6/01/12 THE "RED SEA," TOO MUCH TIME ON THEIR HANDS, AND DESPIRATION

IN THE MEANTIME...

DAME'S ROCKET...

...FOUR-PETALLED FLOWERS

DESPIRATION

THE "RED SEA"

 Friday, 8:15 AM.  49 degrees F, wind NW, light.  The sky is cloudless except for some haze over Madeline Island.  The humidity is 75%.  The barometer predicts rain but certainly not until much later in the day or this evening.  In the meantime it is a fine, fine day.
        The recent torrential rains have brought sand and silt in major proportions from the always unstable sandy banks of tributary streams to Chequamegon Bay.  The end result is the lower bay at Ashland looking like the Red Sea.
        I found the pink flowers pictured in Maslowski Park in Ashland.  They are Hesperis matronalis, dame’s rocket.  It is an old fashioned garden perennial, and not much grown or seen anymore.  It is easily mistaken for woodland Phlox, but the two are readily distinguished by the number of petals in a flower; Hesperis has four petals, Phlox has five.  Dame’s rocket is on the Wisconsin DNR list of invasive species.  I have never seen it  be invasive anywhere except in abandoned back yards.  As a “restricted species” under State NR40, it may not be transported, transferred, sold or introduced, and if they are already growing the state encourages that they be destroyed.  I think some state employees have had too much time on their hands.
        It is now only four days until the recall election, and I think the “Recall Walker” contingent is getting increasingly desperate, now accusing the governor of being “anti-woman,” and posting signs to that affect, as though the young family man was some sort of misogynist.