Things I'll Miss



Some things to miss from the cottage on the hill...


Morning light through window panes.


This window...


Because it opens out with no screen. I used it daily to toss creatures back where they belong.


I won't miss this...


Or this. A little too Maximum Overdrive for my taste.

Return Of Gamera




I stepped outside to see this guy or girl yesterday. A snapper?



Its back has duckweed on it, so I well assumed it came from the wetland behind my cottage.


I left it alone for awhile, and when I returned, it was nowhere in sight.


The wetland behind the cottage, in a gully. The bright green stuff in the back is duckweed. After I took this photo, two mallards floated by.


Not that this has anything to do with that, but on the porch. The spiders will be dragging me out of the cottage on Sunday, just like the beetle.


How To Remove That Mother*#@* Tick


I've been lucky, and after my two recent tick encounters, being in the grassy fields and woods has become a little more of a chore because of relentless checking and rechecking. Past experiences told me that the tick is a slow moving creature, but recent experiences have shown me otherwise. So check and recheck as I walk and photograph. Anyway, here is a post by C4 at the Clueless Gardeners on how to remove a tick. I'll add the link to my RESOURCES list on the right.

A History of Violets


I married into horticultural heritage. My wife's family, and excuse me for thinking this is cool, has horticultural history in a broad sense. And like a good friend recently said, it seems that people who have a family history of doing something tend to take it lightly, while those who are new to it, take it rather seriously. Whether or not you agree with that, my wife has a casual attitude about gardening compared to my sense of endeavor.

Her great grandfather owned a nursery on Lyndale Avenue in what was at the time the southern outskirts of Minneapolis, MN.  Family lore is that he bred and patented the first North American double mock orange -that old-fashioned shrub making a comeback. As is often the case, the children weren't interested in the nursery trade, so they sold the nursery and location to Bachmann's -the nursery that was recently featured on Garden Rant. Seeing his life work go out the door nearly killed him. After the sale, my wife's grandfather started a raspberry farm and opened a stall at the Minneapolis Farmer's Market selling flats of annuals, vegetables, and in season -raspberries.

My wife's mother had been around the Minneapolis Farmer's Market her whole life. She took over her father's stall, but when the Hmong came to the area in the late 1970s and began selling the same for less, she shifted her business to selling field-cut (and roadside-cut) flowers, ornamental gourds and native perennials long before doing so was common in Minneapolis. She became one of six, and the only Minneapolis area, Minnesota licensed growers and sellers of native orchids, for which people sought her out. Is it needless to say that growing orchids is considerably difficult? She was making a living off the land, near a major metropolitan area, when this was still possible.

My father-in-law father is a woodsman, he can name any tree in the Minnesota woods. He was the president of the N.A. Maple Syrup Association for a spell, and had a regionally reknowned sap-house. Most comfortable in the woods, but also an engineer, and loves weather. Not only can he tell you the changing weather simply by looking at the sky, but he invented a tool for doing so (Honeywell thought there was no market). He also invented a system for bringing in the maple sap from all the trees and a method for utilizing heat more efficiently in the sap boiler. It may not be horticulture, but it is a sense for the natural world, and a deep understanding of his woods.

My wife is an artist who at times incorporates plants, growth, and natural cycles into her work. Her brother picked up the family's knack for growing, running the greenhouses in Breckenridge, MN for the Minneapolis area Tonkadale Nursery.

She thinks its amazing that she married someone who likes plants and gardens, because it isn't something she sought out, yet it is completely familiar in the true sense of the word. I think its amazing that I found someone who is completely comfortable with plants and that she takes it casually, allowing me my sense of endeavor. 

I was thinking of all this in part because of two Rant posts reminding me of her family history, but also because I am returning home this week. A month in isolation can seem like a year. But its been a good year, rewarding in ways I'm not even aware. 

From the Bulletin of Popular Information of the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University:

Mock Orange inroductions by Guy D. Bush, Minnesota plantsman, my wife's great grandfather:

'Minnesota Snowflake' (P. X virginalis) 6 ft. high, Zone 3
Introduced by Guy D. Bush, Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1935, and patented
(#538) August 11, 1942. It is said to be hardy to -30° F. Flowers double, 1 inch 
in diameter, with 3-7 flowers in each cluster and fragrant. Clothed with branches
well to the ground, it makes an excellent specimen for northern gardens.

'Frosty Morn'  4 ft. high, Zone 3
Originated by Guy D. Bush, Minneapolis, Minn., and patented (#1174) March
10, 1953, it has very fragrant, double flowers, and has been noted as withstand-
ing the "coldest Minnesota winters without damage from freezing back". An
excellent mock-orange for cold areas.

Old Field Revert



The scent in the air changes dramatically as you near the field reverting to forest. Probably all the decay -decay never smelled so good.


I've seen lots of this in different regions of the North East, but I do not think it looks like a weed. My guess on this one is Lysimachia, a native one. On the farm, its growing in the old field reverting to forest, trail-side.  See the whorled leaves and little flower buds shooting out from the petiole.


Too bad I'll miss blueberry season.


Cow Wheat, Melampyrum lineare, a native of eastern N.A.  I found a patch of it growing beside the trail in the field reverting to forest.


Mountain Laurel, Kalmia latifolia, is now in bloom in the woods, underneath the oak and tulip trees. Mildly scented, you can pick it up as you walk through the laurel forest.

Inspecticide 2: The Tick Necklace

Its important for me to say that I generally like insects -they are most amazing. I have my favorites and those that I simply would rather not have crawling on me. In my search for the type of red creature this is, I can say I've gotten close: a red mite or a velvet mite, superfamily Trombidioidea. It is a mite, not an insect.



But when I get into it, it's not long before I begin to feel that itchy sensation -like they're all crawling on me. On my Tulip Tree journey, I had my first (aware of) run-in with a deer tick. It looked just like this, climbing up my jeans:


Copyright: Lynette Schimming, 2006

I had been in the woods many times. I had stopped to photo the tulip trees, then my wife wanted to show me the difference between the Trillium leaves and the Jack-in-the-Pulpit leaves (another post). I'm pretty sure that's where I picked her up, the female tick that is. I had sprayed my shoes and knees down with skintastic and a citronella product. Tick did not care and was wasting no time crawling up me leg. I flicked her off.


photo credit: Charles Schurch Lewallen, 2006

Nothing is more gross (well, maybe some things) than a fully engorged tick. Our dog used to get ticks attached occasionally when I was a kid. They'd drop off, you'd see them slowly making their way and slam, pop, exploded blood everywhere.

I haven't been aware of a tick on me since 1995, after a three day stint in Hell's Canyon National Recreation Area. I caught it before it started its meal -on my ass! But that's another story.

When attending college in the Hudson Valley, friends and I used to bushwack relentlessly in the Shawangunks. We tick-searched and groomed like chimps afterward and no ticks ever found.

When I lived in San Miguel, New Mexico, I was alarmed to see armies of ticks marching across my patio in the garden I created, but then even inside the house. The neighbors dog was wearing them like gray pearls. Later I was told that the mice in the area, and the straw in the mud bricks used to construct my building, were quite hospitable to ticks. Still, I never wore one.

But once I got the tick on me pants the other day, I became more conscious of the possibility, how easy it is.

I've never been a fan of insect repellent, which I always took to be the first cousin of pesticides, and one that you sprayed on yourself! But I've been wearing below the knees the deet-containing skintastic that was left here by a former resident. Why, because this freaks me out more than anything:


Copyright: Lynette Schimming, 2005
Nymphal ticks, smaller, hard-to-see, abundant!

City gardener, we've got other dragons to slay. I'll take cat cocky, peckin' pigeons, satanic squirrels, foolishly flung footballs, sticky-fingered folks, and what else thy city will throw at me over the blood sucking minutiae of suburbia outward. Not to mention their other dragons -too many to list!

*UPDATE* 
I caught one of those nymphal ticks on me yesterday. I never would have caught it, as it was hightailing up my leg, but I was checking every few minutes because I was stop and go strolling through what I now call the gauntlet -a thin trail with grass drooping in from each side. If I didn't see the moving dot...

No Rain, No Gain

I don't know why I was surprised to wake up this morning to more foggy, rainy weather. Its looking like the rest of my stay at Weir Farm will be similar. Period of unstable weather, jet stream shooting over head, keeps the systems coming. So, I guess we're all wet.

The air smells good here in the hills, I cannot say the same for NYC. At home, all that rain has been wreaking its heavy havoc on the New Dawn rose; here its been the peonies, and all else delicate and thin-limbed. The heavy rain the other day left puddles of peony petals on the stone wall underneath.

Speaking of peonies, I gave my talk last night at the Wilton Library. About 20-25 people came which I am told is a really high amount for this event. It went really well and the reason is that the audience was interested. I know, I know, is that too much to ask, but sometimes you can just hear the yawns. They asked questions before, during and after. I did run a little long, but we go started late. I showed all my work, including the sculpture and some bits of photos and the stop motion stuff I've been doing here along with my prior paintings. It was a lot to take in, and I'm sure I was a bit wordy.  Making art, thinking about it, so much of this takes place in my head. So its good to test it out on a willing audience. 

Oh, so why was this paragraph about peonies? Someone at the talk wants to buy a print of a peony photograph I showed -so thats cool. I have to look up services that print dig photos, high quality, this lady's top notch.  

Field Of Dreams

The old farm fields are incredibly productive with native and not, things growing so rapidly it appears to me to be later than early June.


Milkweed is always a standout.


Asclepias syriaca has stout stems, thick leaves that are lighter underneath, and milky sap when any part is torn. A favorite of the Monarch Butterfly in its larval stage. Native.


Three weeks ago I figured this to be another type of Milkweed, growing right across the path from a patch of milkweed.


But then it grew upper branches and looser flower heads. This is either Hemp Dogbane, Apocynum androsaemifolium or Indian Hemp, Apocynum cannabinum. I'm leaning toward the cannabinum.

I noticed the hemp held water droplets on its leaf after a rain, but the milkweed did not. The hemp does have a similar milky sap when broken.


Yellow Wood Sorrel, Oxalis stricta -one of those North American natives that also exists in Europe and Asia.

This one's called Swallowwort, cause it'll swallow anything in its path.


I thought Swallowwort was a nightshade, but it is not: Cynanchum nigrum.


This one's called Smooth Bedstraw.


Don't confuse it with Carpetweed - Smooth Bedstraw, Galium mollugo has squared stems. Then there's the native Catchweed Bedstraw, which this is not.


I think Red Sorrel is really good-looking in a field of grass.


Even close up, Rumex acetosella has it going on, but still it is a weed.


Red Clover, Trifolium pratense


Arenaria spp., chickweed -but which?




Ahh, spitwort! No, well you knew that. Spittle Bug actually excretes this out its anus, then hangs out in there.

Sparrow Vetch or Slender Vetch, Vicia tetrasperma, has tiny, but visible flowers.


Sparrow Vetch's leaves and tendrils say it's in the family of Peas.


Identifying these are a vetching problem. Vicia spp., Vetch.


Achillea millefolium or Common Yarrow


No weed at all, but in the field.


The fruit of the Red Cedar, Juniperus virginiana.


A mustard or lettuce of some kind...


A pea for sure, wisteria probably, what kind?



Bugaroo


Nice fur.


Not for the faint of eye. I'm lucky he held still.


Not for the faint of eye, 2.


Could you eat with the family while a hungry lion (Asian Lady Beetle) sits nearby?


Beauty and the beast.


Moth....



Ay, you lookin at me? No, Ima lookin achoo! Wood Cockroach?

Blue-Green Mystery Solved

Thanks be to the Internet. Well, the notion I was harboring all along...that this coloration was fungal, is true. Chlorociboria aeruginascens or C. aeruginosa.  Bless those who study fungus and organic chemistry. My phthalocyanine (blue-green pigment) was not so wrong-in fact led me in the right direction. Napthalocyanine is a derivative of the former and somehow the pigment of these fungi are connected to napthaquinone. Both naptha and now I am thoroughly out of my league. Apparently Green Stain oak is a commodity and is used for green colored wood projects. Check out the links to see:

Fungal Link A
Fungal Link B

Road To Improvement



All the field grasses are blooming, going to seed. There's too many to ID, I'll leave that to another time, another moment of growth.


I like the silvery grass, so hard to capture with my ancient camera, or any maybe.


It glows at dusk.


Its hard to imagine what this place looked like 100 years ago. Not this much woods, as the painting below attests.


Road To The Land of Nod by Child Hassam, 1910. 

I've tried to locate the quarry-like depression you see at the top of the hill in the painting. I'm pretty certain I found it, deep in the woods, behind a row of megalomansions. Anyhow, most trees cut for farming, stones thrown to walls -they called this land improvement back in the day. Nowadays, land improvement generally refers to home development, wetland drainage, road building, etc. or what we could call -building a tax base. Although some refer to reforestation, ecological restoration, and so on as land improvement (wikipedia art. definitely not written by the Land Improvement Contractors of America).


Green Mystery



These are terrible photos taken in the dark of the woods. Can you see the blue-green coloring to the rotting wood? Its been the biggest mystery of my travels through the woods. I've spotted this on every trail, in little piles, a broken branch. At first I thought the trail-blaze paint might have made the color, but I was dubious of this. Then I thought, some kind of treated wood? Because surely it looks like a copper pigment and copper being a main ingredient in CCA treated wood. But why would there be so much treated wood and why would it be whole branches and twigs? So no to that one.  It looks closest to Copper Phthalocyanine Blue/Green that I use for paint. 

Is it some kind of chemical reaction or algal growth? Anyone know?




Whats That On My Peonies?!

What's the biggest question people have before buying peonies? 

"Won't it bring ants, I hear it'll bring ants?"

It wouldn't be a peony if it didn't have ants crawling all over it. I haven't seen an old botanical illustration of peonies without their attendant. And I like ants, and think E.O. Wilson is great.


This beetle is doing his damage. I think flower petals look tasty too, and some are, but not peonies. I believe this is a Rose Chafer, known to eat roses, but with a side of peony. Its not one of those "exotic" beetles, just an ordinary North American.


Not unusual to see the ant on the bud, but there with a lightning bug? Hmm. I guess if its good enough for ant, its good enough for bug. I've seen them about, but not lighting up yet here in the CT hills.


The Green Lacewing. You'll often notice these in the evening, their fluttering illuminated by the brooding sky. Their larvae eat well in the garden, much like lady bug (aphids yum) and lightning bug larvae (slug babies yum).

Evening Walk


I was lured out to the Weir house by the light.

Then to the "Secret Garden" by the shrubs bursting with white flowers.

They perfumed the air.

The apple trees beyond.


Why it is I am so much less likely to go for an evening walk in my city environs, I'll not want to hazard. This evening's walk at the Farm was lovely as always. As I strolled around sniffing this, photographing that (always with the pictures!), I spotted some deer grazing the fields. Afterward, as I made my way back to the cottage, I paused to soak in the grassy field that is my favorite part of the landscape here. I felt a new current, as when you wade through a cold lake and, rather suddenly, you find yourself in warm water. An ever-so-slight pocket of warmer, more humid air surrounded me. Bliss.


Meadow view.

Let me get close.

I'm outa here.

The size-a-my tail!

The grass, the meadow.

I think it is my ideal landscape. I know my place, now more than ever -the space between cultivated and untouched, the messy place in the middle.

Peonies Envy


I do not grow peonies in my roughshod garden. Yet I always see them in the country side, in gardens and yards. I have little to say about the peonies that the photos do not already say. I will say this, however, about my camera -it always has trouble with the saturated, hot reds, pinks, and oranges.


They're grown in a row along this wall. Hear this suburban county reader: deer do not enjoy the herbaceous peonies (tree peonies another story). If they did enjoy peonies, these would have been gone decades ago. This peony bed happens to be situated right in the center of their town -Deertown. Apparently deer like to plant ornamentals in their town, not just edibles. They also would rather look at, as opposed to eat, the stalwart Salvia, stiffly blooming for weeks as if it is made of plastic.






I must admit to enjoying these compact bud balls as much as the flower.




Art Garden

My wife is in an art exhibition at the United States Botanical Garden. The show's web presence is pretty weak, but a little birdie tells me it's a good show and worth a visit if your in the Washington D.C. area. It runs until October 12, 2009.


These are two pictures of the same project, but the lower one is from a previous show. Pictures only tell part of the story. The growing potatoes in the paper bags are supplying electricity to a transmitter in the foil covered furniture. The foil enhances the signal transmission of the aria Come Scoglio. You can't hear it unless you have a radio receiver. Coincidentally, this is her second project at a botanical garden; the first having been at the Berkshire Botanic Garden.