Gleanings of the Week Ending August 8, 2015

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.

Washington, DC sinking fast, adding to threat of sea-level rise - Evidently the sinking is not due to human influence (like groundwater withdrawals)…but the effect of the long ago glacier further north --- a bulge under the Chesapeake Bay from the weight of the ice sheet that covered the area north of Long Island NY. The bulge is now settling back down and will continue to settle for a long time to come.

Money Talks: New Climate Pledge Enlists 13 US Businesses worth $2.5 Trillion - The American Business Act on Climate Pledge. The companies are big ones: Alcoa, Apple, Bank of America, Berkshire Hathaway Energy, Cargill, Coca-Cola, General Motors, Goldman Sachs, Google, Microsoft, PepsiCo, UPS, and Walmart.

Why to babies laugh out loud? - Lots of people (Darwin was one) have been interested in the question. This article talks about a recent study. One finding: babies are far more likely to laugh when they fall over, that when someone else does.

NRDC: EPA’s Clean Power Plan Is Economically Beneficial for USA Due To Health Benefits - The Natural Resources Defense Fund report can be found here. Some of the focus areas in the report are: extreme weather, the health imperative, benefits (which far outweigh the costs), business opportunities, and the moral imperative.

The Healthiest Cities in the US - The criteria for choosing these cities is interesting. But does having higher percentages of people with insurance always mean a city is ‘healthier’ than a city that does not? I am not convinced.

Bering Sea hotspot for corals and sponges - Endangered by bottom trawling…maybe before we even fully know they are there. The research points to Pribilof Canyon as an area that could be conserved without disproportionately impacting the commercial fishing industry.

A Simple Guide to Neurotransmitters - You’ve probably heard the names of the neurotransmitters - the graphic provides a nice summary of their role and structure.

The Wild Alaskan Lands at Stake If the Pebble Mine Moves Ahead - A photo gallery from this area of Alaska.

Black Bears of Yosemite National Park - Includes a video…with lots of bear action about what happened when the park closed the trash heaps in the 1970s….and the continued challenge to keep bears from becoming acclimated to getting people food

Growth (2015) - I enjoyed this video. It is just a little over 15 minutes long...photographyed from overhead.

US National Arboretum - Azaleas

Another area I enjoyed at the US National Arboretum this past weekend was the azalea collections. The vistas of the gardens - pleasant shade with pathways and shallow stairs - invite exploration.

Because we had been to the Brighton Dam Azalea so recently - I’ll feature the other things in this garden first in this post: looking down at wildflowers,

Following the noisy rustling through leaves (Eastern Towhee),

Looking up at shelf fungus growing an a dead tree,

Looking straight from some stairs at galls on an oak tree, and

A pine shaded by a large magnolia ….golden cones, sparse needles, lacey bark.

Of course there were plenty of azaleas to photograph as well!

US National Arboretum - Dogwood Collection

Another area I enjoyed at the US National Arboretum this past weekend was the Dogwood Collection. Most of the dogwoods that were native to North America were past their prime so I photographed the exotics - mostly from Asia.

What we normally think of as petals are actually bracts.

And they are usually white. I was surprised at the subtle variety of bract shapes on the different treats.

Most of the time the leaves are solid green.

But not always.

They are not generally large trees since they grow under larger trees….but they do get large when they are planted as landscape trees - getting more light than they wood in a forest and never lack for enough water. I like the way breezes cause the leaves and branches to move with a floating motion, the bright red/orange clusters of drupes in the fall, and how the buds on the bare limbs in winter look like slightly squished Hersey’s kisses. The dogwood is one of my favorite trees throughout the  year.

US National Arboretum - Bonsai collection

Another area I enjoyed at the US National Arboretum this past weekend was the bonsai collection. I am not patient enough to attempt to train a tree…but admire the skill of others. It is somehow calming to look at the beauty produced by someone else’s patience.

The azalea bonsai were in bloom just as their untrained counterparts.

Single contorted pines are what I usually visualize when I think of bonsai but there is still almost endless variety in the shapes created.

Sometimes a group of trees - a small forest - is trained.

The bald cypress seems to still have the characteristic shape of the untrained (and very large) trees - although this one had no knees.

Last but not least - I enjoy the landscaping of the walkways around the bonsai collection: the color of foliage and stone lanterns.

US National Arboretum - Fern Valley

We walked around the US National Arboretum in Washington DC this past weekend.  We went for the azaleas but there were a lot of other things to see. One of my favorite areas was Fern Valley - which includes native ferns, wildflowers, shrubs and trees of the eastern US. There were jack-in-the-pulpits, of course.

I found a plant new to me and it had both flowers and newly formed seed pods: celandine poppy. I took lots of pictures of it and then identified it after I got home. It is about the same height as the May apple plants. It might grow at the edge of our woods. I may try to get some seeds to plant next fall to establish a stand; evidently once they are started they come back every year either from the roots or seeds.

Here are a few other images from our walk around that area.

US Botanic Garden in December 2014 - Part II

We made our annual holiday trek down to the US Botanic Garden in Washington DC on the last Sunday of the year. I posted about the holiday display earlier here. This post is about the best of the rest.

It was too cold to enjoy sitting around outside the building but I did appreciate the artistry of the butterfly benches as we walked toward the building. As we were standing in line for the model lighthouse/train exhibit, I noticed the faces above the windows: serene and grotesque.

I also noticed the cornerstone for the building; the building was built in the year my parents were born!

Inside we enjoyed the steamy warmth of tropical rooms. The orchids are always beautiful…and fragrant.

I’ve started looking for cycads in every conservatory I visit and noticed three in the US Botanic Garden. They all looked very robust. Maybe sometimes we mistake them for palms…but not for long. A closer looks and it is obvious they are very different plants/trees.

We wander out of the steamy warmth to the dry room….and cactus. I love the patterns of these plants: the vertical  line of dots on the rib (1), the center ‘Spirograph’ pattern (2), the thorns spiking from the accordion pleats (3), the muted pink at the tips fading into the green at the base (4), and the grouping of small and slightly larger cushions in a snug crack (5).