CLOSE, BUT NO CIGAR

NO BUFFALO...AND NO CIGAR!

HISTORIC APPLE SHED ON WASHINGTON AVE.

SMITH FIRE LANE...

...AFTER THE RAIN

Saturday,  8:30 AM.  40 degrees F, wind WNW,  with occasional light gusts.  The sky is mostly cloudy but clearing. We had a trace of rain last night, and the humidity is still 90%.  The barometer is trending down slightly and stands at 29.72".  The weather forecasts are predicting frost, and the Farmers Almanac calls for "unseasonably chilly" weather over the next few days.  Glad the plants are in.

   Yesterday morning it looked like it would rain most of the day, but by early afternoon it suddenly cleared and  the rest of  the day it was cool but sunny, with big, puffy cumulous clouds, so we ventured down the muddy back roads.  The Ridgeline didn't get stuck, but we won't brag about it and jinx our luck.

   A few posts ago I was pretty cocky about identifying and describing a buffalo berry bush, Shephardia argentea.  Of course, as you can guess, it turns out I was wrong, and it is instead a very closely related plant in the same small family, Eleagnus umbellata, Japanese silverberry, native to the Himalayas and much of Asia.  Introduced to North America in the 1830's as a useful food plant, it has of late been considered an invasive species.  The main identification difference between it and buffalo berry is that it has alternate leaves and branches, and the later has opposite.  

   I was proven wrong in my identification by Beth, the savvy gardener  who first asked me what it was, as she took my name for the plant, Googled it, and found the information that proved me wrong.  One has to be darn sure to double check his facts in these days of instant knowledge.  As they say, "Close, but no cigar."  Anyway, thanks Beth, we are all the wiser now.  

   And thanks also for the fruit leather you made from the berries, it is really quite good.  I guess if we all picked the silver berries for food  as they do in Asia the plant wouldn't have a chance to be invasive.

   I heard a political analyst say today that the only thing wrong with Obamacare is its implementation, that the theory behind it is perfectly valid.  That may be true, but a theory isn't of any practical use until it can be implemented.  It wasn't the Theory of Relativity that was dropped from  the Enola Gay to end WWII.  Forget about the cigar; Obamacare isn't even close!