Shadow of Seed

The native grasses are so much more elegant than the ones that were brought here. That's what comes when you are from your place. This is the river oats which is ripe with seed just now.

Yucca - Peak Bloom

I always look forward to the yucca by the back corner of the house to go into peak bloom. The color of the blooms against the mint green lap siding is beautiful. It's peak bloom right now. Thursday, June 9th.

Options-Selection-Result

On Sunday, October 10th we took a family outing to Hubers. Not sure that trip will be on our yearly agenda. There was more that resembled an outdoor big box store than there was that resembled a farm. But Ruby had a good time. The final result is a fast molding pumpkin on our front porch. The weather is too warm to support longevity for this feller. This is Ruby's first Jack-O-Lantern.

Ruby on the Rocks

Were I to have my druthers, here is a partial list of materials I would prefer my daughter play with:
Wood
Wool
Stone
Sand
Bone
Shell
Water
Soil
Cotton
Iron
Rock
Leaf
There are surely more things. But the list of things I would rather not be in her life is much longer. And I can't spell most of them.

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.

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.

Curious Garden Indeed

A new favorite book.
A little boy named Liam (cool name) lives in a nasty ole town with not much going for it in the way of green spaces or gardens. He explores an elevated railway track and finds a struggling little garden there and takes it upon himself to become the gardener of the little patch. The little patch begins to grow and expand. A moderately reasonable story of succession involving mosses is communicated. (As a bryologist this gave the book a bonus point.)

Evenually the garden takes over the entire rail line, then rooftops, then every abandoned thing ends up as a little oasis. But more importantly, more gardeners begin appearing. The once dreary landscape is transformed.

This book provides some important lessons:

• Start where you are with what you have.
• Start small but dream big.
• Nature wins. Even in our abandoned industrial spaces.
• Succession is your friend.
• Gardening is contagious.
• Transformation is possible.

Buy this book for the kids in your lives. But more importantly, take them out to plant something. There is even a package of seeds in the book. Personally, I would never plant them because it doesn't say what seeds are in it. But it makes a good book mark.

The Curious Garden by Peter Brown
Little, Brown and Company, Books for Young Readers
New York, Boston
(c) 2009
$16.99

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.