7/31/11 BIGLEAF ASTER AND PURPLE LOOSESTRIFE

Sunday, 8:00 AM.  71.5 degrees. Wind NW, calm.  The sky is cloudless and the barometer is up.  It will be a warm, dry summer day.
    The bigleaf asters, Aster macrophylus, members of the Composite family, are coming into bloom, masses of the plants covering the forest floor.  They make a great ground cover for the shady yard.
    Purple loosestrife, Lythrum salicaria, in the loosestrife family (Lythraceae) is a garden escapee that has seriously invaded native wetlands nationwide, competing with cattails and other valuable wildlife foods.  Considerable success has been made controlling it wih an Asian beetle that feeds exclusively on it. Biological controls are difficult to accomplish but usually far more environmentally friendly than using chemicals.

BIGLEAF ASTER FLOWERS

A FOREST FLOOR GROUND COVER

CHARACTERISTIC BIG LEAF

INVASIVE PURPLE LOOSESTRIFE

    I have mentioned before that for a at least a year I have regularly had four or five hits a month from Iran.  I have not gotten a hit in the last month or more from what evidently were followers of my blog, so I assume the Iranian government did actually shut down their international internet access. 

SPOTTED KNAPWEED

...FLOWER

DOGWOOD BERRIES

8:00 AM.  68.5 degrees, wind SW, calm.  The sky is partly cloudy and the barometer predicts the same. It will be fine weather for the Art Show.
    Spotted knapweed, Centaurea maculosa, is an invasive weed of lawns, gardens and fields. It can be a threat to sandy native ecosystems.  The plant is a skin irritant, so wear  gloves and long sleeves when handling it.
    Red twigged dogwood, Corns racemosa, berries are ripening, they are quite pretty, not really edible, but not poisonous either.

7/29/11 POLITICALLY CORRECT STARVATION

BUYING LOCAL

RASPBERRIES AND BLUEBERRIES

THE HONOR SYSTEM

CHERRIES AT APPLE HILL ORCHARD

BETTER  THAN BING?

Friday, 7:00 AM. 70.5 degrees. Wind W, light.  The sky is cloudless and the barometer predicts fair weather.  It will be a beautiful Bayfield summer day.
    Local raspberries are ripe, as are the first blueberries .  The second crop of sweet cherries is in at Apple Hill Orchard.  The first crop were Cavaliers, the second crop Lapins.  Both are good eating sweet cherries, although not as large and sweet as the Bing cherry, which is not quite hardy here.  Actually I like the Lapins better than the Bing. Apple Hill expects to pick about 10,000 pounds of cherries this season, and all will be sold locally.
    Which brings up the whole concept of “buy local” campaigns.  In theory supporting local businesses is a nice idea and of course we do.  But as a politically  correct concept, pushed to the limit (as such things invariably are in our society) it is a very  damaging practice.  After all, if everyone, everywhere, only bought locally produced food there would be no trade in food products, and each locality or region or nation would produce only enough for its own markets, and there would be no surpluses of fruit, vegetables, meat, grains, etc.  When drought or disease or political chaos or war created shortages in one region there would be starvation because of a shortage of food commodities and the means to market and distribute them.  Historically this has always been the case, and it is only within my own lifetime that mass starvation has become a rare occurrence.
    All this seems like the most rudimentary economic common sense, but it is surprising how scarce a commodity  common sense has become.
     So the next time some politically correct shopper looks askance at you because you do not happen to “buy local,” tell him you are doing your share to prevent starvation.
   

7/28/11 DOG DOWN THE STAIRS, BEARS IN THE BEDROM (ALMOST)

A FOGHORN MORNING

NEW SUMAC  SEED HEAD

...SOON TURNS BRILLIANT RED

Thursday, 7:30 AM.  63 degrees, wind W, calm.  The sky is blue but there is considerable fog on the channel, and the fog horns have been blowing since early morning.  The barometer predicts partly cloudy skies.  We had a torrential downpour yesterday afternoon that left us about an inch of rain.
    We had some excitement last night that started with Lucky, poor old thing, falling down the basement stairs; bumpity-bump, thump. When I turned on the light he stood at the bottom, wagging his tail and obviously wondering what had happened. The stairs are carpeted so he didn’t really hurt himself, but I will have to put a chair in front of the open stairway at night from now on, since he may do it again.  Once dogs do something, good or bad, they are likely to make a habit out of it.  Wide awake after the commotion and having to drag lucky back up the stairs, we were trying to go back to sleep when we heard several dogs barking up the road .  All the ruckus reminded me that screen doors might not keep a bear out of the house, and just as I said “sounds like the dogs have raised a bear,” there was a loud snarling “woof” as a bear or bears came charging past the open bedroom door that goes out onto the front deck.  The bear had evidently been eating mulberries across the road and decided to skedaddle through our front yard when the dogs began to bark. That’s when I got up and closed all the open doors, as a bear in the bedroom would not be a good thing.  Maybe I am not giving Lucky credit for having sensed he bear in the first place, which is perhaps why he was wandering around in the dark and fell down the stairs.
    The staghorn sumac (Rhuus typhina, in the Anacardiaceae, the cashew family) flowers have been pollinated, and the fuzzy, conical compound fruits are turning first mauve and then bright purple-red.  All the old seed heads ave now dropped off.  Male and female flowers are on different shrubs or clones of shrubs, and the male flowers, having done their job, have withered and fallen.

7/27/11 SUMMER IS HALF OVER, AND "IT AIN'T EVER OVER"

DARK MORNING

GOLDENROD IN BLOOM

FLOWER HEAD

LUPINE SEED PODS

...SEEDS

Wednesday, 8:00 AM.  59 degrees, wind W, calm.  The sky is overcast with rainclouds but the sun is peeking through.  We received about .3’” of rain last night and the barometer predicts more.
    The goldenrod is just beginning to bloom, the one pictured is probably Canada goldenrod, Solidago canadensis, in the Composite family.  That means the summer is almost half over. There are so many species of goldenrod, and so much interbreeding that only experts in the genus can usually offer little more than generalizations and good guesses.
    The  seed pods of the lupines, Lupinus perennis (in the pea family, the Leguminosae) are evident now, ready to open, and the seeds inside are ripe.  The pods and seeds are not very robust this year, I think hot, dry weather occurred at the wrong time in their maturation process.
    A political comment: our neighboring city of Ashland has had its share of political infighting of late, and a petition to recall the Mayor has been mounted by his opposition after only a very short time in office.  On the national, state and local scene it is now the custom to deny the fact that an elected official or a political party has actually won an election, and too many are denied the right and opportunity to actually govern. There used to be something called “the loyal opposition.”  Today it is “the endless opposition,” and the campaign goes on ad nauseum.  Much of what passses for politics these days is nothing but cleverly manipulated anarchy.  And, as every school child knows, anarchy being intolerable to civil society, some form of dictatorship ( i.e., fascism, communism, the criminal mob) is bound to follow.  In baseball, “it ain’t over ‘till it's over.”  In todays politics, “it ain’t ever over.”

7/26/11 SALT CEDAR, AND GOOD INTENTIONS GONE AWRY

SALT CEDAR

...FLOWERS

TREE BOARD AT WORK

VOLCANO MULCHING

7:30 AM.  67 degrees, wind WSW. Very light.  The sky is cloudless with some haze in the east.  The humidity is low but the barometer predicts rain, but not before evening I am sure.  Actually it looks like another fine day.
    We have a number of Tamarix shrubs blooming now in Bayfield, and they  draw a lot of attention as they are unusual and rather attractive in flower.  There are 50 species of Tamarix, in the family Tamaricaceae, mostly of middle eastern and Asiatic origin. Tamarix has a long history in those cultures and is mentioned in the Bible and the Koran and in Egyptian mythology.  The species here is probably ramocissima, and its common name is salt cedar.  It was much planted in the dust bowl days in Great Plains shelter belts.  Unfortunately it has become a major invasive in the American West, as it has tap roots that seek water tables, spreads readily, salinifies soil and often out-competes native and  other desirable vegetation.  It is not listed as an invasive in Wisconsin, but I would not encourage its planting as an ornamental because of that potential, and it is quite hardy.  Additionally, although pretty in flower, it has few other ornamental or  useful characteristics to recommend it.
    The ‘Royal Frost’ birch we planted on the corner of 6th and Manypenny is being subjected to “volcano mulching,” the mulch mounded up around the trunk.  When the tree was planted the wood chip mulch was spread out in a donut shape, the outer ring perhaps four inches deep,  the “donut hole”, two or three inches deep and no more than that around the trunk.  The property owner, wishing to make things neater, made a circle of rocks within which he mounded up the mulch.  Two wrong things occurred here; the rocks may  interfere with the proper growth of surface roots, causing them to eventually grow in a circle around the expanding tree trunk, as girdling roots, which can actually kill the tree trunk or trunks: and the mulch is far too deep around the trunks, causing them to be constantly moist and possibly injuring the bark, or promoting unwanted small roots to grow out them.  In any case it is a matter of good intentions gone awry.  I will have to take some of the mulch away and try to find the property owner at home to explain the situation to him, as I have spread the mulch out to a proper depth a number of times and find it continually put back volcano style.

7/25/11 "CONSIDER THE LILIES"

BAYFIELD MORNING

ASIATIC LILIES

DAY LILIES AND LUCKY

Monday, 8:30 AM.  67 degrees, wind WSW, calm at ground level, with a few puffy white clouds floating eastward at a high altitude. It rained a few drops last night and the barometer predicts rain.
    Oriental and Asiatic lilies are blooming in gardens, and day lilies in gardens and roadsides. (the native wood lily is done blooming) and they add a special beauty to gardens and landscapes. I am not an overly religious person, but Luke 12:27 seems particularly apropreate this morning, “Consider the lilies how they grow. They toil not, they spin not; and  yet I say unto  you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.”

7/23/11 BEARS, BERRIES AND TWO INVASIVE PLANTS

A MULBERRY LEFT BY MR. BEAR

BIRD'S FOOT TREFOIL

CROWN VETCH

LITTLE GREEN APPLE

Sunday, 8:00 AM.  59 degrees, wind WSW, light. Humidity is low. The sky is partly cloudy and that is what the barometer predicts as well. 
    Local raspberries are ripe and very good, as are the sour cherries, mainly the Montmorrency.  Sweet cherries are still being harvested by our only local grower, Apple Hill Orchard.  Strawberries are about done.  The bear is getting most of the mulberries in the woods across the street, I am afraid, I may get enough for breakfast or a pie, that’s about it. They have to be picked when fully ripe or they are no good. Green apples are about the size of ping pong balls.
    Bird's’foot trefoil, Lotus corniculatus, is a forage plant much grown in Wisconsin and it has escaped and is on the state’s invasive plant list.  It is common along roadsides and in lawns, as it can withstand close mowing.  It is a legume that enriches the soil, we will never get rid of it and it is rather pretty, so I can’t get all that excited about eradicating it, except perhaps in the lawn if it becomes rampant.
    Crown Vetch, Coronilla varia, is another legume and also quite attractive in flower, was very popular in highway planting and erosion control in the ‘60’s and 70’s, but it is far too aggressive and has become a noxious garden weed  This plant  should be controlled if possible, but by the most environmentally responsible means (pull it).
    Most invasive plants were originally introduced and planted for a good purpose; erosion control, fodder, attractive appearance.  Then, when the plants fill their intended role, perhaps too well, we try to eradicate them and it is usually too late.  Mostly it is not the plant that is the problem, it is man.

7/2/11 YELLOW WATER LILIES AND CHICKEN SOUP

YELLOW WATER LILIES

...BACKWATERS OF THE SIOUX RIVER

Saturday, 8:30 AM.  59 degrees, wind N to,NE, strong with very strong gusts.  The sky is mostly overcast and the down barometer predicts partly cloudy skies.  The heat wave seems to be broken here in Bayfield.  My guess is that now people will start complaining it is too cold.  Anyway, there will be some disappointed kayakers.
    The yellow water lilies ( genus Nuphar) are blooming in Ashland in the Fish Creek Slough, and in the backwaters of the Sioux River, where they are visible from the Hwy. 13 bridge.  I am not expert enough to tell the species at a distance (maybe nobody can) but from what I can gather from various plant record data bases these would be Nuphar variegatum or N. advena.  At first, from a distance, I thought they were the American lotus (Nelumbo lutea) but not so upon further consideration, and in any case lotus would have been out of its range in far northern Wisconsin.  Yellow water lily is not in the same genus as the common water lily, (Nyphaea) which has a much different flower.  All are in the water lily family (Nmphaceae) and evidently the starchy tubers and sometimes the seeds of all were used as winter food by native Americans.
    I have an inflation story to tell.  Yesterday I was going to buy some ordinary chicken noodle soup at the IGA in Washburn.  Usually around a dollar or less for a small can, it was $1.87! I put it back on the shelf. Of course, food is not usually included in the official inflation index; perhaps because that's where inflation is most obvious and and hurtful and drawing attention to it would get the voters all  riled up.  What will it take make people understand that the wanton printing of money  to monetize our national debt will put the common person in the poor house?  Maybe an increase of 75% in the family  food budget!

7/22/11 TANSY

PLEASANT MORNING

TANSY

TANSY "BUTTONS"

AROMATIC LEAVES

Friday, 8:15 AM.  70 degrees, wind WSW, calm at ground level but the few puffy clouds moving fairly rapidly. The humidity, at 50%,  is much lower than a few days ago and it should be a pleasant summer day, as was yesterday.  The barometer predicts partly cloudy skies.
    Tansy, Tannecetum vulare, in the composite family, has just come into bloom, its yellow flower heads evident along roadsides and in fields.  Of European origin, it was once a valuable herb and much cultivated and has escaped into the wild.  It is a vigorous spreading plant and is considered invasive in Wisconsin, although I can’t see what all the fuss is about, since it is so well naturalized in certain habitats that it will never be gotten rid of, and it is not a noxious or dangerous plant. It should probably not be planted in the perennial garden as it does spread.
     In medieval times it was much used as a strewing herb, and also as a funereal plant as the whole plant has a very pungent, resinous odor.  Essential oils of the leaves and roots were used in folk medicine for a wide range of ailments, from expelling childhood worms to the treatment of gout. It also is reputed to have sedative powers. Like the millfoil (Achillea millifolia) which it somewhat resembles, it was  used for the treatment of wounds.
    The English call Tansy “buttons,” which is very descriptive of the individual flowers of the involucre, and is a good way to distinguish it from millfoil.

7/21/11 HOT POTATOES

ANTIGO PARKS AND FORESTRY DIRECTOR

WELCOME SHADE ON A BRUTALLY HOT DAY

POTATO FIELD IN BLOOM

POTATO FLOWERS

WHEAT READY TO HARVEST

Thursday, 7:45 AM.  70.5 degrees, wind SW, light at present.  The sky is clear and there is less haze.  It was brutally hot and humid yesterday, even near the lake, and we were very glad to have an air conditioned vehicle for our trip to the forestry meeting in Antigo.  Hopefully today will be more comfortable.
    We found Antgo to be a nice, well kept community and their forestry and parks programs, led by Sarah, a young professional woman, very impressive.  The meeting was well worth the 400 mile round trip.
    Antigo was, and is still, known for its potato farms.  The flat, well drained, sandy  soil and ample irrigation water create ideal conditions for growing potatoes on a large scale.  The potato is of course a major source of food in many countries and cultures and originated in South America and has spread in cultivation throughout the temperate regions of the world in the past 500 or so years.  Almost everyone knows the story of the potato so I won’t repeat it, but unless one is a gardener and grows them most are not familiar with the plant itself.  Potato, Solanum tuberosum,  is in the nightshade family (Solonaceae) along with the tomato, egg plant and a few other edible plants.. However, the family also has many poisonous plants. In fact, the potato tuber is poisonous to a degree if it is not stored in the dark and begins to turn green The potato flower is quite attractive and looks like an egg plant flower, and a hundred acre field of potatoes is quite a sight when in bloom.  The flower has an earthy fragrance, almost like the potato tuber itself. Winter wheat was ready to be harvested near Antigo, and rye almost ripe. 
    We had the pleasure of having dinner Tuesday  night with old, old friends Bill and Emmy who now live in Mountain, about an hour east of Antigo.

7/19/11 CHESTNUT FLOWERS AND BLACK LACE

AMERICAN CHESTNUT MALE FLOWER SPIKES

,,,FEMALE FLOWER

ELDERBERRY "BLACK LACE"

...FLOWER

Tuesday, 8:00 AM.  72.5 degrees, wind SW, calm. Humidity 60%. The sky is partly overcast and very hazy, almost foggy, over the water.  The barometer predicts partly cloudy skies.
    The young American chestnut tree on the corner of 10th and Wilson is in full bloom, the minute female flowers subtending  the feathery male flowers.  The flowers have a very  musky, earthy smell that is quite noticeable.
    The common elderberry, Sambucus canadensis, is a large shrub, quite noticeable  in flower and fruit but seldom used in landscaping except for perhaps naturalizing large borders.  Shown is a horticultural selection named “Black Lace,” which is very showy and unusual.  Although such horticultural oddities are often very beautiful they can be hard to use in landscape design,  being too bold, or even unnatural, in appearance.  “Black Lace” is best used at the back of a showy perennial border or as an unusual accent plant.
    I have a forestry  meeting in Antigo, a small city about four hours
southeast of Bayfield so there will be no post tomorrow.

7/18/11 THE FALSE SPIREA, AND ANOTHER GOAT'S BEARD

FALSE SPIREA

ANOTHER GOAT'S BEARD

EACH PART FITTED PERFECLY

Monday, 8:00 AM.  75 degrees,, wind SW, light.  The sky is partly overcast and quite hazy, and it is very humid.
    Yesterday’s weather was truly oppressive, hot with very high humidity. Our home has no air conditoning, as we only get a few days like yesterday a year, and an evening convertible ride is as good a way to cool off as any.   It did cool down and dry out by the evening, but it appears today will be a repeat performance.  Where’s that wind from the NE?
    The false spirea, Sorbaria sorbifolia, in the rose family, is closely allied with the spireas and the genus and species names relate to Sorbus, the mountain ash genus, which its leaves resemble.  It is also closely related to Aruncus, the goat’s beard shrub, which I talked about a few days back.  False spirea is native to east Asia.  It is a very large, spreading plant useful in shrub borders and for screening, it blooms profusely in mid-summer and is interesting in form and foliage.  Although not native, it has a very naturalistic appearance.  It does not seem to be invasive and it might be used more than it is in the landscape.
    There are several species of Tragopogon, a naturalized European field weed.  The common name goat’s beard refers to the seed head before it fully opens, which resembles a billy goat’s beard (you can appreciate the  problem with common names).  In full bloom it looks rather like a large yellow dandelion.  The symmetry of the Tragopogon seed head, like that of the Nautilus shell, represents to me the perfect design of nature; purposeful parts, fitted together as though designed by  a brilliant engineer and made by  an expert craftsman.  Call it intelligent design or call it evolution, take your pick, but the perfection of beauty and  utility is wondrous.

7/17/11 RARE AMERICAN CHESTNUT TREE IN BLOOM

FOGGED IN

AMERICAN CHESTNUT IN FLOWER

DEEPLY FU RROWED BARK

TWIN TRUNKS

SHARPLY TOOTHED LEAF

Sunday, 8:15 AM. 79  degrees, wind SE, calm.  The sky is mostly clear and the barometer predicts sunny skies.  The channel is fogged in and it is very humid.  It will be a hot one today, at least in Bayfield terms, and everyone will be complaining about it.
    The huge old American chestnut, Castanea dentata, in the beech family (Fagaceae), on the corner of 8th St. and Manypenny, is beginning to bloom on the highest branches.  This is a massive old twin-trunked tree, the only large, mature American chestnut I have seen.  It seems in pretty good health, unaffected by the chestnut blight which wiped out most of its contemporaries in the early  Twentieth Century.  My guess is that the tree is older than the historic home it stands in front of, and is an original Bayfield forest remnant.  The most evient flowers, on long feathery spikes, are the male; the female flowes are located at the base of the male spikes and are not veery obvious at this point.
    If in Bayfield drive by to see this rare tree, but don’t confuse it with an equally large red oak which is next to it.  I have heard there are some chestnut trees on the Apostle Highlands golf course but I have not as yet seen them.