Chanticleer Redux (2016)

An ornamental variety of redbud (Cercis candaensis)

Kali's brother, Patrick, was in town from San Diego over the Independence Day holiday.  We visited Chanticleer in Wayne, Pennsylvania, a garden we usually tour once a year and about which I have posted in the past.

Patrick and Kali

I took my camera with me, mostly to take pictures of Kali and Patrick, but also in case something caught my eye.  As soon as I took out the camera and started snapping away, Kali asked, "What are you taking pictures of?  We have so many pictures of this place!"

An incredible variety of Echinacea (usually the flowers are dusty purple)

Floating arrangement for the day

Blue hydrangeas and Adirondack chairs

The new Serpentine Walk and Garden

We did not visit Chanticleer last year, the first year after the garden installed a long, long sinuous elevated path called the Serpentine Walk.  The garden is on two levels: an upper level with the mansion and its associated gardens, and a lower level where the water gardens and stream garden are located.  These two "halves" are separated by a steep hill.  Chanticleer invested (heavily) in a long, winding, handicapped-accessible path to link the two halves of the garden.  It's spectacular.

Pink varieties of Queen Anne's-lace (Daucus carota)

Peeling bark on a streamside birch (Betula sp.)

I have yet to come to terms, personally, with the dry garden, perched on a rocky outcrop at the lip of the hill.  Every time I visit, I express my disappointment to Kali about how "sorry" the garden looks.  This year, I was not disappointed; the garden has finally come into its own.  I think that the garden was developing over the years, and I was just impatient.

The dry garden in its summer glory

Kali, in a wistful moment

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I know that I haven't been posting much lately.  Frankly, Kali and I haven't been doing much that has been worth writing about.  Hopefully, that will change.

Late Summer on the Trail

Japanese angelica-tree (Aralia elata) seeds

It's been a while since I've posted (mostly because Kali's broken foot kept me from getting out much during her four-week convalescence), but her cast came off last Tuesday, the crutches are stored in the attic, and Kali is, once again, driving herself to and from work.  On Saturday afternoon, we took advantage of her new-found freedom and nice weather to walk on the level, even-surfaced rail-to-trail pathway in the county park downstream of my preserve.  It was the longest walk Kali had taken in five weeks, so we started out slowly; she was only able to walk a mile before her foot began to hurt and we turned around, but in that distance I got some late summer images.

Kali on the trail

One long section of the trail is bordered by dense growth of non-native, invasive Japanese angelica-tree (Aralia elata).  This plant is closely related to native Aralia spinosa, which is also known commonly as Hercules'-club or devil's walking stick. 

Aralia alongside the trail

Aralia branch and flower/seed stalk from below

Angelica-tree and Hercules'-club have the largest leaves of any plant in the mid-Atlantic.  Each leaf is pinnately compound, with a dozen or so leaflets strung along a central rachis.  The tree produces tiny white flowers on feathery pink flower stalks, giving the plant an interesting and unmistakable appearance.

Aralia leaves and flower stalks from above

Aralia gets its common name of devil's walking stick because the stem and even the leaves are liberally  festooned with defensive thorns.

Aralia stem

There were lots of weedy late-summer native plants producing seeds and fruits along the route...

False climbing buckwheat (Polygonum scandens)

Bur-cucumber (Sicyos angulatus)

The trail heading north along the west bank of the creek flowing about 20 feet below.

The creek photographed downstream

...and there was no shortage of non-native invasive plants, too, in addition to the Aralia.

Mile-a-minute weed (Polygonum perfoliatum) with blue seeds favored (and spread) by birds

Japanese knotweed (Fallopia japonica)

Porcelain-berry (Ampelopsis brevipedunculata) - the bane of my professional existence

Autumn was just beginning to make its advent apparent in the trailside foliage.

Flowering dogwood leaves (Cornus florida) on the woodland edge are turning maroon

Great Blue Heron fishing the creek's shallows

Several groups of skittish Wood Ducks in autumn eclipse plumage were cruising the creek.  I captured the image below with my telephoto lens extended to its maximum, and then I further enlarged and sharpened the image digitally, so the quality is not great, but it was the best I could get.  When enlarged, I think the image looks a little Impressionistic as a result of my manipulations.  Wishful thinking...?  What do you think?

Wood Ducks on the creek

The creek at the north end of our walk

Share Duty

Weather-vane atop Pennypack Farm Harvest House

Kali and I are shareholders at an organic Community Supported Agriculture farm called Pennypack Farm.  One of shareholders' obligations is to contribute volunteer labor to the farm each year; the farm calls it share duty.

With temperatures in the mid-70s, low humidity, and clear skies, we decided that Saturday (August 24) would be a perfect opportunity to fulfill our obligation for the year.

When we arrived, the farmer asked us to join a group weeding the completely (hopelessly?) overgrown strawberry beds.  Weeds and grasses had grown up so intimately with the strawberry plants that uprooting the weeds often uprooted the strawberries as well, but we did the best we could.

Weeding strawberries; Kali seated on bucket

Kids helped out, mostly by filling the wheelbarrow with uprooted weeds

Then, suddenly, mid-row, Farmer Devin announced, "Let's weed the brassica beds!"  I don't know if he was bored or just realized that the cabbages and broccoli would be coming on sooner than the strawberries, but we dutifully migrated en mass to the rows of cole vegetables - which were much easier to weed.

Weeding cabbages and broccoli

A ladder set aside struck Kali's fancy

When we'd finished helping out, Kali and I treated ourselves to cups of sea salt caramel pretzel flavored frozen yogurt topped with crushed Heath bars and chocolate chips.  It was a good day.

The Forest Ablaze

For three perfect evenings just before the summer solstice, Kali and I walked the same route through "my" preserve.  As we neared home, I noticed that beams from the low-setting sun were penetrating deeply into the forest and setting it aglow. Naturally, I didn't have my camera with me the first evening, and I forgot to carry it along on the second as well.  But, I didn't make the same mistake a third time.  On June 19, 2013, I captured these dramatic images, which are even more impressive when they're enlarged (if I do say so myself).

I'm most satisfied with the first image, but the second, taken just before the beams disappeared, is more atmospheric.  I've been meaning to share them with my followers, but keep forgetting that I have the images in my archive.  I hope you enjoy them.

High Summer

Exuberant Indian-grass (Sorghastrum nutans), Black-eyed-Susans (Rudbeckia hirta), and Queen Anne's-lace (Daucus carota) on a crystal clear morning

Cicadas are shrieking during the day.  Katydids are sawing away in the trees during the early hours of darkness.  New York ironweed's flat-topped, regal purple flowers and Joe-Pye-weed's dusky magenta globes are heavily laden with swallowtails and bumblebees.  And the first of the early-flowering goldenrods have burst like sparks onto the otherwise emerald meadow blanket.  It's high summer in the northern Piedmont!

Golden August Prairie

 

We've established native grasslands on 160 acres of old hayfields in the preserve.  Most of the grasslands are just that--grasslands--dominated by big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii), little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium) and Indian-grass (Sorghastrum nutans).  But we also incorporated wildflowers into 60 acres of the grasslands, and right now these meadows are in their late-summer glory.

Because our fields are subject to intense invasive plant pressure, we decided to concentrate on planting grasses only on most of the land.  We restricted our planting to grasses because we could use the selective herbicide Plateau on these grasslands.  Plateau controls broadleaved invasive species like non-native porcelain-berry (Ampelopsis brevipedunculata), Asian bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus) and Canada thistle (Cirsium arvense) plus aggressive natives like brambles (Rubus spp.), but won't damage the native grasses.

However, our grassland manager determined that there are a few native broadleaved wildflower species that aren't harmed by an application of Plateau.  So, we incorporated seeds of some of these species into 60 of the the most recently established acres.  These meadows now offer a mixture of grasses and forbs not present elsewhere in the prairies.  And, the wildflowers enliven the the grasslands with big swaths of color, making a walk on the trail winding through the meadows a real delight this time of year.  Bright yellow partridge-pea (Chamaecrista fasiculata) is blooming profusely now, along with a few remaining black-eyed-susans (Rudbeckia hirta) and a delicate white-flowered aster (Aster sp.) that I haven't tried to identify yet.  Of course, the fields are literally abuzz and achirp with every sort of hymenopteran, lepidopteran and orthopteran imaginable.

 Purpletop (in foreground) growing mixed with partridge-pea and little and big bluestem

We're also enjoying a real unanticipated surprise in these meadows, too.  Though we didn't plant it, purpletop (Tridens flavus) has become a very common grass throughout these fields.  Where it grows densely, purpletop's delicate flowers spread an enchanting mauve gauze over the landscape. 

 

Perfect Summer Meadows

Took another walk in "our" natural area after dinner and just before sunset last evening. This time, we sauntered through an old farm that has been planted with wildflowers and native grasses to create diverse grasslands that will attract meadow-nesting birds. While the meadows have not yet attracted any of the meadow-nesting birds (except Red-winged Blackbirds), they are spectacularly beautiful this time of year, with a profusion of wildflowers growing amidst luxurious stands of magenta purpletop (Tridens flavus) and russet Indian-grass (Sorghastrum nutans).

At one point, as we rounded a corner in the mowed trail through the tall grasses, we were startled by a group of about 30 migrating Bobolinks (Dolichonyx oryzivorus) that ascended noisily en mass from their hiding place in the grass, flew a few dozen feet, and then disappeared back into the grass.

Summer returns on Sunday with 90+ temperatures and high humidity each day through at least Thursday. It's been wonderful to enjoy this late summer reprieve for the last few days.

Late Summer, Early Evening

We took a walk in "our" natural area last evening. We hadn't been out for weeks because of the unremittingly high temperatures. But the weather has been cool and cloudy for the last three days, and we took advantage of the break to enjoy the late summer meadows. Another heat wave starts this Sunday.

Dozens of Chimney Swifts (Chaetura pelagica) were wheeling through the skies, but there was no sign of migrating Common Nighthawks (Chordeiles minor), which usually pass through singly during the last week of August. The swifts roost in the evening in a tall chimney at a local college. It's a local birdwatcher's hotspot to set up a lawn chair and watch the birds plunge into the chimney at sunset.

Many bumblebees were already drowsy on the goldenrod (which I think is Wrinkle-leaf Goldenrod [Solidago rugosa]). It never fails to amaze me to see bumblebees in the evening clinging motionless to goldenrod, obviously intent on spending the night there rather than returning to their holes. Some were still foraging actively, though.

Jumpseed (Polygonum virginianum) leaf edges always seem to curl up near the end of the growing season. I don't know if it's lack of soil moisture or whether it's just in their nature. This patch reminded me of variegated poinsettias.
The natural area has an old farm pond where children can angle for sunfish with barbless hooks. I think each one of the sunnies in the pond must have been caught a dozen times.

Pileated Progeny

Pileated Woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus)
Image from Emory University website

I haven't posted in quite a while, mainly because I haven't been outside much in quite a while to observe post-worthy events. Temperatures have been in the mid-90s, the humidity seems like it's matching the temperature, and the mosquitoes are intimidating. We're in the midst of our eighth official heat wave this summer (i.e., three days or longer of 90 degrees or higher). I'm getting cabin fever in the summer.

This morning, I did run across a good friend in the natural area that I frequent. He told me that the natural area's dedicated birders observed an immature Pileated Woodpecker near the creek last Saturday morning, August 7.

We've seen Pileateds sporadically over the years in the natural area, and this year we observed one on a frequent basis. But this is the first evidence of successful breeding in the 22 years I've lived here. The habitat always seemed right, but we could never observe a pair. I guess we still haven't seen a pair, but we've certainly now observed the result of their union.

Slime Mold Redux 2010

After three weeks of no rain and temperatures in the 90s most of those days (101 and 103 on two occasions!), we finally got some soaking rains over the last few days. Hallelujah! In fact, it rained so hard on Tuesday (July 13) that the creek downstream of my favorite natural area flooded, and a (stupid) 20-year-old tried to ride the rapids on an inflatable swimming pool raft and drowned in the process.

Yesterday evening, between showers, I had a chance to look over my front garden. There's a black oak stump there that's rapidly disappearing, and on that stump, in exactly the same spot that I photographed it last June, was a slime mold. A little bit of research quickly convinced me that the only hope of identification lies in observing the spore-forming bodies that the colony will eventually produce. I'll keep my eyes open. Last year, I don't remember the colony forming sporulating bodies--the mass just seemed to dry up and turn brown, but I probably just wasn't observant.

First Katydid, High Summer

I heard the first katydid of the summer last evening just as the sun was setting. In addition, I noticed that the deep purple New York Ironweed (Vernonia noveboracensis) flowers have appeared in the wet meadow in my favorite natural area. High summer is fully upon us here in the sweltering Mid-Atlantic. Unfortunately, for the last few days, it's been so hot and humid I have been keeping the air conditioner on and the windows closed, so I can't hear the katydids singing at twilight.

Firefly numbers are dwindling, too. I think they peaked early and then experienced a precipitous decline during the last week. I recall that fireflies used to be abundant until the end of July, but if current trends prevail, they'll be all but gone by the end of the month this year.

I wish that the same could be said of the mosquitoes, which seem to be doing just fine despite the bone-dry, rainless conditions.