky shows both color and that some trees are already in winter form.

Flocks of Canadian Geese took off from the lake – circling over the trees and into the brighter sunlight.

And finally the sun came all the way down the trees on the opposite shore.

The Great Blue Heron that had made a ruckus when we first arrived had retained his perch in the colorful trees there.

Monticello - June 2015

I’ve made periodic trips to Monticello since 1983 when I moved to the east coast from Texas. There always seems to be something new to learn at Thomas Jefferson’s home. We arrived early for the first Behind the Scenes House Tour and Day Pass - with reservations made ahead of time. There was a lotus blooming in the courtyard of the visitor center; I had not even remembered a pool there from my previous visit so it was a pleasant surprise.

Later in the day it would have been impossible to get pictures of the house without people milling around. Did you know that Monticello has three floors above the basement? Jefferson intended for it to look like a single story. Here’s how he got light to the 3 floors. Look at the stacked windows on the front of the house. The windows with the shutters are the first floor. The windows with a white frame and no shutters are the second floor. They fill the lower half of the second floor walls. The third floor has sloped ceilings and skylights!

The viewshed for Monticello is somewhat changed from Jefferson’s day. There were farms where the trees had been cleared within the viewshed during his time but probably not as many clusters of other buildings. From the house it is easy to position yourself where trees block the view.

No pictures are allowed inside the house so I don’t have a picture of the staples that were used to support the alcove beds. I’d not noticed how the beds were supported on previous visits. Jefferson’s bed was open on both sides (and he had a clock positioned on the wall at his feet…he got up when it was light enough for him to see the clock). The other alcove beds had walls on three sides; Dolly Madison visited with her husband frequently and did not like them (probably because she was on the side to the wall!).

The kitchen has separate ‘burners’ for cooking at different temperatures. But they are not vented. The kitchen would have been hot, sooty, and smoky.

The back of Monticello includes the dome. More of the house is visible these days because a giant tulip poplar planted by Jefferson had to be cut down in the 1990s. The inside of the dome room is being monitored closely these days because there are cracks that appeared in the plaster after an earthquake…and they are getting larger.

After Jefferson’s presidency there were quite a few people living at Monticello: his daughter and her many children and his sister….as well as other relatives and friends. They had to have quite a garden to feed everyone.

The view from Mulberry Row - the series of cabins for the slaves that worked in or near the house - may have included more trees that it does now. The kitchen is to the right of this view…the south pavilion above on the far left.

My favorite photograph of the house during this visit was through the flowers.

I was surprised at the number of butterflies we saw in the short walk around the grounds.

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Instead of riding the bus down the hill to the visitor center we walked past the cemetary and through the forest.

And then it was time to splurge for lunch at Michie Tavern. The food is good….but I’m not as fond of ‘all you can eat’ places as I once was. In this case - it is tradition. I think we have gone to Michie Tavern for lunch every time I’ve visited Monticello!

Nature and History Hiking

There are lots of ‘stories’ that we create for ourselves while hiking. Hiking is active and invites narrative. The theme can be about interaction with an animal or plants or a hiking partner. There could be an activity done with hiking that becomes part of the story: photography, bird watching, climbing, camping, etc. Recently - I’ve been creating stories using the history theme.

The longest timeframe history is in rocks - in layers. It is easy for this narrative to emerge when hiking the Grand Canyon…..the feeling of the vast amounts of time for water to wear away the rock is part of the place.

Sometimes rocks tell history with a shorter timeframe. For example, rocks along trails in areas that are near developments show up in buildings; the Master Naturalist hike along the Trolley Trail early this year was an example for me of rocks linking to history of the past few hundred years. A building not far from the trail was built of Ellicott City Granite with bits of amphibole for contrast.

Human impacts. Sometimes the changes caused by humans are evident along a hiking trail. Trash is always unwelcome and we may not hike that trail again - or help in a clean up project. It is a sad story. In fact - lots of the impacts are sad: eroded stream banks from changes in runoff patterns from housing developments and invasive plants. Many of the impacts happen quickly.

Other examples of human impacts take a longer period. The view of the forests on the east coast has changed dramatically now that the American Chestnuts are gone (almost all of them succumbed to the Chestnut Blight in the 1900s); they were the dominate (most numerous) tree in the forest. That history is harder to realize because it is about something missing. As I look into the forest behind my house - the most numerous trees are the tulip poplars. They are tall - but they don’t produce the large and reliable crop of nuts that the chestnuts did (for animals and people).

What about organisms that are not usually noticed? If you take a walk shortly after a rain - there might be earthworms on the forest path. Did you know that they are not ‘native’ to North America but brought in ballast from Europe during colonization? How did they change the forest? The leaf mulch was not cycled as quickly by the native organisms which means that the forest floor in precolonial times was cooler and wetter than it is now. How different did those forests look?

Woodland Gardening

Last week I attended at session on Woodland Gardening at the Maryland Master Naturalist Annual Conference….which influenced my observations during a walk at Centennial Lake this past weekend.

The idea of woodland gardening is to create outdoor spaces that mimic woodlands. My planting the sassafras and spice bush in the back of my yard - moving the forest further into my ‘yard’ by another 3 feet - was my first attempt at it but I’m already thinking about my next project and looking at woodlands for ideas.

The talk presented some principles of woodland gardening and I noticed examples of these in my walk:

Distill the essence of the forest. One ‘essence’ that I find awe inspiring is the view upward. It would take a long time to create such a few in a garden. I will be content with the wall of green where the forest begins toward the back of my yard.

Celebrate light. I noticed light that filtered through the trees to the woodland floor

And highlighted leaves of the trees from above.

Sculpt with layers…which means mimicking or allowing succession to take place.I noticed that the park maintenance was not cutting as much of the grassy area around the lake - letting a meadow develop. There was a lot more milkweed in the park than in previous years which bodes well for any Monarch Butterflies in the area.

Integrate woodland textures. There are redbuds planned along some of the walkways at the edge of the forest. Their heart shaped leaves and bean-like seed pods are like a gateway to the larger trees in the forest.

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.

Belmont Manor and Historic Park - May 2015

I’ve been at Belmont several times since the Master Naturalist class - volunteering as a naturalist for school field trips. There are several trees with very showy blooms right now: a horse chestnut

I’ve been at Belmont several times since the Master Naturalist class - volunteering as a naturalist for school field trips. There are several trees with very showy blooms right now: a horse chestnut

And the tulip poplars. I was very pleased to find one with branches with blooms low enough to photograph easily.

Belmont is known for its viewshed.  From the front door of the manor house…there are no other signs of encroaching structures. It is like taking a step back in time.

Before the Europeans came - the area would have been forested. The biggest trees in that forest would have been American Chestnuts (destroyed in by Chestnut Blight in the 1900s) and the mulch on the forest floor would have been quite deep since the native biota were not as effective as earthworms at decomposing leaves.

The manor house was built in 1738. Much of the forest was cut to make fields for farming (for food and tobacco as a cash crop) and to make charcoal for iron forges (iron ore being readily available in the area. There probably were fewer trees than seen today from the front of the manor house. Over time the soil became less fertile and wheat became an important crop as well. For forests trees were represented in fence rows, along the entrance road, and on slopes as agricultural practices incorporated soil conservation practices. In the early 1900s, Belmont pastures hosted thoroughbred horses.

The pond that is seen just before the distant trees in the image above was added in the 1980s to retain water from a natural seep. It is a late addition to the view….but seems to fit.

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!

Master Naturalist Training - Week 8

This past Wednesday was the last Master Naturalist - Hurray! I’m just getting started on the take home ‘final’ that we have 2 weeks to complete….not an enjoyable aspect of the course but required. The day was cloudy but relatively warm and dry; it was best weather for a class day.

The topics for the day were weather and climate for the morning and ornithology for the afternoon. We took weather related measurements as our outdoor activity in the morning…and I was too busy to take pictures. In the afternoon we took a bird hike. We saw vultures (black and turkey) in the sky….tree swallows…red wing black bird…blue birds…mockingbirds ---- maybe more. The only relatively good picture I got was of the swallows; this pair was starting a nest in the box.

Following up on the amphibians and reptiles lecture (when it rained so hard we did not outdoors for a hike) - we found a snake on this last hike!

And of course lots of the trees had popping buds: spice bush

River birch

Tulip poplar

Having an hour outdoors at the end of the class was a good finale!

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!

Master Naturalist Training - Week 3

River Birch

White Birch

This week was the third of eight days of training to become a Master Naturalist in Maryland. The forecast was for rain all day but it held off long enough for us to take two short hikes - one for each of the topics for the day: Botany and Mammals. We tromped through snow to look at buds, bark and dry plants. I managed to get some good close ups of bark. How many of these would you recognize: river birch (peeling bark), white birch (white with dark striations), dogwood (blocky bark…but the buds are easier for me to use for identification), and tulip poplar (complete with lichen growing beneath the furrows? Can you guess what the hairy vine is growing up this tulip poplar trunk?

Dogwood

Tulip poplar (lichen)

Tulip poplar (poison ivy)

The second hike was for mammals which was harder for several reasons: mammals are very good at hiding, it was wet (snow melt and sprinkles), the freeze thaw cycle had distorted the tracks even though we were able to recognize some deer tracks, and the one non-deer scat we found was dissolving in a puddle of melt water (although it did include hair so was from a carnivore). I managed to get snow over the top of my boots a couple of times; I took the boots off to let them dry out along with my socks while we finished up the class.

Now that I’ve had those two short hikes I am looking forward to the great thaw and run off….and a good round of picture taking of winter trees for shape and bark….may some buds before they pop open (or right after). I’m keen to create a tree tour of the Belmont location (where our class is held) as my project associated with the master naturalist training.

Like the previous sessions - the Wednesday class day dodged the hazardous weather. Yesterday was very snowy in Maryland!

Previous posts: Week 1, Week 2

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!