Sporobolus heterolepis

I love me some native clump grasses doing what they do in the spring. These are on the east side of the Bernheim Visitor Center in a large monoculture planting of prairie dropseed. I also love em in the fall when they seed out and smell like cilantro. Makes me think I work in a Oxacan tacoria.

Oh the Fallness of it All

All these shots from October 22, 2009. A few days before peak fall color in my neck of the woods.

Nine Days Later

The top picture of this maple was taken on 10/21/09.
The bottom picture was taken on 10/30/09.
A big wind on the 30th undressed her.

Poly Culture

It is increasingly clear to me that we would be well served to consider plants in "community" more than in single species plantings. And although I know this is a design aesthetic opinion, I think that community plantings look much better. As climate change rears it's ugly head I think that monoculture will become the luxury of fools and the childless.

Mindful of Mycellium - Rain in May

All found in the mulch under one Chinese chestnut tree on May 6th.
Can you imagine the interconnection of mycellium running around beneath the surface. We give little credit to these things but I am convinced we work for them somehow. Not the other way around.

Hornbeam - October 08 to May 09

In chronological order:
October 1
November 9
November 23
January 29
April 12
April 19
April 27
May 3

Thawed But Bent

A heavy load of ice on January 29th has this birch still bent on May 7th. Likely a storm it will never recover from. The character of a tree is shaped by moments in time. That is surely true for us as well. But character is what defines us.

Big Burn, Little Burn, Flicker

Bernheim uses fire as a tool to help re-establish native grasslands. In my backyard I'm doing the same thing on a smaller scale. Little bluestem, Indian grass, prairie dropseed, Virginia wild rye, bottlebrush grass, river oats, and a bunch of native wildflowers do very well with periodic burns.

To be clear about this... burning like this is ILLEGAL in the city. I have no idea who set my native grass patch on fire?

I'd like to make a formal complaint.

Six Shots in a Winter Wood

(Shot with iPhone using "camera bag" application set on Lolo)

Sunday, January 4th. Sixty degrees.
Old Headquarters Road.
Overcast, damp.
Bernheim.
Alone.
Quiet.

Hornbeam Replay

October 1, 2008
November 9, 2008
November 23, 2008

And incidentally...nobody prunes these.

Walnut Revisited

Back to the walnut. Probably won't blog about her again until she starts leafing out come spring. The top picture is just before she lost her last leaves and the bottom picture is from a few days ago. Love me some November skies. Now it's time for the grand darkness. I will bear it until mid February. But then I will begin yearning for that first spring thunderstorm when I can throw open my bedroom window and let the house breathe again.

Lake Nevin after a Drought

Messing about with stitched photos. Click on the image and you can see it better. This is where I was mucking around (literally) looking for great blue heron foot prints this morning.