Kenilworth Gardens – Other Stuff

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Of course – lotuses, water lilies, buttonbushes and dragonflies were not the only things to see at Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens last weekend. Even in the island of garden in the parking lot there were things to see. The most interesting (to me), were some tiny acorns on a lower branch of an oak

And a blue jay that seemed very acclimated to people.

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I didn’t spend much time on the boardwalk out to the river but was there long enough to capture a sleepy duck.

There were some colorful canna leaves in the morning sun and

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A gall on one of the trees with shelf fungus make it look something like a face (with a few too many eyes and eye brows!).

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The showy flowers of the rose mallow seemed to be everywhere. I love the flowers with their deep red centers but maybe the tightly wrapped petal in bud form are ever more interesting. Enjoy the mallow slide show below!

Kenilworth Gardens – Buttonbushes and Dragonflies

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There are other things to see beside lotuses and waterlilies at Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens. One of my favorite plants to photograph is the buttonbush in bloom. They were in all stages of bloom development last weekend.

The plants are very attractive to insects. Bees are frequently visitors

As are the small skipper butterflies.

There was one large tiger swallowtail that seems to be methodically getting nectar and staying on once of the balls for a long time…great for picture taking.

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We always look for dragonflies when we visit Kenilworth and last weekend was no exception. There did not seem to be as many of them. The first one I managed to photograph sat on some lotus petals in the deep shade…and was a very small dragonfly.

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The next one was on top of a canna stalk and was the larger variety. It did not stay very long but I did manage to zoom in for close up.

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On my way back toward the visitor center I was photographing water lilies and noticed that one had a dragonfly on it! The zoom helped again since it was another small one.

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Kenilworth Gardens - Lotuses and Water Lilies

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We try to make a trek to Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens when the lotuses are blooming….and last weekend was a good time. The day was partly sunny, and we managed to get to the park before the parking lot filled up. There was plenty to see. I’ll be posting about it over the next few days; today I’ve collected the best images of lotuses and water lilies.

There were lotuses in all stages of development. Everything about these plants are beautiful: the shape and texture of the leaves, the buds and flowers standing above the leaves gracefully opening and following the sun, the pods beginning to form. My favorites are the flowers that have a lot of white in their petals with ping around the outer edges.

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I saw a petal in some water near the path and photographed it as the water turned it.

The petals wilt quickly once they fall from the flower so catching them in the cradle of a leaf always seems special to me.

There was an unusual white plant at the edge of the ponds just as we came into the gardens. Was it a kind of lily? I don’t know. It looked exotic to me and I took a picture.

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The water lilies were still blooming in the ponds. Sometimes they are beginning to ebb by the time the lotuses are blooming but this year they seem to be still blooming profusely.

Two flowers that I noticed in my pictures after I got home that looked like they had punches out of their leaves – a lotus and a water lily. I wondered what insect made the holes!

Brookside Gardens Bugs

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There were not that many bugs out and about last Saturday morning before my shift at Brookside Gardens’ Wings of Fancy. I photographed three…and was thrilled with the variety:

A funnel spider waiting patiently (and visibly) at the top of the funnel. Usually they are hidden in the depths. The spider had built its web on the evergreen shrubs near the conservatory. There must have been lots of spiders around judging from the number of webs but this was the only one showing itself.

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A froghopper (as a nymph back in the spring it was a spittlebug) on a milkweed plant. I was looking for monarch caterpillars but didn’t find any. Back in July 2016, I’d found one on the milkweed plant at my house and posted about it.

A bumblebee enjoyed the bounty of the milkweeds in bloom. The plants at my house are already full of pods, flowers dried and falling away. From of photographic standpoint I always judge a bee picture a success if it includes the head and back rather than the butt!

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Brookside Gardens Zinnias

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Last Saturday was full of sunshine and the zinnias at Brookside Gardens were great reflections of the morning. I have fond memories of the zinnias my grandmother grew in her garden between rows of vegetables…when the fruit trees that she’d planted when she first moved to there too young to shade them out. I also grew zinnias in pots on my deck….until I got too busy with other things to water them consistently. They are popular flowers with butterflies and, sometimes, hummingbirds.

There were insects buzzing around the flowers while I was photographing them. I enjoyed the flowers on their own. There is something about the curve or their petals, the variety in their centers, and the vibrancy of their colors that always draws my attention. I used my zoom rather than getting close because I wanted the whole flower in focus….with the background very blurred. Enjoy the zinnias of summer!

Brookside Gardens Macro Flowers

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Yesterday I enjoyed some macro photography at Brookside Gardens. There were several flowers blooming around the parking lot next to the conservatory. I took a photo of the plant and then a macro of the flower. I am always surprised at how different the impression of the plant is from a macro perspective. Here are my favorite pairs of pictures.

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Sumac

 

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Sunflower

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Cone flower

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Yellow composite

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Joe-Pye Weed

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I was surprised there were not more insects (butterflies) around the flowers. The Joe-Pye Weed is not quite blooming yet. Maybe next time in am in the gardens they will be. Last year – there were clusters of tiger swallowtails on the plant.

Gleanings of the Week Ending July 14, 2018

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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.

Top 25 Birds of Protected Areas  and Top 25 Birds of Asia – Several collections of ’25 birds’ were in my news feeds as I was catching up after returning from Texas.

BBC - Future - Thai cave: How life in darkness could affect trapped boys and BBC - Future - Cave rescue: The dangerous diseases lurking underground – I wondered why the sensationalism of the mainstream media coverage did not include more of these aspects of the story.

Feeling young could mean your brain is aging more slowly: The first study to link subjective age to biological age shows that elderly people who feel younger have less signs of brain aging -- ScienceDaily – Feeling young is a big plus!

Minimizing Your Exposure to Pesticides in Produce: Help from the Environmental Working Group (EWG) Dirty Dozen List | Berkeley Wellness – The ranking comes out every year…I use it to prioritize which veggies/fruits I buy ‘organic.’ Of course – during the summer I am eating veggies from the local Community Support Agriculture which is all organic.

Scientists capture breaking of glacier in Greenland: Event points to forces behind global sea-level rise -- ScienceDaily – There is a link to the video at the bottom of the post….well worth watching. Awesome ice.

The Ultimate Guide to Yellowstone Wildlife Viewing – Cool Green Science – I reminder of a place I want to visit again.

Beaded Necklaces: Complex Restringing | In the Artifact Lab – It took 25 meters of string to do the work!

Take a VR Tour of an Egyptian Queen’s Elaborate Tomb | Smart News | Smithsonian -  Another attempt to create ways to experience a place without actually being there…and potentially damaging it.

Poison Ivy: Busting 6 Myths to Avoid the Itch – Cool Green Science – It’s that time of year. In Maryland there is a lot of poison ivy but I’ve managed to avoid it in recent years….or maybe it is the gardening gloves with gauntlets that cover most of my arm and tucking my pants into my socks (for ticks…but also means there is no skin exposed to poison ivy either.

Gene therapy shown to cure type 2 diabetes and obesity in mice, researchers report -- ScienceDaily – Early days…but wouldn’t it be wonderful if something like this would work form humans?

Belmont Hikes with Summer Campers I

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I have started weekly hikes with summer campers at Howard County Conservancy’s Belmont location. The theme for this week was ‘Fossils and Feathers’ – to I focused on birds during the hike. The cardinal flowers near the entrance to the Carriage House (the camp headquarters) have evidently attracted some hummingbirds but there were too many people about while I was there to see them.

I was early enough that I walked around to see how the butterfly meadow looks during its first season. It’s mostly grass!

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I photographed some of the flowers that are there among the grass. I hope the butterflies find them!

There were two groups of campers; the first group to hike were the younger children. We hiked down to the pond. There are birdhouses along the way down the grassy path through the newly mowed field. The tree swallows were very active…and then we saw purple martins in their house and flying off toward the pond. Turkey vultures made slow circles in the sky. There were red-winged black birds around the pond and we talked about other birds that like to be around water; Great Blue Herons and Wood Ducks both came up in the talk. We also saw dragon flies at the pond and talked about how they lay their eggs in the water. We hiked back along the tree lined drive to the manor house and stopped at the sycamore; we noticed the pieces of bark on the ground and agreed that next time they go to the stream they might try the curls of bark as ‘boats.’

I had a break between the two groups. I found a chair in the shade and took pictures of birds at the feeders and nearby trees.

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There were red-winged blackbirds, goldfinches, a red-bellied woodpecker, and a mockingbird. I was hearing the mockingbird long before I managed to see it.

The second hike was a bit longer. We walked along the edge of the forest then went a short way in…listening for birds in several places along the way. We heard birds…but didn’t see any except doves and vultures. There was a lot of other things to see: a deer, a tiger swallowtail, chicory, wineberry, sweet gum balls, lichen, a cicada’s shed.

In both groups we found a few feathers to talk about. I enjoyed the hikes…and I think the campers did too.

Home Alone

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My husband headed off to a dark sky site with his telescope yesterday and I am savoring the being at home on my own. After being away in Texas for almost 3 weeks I was not keen to leave town again. I will still do my hiking with summer campers, pickup us the CSA share for the week, and do the weekly grocery shopping. I find myself enjoying the quiet of the house without the television on. I like the view from my summer office; I moved from my previous office because it gets full sun in the afternoon and even the insulated drapes are not enough to keep out the heat. The summer office is shaded by a large tree for most of the afternoon and is much more comfortable. I still have a good view of the backyard…no houses in my line of sight.

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I’ve also discovered that the tree is visible from the skylight. There is a lot to like about a house that is almost 30 years old! I am savoring being home along!

Composting at Home – June 2018

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I got a free composting bin when I volunteered with the Fishmobile; the Fishmobile was part of a larger event at a local nature center that included a composting demo. The county gives bins away as part of the demo (GEOBIN Composting System) to encourage backyard composting by residents. A Master Gardener talked about what was required to successfully compost (mixing ‘browns’ and ‘greens’ – mixing) and I felt confident enough to give it a try. The bin was packaged rolled up in a cardboard box although the Mater Gardener recommended that stakes be used to provide some structure to the bin; I remembered that I had some at home…so no barrier. The hardest part of putting it together was the tightness of the roll; the material wanted to stay rolled! It might have been easier for two people but I managed on my own. The plastic has slots and the kit came with plastic keys to fit into the slots and turn to lock the two ends together. I made it a little smaller than the maximum size. I put it under the maple tree in our back yard….positioned to the hose from the house can reach it in case it needs to be moistened during a dry period.

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I had two longer metal stakes and a flag pole that had broken into two pieces to use as stakes. There were dried leaves from last fall that were already on the ground and I simply left them for the first layer of material in the bin (the area is so shady that no grass grows under the tree so I started leaving the leaves to provide some protection to the soil). Then I added some veggie and fruit scraps from the kitchen, shredded paper and cardboard. Later I added some soil from a pot that had broken.

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The bin looks very large right now. It will be a challenge to keep the greens (veggie and fruit scraps, grass clippings, bush clippings) and browns (paper, fall leaves, small twigs) balanced. I might feel the need to get a shredder for the yard waste since smaller materials will decay more quickly. I’m going to get through the rest of this year without one…just to see how the well the minimalist approach to composting will work.

Front Flowerbeds

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The most urgent yard work when I returned from Texas was the front flowerbeds. The bushes needed trimming, the milkweed was rampant, and the day lilies were full of buds that the deer were sure to eat! On one side of the door, the sidewalk was half covered with leaves from day lilies and other vegetation.

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On the other, the milkweed were hiding the small nine bark that survived and filled in the hole of the one that died. The mint was so think that it covered the sidewalk to the front porch.

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We went to work. I wanted to save some of the milkweed to become a Monarch caterpillar nursery but opted that it did not need to be on both sides. My husband and I worked for about an hour in the steamy morning heat with had trimmers and pruners. After 8 we got out the electric hedge trimmers and weed eater – hoping that everyone would be up and about by that time on a summer weekday.

After two mornings, we had made noticeable progress and were both pleased with the results. I put the glass bird bath in the stand of milkweed in front of the door. The taller plants will shade the water a little and provide some cover for the birds bathing or getting a drink!

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We worked a third morning and pruned a bush to the side of the house to about half its size. Now to just keep it tidy….

Fishmobile – Take 2

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My first experience with the Fishmobile was back in April at an elementary school in Carroll County (posted about it here). I got an email just after I returned from Texas asking if I could help with the Fishmobile’s visit to a nature center near where I life for a weekend event. I still had committed to anything else so I accepted. The day started out well when I checked the milkweed in my front flower bed and found a good-sized Monarch caterpillar!

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The day was not too hot and my ‘shift’ was from 10-12 when the temperature was in the mid-70s. Most of the animals that were there for the school were in the tanks again: horseshoe crabs, Larry the diamond backed terrapin, a blue crab, and a box turtle.

The American eel was silvery and was more active this time. The only thing I missed from last time were sea horses but there were some preserved ones to talk about with the families that came through. In the two hours I was there, almost 200 people came through. Some of the children came through the exhibit several times (after they built up their courage to experience the two touch tanks).

During one lull I stepped off the Fishmobile bus and photographed some bees on the plants just outside. The bees were very active and focused on the flowers…not flying amongst the people coming to the Fishmobile.

After my shift was over, I walked over to the compost demo and filled out the form to get a free compost bin. After the tour yesterday and further education today, I am going to do my own compost. My plan it to put the bin back near the forest and start it off with some shredded paper and veggie/fruit scraps from the kitchen. This time of year taking the watermelon rinds to the compost bin will be a lot easier than lugging them to the curb in a trash bag that might leak! Stay tuned for posts about my compost adventure.

Howard County Composting Facility

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I attended a public tour of the composting facility in the county where I life yesterday morning. There is an expansion of the facility being built now but the pilot program has been going on for several years – lots of ‘lessons learned’ being applied to the expansion that will allow more of the county – hopefully the area where I live – to have curbside compost pickup.

The part of the facility that is currently in operation starts with piles of compostables collected from homes and some farm waste (like horse manure).

 

After being chopped up, it is made into piles. The material is processed for about 45 days in the piles – moved around with bulldozers to get air to all the material so that the decomposers can work. The temperatures in the piles are high enough to kill seeds which is important to the users of compost as a soil enhancer.

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The piles are made over two pipes that pull air from through the pile and then

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Through wood chips and finished compost (the large pipe in the foreground has pipes that push air under the wood chips/finished compost on the other side) – an effective strategy to reduce odors. The only period when odors come through that filter – so far – has been after Christmas when the discarded trees are in the piles; the pine smell is not one that people are likely to complain about so kudos to the design!

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While we were there, there was a pile that was ready to be moved to the area where the compost cures; the work was done with a bulldozer…making multiple trips.

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The piles are covered with tarps during rains; the compost does need water, but the amount must be controlled. Run off from the piles and the area around them is controlled.

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The new facility under construction will have bunkers rather than piles which will increase the capacity per area over the design in use now. The design capacity must be sufficient to handle the large volume of leaves in the fall. In my case – I wouldn’t send most of my leaves to the compost facility since I have forest behind my house that has absorbed the leaves from my yard quite well. If my area is one of the lucky ones to be included in the expanded service, I’ll decide if sending the front yard leaves to composting is easier than raking them to the forest!

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Gleanings of the Week Ending July 7, 2018

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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.

BBC - Future - How we could survive on an asteroid – Harder than colonizing a planet…but mining asteroids from a colony on the moon or mars might be more feasible. Interesting to think about; it’s not full out science fiction at this point.

Stunning Data From The Bottom of the World: Antarctic Ice Loss Triples - Dan's Wild Wild Science Journal - AGU Blogosphere – The melting is mostly from warmer ocean waters melting submerged glaciers that have moved into the ocean.

Take a 3D Tour Through Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin West | Smart News | Smithsonian – I always like to see an article a place that I have visited…savor the memory. This post includes the link to the 3dlab site…lots of room to explore in a way that is the next best think to being there.

Illnesses from Mosquitoes and Ticks on the Rise | Berkeley Wellness – In our area Lyme disease (from ticks) is the one we worry about the most but there might be others that are going to become more problematic. Maryland has more mosquitos that usual right now…unpleasant and maybe unhealthy.

Red Meat Allergies Caused by Tick Bites are on the Rise – Aargh! I hadn’t heard of this one before.

Feeding the gods: Hundreds of skulls reveal massive scale of human sacrifice in Aztec capital | Science | AAAS – A short video and article about structures recently excavated that include skulls of human sacrifice victims as described by Spanish conquistadors.

China’s Plastic Ban Will Flood Us with Trash | Smart News | Smithsonian – Now that China isn’t accepting the plastic we throw in recycling – where is it going? Are our landfills going to be even more massive? Ideally recycling would get better (and done closer to where the material entered the system) rather than worse.

Petrified Forest National Park Becomes World’s Newest International Dark Sky Park – I’ve visited this park several times…and now it’s a dark sky site. It’s a long way from Maryland but maybe we’ll eventually get there for a star party!

Why Europe’s astronauts are learning Chinese – China is taking the steps to be the third big player in space….and Europe is planning to cooperate with them just as it does with the US and Russia.

Caterpillars and Day Lilies

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Since I’ve been home, I’ve started doing some remedial yard work…more on the changes to the flowerbed later. I’m focused on caterpillars and day lilies that were a biproduct of the work. The biggest excitement was a very small monarch caterpillar on the milkweed! I can’t cut it down now. Every morning I look at the plants and I haven’t found the caterpillar again but there are a lot of other insects on the plants. Milkweed is popular with the insect crowd.

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Yesterday there was a different kind of caterpillar on the milkweed. I’m not sure what it is. Maybe some kind of Tiger Moth caterpillar? It isn’t a milkweed tussock moth caterpillar since those are orange and block and white and bristles are shorter and there are more of them.

The day lilies that I thought would be so gorgeous in the front flower bed always make beautiful foliage and then last year the deer ate the buds before many of them could open .  Evidently the buds are deer candy. I’m giving up on day lilies after this year. So - while I was working in the flower bed, I cut all the flower stalks I found and put them in a big vase. The next morning, I took the vase outside and took pictures in the morning light.

I appreciate the opening buds and the spent flowers of the orange lilies. Placing the vase on the deck railing and using the out-of-focus forest as the background worked out well.

I photographed the one pink and white lily from different angles. It was the only non-orange flower in the vase.

At least this way I get to enjoy the flowers one last time rather than getting mad at the deer.

3 Free eBooks – June 2018

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I picked 4 books instead of 3 in June because of the first two were about the same place – New York – and I thought they were interesting history.

Wittemann, Adolph. Select New York. New York: A. Wittemann. 1889. Available from Internet Archive here. This book includes photographs of New York and almost all of them include a tangle of electrical wires…at the beginning of the electrification of the city when there was a lot of chaos and little standardization.

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Wittmann, Adolph. New York: An Album of Photographs. Brooklyn: Wittemann. 1900. Available from Internet Archive here. The photographs have been tinted and there are no wires at all. Were the electrical conduits underground by 1900 or did the publisher manage to take them out of the photographs?

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Lear, Edward. Illustrations of the family of Psittacidae, or parrots: the greater part of them species hitherto unfigured, containing forty-two lithographic plates, drawn from life, and on stone. London, England: E. Lear. 1832. Available from the Digital Library for the Decorative Arts and Material Culture here. I was surprised to find this book of parrot illustrations…but the same man that wrote the poem ‘The Owl and the Pussycat’ I remember from my childhood!

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Wantanabe, Seitei. Seitei kachō gafu v. 2. Okura Mogabe, Toyko, Meije 23. 1890. Available from Smithsonian Libraries here. I enjoyed the Japanese artwork…like the type of nature photography I like to do. I wanted to be in the place seeing a bird walking in a wetland – perhaps it was early morning.

Ten Little Celebrations – June 2018

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The ten little celebrations for June started out like other months:

  • Celebrating the last of the spring field trips and the end of schools. I enjoy hiking with school groups….but am always ready to have a summer break!
  • The Frederick MD garden day was full of garden treasures. I celebrated formal gardens…a children’s’ garden…and most of all a woodland garden.

 

  • My daughter managed a weekend to drive down for a weekend visit. She is closer now that she lives in Pennsylvania rather than Arizona, but we are all so busy that we don’t see each other any more frequently.

Then something unique happened: my mother fell and broke her femur…and I went off to Texas for almost 3 weeks. The rest of the little celebrations were all stem from that event:

  • The surgery to fix the break happened within 24 hours and was success.
  • I managed to get to Texas before she left the hospital – barely.
  • She walked about 100 feet with a walker before she left the hospital….and only spent 2 days at a rehab place before going home.
  • I manage a short walk around Josey Ranch lake while one of my sister was with my parents and saw 4 types of herons in about 30 minutes…two were ‘firsts’ for me: a yellow crowned heron and juvenile green herons. It was my only photography away from my parents’ house and was short…but very satisfying.

 

  • Last but not least – the physical therapy milestones just before my left: my mother walked down a paved alley and across a grassy lawn with her walker….and we’d already gotten a cane to be ready for her next milestone! The she – and the whole family – celebrates every milestone!

Zooming – June 2018

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I am late getting out the posts that I normally write toward the end of the month….this is a catch up week after being in Texas for almost 3 weeks! As usual – it was easy to find favorite pictures taken in June that used the zooming capabilities of my camera. There are all the usual suspects – birds, butterflies, and vegetation. Can you pick out which ones were in Texas and which were in Maryland?

Enjoy the June slideshow!

Home Again

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I’ve been away from home for almost three weeks. This is my first day back and I hope some of my normal routines will be re-established quickly and easily. I’ll be posting the June month-end posts over the next few days as part of that return to ‘normal’….along with grocery shopping, yard work, and laundry!

On a positive note – spending a period (like 2-3 weeks) with a different-than-usual focus is always a learning experience. It will take some introspection now that I am home again to internalize the nuances of the experience.

Stay tuned!

Zentangle® - June 2018

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I enjoyed using light blue brush color this month…particularly with black background; the color dominates 21 of the 30 tiles I selected from the tiles I created in June. I’m still pleased with my iPad (and Procreate app) for creating tiles…no need to worry about running out of ink like happens with a physical pen! I experimented a little with different backgrounds but came back again and again to the black. It’s may favorite (maybe) because it is still new for me; I didn’t have light colored pens or black card stock easily available when I was making physical tiles.

The other 9 tiles I made simply for variety. I thought I would create more tiles with two or more brush colors this month but was too intent on the Zen to make a big change like that; many of the June tiles were created in the scant quiet moments in Carrollton – to make a calm space and time from the jumble of emotional and physical challenges of being at my best to help my mother in the hospital, in rehab and at home after she broke her hip. As this post is published, I will be on my way home and she is about ready for outpatient PT!

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The Zentangle® Method is an easy-to-learn, relaxing, and fun way to create beautiful images by drawing structured patterns. It was created by Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas. "Zentangle" is a registered trademark of Zentangle, Inc. Learn more at zentangle.com.