5/31/10 REMEMBER...

LONG MAY IT WAVE
HIGH BUSH CRANBERRY
PAGODA DOGWOOD
MOUNTAIN MAPLE

Monday, Memorial Day, 7:30 AM. 54 degrees, wind light, from the NW at ground level, and from the SW at cloud level. The barometer predicts sunshine but we need rain.
Alternate-leaved, or pagoda dogwood (Cornus alternifolia) is a handsome shrub or small tree native to mostly northern and eastern US dry woods and rocky slopes.
Mountain maple (Acer spicatum) is similar in aspect, range and habitat.
High bush cranberry (Viburnum trilobum) is a shrub native to cool woods of the upper Midwest and eastern US and southern Canada. It is not a cranberry but its red berries are edible and used for preserves.
Let us remember to take time today to thank God and our fallen comrades for the freedoms we yet enjoy, and pledge ourselves to the preservation of our Constitution and its ideals.

5/30/10 AT THE BEACH

WILD BLACK CHERRY
A LONE KYAKER SETS OUT FROM THE BEACH

SAND CHERRY
PURPLE AVENS
BARREN STRAWBERRY

Sunday, 8:00 AM. 56.5 degrees, wind N, light. The sky is lightly clouded and somewhat hazy. The barometer predicts rain.
Both sand cherry (Prunus pumila), and wild black cherry (P. serotina) are blooming at the beach.
The yellow flowered plant is barren strawberry, (Waldsteinia fragaroides) native to northern woods, and the purple flowered plant is purple avens (Geum triflorum) a far north native.
Both are in the rose family.

5/28/10 PLEASED WITH THE JOB

PLANT SALE IN FOUNTAIN GARDEN PARK
LARGE BALSAM FIR...
PROVIDE PRIVACY
AS DOES A WHITE PINE
TIMBER...
A LARGE TAMARACK REPLACES THE ASPEN

Saturday, 7:00 AM. 54 degrees, wind WNW, dead calm. The sky is cloudless with some haze over the lake. The barometer predicts rain, although I think not today, which is the annual Heritage Society plant sale in Fountain Garden Park.
The landscape project south of town on the lake is completed and I am pleased with the results. The objective was to provide privacy screening from the heavily used Brownstone Trail, which passes by the property. Large balsam fir, white pine and tamarack were used, with a few smaller hemlocks. A tall, dying aspen was removed. The plantings add ecological diversity and esthetic interest to the existing forest. The trees were about as large as could be moved without heavy equipment, which would have done significant damage to the forest under story.
Today we will go to Ashland to attend friend Mike Newago’s ordination into the priesthood of the Old Catholic Church. Congratulations, Mike! I visited Jay in the hospital yesterday, he is doing well considering the circumstances. He will be transferred to Duluth on Tuesday for further surgery.

5/28/10 A BAD DAY YESTERDAY

SHOULD BE A COOLER DAY
BLUE BELLS
LOOK CLOSELY AND YOU WILL SEE THE BEAR
COLUMBINE

Friday, 7:00 AM. 59 degrees, wind NE, light. The sky is almost cloudless and the barometer predicts partly cloudy skies. It will be a cooler day if the NE wind prevails.
Columbine (Columbine canadensis) is native to rocky cliffs and waste places throughout the eastern US and Canada.
The bluebells, this one I think to be Mertensia paniclata, are native to southern Canada and the northern US around the Great Lakes.
Yesterday was a bad day. Jay Cblick, owner of Jay’s Tree Care and a good friend and business associate, fell two stories out of a tree and broke his femur badly. He is a tough guy but we will pray for his quick and full recovery anyway. He is lucky to be alive.
The bear was seen on Chequamegon Rd. just south of Bayfield at 4:00 PM yesterday. Probably the same big guy that has been roaming about the neighborhood.

5/27/10 RIGHT ON TIME

A "PERFECT TEN" DAY
LAST NIGHT'S FULL MOON
RED OZIER DOGWOOD
FALSE SOLOMON'S SEAL IN FULL BLOOM
JUNEBUG, JUST ON TIME

Thursday, 7:30 AM. 61 degrees and rapidly rising, wind W, light to calm. The sky is virtually cloudless and the barometer predicts sunny skies. Last evening's full moon sky was beautiful.
The red-osier dogwood (Corns stolonifera) is in bloom. It can be an attractive shrub in all seasons, even in winter with its colorful stems. It is a plant of wet or damp places and good for naturalizing, although as its species name implies, it spreads and should be used with some caution.
The false Solomon’s seal is now in full bloom, flowers changed from yellow to white. The June bugs are right on time, as are the monarch and viceroy butterflies.
We have large evergreens arriving today right on time also) for a job just out of town on the lake and we will be busy with a challenging installation for a few days.
It seems all of nature is right on time.

5/26/10 WEARING OUT ONE'S WELCOME

CLOUDY BUT CLEARING
NORTHWOODS NURSERY
CANADA MAYFLOWER
FALSE SOLOMON'S SEAL
THE LUPINES ARE BLOOMING

Wednesday, 7:15 AM. 60.5 degrees. Wind W, gusty . There is .25” of rain in the gage and the sky is overcast but the barometer predicts mostly sunny skies.
Some big pines and spruce have been cut in a vacant lot on 9th St., and the groundcover plants have surged in growth. Canada mayflower (also called wild lily-of-the-valley), Maianthemum canadense, and false Solomon’s seal, Smilacina racemosa, both in the Lily family, are blooming profusely.
The trip to the Northwoods Nursery was pleasant, and we brought back a truckload of roses and blueberries. The lupines are blooming and should be impressive this year.
The big bear that came through our yard last week camped out on a neighbor’s deck for too long a time last Sunday afternoon. He is probably wearing out his welcome.

5/25/10 A NICE DAY FOR A LITTLE TRIP

GOOD WEATHER
GOOD JOB ON THE BASKETS, ART
UPSIDE DOWN TOMATO BASKET
VIBURNUM 'MOHICAN'
MOUNTAIN ASH, SOBUS DECORA

Tuesday, 6:45 AM. 60 degrees, wind W, calm. The sky is mostly clear with some haze over the lake. The barometer predicts mostly sunny weather.
The handsome tree is a mountain ash native to the Great Lakes region, Sorbus decora. I think it a better landscape tree than the European mountain ash or the American mountain ash, but all are useful and often hard to tell apart.
The Viburnum genus is mostly hardy, beautiful and useful, this being a hybrid, V. ‘Mohican.’
The baskets and pots are all done and the porch will now be our outdoor living room for the summer. Andy and Judy gave us one of those upside down tomato planters; it was a lot of work to put it together but we look forward to lots and lots of tomatoes.
We leave after breakfast for an all day trip to our wholesale nursery in Rhinelander. It should be a nice ride in the new truck

5/24/10 MAY WINE

FOGGY MORNING
LILY-OF-THE-VALLEY
NATURALIZED LILY-OF-THE-VALLEY
A DECANTER OF MAY WINE
SWEET WOODRUFF BLOSSOM
SWEET WOODRUFF IN BLOOM

Monday, 58 degrees, wind W, calm. The sky is overcast and dense fog obscures the channel. Ferry horns are braying incessantly. The barometer however predicts partly cloudy skies. Yesterday turned out hot and muggy and a good convertible evening.
Every spring I make May wine. Some folks like it, some (e.g., Joan) don’t. It’s an Old World spring tonic, meant to thin the blood and dispel bad humors. Use any white wine, Rhine will do. Put a few flowering sprigs of sweet woodruff (Galium asperula) in the bottle or decanter and let it steep for up to a week. Any longer and I think it becomes too strong.
Don’t waste money on an expensive wine until you know you like it, and probably not then. Sweet woodruff is very hardy and a nice ground cover, and there is even a northern Wisconsin town called Woodruff. There are native North American relatives of woodruff, called cleavers or bedstraw, but they won’t do the job. So, say skoal, prosit, salute or ay other European drinking salutation, and toast winter out, and summer in.
Lily-of-the-valley, Convalaria majalis, is in bloom. Also of European origin and a common garden plant, it is very sweet scented and bears decorative red berries. It has been used since ancient times in folk medicine as a heart stimulant, and is reputedly not as dangerous as Digitalis, but don’t fool with this plant on your own.

5/23/10 SUNDAY MORNING SERMONETTE

FOUNTAIN GARDEN PARK ON A QUIET SUNDAY MORNING
GURGLING FOUNTAIN
WAS IT A REALLY BAD GOLF GAME?

Sunday, 7:00 AM. 62.5 degrees, wind W, light to calm. The sky is overcast and the sun has been trying to peek through. The barometer predicts rain but it is a very quiet, pleasant morning.
Fountain Garden Park, just down the street from Garden View, was a place of contemplative beauty this morning, its' Nineteenth Century fountain gurgling mellifuously, preaching a Sunday morning sermonette.
A weekend resident on 8th St. is either spoofing some of us overly-serious Bayfield gardeners or is perhaps following some arcane religious dictate, such as “Thou shalt beat thy swords into plowshares and thy golf clubs into garden ornaments,” or maybe he just had a really bad golf game.

5/22/10 AZALEAS IN BAYFIELD? YOU BET!

LOOKS LIKE RAIN
RED JADE FLOWERING CRAB APPLE
HARDY AZALEAS

Saturday, 7:15 AM. 52 degrees, wind W, very light. The sky is overcast with high gray clouds and the barometer predicts rain.
We installed the landscape in the photos last fall and I am very pleased with the results, particularly the azaleas at the back deck. They are ‘Rosy Lights’ and ‘White Lights,” plants of the ‘Lights’ azaleas introduced by the University of Minnesota. The whole series is hardy in Bayfield. Azaleas and Rhododendrons are all in the genus Rhododendron, the primary difference being that azaleas are deciduous and rhododendron leaves persistent. Rhododendron species occur throughout the Northern Hemisphere with a few in Australia, and there has been much horticultural hybridization. There are a dozen species throughout southeastern Canada and the eastern and southern U.S. Wisconsin has one native Rhododendron, the Lapland rose bay, a glacial relict occurring along the Dells of the Wisconsin River.

5/21/10 A SMALL PRICE TO PAY

AN OLD APPLE TREE COVERED WITH BLOSSSOMS
A JAPANESE FLOWERING CHERRY TREE
JAPANESE CHERRY TREE BLOSSOMS

ATTRACTIVE BARK

Friday, 7:30 AM. 49 degrees, wind WNW, calm. The sky is somewhat overcast and the barometer predicts rain, although it does not appear imminent.
This Japanese flowering cherry tree (there are many cultivars, I won’t hazard a guess) in a neighbor’s yard is quite nice. It blooms heavily, and its bark is attractive in all seasons.
There are few trees more beatiful than a craggy old apple tree covered with blossoms. Unfortunately, people often cut them down because the useless apples litter the ground, attract insects and are difficult to pick up and dispose of. But a little seasonal mess is a small price to pay for such beauty.