First Frost and a Comet

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The first frost at our house was on 10/16; the low was 29 degrees, but ice crystals only formed on part of our yard…and I went out shortly after sunrise to capture the event. Some of the crystals seemed to outline the leaves (and their holes) while other leaves seemed to be more thoroughly dusted. There were no crystals on taller plants.

The freezing temperature did not last long enough to wilt vegetation. The violets outside my window are still mostly green…with a few yellow leaves. The maples still have most of their leaves. Our area has not had much rain recently so we are anticipating that the fall color might not be as vibrant as usual.

On another outdoors note…we have been viewing Comet Tsuchinshan-Atlas (A3) from our front sidewalk!

Through my Office Window

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My office is my favorite room in my home. There is a garden area I can see through a window while I am at my computer. It has several garden ornaments, and is crowded with violets and iris leaves….and a spikenard in bloom. The yard beyond is sprinkled with fallen river birch leaves that are yellow. It’s a great place to watch robins searching for worms.

The area is shady for most of the day – from the river birch in the morning and from the house in the afternoon. There is a short time when the sun shines on the stainless-steel iris. I am documenting the blooms of the spikenard as well.

The windowsill of that same window can also be a platform for high key type photographs. This one of a dried black-eyed susan has the silhouette of the river birch in the background.

On the other side of the room, the glass paneled door looks out onto the patio under the deck and I can photograph barn swallows that congregate on the light fixtures and the ceiling fan blades before leaving all at once for their next stop.

The 4 windows of my office make it almost a garden room.

Yard Work – July 2024

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The only yard work I do on a weekly basis is mow the grassy area; it is a good way for me to achieve my ‘intensity minutes’ of exercise for the week! I do some weed eating every other week. Everything else is more ad hoc…and as needed.

I ordered 25 orange daylily roots and got them planted around the base of our two red maples in the front yard. The ruff of these plants around my oak in Maryland looked good and made it easier to mow around the base of the tree without being too close to the trunk. The daylilies are better than mulch to keep the grass from growing too close to the tree trunks!

The Virginia creeper has covered the stones in the raised bed in front. I pull down any that tries to climb the brick and try to keep weeds from growing in the area (like poke weed). I do need to trim the boxwood (and remove the Virginia creeper growing into it.  

I have rounded most of the corners created by the fence by planting lambs ear…and I let low growing poke weed grow there too.

I mowed part of the area I didn’t mow in May back in June and left the thick clippings to mulch in place; much of the grass has died there and violets from the flower bed are spilling into the yard. The larger leafed plant near the metal iris is a spikenard which is in the same area. About a foot of grass has been eliminated along this section of the flower bed. Over time I will use this strategy to reduce the grassy area of our yard.

A plant came up in a bare ‘hole’ in the turf in my back yard and I have been carefully mowing around it. It appears to be a small white aster and has been blooming for more than 4 weeks. I’ll eventually mow it, but it was a fun experiment to see what kind of plant it was.

I noticed a tall something in the flowerbed on the yard side of the stairs from our deck. It is a young redbud! I’ve decided to keep it…will trim the bush that is on one side of it and the ornamental grass that is on the other side.

My spider mum metal sculpture was visible from my office window when I first stuck it in the ground…but the branches of the pine are growing and getting lower around it. I have borrowed a pole saw from my daughter and will trim the lowest ones (it is impossible to get close enough to the trunk without using a pole saw!).

I am pleased with the progress I am making on the yard. My goals are to make it easier to maintain…more native plants…less grass…all while staying within the ‘rules’ of the neighborhood HOA.

Composting Mulch

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This is my first spring in my Missouri house, and I am still acquainting myself with the flowerbeds around the house.  A very fast-growing plant came up in the east flowerbed and spilled out in the yard. I pulled a wheelbarrow of the stuff and took it back to put on the bare soil under the forsythia bush. It covered about half the space.

A few days later, the 4-6 inches deep plant material under the forsythia had collapsed to about ½ inch. I decided the weed is perfect for composting mulch! I started pulling the remaining weed in the east flowerbed.

I uncovered hostas, irises, violets, and a maple seedling. I pulled the maple seedling but left the other others.

It wasn’t difficult to pull another full wheelbarrow of weed.

This time it covered remaining the bare soil!

The weed might grow back since I probably did not get all the rootlets…but I have other places in the yard I can use it for mulch. The strategy is to pull it before it creates seeds. My overall goal is to keep what the yard grows cycled into the yard…avoid spraying or fertilizing…plant more pollinator-friendly plants…and (over time) reduce the amount of turf.

Shades of Spring Green

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The dominate color of spring is green….in a lot of different shades. There are the greens that have suffered through the winter – usually darker like the holly and other evergreen bushes below. And then there is the new growth:

Pale greens like the new leaves of day lilies (nibbled by deer), tree leaves just unfurling (cherry and tulip poplar)

Blue tinged greens of the spring bulbs (daffodils and iris)

Yellowish greens of new nine bark leaves, and

Bright green of new moss growth and grass and violets and weeds.

I couldn’t resist the including the bright yellow of the dandelion blooms with all the green!

Mini-Landscapes

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I enjoy photographing the mini-landscapes of my yard more that the larger ones; it’s hard to get enough distance from our big trees to get the whole thing. Photographing the small assemblages of plants to capture their world is a more satisfying project. I like the diverse shapes of ferns and violets and other small plants gradually covering stepping-stones under our deck.

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One fern was thriving by a downspout when we moved the deck furniture near it (for the deck to be stained). The starburst shape of the fern…the heart shapes of violets. Now we’ve moved the furniture back to the deck and the fern is more isolated.Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

I liked the wavy shapes of the fungus growing on a stump. This picture could be in a forest…but it is not. The stump was from a bush growing at the corner of our garage that I recently cut down! It’s a bit of serendipity to notice something interesting and beautiful in an unexpected place.

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I battle the deer for the day lilies. The deer usually win. The brown stems in this picture are the ones the deer got. I cut all the stems with larger buds to take inside. They might have been saved by their shorter stalks, the milkweed plant that was growing between them and the yard where the deer would be, and the house/bushes behind them.

Filling a Day of Social Distance – 4/20/2020 – Walk in the Forest

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Continuing the blog post series prompted by COVID-19….

The unique activity for yesterday was a very pleasant walk in the forest behind our house all the way down to the river (a winding path of at least 1/3 mile down…and then back up the same way.

We entered the forest at the back of our yard on a path made by deer between a black walnut – just beginning to leaf out - and a large tuple poplar. There were many violets on both sides of the narrow path. I had tucked my pants into my socks to make a barrier to ticks.

The forest floor seemed to be covered with garlic mustard (invasive) with a few spring beauties where it wasn’t so dense. A large tree had fallen recently with dirt still clinging to the roots. The red maple in our yard keeps me from seeing the area from my office window.

There were several dogwoods just beginning to bloom.

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We joined a trail used by horses from a nearby stable…wider than the deer trail. Spice bush is the most prevalent understory tree.

Flowers were blooming, there were sounds of moving water, and a few bugs were around too. We heard two different woodpecker sounds.

There were several different kinds of ferns. I always like to photograph fiddleheads!

And then the small stream we had been following joined the river. It was quite different from the last time we had been there more than a decade ago. Two trees had fallen recently (one still had green leaves on it). The trunks spanned the river. The trees had made what had been a riverside path into a cliff. There were some alternative places down to the water level but not in the immediate vicinity. We took a few pictures of flowers and headed back up the hill.

Along the way, I noticed that there was a stand of hemlock that appeared to be healthy – no wooly adelgid. The hemlocks that we had been able to see from our house when we first moved to the area 25 years ago died years ago.

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I also stopped for every jack-in-the-pulpit I noticed on the hike uphill. There didn’t seem to be as many of them as there should be. Probably the overgrowth of invasives like garlic mustard makes it harder for them to propagate.

We got back to our yard and I took a picture of the samaras on our red maple…closer to being ripe.

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I saw what I thought was a spider web in the grass but when I took a closer look, I realized it was dandelion seeds! My husband probably mowed it yesterday….dispersing the seeds.

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I’m glad we took advantage of the great weather since rainy days are forecast….but we’ll take more hikes into the forest as the weather warms. I’ll use insect repellent next time since there were a few flying/biting insects even at the relatively pleasant 60 degrees. It’s great to have a forest to hike into from our own back yard!

Links to my previous “filling a day of social distance” posts  here.

Filling a Day of Social Distance – 4/5/2020 – Our Yard

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Continuing the blog post series prompted by COVID-19….

Here are the unique activities for yesterday:

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Wearing Sherman TX earrings. I hadn’t worn them recently. I bought them in a boutique on the square after lunch at Fulbelli’s. Savoring the memory!

Seeing a Carolina Wren with nest material. The bird (probably a male) appeared to be looking around to see if a female was noticing his find. I didn’t see exactly where he went but it was in the general direction of our gas grill. We had a Carolina wren nest built in the grill a few years ago. I hope it isn’t happening again!

Loosening sense of the day of the week. It’s harder to remember which day of the week it is because the days are so much the same. I try to include some variety every day, but the activities are not pinned to a day of the week (except for laundry which, for some unknown reason, we still do on Saturdays). If the pandemic was not raging, I’d be volunteering 3-5 days a week with Howard County Conservancy’s outdoor field trips for school groups, guiding Robinson Nature Center visitors at the salt water Touch Tank, and (by mid-Month) morning shifts at the Brookside Gardens Wings of Fancy (butterfly) exhibit. None of those organizations are open now. The calendar for April is a big blank.

Mowing the grass…doing some yard work. It’s the first mowing of the year…not really grass, mostly weeds. My husband did the mowing after I picked up twigs and small branches under trees to make the mowing easier. I also started a new compost pile with kitchen scraps and paper shreds.

Photographing the best of our yard. The trees are pretty this time of year. The red maple samaras are ripening. Soon the squirrels and birds will enjoy them, and they’ll helicopter off the tree. From afar the tree looks golden brown…looking more closely the colors are more appealing.

The tulip poplar is full of new spring-green leaves. Soon the buds will open. Right now, the buds are surrounded by small leaves. The trees themselves are far from the ‘wall of green’ they will become.

There are a lot of violets blooming in the thin grass under the trees.

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The cherry tree is still full of blooms, but the petals are beginning to fly.

The plum has lost its flower petals, but the rest of the flower is still visible among the new leaves that are a red-purple color.

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I heard a cardinal high the oak tree. The buds are larger than they were a week ago…but there are no blooms or leaves yet.

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Trimming hair. My hair was short enough going into the ‘stay at home as much as possible’ mode but my husband needed to have the hair on the back of his neck trimmed. Fortunately, we have clippers and it was easy for me to do; it bothers him when he wears a shirt with a collar so wanted it gone. Otherwise, he’s letting his hair grow too.

Looking at the COVID-19 cases per 10K population map from the Center for Spatial Data Science at the University of Chicago. It goes down to the county level. There is also a social distancing activity map down to county. Interesting….and scary at the same time. I try not to spend too much time looking at them.

Links to my previous “filling a day of social distance” posts  here.







Filling a Day of Social Distance – 3/30/2020

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Continuing the blog post series prompted by COVID-19….

Here are the unique activities for yesterday:

Hearing traffic noise in the early morning. I woke up about an hour before my time to get up and heard traffic noise. We’re close enough to I95 that sometimes in the winter when the trees don’t baffle the sound and the weather conditions are right…we hear the trucks. I hadn’t heard it as much recently and thought it was the effect of the pandemic. Today it seemed more like a pre-coronavirus Monday. I dosed until my Fitbit vibrated at the usual time.

Discovered HiJinx podcasts from my local library. I listened to the most recent one - ‘A most notorious woman’ about a Grace O’Malley – Ireland’s Pirate Queen. (Anne Chambers’ book on O’Malley available at Internet Archive here.)

Seeing deer just after 8 in the morning….going back to the forest. I wonder where they spent the night. The forest behind our house is part of the green space along the river. Did the deer spend their night elsewhere or did they leave the forest for a morning browse on tender plants in the neighborhood (like my daylilies) for ‘breakfast’ and were returning to the forest because a car or two had come down our street.  

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Later in the day – when it was warmer – I walked around the yard and noted that the daylilies were recovering from the deer browsing several weeks ago. They were not eating them this morning. Also, the daffodils are on their last legs. I took some macro shots of them.

More violets were blooming.

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Dandelions are becoming more numerous too. I’m being lazy and leaving them alone. After the heavy rains a few years ago caused some of our lawn to turn to dirt with patches of grass I have come to appreciate the deeper roots of dandelions that hold the soil.

The leaves on the tulip poplar are a little bigger but the flower buds are not open yet.

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The cherry tree was attracting bees!

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It was a wonderful sunny day and warm enough to have the windows open again. Hearing birdsong in the forest never gets old.

Remembering something I forgot to include in the post for last Friday – my husband had a telemedicine session. It was a first for us. It was a follow up after some tests and lab work from back in February….not coronavirus related. It was a lot less stressful than going into a doctor’s office during this time.

Receiving a communication from our Community Supported Agriculture farmer about what they have been doing to social distance while they work and the modified share pickup process planned when the season starts for us in June. I am reassured that they are thinking ahead…that I can still enjoy the bounty of fresh veggies this summer.

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Photographing the sunset. The sunset is not in my line of sight from my desk, but I can see it if I stand in front of the window and look to the left. I timed it right last night. The clouds reflected the orange light in an arc over the tall trees.

Previous “filling a day of social distance” posts: 3/15, 3/16, 3/17, 3/18, 3/19, 3/20, 3/21, 3/22, 3/23, 3/24, 3/25, 3/26, 3/27, 3/28, 3/29





Filling a Day of Social Distance – 3/27/2020

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Continuing the blog post series prompted by COVID-19….

Here are the unique activities for yesterday:

Blooming violets. As I was getting ready to do some yard work, I noticed that the violets were beginning to bloom in our yard. I couldn’t resist taking some pictures. I appreciate their deep color…and that they grow in the area of the yard that doesn’t get enough sun for the grass to grow well. They help to fill in some of the holes…keep those parts of the yard from becoming bare soil.

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Spreading out compost from bin. The bin was getting a little full and most of the kitchen scraps and dried leaves were decomposed…time to put it someplace else and start again. I decided to put in in an area of the front flower bed where I will plant some flower seeds. I got the wheelbarrow and loaded it up.

Aargh! The tire was a little flat on the wheelbarrow. I could feel my back not responding well as I pushed it up the slight hill to the front yard. I dumped out the load, spread it out a bit and decided my back was complaining enough to just stop; I managed to put my tools away. I’ll mix the compost with soil another day.

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Popping buds on the Ninebark shrub. Next to the area spread with compost, I noticed the Ninebark leaves were emerging. They are still so tiny it’s hard to see them when looking at the whole bush; looking more closely, they have a lot of sunrise/sunset colors…and texture. The picture also shows another outdoor task for another day…weeding the area around the shrub.

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Hearing more sounds from outdoors – an open window. The temperature was in the 60s with very little breeze so I opened the window in my office and enjoyed hearing more birds nearby…and back in the forest. There was a lot of activity. The smells of spring came in too. It was supposedly a high tree pollen day; I didn’t seem to have any allergy problems. The fresh air felt and smelled good.

Receiving a grocery delivery. This was our first experience with a grocery delivery; it was a good one. The shopper was interacting with me while she was in the store filling my order which allowed me to participate in selecting substitutions. And then it all arrived at my front porch about 15 minutes after she finished. The only downside is getting a lot of plastic bags; I will return them to be recycled at the store at some point.

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Previous “filling a day of social distance” posts: 3/15, 3/16, 3/17, 3/18, 3/19, 3/20, 3/21, 3/22, 3/23, 3/24, 3/25, 3/26

Belmont – April 2019

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The Howard County Conservancy spring field trips at Belmont and Mt. Pleasant are into prime time. The two I volunteered for last week had beautiful weather for hiking – almost perfect temperature and dry. I always arrive more than 30 minutes before the students. It’s a short walk from parking to the Carriage House….long enough to get some pictures. Birds that are around: chipping sparrows, robins, and red winging blackbirds. There is at least one resident mockingbird which I heard but didn’t get a picture.

The warmer weather is also causing things to bloom and new spring green leaves to unfurl.

As I wait for the bus, I take pictures toward the manor house, down the entrance road, and down toward the pond. It’s the calm….before the students arrive.

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The students, teachers, and chaperones come on buses and there is a flurry of activity to get the groups sorted into hiking groups and activity groups.

The hikes are about an hour. There are forest and meadows…lot of opportunity for good observations. One of my hiking groups was making BioBlitz observations…documenting a common blue violet blooming in the middle of the mowed path!

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2018 Belmont BioBlitz – part 1

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I’ve been volunteering for the Howard County Conservancy’s Belmont BioBlitz field trips since they started in the fall of 2014. We had a 3-day BioBlitz this week with students coming from 2 schools. On the first morning the day started out foggy and stayed cloudy. While we were waiting for the buses to arrive with the students, I took some pictures.

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The horse chestnut tree was blooming although the blooms were past their prime and some had fallen to the ground already. I took a picture of one with the macro lens on the cell phone.

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All the vegetation was covered in water droplets. Even grass seeds look like little works of art with the droplets.

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The buses came up the tree lined drive. There are more gaps in the tree line now that the ashes have been cut down.

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We headed back to our assigned ‘zone’ in the woods – finding white pines along the way to document and then a box turtle and violets gone to seed on the forest floor.

Stay tuned for more BioBlitz finds in tomorrow’s post.

Backyard Walk – May 2018

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Last month I posted about violets and spice bush. On an walk through the yard this week, I still say plenty of violets blooming and

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The spice bush was beginning to unfurl leaves. I hope there will be some spicebush swallowtails around this summer to produce several generations of butterflies in our forest.

The maple seeds are drying and will swirl away from the tree soon. The black walnut is beginning to unfurl its leaves. There are multiple leaves that unfurl from the buds on the tips of the stems as well as along it. The bud scars from last year are often visible. The tree lags the tulip poplars leafing out.

The high point of the walk around the backyard was not actually in the yard…it was just into the woods: A Jack-in-the-Pulpit! There are so many invasive plants in the forest that I always am relieved when I find a native making it through another spring. I'll try to pick a good day to spray myself with insect repellent (to keep the ticks away) and walk back into the forest before the prickle bush gets too thick to look for more native wildflowers.

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The sycamore buds have just pops…with leaves too tiny to be very interesting yet. I’ll save it for the June post.

Backyard Walk – April 2018

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We had some warmer days late last week and I walked around our backyard to photograph it’s status. The violets are blooming. Sometimes the scent of them wafts through the air. They like the areas where there is lots of leaf mulch.

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The red maple has bloomed, and the samaras (seeds) are forming. Our tree is in further along that the one at Belmont; the microclimate where it is growing is warmer probably.

Do you see the yellow haze under the trees in our forest? That’s spicebush. I think almost all the understory trees are that plant. The others have been killed so heavily browsed by the deer that they haven’t survived. I’m going to make an effort to inspect the spicebush this summer….hoping to find the caterpillars of the spicebush swallowtail butterflies. I am pleased that we have so many food plants for them.