I’m Not Dead Yet (See? I’m writing a blog.)

I found this little orange fruit growing on a tree nearby. (Not a great picture – my camera broke and I had to scan it. :-() I was convinced it was a tiny nectarine at first, but not enough to eat it and find out. Plus, I don’t think too many people grow nectarines in MN. After a lot of scouring the web, I began to suspect it was an apricot tree. Weird, since the little fruit was absolutely not fuzzy. But, it had an apricot-like pit, it smelled like an apricot, and, it tasted like a rather unripe one. Yes, I finally worked up the courage to try it. Hasn’t killed me yet. Probably not a super smart idea, though. Anyway, I’ll have to watch and see if they really do turn into real-looking apricots in a couple of weeks. On that note, I’m going to be heading to the east coast soon, so you probably won’t hear too much from me. But maybe when I return I can write a post on great white sharks. If they don’t eat me first.

Teeny Little Pink Butterflies

I have Candytuft flowers growing in my garden. I was looking at them yesterday, and I noticed how the petals on the flower all look like teeny little pink butterflies, bursting out of the stem (their bottom wings all point in). Seemed cute to me. Has anyone had candytuft in different colors? I thought they could be any color, but mine are all pink.

Gossamer

I found all of these cool, mostly-decayed leaves lying on the ground.  I don’t know if they were only in that spot, or if I’ve just never noticed them before, but they caught my eye and I thought they were really beautiful, like gossamer, even though they’re decomposing.  I’m pretty sure they’re created when leaves fall and start to decay, but since the leafy part decomposes faster than the veins, you get this cool leaf-skeleton. Voila!

Cornflower

A cornflower grew in my garden.

I love this poem about cornflowers by Cicely Mary Barker:

“‘Mid scarlet of poppies and gold of the corn,

In wide-spreading fields were the cornflowers born;

But now I look round me and what do I see?

That lilies and roses are neighbours to me!

There’s a beautiful lawn, there are borders and beds,

Where all kinds of flowers raise delicate heads;

For this is a garden, and here, a boy blue,

I live and am merry the whole summer through.

My blue is the blue that I always have worn,

And still I remember the poppies and corn.”

Ginkgo

This is a leaf from a ginkgo tree.  First word that comes to mind: funky.  This is a tree with an attitude.  I didn’t know they grew this far north, but apparently they do.  I love ginkgo leaves.  They make me think of a fan, or an umbrella, or a bird with a long beak seen from above.

Hey!

This rather ugly critter was so weird-looking I wondered if it wasn’t some sort of duck-goose hybrid – an ugly guckling?

Looking up from a Metro station in Washington, D.C. 

The jellyfish at the National Zoo are amazing. You can actually see electricity coursing through them.

This orangutan made me sad. She looked right at me, and her eyes were so human – she doesn’t belong in a cage.

Coming out of Mammoth Caves. Located in Kentucky, it’s already the largest cave in the world, and only a tiny fraction of it has been discovered.

Magnolias

I’m Back, and better than ever!

This last month I was on vacation all over America. Here are a few pictures:

Flowers!

It’s been warm here for a couple months already, which has gotten the plants all confused. They’ve been sticking more to their usual schedule. So in the past several weeks, they’ve blossomed with beautiful flowers, although some of them have already shed their flowers for thick leaves. The lilacs smell wonderful, although in early spring there was a kind of magnolia that made the air smell like cinnamon. The apple trees are magnificent – they are covered in delicate flowers, and each tree has its own shade, from pinkish-white to magenta.

There are plenty of flowers on the ground, too. Dandelions (of course), bluets, violets and white violets. The tulips aren’t wild, but they are everywhere anyway, and they  come in every color imaginable.

apple blossom (left) and white violet

Leaf Art

Oaks don’t turn any brighter in the fall. Just a dull brown.

The trees have dropped most of their leaves now, & it’s interesting to see all the shapes and colors nature comes up with.

The leaves end up in the most interesting shapes. I found these two stuck together.

 

Elms turn an orange/yellow color. They’re one of the most common trees.

Splash of Gold

goldenrod

It’s been pretty gray & gloomy here this week, but the dark weather was made nicer by some bright colors. Some goldfinches flew in  from somewhere (where?) to feed on/perch in the blooming bundles of goldenrod. I don’t have a finch feeder, so I don’t see these bright little birds often, but it’s a nice treat when they come around. The male goldfinches are a vibrant yellow with black bars on their wings, but the females are a greenish-gray, and can be hard to pick out when they’re in a crowd with sparrows, juncos, & chickadees. They like to eat thistle/nyjer seed, like most finches. Goldfinches are more common further south, but they show up now & then to add some color to the brown/gray residents that live here all year.

Fall Flowers

It’s easy to think of autumn plants as dying, brown, or gone. But when all the showy bright flowers of summer stop blooming, a whole new variety of beautiful plants comes to life. These are often smaller flowers, usually in pale or duller colors, like the autumn joy Sedum, which is a dusty pink. I recently noticed a new autumn-blooming plant that has become very common – the large-leaved aster. These tiny lavender flowers look like a miniature daisy, with a yellow center that turns red-brown as it matures. Some of them are planted in gardens, but most are just growing wherever they haven’t been weeded out. There are over 20 types of asters in MN.

Summer Lilies

As summer gets hotter & hotter, more plants begin to come to life. One of the most noticeable and beautiful of these is the lily. Lilies bloom along every alley & in most yards. These large plants spread quite a lot, & don’t die easily. Most of them are tiger lilies, all black & orange, but a few are purple. Bees and other insects love them, not to mention people.

Rhubarb Finally Sprouting!

After a long winter, seeing little plants sprout up in the garden is the nicest thing! The rhubarb has just started growing, & at first it’s a very funny looking plant, as the leaves are all shriveled up. It’s one of the earliest plants to start growing, & it grows very fast. In just 3 or 4 days it’s gone from being barely the size of my thumb, to about 4 – 5 inches tall. Some of the other newly sprouting plants are dandelions, lots of bluets, & even a few tulips. In just a few weeks, the ground has lost its dull brown hue, & become splashed with every bright color in the rainbow!

Crocuses!

The crocuses are finally poking through the ground. They are usually the very first flowers to come up here, & although the other plants are barely alive, these bright blossoms are already in full bloom. Most of them are a light violet color, but a few of them are a cheerful yellow. It’s so nice to finally see those flowers!

Maples Running

 The Maple trees here have started to run their sap. I tapped my tree a few days ago, & already have quite a bit of sap. However, when boiled down to syrup, it will hardly make anything. This year the tree is finally big enough for 2 taps, so there’ll be more syrup. Still, since my tree is a silver maple & not a sugar maple, there isn’t a very high sugar content in the sap. But because there was such a slow thaw this year, it’s hopeful that I’ll get a bigger batch of sap than the years before!

Heat Wave

Its’ 30° today – almost at the freezing point! All the birds, squirrels, & other animals are out (not to mention people), enjoying the warm weather – how sad is that?

The buds on the trees are all getting bigger, & the rabbits & deer down in the woods are happily munching on this fresh snack. Even though it’s only January, all the plants & animals are preparing for spring.

Buds Already!

Buds have already started to appear on the bare trees, even this early in the winter. They sit on the trees all winter, dormant, but when they begin to feel warm weather in the spring, they’ll come to life & open up into bright flowers. The buds also serve as a source of food to animals such as deer & rabbits in the winter, when there are no nuts or fresh grass to eat.

Trees & Tail Waggers: More Alike Than You Might Think

At first, dogs  & trees might not seem to have much in common, but actually, their bodies work in similar ways. Nearly everyone knows that trees lose their leaves in the autumn, & it might seem obvious that dogs shed in the spring & fall, but have you ever wondered why some dogs shed all year long? Also, wild animals only shed seasonally. The answer is that an outdoor dog – one who spends most of it’s days in the yard or some other place outdoors, will only shed in the spring & fall, while an indoor dog, one who spends it’s life inside, only going outdoors for walks, will probably shed all year round.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  This is directly related to the amount of sunlight the dog gets, i.e., how much of the change in the air surrounding the autumn & spring the dog experiences.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      This same thing happens to trees & bushes in the fall. If you look closely at a bush that has begun to change color, you will notice that the top leaves change first, & when leaves are over lapping, parts of the lower leaf that are under the other will not change until later in the fall.

Neon Leaves

One of the first trees to change its leaves from bright, lively green, to deep oranges & reds, during the fall the sumac bush is one of the most eye-catching plants around. It has red, fuzzy berries, & though it is technically a tree, it grows low to the ground & appears more like a bush. It must be more sensitive to light & air changes in the autumn than most trees; not only is the difference between the bright neon colors on the top leaves & the lighter colors on the bottom leaves obvious, but in some places, where the leaves overlap, the parts of one leaf which are sheltered by another one haven’t yet turned green.

Last Dandelion

The last 1 or 2 dandelions from warmer months are still hanging on. These are mostly summer flowers, but a few have decided to stick around until it gets really cold. They only like warm weather though, so they probably won’t be around much longer.

Purple

Most of the trees in the autumn turn red, yellow, or orange in the fall, but actually certain trees turn purple. I believe they are Crimson King Maples, a fast-growing maple tree that is found almost everywhere. In fall, its’ leaves darken & turn almost an eggplant purple color.