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.

Brookside Gardens Walk About

I’ve already posted about the birds and the bulbs I photographed in my walk around Brookside Gardens the first weekend of April. Today I’m showcasing my favorite images that didn’t fit in those previous categories.

On the boardwalk between Brookside Gardens and Brookside Nature Center I noticed a recently cut stump. The rings were interesting because the tree cross section was not round. Tree cookies from this tree would be very different from the ones we typically use for field trips with elementary schools. The rings in this stump would show up wonderfully with a little sanding.

A little further along the boardwalk - and the reason I had gone to the boardwalk to begin with - were the skunk cabbages. They are past the purple and green bloom stage and are all around the bald cypress with its knees. Both tree and cabbage like wet soil.

As I walked back toward the gardens I noticed a dried blossom from last summer catching the light and marveled that it had survived the ravages of winter so well.

There were several early magnolias beginning to bloom. At this stage - the fuzzy coverings are almost as interesting as the flowers!

The pink saucer magnolia buds frequently seem to be damaged by cold weather…but these battered buds have an abstract appeal.

I tried a background experience with the Lenten roses against a rock wall.

The witch hazel is still colorful but past prime.

There were three nests in the stand of river birch - two for birds and one a squirrel. I wondered if they birds’ nests were being built or from last year. Both of them seemed to have colorful (man-made) fibers woven into their structure.

These pine cones were probably blown from the nearby pines with the recent breezes since they don’t appear trampled.

Brookside Gardens in April - a great place for a photographic walk about. 

Master Naturalist Training - Week 6

Last Wednesday was the 6th of eight days of training to become a Master Naturalist in Maryland. We managed to go out for a short history walk at Belmont before the rain started. I noticed a lower branch of the English Elm on the slope in front of the house and got this close up of the buds.

Back inside we talked about native and invasive species in Maryland. I’m motivated to think about planting some ‘natives’ at the edge of the forest behind our house. The area has a lot of deer traffic so I may have to protect whatever I plant.  We have big trees but not many samplings because of the heavy browsing. I am starting with two items in a two small areas: ferns in the dampest area of the yard and a spicebush or service berry or winterberry to provide a shrub or understory level plant in the area where it has gotten too shady for grass to grow well. I still love the crocus, snowdrops and daffodils in the spring - even though they are non-native. Our neighbor has an expanding clump of daffodils at the edge of the woods and I enjoy them every spring. Maybe I’ll plant some bulbs next fall around my young understory tree.

In the afternoon the topic was fish. After a short lecture we did several classification exercises with various fishes on newspaper. I appreciate that gloves were provided…and that my pen worked just find to spread the fins and open the mouth! We headed out to the pond; it was cold and we did not get a single fish in the net although we did recognize scat (from our week 3 lecture on mammals). This one had a lot of hair - so a predator - and too big for fox - so probably a coyote. They seemed to frequent the area around the pond.

I also got some images of the bald cypress from the other side of the pond. See the people to the right of the tree…for scale.

Also near the pond are some trees that were planted in protective tubes that seem to be thriving. One had a delicate birds nest from last summer. The ornithology segment of the course is part of the last class.

I did some follow-up work at home from the week 4 lecture on microbes. I made a spore print with a baby bella mushroom I had from the grocery store. It is an easy process: 1) remove any remaining veil covering the gills on the underside of the mushroom and the stem 2) turn it gills down on a piece of paper 3) cover it with an upside down bowl to keep it from disturbed 4) come back in 12+ hours, carefully remove the bowl and mushroom…the spore print will be on the paper. I was surprised at how much moisture the mushroom leaked onto the paper…next time I’ll not used paper that has printing on the other side!

Another follow-up was from week 5. When we went to the stream - we scraped the rocks with a toothbrush and kept the sample of watery debris in the refrigerator for a week. There was no compound microscope in the building for week 6 as originally planned so I took the sample home to look at with my microscope. And there were living diatoms in the sample! I same two different kinds right away….and will look again sometime this weekend.

Short Walks at Belmont - March 2015

Yesterday when I was at Belmont Manor and Historic Park the snow was gone and I made short walks during and after the short class I attended. One focus was to get pictures of the trees before the leafed out for a project I am working on to produce materials of a Belmont Tree Tour. But it was a nice day and I was easily side tracked. From a photographic perspective I am more interested in the close ups - like the English elm branch with buds, lichen and moss.

The bald cypress by the pond is interesting because it is a surprise. It is a survivor north of the usual range for the tree. It is easy to identify even in winter because of the knees and fallen needles.

The swallows seemed to be taking over the blue bird boxes. This pair seems to be very proprietary about this particular box already. They both would fly away and return to the same box again and again.

There we shelf fungi growing on a tree that was upright but appeared dead - or near dead.

Some of the interior was hollow and exposed - cracking along ring lines and other trunk structures.

As I walked along nearer the manor house there were periodic patches of crocus. At my house the bulbs have not started blooming quite yet.

The wind had blown some sycamore seeds down. The ones on the tree were too high to get good pictures so it was a bonus to get the pictures. This is one tree I can identify from the bark!

Southern Magnolias are easy to identify too. They keep their leaves and already have buds.

There was also an empty seed pod from last season on the ground - probably blown off by the wind just as the sycamore seeds were blown.

Some trees have places where large branches were cut that are fractured much like the dead tree…but are very much alive. This was from an English Elm that appears to be surviving well enough.

Last but not least - I hiked into the forest to take a look at another magnolia. I’d been told it was a cucumber magnolia but none of the trees is large - they are all in the understory. I’ll have to watch it as it blooms.  It may be an umbrella magnolia instead.