THERE MAY BE GLOBAL WARMING SOMEWHERE, BUT NOT IN BAYFIELD

 FIRST PORCH BASKETS ARE UP

FIRST HUMINGBIRD OF SPRING ARRIVED TODAY(Google pohoto)

LAST FORSYTHIA BLOSSOMS AND LAST DAFFODILS

LAST TULIPS

Wednesday, 8:30 AM.  45 degrees F at the ferry dock, 45  on the back porch.  Wind ENE, mostly calm with light gusts.  The sky is cloudy with some overcast, the humidity 87%. The barometer is falling gently, now at 29.83".  Skies will be mixed and temperatures will rise into the the 60's by the weekend, then cool down again, with rain on Friday and Monday.  There may be Global Warming somewhere, but not in Bayfield.
   This has been a very late but long spring, first proclaimed by the daffodils which have lasted a full month but are about over, followed by the tulips that will go with the first warm days.  But there are always more firsts to usher in the latter stages of spring, such as putting up the porch baskets, and of course the arrival of the male hummingbirds. 
   I saw my first hummingbird of the year yesterday afternoon, flitting around one of the geranium baskets.  He almost bumped my nose, and he was either twittering, or his teeth were chattering.
   I don't know if I have ever been quick enough to take a photo of a hummingbird.  I sure couldn't find one in my digital archives, thus the Google photo.
   The boys are exactly a week late, their usual arrival in Bayfield is the 15th of May,  and is just as predictable as the return of the swallows to the California mission of San Juan Capistrano, . Perhaps they arrived on time and I missed them, but I doubt it.

A PRAYER TO GOD IN SPRING
   Robert Frost 
 
Oh, give us pleasure in the flowers to-day; 
And give us not to think so far away 
As the uncertain harvest; keep us here 
All simply in the springing of the year. 

Oh, give us pleasure in the orchard white,
Like nothing else by day, like ghosts by night; 
And make us happy in the happy bees, 
The swarm dilating round the perfect trees. 

And make us happy in the darting bird 
That suddenly above the bees is heard,
The meteor that thrusts in with needle bill, 
And off a blossom in mid air stands still. 

For this is love and nothing else is love, 
The which it is reserved for God above 
To sanctify to what far ends He will,
But which it only needs that we fulfil. 

T'WAS JUST A GARDEN IN THE RAIN

A GORGEOUS REDBUD

TOUR BUS...

...FULL OF GARDEN LOVERS

Tuesday, 9:00 AM   48 degrees F at the ferry dock, 47 on the back porch.  Wind variable and calm, the sky overcast.  The humidity is 87%, the barometer 29.88" and steady.  We may get a shower this afternoon, and the next few days will have mixed skies with high temperatures around fifty degrees, with yet another chance of rain by Friday.
   The continual rain hasn't dampened the spirits of gardeners touring Bayfield; witness the photos of gardeners enjoying "Martha's Fantastic Garden" (use the search engine for more info on Martha's garden).
   I like visiting gardens in the rain.  The colors are more vibrant, the plants at their best. Some of our best garden visits have been in the rain.

                                                   Garden In The Rain

T'was just a garden in the rain 
Close to a little leafy lane 
A touch of color 'neath skies of gray 
The raindrops kissed the flowerbeds 
The blossoms raised their leafy heads 
A perfumed thank you 
They seemed to say 

Surely here was charm beyond 
Compare to view 
Maybe it was just that 
I was there with you 

T'was just a garden in the rain 
But then the sun came out again 
And sent us happily on our way

  

PAPER BIRCH TREES ARE FLOWERING

PAPER BIRCH MALE CATKINS

PAPER BIRCH FEMALE CATKIN

RED ELDERBERRY IN A BAYFIELD RAVINE

Monday, 8:00 AM,  48 degrees F at the ferry dock, 47 on the back porch.  Wind SW, calm with light gusts.  The sky is overcast, the humidity 87%.  The barometer stands at 29.80".
   The paper birch, Betula papyrifera, in the Birch Family, is a tree of the far north, native in North America from the Great Lakes north to the Tundra and all across Canada and Alaska. It is in flower now, the trees bearing both male and female flowers. The small, wafer-like seeds will mature by fall, and will be gradually dispersed over many months, often seen freshly deposited on new snow and ice in winter, and they will be taken everywhere by wind and the waters of melting snow.
   Used as an ornamental, paper birch trees are usually planted in locations too hot and dry for them to thrive.  The natural habitats of paper birch are stream banks, the edges of swamps, rocky hillsides and wet sands, although they will grow on drier sites in a cool climate.
   The paper birch was, and still is, an important element in traditional American Indian life. The exfoliating bark (skillful removal does little to harm a mature tree) provides a light and durable material for canoes and for wigwams, and is an excellent fire starter. Birch Bark makes good drinking cups and baskets.  Birch wood is light and easily worked, and it makes excellent firewood.
   Native Americans had a number of medicinal uses for paper birch, and in many northern countries birch species are taped like maple trees and the sap fermented to make a birch beer, or boiled down to make sugar, although it is inferior to sugar maple sap in that regard.
   Even in nature, paper birch are short-lived trees, seldom lasting more than forty or fifty years, if that.  They are a pioneer species, requiring full sun, and in nature are shaded out by oaks, maples and fir trees.  Paper birch trees will often stand dead, held together by their bark, until a strong wind or other disturbance sends them crashing in a pile of lumpy sawdust.
   The bronze birch borer often kills whole groves of paper birch trees, even in the best native habitat, and it sneaks up on ornamental plantings and kills trees often before it is detected.  Trying to control the borer in the wild is pretty much impossible, and although it is possible to combat it in the home landscape the effort may not be worth it for what is necessarily an ephemeral tree.
   The bronze birch borer is the larvae of a beetle that inserts its eggs under the bark of the host tree, where the borers feed on the cambium of branches and trunks, eventually girdling and killing the tree.  Their presence is indicated by raised areas on branches that trace their tunneling. If the bark is peeled back with a sharp knife the tunnels and grubs can be seen.  Systemic insecticides can be effective if applied soon enough, but are expensive to use and may not be worth the trouble and environmental hazard.
   To help a paper birch tree live as long as possible in the landscape, it should be planted in good topsoil that is on the sandy side, and it must have good drainage but also adequate moisture, and an acid soil.  The roots must be kept as cool as possible, which means mulching (use oak leaves or conifer needles if possible), or at least not mowing the grass beneath the tree.  Under-planting with compatible native shrubs, grasses and wildflowers is also an option.
   There have been a number of hybrids of the paper birch with the European white birch (the birch genus is circumpolar in the far north) or the eastern gray birch that are more adaptable, and are resistant to borer.  Also, the river birch, B. nigra, has a very ornamental, exfoliating  orange-white bark when young and sometimes is used in place of the paper birch, although it becomes a much larger tree and its bark becomes less attractive with maturity.
   Like many things in life, paper birch trees are a fleeting presence, and are probably best enjoyed when and where nature placed them.
  

THE CHERRY ORCHARD

A GHOST SHIP SAILS THE FOG BOUND LAKE

APPLE HILL ORCHARD CHERRY TREES IN FULL BLOOM

Sunday, 9:00 AM.  42 degrees F at the ferry dock,  41 on the back porch.  Wind NE, calm with light gusts.  The sky is overcast and foggy and it Is raining lightly.  The humidity is 96%, the barometer 29.81" and still falling, predicting continuing rain today, overcast skies tomorrow and rain again on Tuesday, with temperatures warming into the mid-fifties by the end of the week.
    Sweet cherry trees are selections of the European wild sweet cherry, Prunus avium, in the Rose Family;  sour cherries of the European Prunus cerasus. There are a number of edible wild native cherries but the fruits are small, generally tart,  and not usually grown commercially.  They do make excellent jams and jellies.

   The trunks and large branches of cherry trees are often whitewashed to protect the thin bark from damage in the late winter, when the sun's  strengthening rays reflect upward off the snow. 

    Cherry trees can grow quite large if not controlled by pruning, or  if not grown on dwarfing root stocks. They can be difficult to grow but the rewards are great, Bayfield sweet cherries selling last year for $4.00 per pound.

A cherry orchard by the house
("Sadok vyshnevyi kolo khaty")

A cherry orchard by the house.
Above the cherries beetles hum.
The plowmen plow the fertile ground
And girls sing songs as they pass by.
It’s evening—mother calls them home.

A family sups by the house.
A star shines in the evening chill.
A daughter serves the evening meal.
Time to give lessons—mother tries,
But can’t. She blames the nightingale.

It’s getting dark, and by the house,
A mother lays her young to sleep;
Beside them she too fell asleep.
All now went still, and just the girls
And nightingale their vigil keep.


Taras Shevchenko
"Sadok vyshnevyi kolo khaty"
("Садок вишневий коло хати")
1847, Sankt-Peterburg (Санкт-Петербург)

Translated by Boris Dralyuk and Roman Koropeckyj 

NAURE WEARS A SMILE, DESPITE THE WEATHER

A GARDEN IN THE RAIN

LICHEN ENCRUSTED RED OAK

Saturday, 9:00 AM.  41 degrees F at the ferry dock, 40 on the back porch.  Wind NE, calm with light gusts.  The sky is overcast and cloudy, the humidity down to 73%.  The barometer is plummeting from its  recent high of 30.29",  and rain is predicted for later today and thunderstorms for tomorrow.
   We have gotten over six inches of rain this past week, and it has left its damp fingerprints on the landscape, from rushing ditches and flood-stage streams, to freshened spring gardens and lichen covered oaks that look as though they have been painted to match the weather.
   No matter how sullen the weather, nature wears a smile, if we but look for it.

Lichen

Parasite lichen
Lies grey on the years;
Lily buries herself
When winter appears.

Bright rose burns away,
Leaving lichen alone—
Fellow of frost,
Suckling of stone.

I am for lily,
I am for rose—
Delicate beauty
Trembles and goes.

Mary Eliza Fullerton

Nota Bene: Lichens are not parasites but saprophites, merely growing on  the surface of things and normally causing little harm.  

WILD PIN CHERRIES ARE BLOOMING

LARGE PIN CHERRY SHRUB ON STAR ROUTE

PIN CHERRY FLOWERS AND BARK

Friday, 8:30 AM.  41 degrees F at the ferry dock, 40 on the back porch.  The wind has changed from NE to SW, and is mostly calm with light gusts (the Nor'easter again lasted three days),  The sky is partly cloudy, the humidity 84%.  The barometer is steady, at 30.34" but will plummet on Saturday, bringing a weekend of rain with highs remaining in the 40's.  Creeks and rivers are at flood stage  already.
   Pin cherry is a shrub or small tree native to most of Canada and the Great Lakes region and mountainous areas in the northern United States.  It bears white flowers in loose umbels, which are followed by sour but edible bright red cherries.  The bark is smooth and gray, distinguishing it from other native cherries.  It is a major wildlife food, both the fruit and as browse, and was an important Native American food and medicinal plant.  It is far too aggressive and short lived for landscaping except for naturalizing.  It is an important reforestation species after a forest fire, as the seeds can lay dormant in the soil for as long as a century and still sprout after a forest fire.  Burned over areas are often revegitated with blooming, fruiting native pin cherries.
   I only have a few recorded blooming dates: 5/03/13; 5/18/09.  Pin cherries are great for jellies and jams, and usually easy to find in  abundance in burned or cut over areas.

RED ELDERBERRY HAS JUST BEGUN TO BLOOM

STORMY ASHLAND LAKEFRONT

BAYFIELD DITCHES ARE RUNNING FULL

RED MULBERRY PANICLE OF BLOOMS

Thursday, 8:30 AM.  41 degreesF at the ferry dock, 38 on the back porch.  Wind NE, light to moderate.  The sky is overcast and cloudy, and it is still raining lightly after torrentia rains again last night  The humidity is 93%, the barometer rising, now at 29.63". It will clear later in the day and tomorrow should be dry, but rain is forecast again for Saturday.  Ditches are running full in the city, and local creeks and rivers will be close to flood stage.
   The red elderberry Sambucus pubens, in the Honeysuckle Family, is not nearly as well known as the common American elderberry, Sambucus canadensis, as it is a more northern species (it also is an important part of the western montane flora).  It is almost as attractive in flower as the American elderberry, the minute flowers occurring in more compact, cone-shaped umbels than the umbrella-like compound flowers of American elderberry.  And whereas the fruit of the latter species is blue-black and edible, the fruit of the former is bright red and it is quite acid to the taste and reported to be mildly poisonous to human uinless cooked, although I eat them without any obvious ill effects, Both species are good for jams and jellies and are also important wildlife plants, both for browse and for their fruits. The red elderberry prefers wet locations but will grow on drier sites, and on a variety of soils.  It is fairly shade tolerant but prefers full sun.
    There is some evidence that leaves, stems and roots of both species can be poisonous to humans, but I doubt people would eat those parts so it is not much of a concern, but it might be best not to put leaves or stems in one's mouth without some experimentation.     Elderberry plants have medicinal properties, and were used in a variety of ways by both Native Americans and European settlers.  The central pith of stems and branches is very soft and can easily be removed to make whistles and other useful objects and were so used in the past.  

   Both American and red elderberry are attractive in flower and fruit, as are their pinnately compound leaves.  The feather-compound leaf of the American elderberry has seven leaflets, that of the red elderberry five. Both species spread by root suckers and are hard to control in the smaller landscape.  My rule of thumb is, appreciate them in nature and where they can be controlled, but be careful introducing them into the landscape.   A case in point is the red elderberry that I have in the backyard.  It grew up between the crevices of a small rock wall and it was so persistent I finally decided that I would let it grow and make use of it rather than to unsuccessfully try to eliminate it.  For a further discussion of elderberries, use the blog search engine.