Zooming – November 2016

November is my second month with my new camera (Canon PowerShot SX720 HS). My earlier posts this month have used a lot of zoomed images…but I’m sharing 7 in this post that are new. The first is an immature milkweed bug. See the stubs where the wings will be in a later instar? In October, I thought they would gone by November but the weather stayed reasonably warm and there were still green milkweed pods well into the month. Some of the bugs probably didn’t make it to maturity before the first frost.

November included the brightest fall color this year. I like the light shining through these maple leaves.

The Bald Cypress cones were more obvious against the rusty brown of the foliage being shed this time of year.

Ferns have sporangia on their underside; these reminded me of the dots on dominos.

Inside the conservatory at Brookside the banana plant had maturing fruit.

I’m not sure what this is…but it is growing (and blooming) in the Brookside Gardens conservatory.

I discovered Virginia Creeper growing on the brick in front of my house. It is turned red with the cooler temperatures.

Photographs Through a Window – November 2016

November has been a good month for photography through my office window. The crows come to look for things in our gutters.

House finches come for water (this one is a male).

There was a purple finch (female) that visited too – seemingly very nervous.

There were bluebirds too – two days in a row. The second day was colder and the feathers are fluffed to keep the bird warmer.

The Carolina Wren is still around. The noises it makes in the fall are quite different than the spring song.

The bird I got the most excited about was a Northern Flicker (yellow shafted) that was in the maple tree long enough to get several pictures.

The blue jays have been around (very noisy)…but have not settled for long enough for me to photograph.

The squirrel has visited our deck several times and I suspect that the bird feeder is the attraction. It is supposed to be squirrel proof and – so far – has not been dumped. One squirrel figured out how to do it last spring….but so far the area under the feeder has remained free of large amounts of seed.

Usually we do have leaves on the roof --- but the leaves are swirling and it rained, so we have a few that are temporarily stuck: tulip poplar and maple. They dry out soon and be blown away (hopefully not into the gutter).

Centennial Park – November 2016

The walk at Centennial Park was full of fall color a week ago when I took these pictures. I took a lot of pictures with the reflections of trees in the water. The leaves on many of the tallest trees like tulip poplar had already lost a lot of their leaves but the maples and sweet gums – the reds – were still plentiful and the beeches provides some yellow. The oaks still had some green. My favorite of these pictures is the one that include the rocks that are beside the boat launch; they break up the reflection with their smoothed surfaces.

Then zoomed in on some leaves – maple

And oak.

There were also seed pods along the shore of the lake that I recognized – goldenrod

And Queen Anne’s Lace.

Every time I go to the park there is something to photograph….this time is was ‘fall.’ (Last time it was ‘birds’.)

Leaf Rubbings

I decided to make some leaf rubbings during one of my leaf raking flurries. I took out a clip board, scratch paper, a red crayon, a graphite pencil and a blue colored pencil.

When my daughter was young we had always used crayons. But we still had some left-over fat crayons from her first grade. The crayon I used was found in a junk drawer – probably from a restaurant. I peeled off the paper to enlarge the area of crayon available to make the rubbing. It was hard to hold the leave still pressing down on the paper from above while I was trying to also hold the clipboard and move the crayon! The small leaf in this first one is a tulip poplar…the larger one is a sycamore (a rather small leaf from that tree).

The second page was a small tulip polar leaf and two maple leaves.

I switched to the blue colored pencil. There is a partial tulip poplar leaf in the lower right corner. The others are maple leaves.

The last one I did was a larger tulip poplar leaf with the graphite pencil. I couldn’t resist using it as a string for a Zentangle!

And now I have another round of raking to do….

Seeing Trees as Individuals

Often we see trees as a group – a forest…and not as individuals. There are three in my backyard that I see as individuals even though they are closely associated with other trees. I can see all three from my office window. The first is a red maple. The first picture was taken on Halloween through my office window over the roof of our covered deck.

The next was taken from the ground in our backyard about a week later. Its leaves had started to fall by that time. It is not a forest tree. Our neighbor planted it on his side of the property line before we moved into our house over 20 years ago. But the tulip poplars and beech trees of the forest provide a yellow backdrop to this trees red foliage. It survived a large grape vine that grew from the forest into its crown before I took my big pruners into the forest and cut the vine at ground level about 10 years ago, annual deer munching on its lower branches in the winter and spring, and being squished by some pines and an oak before they were cut down. It is a survivor.

I enjoy its shape and color…all through the year: the red stems of late winter, the tiny red flowers, the new leaves that start out red then turn green, the red samaras that turn brown and fly off the tree, the lush green of summer, and then the mixture of red and green leaves that fly off the tree in the fall – usually in one week.

The section tree is a tulip polar. It is at the edge our forest. It has never been as straight and many of the others of its kind in the forest. It never has been. I think I like it more for its imperfections.

This year the tree seemed to have many flowers in the spring and they must have been fertilized because there are large number of seed pods now.

The tulip polar leaves turn brown very quickly once they fall from the tree. I always feel lucky to find one that still has some green. The first year we moved into our house, on the first of November, the leaves were flying off the tulip polar with every breeze. They are at least a week later this year.

The last tree that I see as an individual in my backyard is the newest. It is a black walnut and a relatively recent addition. In this jumbled picture – it is in the middle with the stems containing multiple leaflets – yellow and green as it changes for the winter. It came up on its own, probably planted by a squirrel. I didn’t realize it was a black walnut until last year when it had two nuts on it.

About 5 years ago I had cut honey suckle and grape vines off a small tree in that area but I didn’t know what kind of tree it was at the time. Now the crown gets sun late in the day in our neighbor’s backyard and the lower part gets sun from late morning onward in our yard. Its tall enough now that the deer can’t hurt it very much. So – I am watching to see how soon it will perturb the forest around it. Black walnuts make space for themselves once they have a good start and this one is getting close to the size that it will have that impact.

Raking Leaves – 2

I started raking leaves toward the middle of October and still have quite a lot to do based on the leaves still clinging to the trees. Even the oak that was my focus in October still has some leaves – although there are noticeably fewer still on the tree. I’ve raked the area around the purple-leaved plum tree too although the tree still has leaves on it too; they don’t change color – they just fall. They are more fragile than the oak leaves and compress more easily into the trash can.

I noticed a small pine tree growing in the mulch of oak tree.  Maybe a squirrel planted a pine nut there? If it survives the winter – I’ll dig it up in the spring and move it someplace where it can grow more easily.

I’ve also noticed that a small azalea that is about 25 years old has turned red this fall when the sun shines on it. It looks good in front of the green bushes…and I should do some weeding around it while I’m out raking leaves.

In the back – I rake the leaves back into the forest. The maple is just beginning to drop its leaves. They fall more rapidly than the oak leaves once they start. Every breeze makes the tulip poplar and maple leaves swirl away from the trees. I’ve made one pass so far….and know that there will be at least one more…probably two…over the next week or so.

Back to Standard Time

Maple“Spring forward…Fall Back” – the “Fall Back” happened yesterday. It’s the twice-a-year mass coordination drill to switch to and from daylight savings time. It’s been happening for as long as I can remember (although according to Wikipedia, the Federal standard in the US didn’t happen until 1966…so when I was young and living in Oklahoma and then Texas, we didn’t switch). I can remember a conversation at a great aunt’s house about an old wall clock that she left on standard time because it was too fragile or difficult to re-set so frequently.

 The ‘fall back’ is easier than the ‘spring forward.’ Sleeping an hour later than usual is not as hard as waking up an hour earlier! Yesterday I didn’t quite sleep a whole hour later but I did manage 30 minutes and today my internal clock is re-set for the mornings. I am still not as sleepy at the new bedtime though!

I am a morning person so the earlier sunlight right now is appealing. Soon the days will be short enough that it will dark (again) when I get up. For now – we are enjoying the fall color and the new skew of the day to give us earlier sunlight!Oak

Raking Leaves – 1

I have a ‘little at a time’ strategy for leaf raking this year rather than waiting for the majority to fall before doing some marathon raking sessions. Almost none of the leaves have even turned on the maple….the few red one stand out against a green backdrop.

But the oak has dropped about half and the purple leafed plum is shedding too. I raked the areas with the most leaves before my husband mowed late last week – letting the lawn mower chop up and distribute the few leaves that remained.

I measure my raking progress by the number of trashcan loads I take back to the brush and leaf pile in the forest. I compress the leaves to reduce the number of treks from the front yard (where the oak tree is) to the back. So far, I’ve done 5. The leaves from the trees in the back yard I’ll rake directly into the forest – no trashcan involved!

Walking in Brookside Gardens

I’ve already posted about the serendipity and the catbird from my walk in Brookside Gardens last week. There were plenty of ‘normal’ scenes that I enjoyed too along with quite a few people walking the loop around the gardens. Here are some highlights:

The white wash is still on the conservatory. It’s there to help reduce the heat of summer inside but is washed off once it gets cool enough in the fall.

There are still flowers blooming.

And the seed pods of the magnolias have their bright red seeds (they always remind me of red M&Ms).

Some of the leaves are beginning to turn but most are still green.

I’ve been reading so much about the rusty patched bumble bees that I’ve started paying more attention to all bumble bees (this was is obviously not a rusty patched)!

Caster plants have maturing seeds. I always notice these at Brookside because one of my grandfathers always had a few plants in his garden.

The Tea House was empty as I walked by…the pond cloudy with sediment after recent rains.

Some of the ferns had spores on the underside of their fronds.

My last stop of the morning was in the conservatories. They were just setting up the mum displays --- and none were blooming enough to photograph – yet. I’ll go back in November. Along with a lot of gardeners working the garden, there were also people putting up lights already in preparation for the display beginning around Thanksgiving.

Zooming – April 2016

The images I selected for zooming collages this month – all reflect springtime. The Carolina Wren that scouted out nesting locations and selected an old gas grill that we had not gotten around to arranging to take to the landfill (not it won’t go until the wrens are finished with it, the blossoms of a fruit tree and maple samaras…

Horse chestnut leaves, gingko male flowers and leaves, and a daffodil….

Another type of maple samara, a dove in the sunlight, and dogwood flowers….

A goldfinch, robin and bluebird looking a little scruffy (getting their spring/summer plumage) and the beginning of dandelion flowering….

Morning glories and irises from Texas (they had a very mild winter in the Dallas area and lots of rain so the gardens are well developed) ….

A lizard and water lilies (also from Texas).

It’s a vibrant spring and we’re enjoying the cool mornings and near perfect afternoon temperatures in Maryland.

Centennial Park – April 2016

Last week I walked part of the way around Centennial Park – observing and enjoying spring.

There were a few flowers in the raised bed by the headquarters but you had to look for them.

The boat rentals are not open yet for the season but are neatly stacked and are colorful.

Redbuds have been planted. Some are quite small. Even the larger ones have a delicate look about them.

Many of the trees are starting the process of making seeds.

Some are further along than others.

Some just seem to have leaves that start out very colorful and then turn green as they unfurl completely.

The Canadian Geese were loud on the lake as usual but some of the them were comparatively quieter --- laying low and keeping their eggs warm.

There were loons in the center of the lake. Most of the time these birds are closer to the Atlantic coast.

The lake itself took on a different character with changes in light – dull compared to the springtime shore

Or brooding as the camera adjusted to a too bright sky.

The path was rimmed with green – grass

Or moss.

Pine cones look different with the backdrop of grass and dandelions

And pine needles.

Last but not least – the dogwoods flowers are open and on the verge of expanding.

At this point, they have a tulip-like shape.

Planters in the Window

I am reusing plastic bins from Organic Spring Salad Mix as planters. I had a sweet potato vine that I’ve started from a sweet potato that I didn’t eat quite fast enough this winter. I will probably eat the leaves rather than wait all season to harvest sweet potatoes in the fall.

I also planted a maple seedling that I pulled out of the flower bed last summer. It rooted in water for months. The leaves turned red in January and most of them fell off. It still has one…and I hope to see the bud at the tip of the stem begin to enlarge soon. It should enjoy having its roots in soil – although it is too early to know for sure if it will have a second season.

I’ve also planted radishes and lettuce seeds - that have now sprouted. If they do well, I’ll harvest them both for salad. Even the ones I pull to thin out the bin will be good eating. I like radish leaves and always am disappointed that the tops in the grocery store are generally wilted.

I haven’t decided whether I will transplant any of these except to bigger pots on the deck. Our area has an overabundance of deer and our yard seems to be in a main thoroughfare from the forest behind our house and into our neighborhood. Everything gets thoroughly sampled….and sometimes browsed…by the deer passing through.

Mt Pleasant Farm – March 2016

There are signs of spring at the Howard County Conservancy’s Mt. Pleasant Farm but the trees still look very bare. Earlier in the month I posted about the Wood Frogs in the Honors Garden pool. Last week, the frogs (and their loud clacking) were gone, but the tadpoles were beginning to hatch. They were easiest to see on the rocks. They are algae eaters and the little pool has plenty for them to eat. Notice that there is also a tiny snail just above the water line.

The moss growing on the parts of the rocks above the water looks very green right now. Soon there will be a lot more tadpoles in the water below since there is a large egg mass that has not hatched near this rock.

I took advantages of the absence of leaves to capture a stump that is usually hidden by brush. It has shelf fungus

And wood pecker holes

And lots of moss growing on it.

It is near the spot where skunk cabbage grows (previous post is here).

The streams are gurgling (and the paths are usually muddy) this time of year.

The farmhouse is visible from the meadow with the deciduous trees still bare.

I stood photographing a mockingbird for several minutes. At first I thought the breeze was ruffling the neck feathers but then I realized that the neck moves a lot as the bird creates his sounds (mockingbirds have quite a repertoire).

Squirrels are still finding last season’s nuts – and eating them noisily. I would not have noticed this squirrel without that noisy munching.

The maple ‘tree within a tree’ is still one of my favorite stops along the stone wall. Theorizing about why it is that way….and looking for snake skin sheds which seem to be there frequently…are always a hit with hiking groups.

These shelf fungi caught my eye – like little steps up the large branch.

Last season’s dogbane still holds some of its seeds in the meadow.

So even at the end of winter – beginning of spring, there is a lot to see here. It is a calm before the riot of growth that comes in April and May.