Dogwoods and Jack-in-the-Pulpits at Brighton Dam Azalea Garden

Azaleas are not the only plants I look for at Brighton Dam Azalea Garden. The dogwoods and jack-in-the-pulpits are blooms at the same time. The dogwoods are understory trees. The older ones that are the understory to the big oaks and tulip poplars are native dogwoods – white with notches on the outer edged of the ‘petals’.

Newer hybrid dogwoods are planted in the same area as the new hybrid azaleas in an area to the left of the garden entrance. There are white ones – without a notch…and pink ones. They are easier to photograph because the trees are smaller and more flowers are at eye level.

Jack-in-the-Pulpits are harder to notice because the flowers are almost the same color as the leaves. See if you can see the flowers before scrolling down to see more enlarged views. One of the enlarged views has a lot of aphids (yellow).

Young Oaks at Brighton Dam Azalea Garden

There lots of big oak and tulip poplar trees at Brighton Dam Azalea Garden that provide the dappled environment that azaleas need. The surprise for me this time was the large number of smaller oak trees. There must have been a large crop of acorns in the past few years that the squirrels planted and forgot and the result were a group of foot high oaks with tehri leaves unfurling. The leaves of one were still wrinkled and red.

Another was a little further along and the leaves are looking more like oak leaves (red oak probably).

I wish there was a stand of young oaks like this to show the pre-schoolers when they come for a Nature Tales field trip and we talk about the life cycle trees.

The is such a great time of year to see how trees come bare from the bare branches of winter – and the small trees are much easier to observe than the giant trees with their branches so far above eye level.

There is an art like quality to the unfurling of leaves as well…I could resist these very young leaves emerging from the bud.

Azaleas!

We visited Brighton Dam Azalea Garden yesterday morning. it was the perfect day to go: cool (not cold) and dry (the day before was rainy and the forecast for the day following was for more rain). We were early enough that it was not crowded. The garden is near the dam that creates the Triadelphia Reservoir between Howard and Montgomery Counties in Maryland. I read an article from back in March that said the lake was at 49% of capacity because of a drought over the past 6 months for our part of Maryland.  Looking past this grouping of azaleas, it’s obvious that the lake is low.

The azaleas are underneath large trees – with a few understory dogwoods. I experimented with the ‘fisheye’ setting on my camera for this shot.

The most prevalent colors of azaleas are pink, white and red/magenta…with a few light purple mixed in.

The pink ones seemed to draw my attention the most. Many of them had water droplets on them.

The magenta color almost gets too intense!

There are some newer plantings that are recent hybrids that are orange-yellow. The flowers are clumped and even the buds are worth a closer look.

But my favorite picture of the azaleas was of white flowers. What’s not to like about white flowers with water droplets and a black background!

Tomorrow I’ll share some images of oak seedlings that were coming up in the garden.

Pre-K Field Trips at Belmont

Last week I volunteered (with the Howard County Conservancy) for two field trips for pre-kindergarten groups that came to Belmont Manor and Historic Park.  I realized that I’ve learned a lot from these programs that I didn’t learn from my daughter when she was 4! I’ve learned to alternate sitting and moving, talking and quiet, asking questions (that they can answer with a little thinking) and explaining.

I had groups of 10-15 children with their chaperones – in the forest – to learn about the life cycle of a tree.  Since they had a little hike to the activity from the previous one, I had them sit down at the beginning and we talked about trees. They had planned lima beans at their school…so I used that to talk about seeds and roots and sprouting and saplings. Their lima beans had roots and some had sprouted…so they had already been thinking about it. So I moved rapidly to passing around different kinds of tree seeds (with the help of the chaperones. I had a branch from a maple tree with small samaras, some acorns, some sweetgum balls, and some tulip poplar seeds that we picked up from the leaf piles beside the blanket.

Then we all stood up and pretended we were trees sprouting from seeds (crouching down to begin with then reaching up one branch (arm) and then both arms.  I encourage them to look up. I asked them what happened to the little branches when there was a breeze (fortunately there was a breeze and they could see some of the little branches moving….it was clear that many of them had never noticed tree branches moving like that). In the end, I asked if they wanted to pretend like a hurricane wind came – a very strong wind – and that some of the might fall over. Most of the groups had a few children that did want to fall over!

We sat back down and walked about leaves and how the trees were just beginning to get new leaves. Some of them remembered playing in leaves last fall. We picked up some of the brown leaves on the forest floor and looked closely at them.

We took a short hike to look at a little more of the forest and notice there were wild flowers…violets and spring beauties. There was a big tree that had fallen and was rotting. It had a wild flower growing on it…and lots of moss.

And then it was time for them to go to their next activity! It was an intense couple of hours repeating the tree life cycle with each group….and enjoying the children’s reaction to the forest.

Best of Rest at Brookside

I’ve already done 3 blog posts this week about my walk around Brookside Gardens (ginkgo buds, tulips, and landscapes). This time of year the gardens are very different every time I go. This post is the last one for the April walk around the gardens – and the best of the rest of my pictures: unfurling leaves,

A globe of small flowers catching the sun,

The last wave of narcissus blooms,

A mourning dove giving me a wary look from high above my head (the zoom works well for pictures like this),

Deciduous magnolia blossoms – damaged by the frost but not enough to be destroyed completely,

And fiddleheads. I didn’t see these at first because they still looked mostly brown and the old fronds from last fall were all around them. Soon they uncurl and make the space under the trees lush with greenery.

Brookside Gardens Landscapes

Bursting buds on the ginkgo and bright colors of tulip bed are not the only things to notice at Brookside Gardens this time of year. There are many different areas…and landscapes to enjoy in the large. I like the view of the Japanese Tea House from across the lawn. The varied foliage of evergreens, new spring leaves, and Japanese maples are always beautiful. The plantings have gotten big enough to almost hide the Tea House from this vantage point.

The area a little further along – back toward the conservatories – was renovated in the past few years so some of the plantings are smaller --- but there is always the back drop of the large trees of the Brookside Nature Center (on the other side of the fence) as a backdrop. Do you see the two Canandian Geese in the water?

There are little landscapes too. I liked the different sized and kinds of rocks with the yellow green coming up to fill in the spaces between. This is an area that is constantly changed for displays so the small pants and rocks may be the only constants!

Tulips at Brookside Gardens

The tulip beds at Brookside Gardens are full of flowers. When I walked around last weekend, many of them seemed to be in full bloom but then I notices some beds that were still mostly buds. The signs in some beds still indicated ‘tulips sleeping’ were clearly old – and not accurate.  The mesh that covered the beds all winter must have worked since the beds seemed almost overflowing with flowers.

I like to take pictures with the sunlight coming through the petals – make the flowers glow. Often the flowers that seem red at first glance have more orange and even yellow with looked at in brighter sun.

My favorite color combination might be red – orange – yellow…reminiscent of sunrise (or sunset) colors.

There are so many varieties of tulips – some with just a simple cup and others will significantly more petals. Most of the time I like the ones with fewer petals because they curve outward as they flower ages…I like the wayward curls!

My ‘art picture’ for the day was a peach colored tulip with a yellow center…a glowing world, half hidden.

Ginkgo Buds at Brookside Gardens

The Ginkgo Tree near the Brookside Gardens conservatories is full of opening buds. I always try to photograph them because there is a stone bench just below the tree and give me enough height to do some close-up photography of the buds. The tree itself is very tall and slender, fitting into the space beside the intersection of multiple paths.

It is a male tree (no stinky fruit in the fall); the buds include the male flowers and tiny furled leaves. The male flowers always look like small bunches grapes…the leaves like miniature fans. Both look very bright green next to the knobby bark of the tree.

Last year about this time, I photographed the male ginkgo at Belmont…and posted about it here.

Centennial Park on a Cold March Day

The day looked warm enough to take a walk at Centennial Park but the sunshine was not very warming. I opted to cut the walk short after I got a few pictures. I always like the rock jetty near the boat ramp

And the red bridge at the other end of the lake. Those landmark pictures were the beginning and end of my short walk.

I noticed a glove that someone had lost on the path

And the geese feeding on the shore (there were none on the lake itself).

I attempted to get pictures of the Buffleheads feeding on the lake – but they must have been finding a lot to eat…so my first attempts resulted in ripples after they dove under water. Once I managed to anticipate where they would surface, I got some pictures…but they are almost at the limit of my zoom.

My favorite pictures of the short walk were of a wasp nest high in a maple tree that has been battered all winter so that the interior structure was exposed.

With the wasp nest images captured - I decided to make a hasty retreat to the warmth of my car...and then home.

National Arboretum – Deciduous Magnolias

The deciduous magnolias at the National Arboretum suffered the same fate as many of the early blooming trees in the area: many of the flowers and buds were caught by the frosts of March and just turned brown. There are a few on every tree that survived. I tried to photograph some of those isolated flowers. I liked the pink tinge underneath the outer petals of this flower and

The center of this one framed by uncurling petals.

Looking up into one tree – to get some sky along with some flowers – shows the extent of the damage. Most of the flowers did not survive the frost.

National Arboretum – Wild Flowers

In the early spring, the Fern Valley section of the National Arboretum features many wild flowers. The forest floors in our area bloom before the leaves leaf out and the shade becomes almost total. The entrance of the garden is in full bloom.

A little further on the dried fronds of last summer’s ferns  look like feathers (similar to ones I’ve photographed at Brookside Gardens).

The wildflowers are small so it is worthwhile to walk slowly and look for color amongst the dried leaves. There is signage that helps with identification. These are Prairie Trillium.

And then there were several Bloodroot in bloom.

These didn’t have a sign but they look like a type of Phlox.

There were lots of Virginia Bluebells.

Violets were starting to bloom. Based on the foliage…there will be a lot more blooming in a few weeks.

The Sweet Betsy Trillium was a largest of the flowers.

Wild flowers bloom early and last a short time…I’m glad we had a sunny day to visit the Arboretum…to photograph the ones in bloom last weekend.

National Arboretum – Dogwood Blossom Sequence

When we visited the National Arboretum last weekend, it was a little too early for the dogwoods to be in full bloom – but I did find a tree that had buds in various stages of opening. After seeing the bud popping at Mt. Pleasant last week (thumbnail at the left), I was looking for tree to capture a sequence of the flowers developing.

I found it near the parking lot for the Dogwood Collections at the Arboretum. The first think I noticed about the buds just a little further along than the Mt. Pleasant tree, were the pink tinge at the tips. The flower will retain that different coloration as it develops.

Some of the flowers are in groupings of two or three…and all the buds in the group are not at the same stage of development. The center of the flower seems huge compared to the petal-like bracts just after the bracts have opened enough.

The petals expand. They will eventually turn white…but evidently stay green during the early part of the growth. Noted that the pinkish area on the middle edge of each bract is still pink!

More about what I saw (and photographed) at the National Arboretum in tomorrow’s blog post…

Mt. Pleasant Farm – March 2017

Last week, the group of volunteer naturalists for the elementary school field trips met at Mt. Pleasant Farm for a walk around the hiking routes for all the programs. I have been doing the hikes for several years so was paying attention for changes but that left time for some photography. There were scilla bulbs blooming on the lawn in front of the farmhouse (non-native and maybe invasive too); they are small but the touch of blue draws the eye.

I was more pleased with catching a dogwood bud just opening. I sought out a dogwood tree when I walked around the National Arboretum this weekend…more about that in tomorrow’s blog post.

The expansion of the Gudelsky Center is on schedule although it won’t be available for the spring field trips.

Further long the hike, we were along the stone wall and I was looking at the rocks – typical of this part of Maryland – and the lichen. Sometimes the patches of symbiotic algae and fungus (maybe with some yeast too) look like squashed flowers to me.

The stream restoration is nearing completion. There are small plants coming up through the mesh along the banks. The upside down trees (roots up!) will be habitat for little creatures. The riffles had water trickling through them. The rain from the previous day had left puddles along the banks…just like it is supposed to (will they last long enough to produce tadpoles?).

Further along the lightning scared standing tree has obvious wood boring insect and woodpecker holes in the scar.

After walking the route for the hikes, I went off in the other direction to check a place where I’d seen skunk cabbage precious years…but not when we did the hike back in February. It’s up now although the hoods over the flowers are past prime…and the leaves are unfurling.

Cherry Blossoms

It hasn’t been a great year for cherry blossoms in our area. We had a mostly warm February then some very cold days just as the cherry trees were beginning to bloom in Washington DC – where we usually go to view the large number of trees around the tidal basin.. The cherry tree in our yard is usually later that the trees The District…and it was not as damaged by the frosty days. Unfortunately – it is not situated well for whole tree pictures but I did get some pictures of the flowers themselves this week.

One of my sisters is in Salt Lake City, Utah this week and their trees are blooming right now too. She sent me some pictures that are more typical of the ones I take when we walk around downtown DC….just not this year.

Zooming – March 2017

I decided against creating collages this month for the zoomed images and tried to pick images I had not used elsewhere. Early in the month there is a little winter weather and I used the camera to create some zoomed images through my office window: snow on maple blossoms and

The top of our bird feeder.

Then it was onto some warmer March days: new leaves on a rose bush trimmed last fall,

Dutch iris in a garden in Texas, and

A cat surveying the neighborhood from the top of a gate (also in Texas).

A few days later – there were lots to zoom items at the Phipps Conservatory in Pittsburgh: a slipper orchid,

A Chihuly bowl, and

The inside of a tulip.

The following day there were the birds at the National Aviary: an ibis,

Flamingo feet,

A hornbill (with feathers that look like very long eyelashes and a lot of cracks and scars on the bill), and

The complex features of an Andean condor.

Back in Maryland – the bark of a persimmon tree and

The delicate petals of a daffodil that survived snow and ice a few days prior to this picture.

3 Free eBooks – March 2017

It was challenging to pick 3 ebooks this month since I enjoyed so many.

Holme, Charles (editor). The Old Water Colour Society: 1804-1904. London: Offices of “The Studio.” 1905. Available from Hathi Trust here. In the time before color photography --- water colors were a popular way to capture scenes of life. I liked this one of children outdoors…fishing.

Horwood, A. R. A new British flora: British wild flowers in their natural haunts. London: Gresham. 1919. Six volumes available from multiple sources via Hathi Trust here. When I see books like this, I wonder how many of these plants still survive as wild flowers. A lot has changed in the almost 100 years since this books was written. Still – I always enjoy the botanical drawings and recognize some of the plants.

Pyne, W.H. The History of the Royal Residences of Windsor Castle, St. Jamesʼs Palace, Carlton House, Kensington Palace, Hampton Court, Buckingham House, and Frogmore. 1819. Three volumes available from Internet Archive: volume 1, volume 2, Volume 3. Note publication the date. The illustrations in these volumes show what the rooms were liked about 200 years ago! The picture I’ve clipped to demonstrate the type of illustration is from Carlton House.

Ten Little Celebrations – March 2017

March was a more hectic month than usual….but full of lots of little celebrations!

Potluck lunch. There was the potluck lunch for volunteer naturalists at the Howard County Conservancy – celebrating our time together for training…getting ready for the field trips that will start in the next few weeks and continue until June. The food is always luscious.

Snow. We haven’t had much snow this year…the first one of more than an inch was this month – much later than usual. I celebrated the beauty of it all and that I didn’t have to get out in it until the streets were all cleared by plows and salt application.

Ancient Egypt course. I celebrated the last modules of the Coursera course --- and am savoring the book written by the teacher.

There were three celebrations involving travel in March:

Old friends. I celebrated visiting with people that have known me my whole life…savoring the time with them. I also celebrated renewing friendship with someone I had not seen in 40 years!

Phipps Conservatory. I like conservatories…and this one in Pittsburgh was one to celebrate.

National Aviary. The walk around the National Aviary in Pittsburgh was a hours long celebration of the diversity of bird life --- and becoming very aware of the fragility of that diversity around the world.

And then there were outdoor activities and photography to celebrate:

Brookside Garden skunk cabbage. It finally was up even though the plants looked like they were trying to hide again under the bald cypress needles from last fall.

Rockburn Branch macroinvertebrates. Yes – is was part of training…but I always celebrate that we find the creatures so easily.

Pileated Woodpecker. We had one the visited our yard – scouting apparently. The birds was on the sycamore at first, then on a neighbors deck, then the trunk of a pine tree, and the roof of our covered deck…finally into the maple tree. I had lots of opportunities for pictures.

Khepri (morning) light. I liked the Ancient Egypt class so much – I am calling the excellent light for photography that happens as the sun comes out after the Ancient Egyptian god for sunrise and rebirth…celebrating that time of day!

Gleanings of the Week Ending March 25, 2017

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.

Un-sweetened: How a Maryland County Cut Soda Sales Without a Soda Tax – A story from the county where I live…how soda sales were reduced by 20%...fruit drinks by 15% --- via TV, outdoor advertising, social media, health care professionals and a new local law that promotes access to healthier food and drink options on local government property (such as vending machines at parks and other government buildings).

The biggest energy challenged facing humanity – One point that this article makes: in the future, some appliances (like dish washers) will run when electricity is most available/least expensive. I already have that situation with my Prius Prime – I charges in the middle of the night when electricity from our utility is at the lowest rate. If I had solar panels on my house….I would charge it on sunny days!

Painting the National Parks with Wildflowers – Spring is a great time to get out and explore not just national parks…but local natural areas at well. Finding wildflowers is the joy of spring!

Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week #78 and #79 – Lots of great bird pictures. My favorite in the first set is the kingfisher with the tadpole. In the second set, I like the spotted owlet peeking out from the trunk of a tree

Picturing Birds at Risk – More birds….these are ones that were once common in the US…but have declined dramatically recently.

Should we manage for rare species or species diversity – The challenges of managing ecosystems…species diversity and ecological resilience can be counter to management for rare or conservation species.

The controversial plan to tunnel beneath Stonehenge – Not directly under….but close…and new discoveries around Stonehenge extend the area of the ancient site. It becomes a complicated project!

Twelve Famous Female Chemists – An Infographic that came out for International Women’s Day. How many of these women have you heard of?

1.7 Million Children Died Every Year from Unhealthy Environments, WHO Reports – “A polluted environment is a deadly one – particularly to young children.” 1 in 4 deaths that occur before the age of 5 are not related to environmental problems.

Are you pre-sick? and Do you need an annual checkup? – Both of these articles came out from Berkley Wellness recently. It is worth considering over checking… and then unnecessary treatment…when it comes to our health.

On the Road in Pittsburgh

We visited my daughter and son-in-law in the Squirrel Hill area of Pittsburgh and the pizza place where we ate dinner has a painting of itself as part of its decorations! We sat by a window…but not the one that was by the fire hydrant.

I took some pictures of the city as well as we were driving (my husband at the wheel…so I was not being a hazard on the road): University of Pittsburgh’s Cathedral of Learning (I have heard that they decorate for the rooms for Christmas….something to see next December),

Bridges (the challenge of having so many rivers through the city), and

Cliff faces with development just above the river and then on the cliff top…with incline (rail…funicular) transport between the two.

I already have some sightseeing objectives for out next trip to the city! My husband and I will be visiting the city several more times while my son-in-law continues his postdoc at the University of Pittsburgh…plenty of time to explore the city.

National Aviary – Pittsburgh

We got to the National Aviary in Pittsburgh just after it opened at 10 AM....early enough to find parking very easily in the aviary’s parking lot. It was a good outing on a cold day just as the Phipps Conservatory had been the day before. A few of the exhibits are birds in large cages or enclosures but most the birds are in open areas and sometimes they will walk right up to where you are standing on the walk. It makes taking pictures a lot easier.  I developed a strategy for causing my camera to autofocus on the bird rather than the wire mesh or smudged glass (pick birds further from the wire mesh, point the camera at something else that was about the distance to the bird…then go back to the bird). The snowy owl in the slide show below was photographed using that technique. All the birds were inside except for the snowy owl, bald eagle, and Andean Condor (near the end of the slide show).

Something l learned that surprised me was about penguin’s beaks. They get furrows in them starting at the part closest to the head and extending further toward the tip as they older. This is an old penguin!