5/15/11 IT'S AN ILL WIND THAT BLOWS NOBODY SOME GOOD

NORWAY MAPLE IN BLOOM

NORWAY MAPLE FLOWER CLUSTER

FRITILLARIA AND TULIPS

DAFFODILS AND WOODSMOKE

Sunday, 7:45 AM.  44.5 degrees, wind NNE, very strong, with gale force gusts.  The sky is blue and the barometer is up.  Don, the DNR forester, and his wife Sue have been our guests for Bayfield in Bloom, and their scheduled tour of the Apostle Islands may very well be canceled this morning, and if not it will be a rough ride.
    The Norway maple, Acer platanoides, is somewhat similar in appearance to the native sugar maple, and is often confused with it, but it has seven leaf veins or lobes, and when a leaf is pulled from a branch a small drop of latex-like white sap forms at the base of the leaf petiole.  The tree is much shorter at maturity that the sugar maple.  In the past it has been a popular landscape tree, particularly those varieties with red or purple summer leaves.  It seeds heavily and can be invasive.  The  yellow flower clusters with subtending maroon bud scales are quite attractive.
    The almost constant cold winds off the lake have made this a great year for bulbs of all kinds; daffodils, tulips, Hyacynth, Fritillaria and various minor bulbs.  It’s an ill wind that blows nobody some good.
    Steve Forbes predicts the  country will be on the gold standard within five  years.  I guess it’s time to load up the picks, shovels and pans and head for Alaska. We’re already acclimated!