5/31/11 A LITTLE MISADVENTURE, AND CRAB APPLES AS ORCHARD POLLINATORS

BETWEEN STORMS

A ROW OF CRAB APPLES...

...USED AS POLINATORS

Tuesday, 9:00 AM.  71 degrees, wind E, light but changing to W.  The sky is partly cloudy and the barometer again predicts rain, but it is a nice warm late spring morning.  Lucky and I had a little misadventure at the beach this morning, he waded in the river and got caught by the current and had a tough time swimming back to the shore, where I finally could grab him.  If he had actually gotten swept away I probably could have gotten to the sand bar at the mouth of the Sioux and caught him before he got further out into the lake.  He ain't as young as he used to be.  Come to think of it, neither am I. Dogs don’t really think much, they mostly react, and you have to think for them if you can, but the success of that depends upon whether they obey. Actually, that describes the relationship between God and man to pretty much to a T. Anyway, all’s well that ends well.
    Apples and flowering crab apples are both in the genus Malus and therefore are so closely related that although they may not produce viable hybrids, the crab apples can be used to provide enough extra pollen to assure pollination of commercial apples, and they have been so used for many years.  The common Asian crab apple, Malus baccata, was introduced into this country in the Nineteenth Century for that purpose, and that species has been hybridized with native North American and other Asian crab apples to produce the myriads of commercially available crab apple varieties.  Technically, Malus is a sub-genus of Pyrus, the pear family. And the apple is often named scientifically as Pyrus malus. But, as our daughter Eva’s sixth grade class would say, “TMI! TMI!” (translation: Too Much Information! Too Much Information!).
    The crab apples shown here are grown in rows in the apple orchards and make a very colorful display.

5/30/11 REMEMBRANCE

ON THE 'REZ'

RED, WHITE AND BLUE

APPLE ORCHARDS IN BLOOM

WILD PLUM THICKET

Monday, Memorial Day, 8:30 AM.  51 degrees, wind NE, light with stronger gusts.  It is a rainy morning, and the thunder, which had been continuous earlier, is  subsiding at present.  The barometer predicts more rain, but Bayfield has no parade scheduled  to be rained upon, so we will settle in with our books for the duration.  I still haven’t found the rain gage, but a half inch must have fallen so far, judging from the amount in the bird bath.
    The apple trees in the orchards are blooming, at least the early varieties, and it is a pleasant sight.  However, older trees that are heavily pruned to produce larger apples are not very floriferous.
    Thickets of wild plum, some very large, now are obvious along roads and woods edges as they bloom.  At first blush the flowers are a creamy color, distinguishing them even at a great distance from cherries and other shrubs.
    It being memorial day, our annual day of remembrance of our brothers and sisters who have given their lives that we may live in freedom, I should write something stirring and patriotic, but all I can muster is what I just wrote, and actually that seems to be enough for me.  Remember them!
    I am constantly mystified by the internet, I don’t really know how it works, and I don’t really know why I write this blog, or why anyone reads it (I am amazed that I am getting over 3,000 page views a month, and to tell the truth I am not entirely sure what that means either).  I know people from around the world surf the internet, looking for who knows what, and for perhaps the last six months or more I have had a steady 5 “hits” every week from Iran.  I can’t imagine who in Iran would read this blog, or why.  But I read that the Iranian government is shutting down the international internet to keep foreign cultural influences from corrupting its people.  I don’t even know how they would do that!  Anyway, the only thing corrupting I can think of about my blog is that Iranian readers might get the idea that some insignificant person in a small town in the outback of America has the freedom to make small talk at will, and voice mostly irrelevant thoughts about nature and life and politics.  I guess it comes down to the fact that freedom is a dangerous and revolutionary concept, so much so that those who enjoy it, and those who aspire to it, will scarify their lives for it.  Let us remember that today as well.

5/29/11 PERFECT TEN DAY, PORCH SETTIN' AND LOTS OF BLOOMS

THE DAY PROMISES TO BE A "PERFECT TEN"

THE PORCH IS READY FOR "SETTIN''"

BLEEDING HEART ARE BLOOMING

...AND PRIMROSES

...AND DWARF IRIS

Sunday, 9:00 AM.  63 degrees, wind W, calm to very light.  The sky is crystal clear except for a few stratospheric white clouds.  It promises to be a “perfect ten” day and a top-down afternoon, but I have annuals left to plant and the lawn to mow first.  I try not to mow the lawn on Sundays or holidays but it is growing like crazy now, which is what I get for fertilizing it several weeks ago.
    Bleeding heart, dwarf Iris, creeping phlox, primrose and candy tuft are all blooming in the garden now, along with the tulips.  The daffodils are almost done.  They have bloomed for a month.  The lilacs are in full bud and some are opening.

5/28/11 PLANT SALE, LATE APPLES, EARLY SPIREA

FOUNTAIN GARDEN PARK...

...ANNUAL PLANT SALE

ROADSIDE APPLE TREE

EARLY CRAB APPLE

EARLY SPIREA

Saturday, 8:30 AM.  48 degrees, Wind E, calm.  It is  raining lightly and there is some fog over the channel.  The barometer predicts more of the same.
    This morning is the annual plant sale in Fountain Garden Park just down the street.  It is an all volunteer effort to raise funds for the upkeep of the park, which is owned by the Bayfield Historical Association.  It’s a little confusing, but that’s the way things get done in a small community.
    Apples and crab apples, both in the genus Malus, are beginning to bloom in earnest now, about ten days late.  There are countless varieties of apples and crab apples, the genus being  genetically very malleable.  The edible apple originated in central Asia ages ago and is one of the first cultivated fruits.
    The earliest Spireas are blooming, this one being the hybrid ‘Grefscheim.’  The old fashioned bridal wreath Spirea will bloom any day now.
    It looks like it will be an off-again, on-again rainy holiday weekend, and that’s O.K. with me, I need some time off from gardening and landscaping.

5/27/11 BLACK CHERRY, RED ELDERBERRY AND STOPPING THE BUCK

BLACK CHERRY TREE

...FLOWERS

RED ELDERBERRY

...FLOWERS

Friday, 8:30 AM, 46 degrees, up from 34 degrees earlier.  The barometer predicts rain and the sky is hazy. It was 34 degrees at eleven PM last evening, so I brought in all the baskets that I had picked up in the morning at Bailey’s Greenhouses, and all the plants I had brought out on the deck from the house.  Now they must all go back out. What a chore!
    The woods are full of blooming black cherry trees, Prunus serotina, a forest tree valued for its furniture and veneer quality wood.  When in flower the trees can be spectacular, terminal branches covered with long racemes of white flowers.  The resultant red cherries turn blue-black when ripe, and are edible if sour, or bitter.  The small cherries do not have much flesh, but are good for jams and jellies, and at one time were much prized for flavoring brandy and rum to produce the traditional “cherry bounce.”  A medium sized forest tree, its habitat includes much of the eastern half of the North American continent.
    The red elderberry in the back yard, Sambucus pubens, is now in full bloom. A far northern counterpart to the familiar elderberry of woods edges and fencerows, it bears red, rather than purple fruit, and its flower panicles are conical rather than flat.  This one is a volunteer, grown from a seed that found its way between the rocks of the herb garden.  I tried to get rid of it by cutting it down over and over but it has insisted on growing where it is and I finally gave in, accepted it, and now am quite fond of the tenacious thing.
    The office of President of the United States of America has somehow become primarily a ceremonial position, like the President of Russia or something; however, we have no Prime Minister to do the real work of running the country.  The President of the United States of America is hired to be chief executive of the republic, sitting at his desk In the Oval Office, where the buck is supposed to stop. 
    My early perceptions of presidents (Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Eisenhower and Johnson) were of decision makers at their desks, pen in hand signing bills; telephone to the ear, lining up deals and compromises, foreign and domestic…mountains of paperwork to read and analyze; they were executives, captains of the ship of state. They did not “lead from behind.”
    Somehow we no longer have a chief executive, but an entertainer in chief, a perpetual candidate whose concern is not governance but staying in office.  Going to tea with the Queen is not "running the country."  Carrying on a perpetual popularity contest, personal and national, is not "running the country."  Being the self-appointed emperor of the world is not "running the country."
    The nation has massive and seemingly intractable problems.  We desperately need a serious and competent chief executive.  One who knows that the buck stops at the president’s desk.

5/26/11 PEARS, OREGON GRAPE HOLLY, AND NEWCOMERS FROM SEOUL

COMMON DOMESTIC PEAR

ORNAMENTAL PEAR AS STREET TREE

PEAR FLOWERS

OREGON GRAPE HOLLY

Thursday, 7:45 AM.  40 degrees, wind NE, moderate with stronger gusts.  The sky is absolutely clear and the barometer predicts the same.  Cool but beautiful.
    The apple orchards should be in full bloom this weekend, as a few crabapple trees and apple trees are starting to bloom in town, both about ten days late.  The common pear, Pyrus communis, is of Eurasian origin and has been cultivated from ancient times, and there are now many different types of edible pears.  They are in full bloom in town.  Like apple trees, they can be very long lived, although they  are susceptible to fire blight, as are apples.  Ornamental pears, which bear only very small, inedible pears, have become quite popular.  They bloom profusely in early spring, and many are of a size and shape to make good small street trees.  They are mostly cultivars of the Chinese Pyrus calleryana, introduced to this country early in the 1920’s.  Some have been less than hardy, and structurally weak,  but there are many new, better hybrids, and we are planting some as street trees in Bayfield, the one pictured being ‘Mountain Frost’.
    The Oregon grape holly, Mahonia aquifolium, is hardy in my back yard and is attractive in foliage, flower and fruit.  The yellow flowers are very fragrant and the inedible blue berries very attractive. The leathery leaves are evergreen.  I  have seen the species growing in its native habitat in the Cascade Mountains in the Pacific Northwest.
    We had our first paying guests of the year in the Garden View apartment the last several nights, an American father and Korean mother and son.  Straight from Seoul with its air and light pollution, the latter had never seen stars in the night sky before, and they spent a good deal of time outdoors at night gazing at them. I couldn’t produce any northern lights for them, though.

5/25/11 WILD PLUMS, FORGET-ME-NOTS, AND ANOTHER BUSH

WILD PLUM

...FLOWERS

FORGET-ME-NOT

...FLOWERS

Wednesday, 8:00 AM.  49 degrees, wind NNE, calm. The sky is mostly blue, the sun warm and bright, and the barometer down a bit but steady.  It is a fine day.
    The wild plum, Prunus americana, is blooming in hedgerows and woods edges.  It is very prominent and pretty in flower, and bears edible plums.  It tends to be a large, spreading shrub so is not much used in the landscape, but in fruit and flower it is as worthwhile as any domesticated fruit tree, in my opinion.
    The forget-me-not is common to wet places and roadside ditches and in gardens. The diminutive, bright blue flowers with bright yellow centers are always welcome, if somewhat weedy.  The genus Myosotis has numerous species, only a few of them native, so most of what we see are escaped garden introductions.   Sometime I may try to key some of them out, but not today.
   Speaking of forget-me-nots,  former president Bill Clinton seems to be everywhere again, campaigning and speechifying, and of course Hillary is prominent as Secretary of State.  I sometimes feel like I am having a flashback to the Nineties. All this arthritic activity makes me yearn for other old times, and I wonder if the Bush dynasty should not be resurected.  Jeb Bush was an effective and popular governor, is young and articulate and certainly knows the intricacies of American and world power and politics.  As long as the geriatric Clintons are still with us, why not a resurrection of the Bush dynasty?  Regardless of what one thinks of their politics, they have proven themselves to be honorable and able public servants. We could do a lot worse than a Bush 45.

5/24/11 EVERYTHIN'S IN BLOOM, AND A CONTROVESIAL MINE

PIN CHERRY

PIN CHERRY FLOWER CLUSTER

WEEPING CHERRY

HYBRID MAGNOLIA

RED OAK CATKINS

Tuesday, 8:00 AM.  44 degrees, wind N, calm.  The sky is overcast but clearing, and the barometer is up.
    Even though it cleared up nicely by yesterday afternoon it was too wet to do any  yard work, and mowing and planting need to be done.  The rain has also held up digging at the nursery so several landscape jobs are behind schedule.
    So many trees and shrubs are now in bloom that it is hard to photograph and comment on them all.  The pin cherries, AKA fire cherry, Prunus pennsylvanica,are blooming.  As the common names denote, the fruit is very unpalatable and the short lived, small tree is very prevalent after forest fires. In bloom it is very attractive, and some of the trees and shrubs we saw blooming along the forest road yesterday were probably pin cherries.  Japanese weeping cherries are in full bloom in town
    The red oaks, Quercus ruba, are blooming, the pendulous male catkins very obvious.
    Magnolias, which are generally hardy here close to the lake, are blooming, this hybrid is in front of the Chateau Botin.
    The proposed taconite iron mine in the Ashland and Iron County area is still a controversial issue, and its fate is far from determined.  An opposition group walked some of the area on the weekend and it received major local newspaper coverage.  I think it wise to approach the issue with extreme caution because there are legitimate environmental concerns, particularly as regards water quality. But I part company with the opposition when they reject mining or any other potential economic development out of hand and protest even the boring of test holes to determine the geological characteristics of the site, as is now the case.  Another opposition tactic is to overstate the pristine nature of the site of the proposed mine, intimating that it is ecologically rare or that it contains endangered species.  The proposed mine area has been logged and mined for more than a century, and the casual observer at least would never know it. Economic development is crucial to the economic and social health of northern Wisconsin, and should not be held hostage by those with extreme environmental views.  If all development and change is rejected, the only people who will be able to live here are the very poor on public assistance and the very wealthy who need no local source of income. The productive middle class will be not be able to exist here, and vital resources will stay in the ground.  Those who resist all change are eventually conquered or supplanted by a more aggressive people, and the change, usually far more drastic than originally proposed,, occurs anyway.

5/23/11 JUNEBERRIES, CHERRIES AND SHARPTAIL GROUSE

RAINY GARDEN

PINES AND JUNEBERRY

JUNEBERRIES AND CHERRIES IN CUTOVER AREA

CONTROLLED BURN FOR SHARPTAIL GROUSE HABITAT

Monday, 8:00 AM.  48 degrees, wind W, light.  The sky is overcast with fog and mist over the Apostle Islands. More than an inch of rain has fallen in the last several days and the barometer predicts more.
    Yesterday afternoon we took a ride in the rain through the section of the Chequamegon National Forest traversed by forest road 236.  This road runs about fifteen miles, from Hwy C west of Washburn to Hwy 2, west of Ashland.  It is an area of poor, sandy soil, but trees grow well…red oak, popple, birch, pines and lots of Juneberry and wild cherries, …and the entire area is now dotted with the latter trees in flower.  We kept getting severe weather warnings on the radio as we listened to the Brewers/Rockys baseball game, but fortunately we missed the high winds and hail.
    Hundreds of acres along the south stretch of the road  have been purposely burned, the smoke smell still clinging to the blackened vegetation.  The controlled burns are being done to create habitat for the Wisconsin endangered sharptail grouse, which requires grasslands and woods edges for its habitat.
    On the way back we stopped at Tetzner’s greenhouse for tomato and herb plants which will go in the garden when it dries up a bIt, and at TenTzner’s dairy farm for their home made ice cream, which was desert for dinner.
    Indiana’s Mitch Daniels dropped out of the Republican presidential candidate race over the weekend, with Sarah Palin still on the fence.  It looks like there are only a few potential candidates left standing, with some real contrasts in philosophy and experience.  It’s getting really interesting!

5/22/11 RIVER, ROADSIDES AND ORCHARDS IN THE FOG AND RAIN

FOGGY RIVER

WASHBURN THEATER

MARSH MARIGOLDS AND JUNEBERRIES

JUNEBERRY ROADSIDE

CHERRY ORCHARD

Sunday, 9:00 AM.  56.5 degrees, wind SSW, very light.  There was dense fog earlier and it still has not lifted completely, but will eventually.  The beach was foggy and quiet this morning except for the rhythmic lapping of waves,  their impetus engendered far out somewhere on the great lake.  The fog horns sound even now.  The barometer is still down.  This has been the most beautiful, if cool, spring we have experienced here in Bayfield, with bulbs, early spring flowers, flowering trees, everything blooming at once, except for the apples and flowering crab trees,  yet to enter the stage.
    Speaking of the stage, we had a good time at the Stage North theater in Washburn last evening, seeing the play “Moon Over Buffalo,” a true farce, with every site gag, pratfall and one liner known to playwrites.  There is a lot of talent in the area, and the theater experience is enhanced by recognizing many of the actors and actresses on stage.
    The countryside was in full bloom yesterday afternoon as we toured the orchard roads in the rain.  The cherry crop should be a good one this year, the trees now in full bloom and the danger of frost mostly over.  Commercial sweet cherries are not successful here every year but can be  profitable overall.

5/21/11 ON SECOND THOUGHT, MAYBE CALIFORNIA

WILL IT RAIN?

PASQUE FLOWERS

RHODODENDRON 'PJM'

Saturday, 7:45 AM.  Wind NNW, calm.  The sky is overcast, the barometer predicts rain, and it feels like rain, perhaps by afternoon.  We need rain badly but it could hold off until I go to the recycle center and mow the lawn.  And before those tasks, I will present a landscape plan to the Bayfield on the Lake Condominiums Board.
    Korean rhododendrons are perfectly  hardy here, and the one pictured, ‘PJM’ makes a great show in bloom and has attractive evergreen foliage as well.  Also in bloom now is the Pasque flower, Anemome pulsatilla, native to Midwest prairies and dry hillsides.
    Well, President Obama dropped a figurative bomb on the Israelis the other day, by suggesting that they give up strategic territory legitimately won in the 1967 war, which was started by the Arabs, with whom they have been at loggerheads for a thousand years.  All in the name of peace, of course.  It may just as well have been a literal bomb dropped on our only Mideast ally.
     I am waiting now for the Mexicans to insist we give up Texas, won at San Jacinto in the 1836 Texas war of independence.  Or Arizona, New Mexico and California, purchased with gold after we won the Mexican war of 1848 (ever hear of anything like that before?)  And, of course, Spain might like Florida back, from which old Andy Jackson unceremoniously routed them after the War of 1812, and France really has a claim on most of the US west of the Mississippi, sold to Thomas Jefferson for a pittance when they were really quite broke from waging war with all of Europe; and that of course brings up Alaska, sold to us by a Czarist regime badly in need of funds to keep its peasants in line.  Maybe they will all get together and petition the UN to vote on their claims, and what would the outcome of that be? Would we ever agree to give up these, our lands, bought with American blood and gold?  Fat chance! 
    Well, on second thought, maybe California.
   

5/20/11 JUNEBERRIES AND FOG

A FOGGY DAY IN BAYFIELD TOWN

MADELINE ISLAND EMERGING FROM THE FOG

JUNEBERRY TREE

JUNEBRRY BLOSSOMS

Friday, 7:30 AM.  46.5 degrees, wind S, calm. Heavy fog is rolling relentlessly up the bluffs from the lake, obscuring Madeline Island, even though the sky is cloudless and the sun shining brightly.  Fog horns resound from  the ferries and the city breakwater.  The barometer is down but it neither looks nor feels like rain. 
    I replanted seven of the eight roses which I dug up the other day and planting them around the herb garden, and am a bit stiff and sore this morning.  For once Lucky is more spry than I.
    Juneberry, serviceberry and shadbush are common names for a number of  native Amelanchier species.  A. Canadensis is usually shrubby in nautre, and A. laevis more tree-like, but there are eighteen species in the northeastern  US and Canada, and many hybridize, so one must be an expert in the genus to correctly identify them, and I will not even try. They all have attractive white flowers which bloom before or with the first leaves in spring, and small purple, edible fruit.  There are now shrubby varieties being grown for fruit production, and a number of ornamental selections are used in landscaping. The native species are excellent woods under story and wildlife plants. 
    I have been following with interest and concern the stories about impending starvation in North Korea.  As a Christian and as an American I am disturbed by the prospect of anyone starving, even an enemy, so I am not in the least against our giving food aid to the common people of North Korea.  The dilemma, of course, is how to assure that the aid actually gets to those who need it, instead of to their military, or that it will not end up being sold on the black market.  Hard-hearted as it may seem, I do not think food aid should be given unless verifiable, on site inspection of food distribution and consumption is allowed, as the communist regime has proven time and again that it will abuse and starve its own people with impunity.
    South Korea, with the same ethnicity and similar physical resources, is a modern, even wealthy country.  The sooner the communist regime falls, the sooner their people will prosper, and the specter of famine will fade away , like the fog over Madeline Island