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| OHIO BUCKEYE... |
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| SPIKE OF YELLOW FLOWERS |
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| AMERICAN CHESTNUT, JUST STARTING TO LEAF OUT |
Many of the roadside ditches and catch basins are still clogged with winter sand, creating a lot of standing water and subsequent mosquito habitat. Consequently the Minnesota mosquitoes, a species as big as hummingbirds, have crossed into Wisconsin and invaded Bayfield. We are evidently a richer sure of hemoglobin than our neighboring Scandinavians. Or perhaps we are slower moving targets. They could at least hold a blood drive for those of us requiring transfusions, "Ja, you bettcha."
The Ohio buckeye, Ausculus glabra, on Manypenny Ave. between 5th and 6th Streets is in flower. It's spikes of yellow blooms are quite pretty but don't stand out much against the large, palmately compound leaves. The buckeyes make a nice, compact small to medium sized street tree and are quite interesting in foliage, flower and fruit (the "buckeye"). The fall leaf color is a burnished red. Ohio buckeye is native to much of the east and mid central US and far southern Ontario. The iconic nuts, much loved by Ohioans as good luck charms, might be problematical for some, but unless little boys take to pegging them at passersby and each other, I can't think them objectionable. This tree is perfectly hardy in Bayfield, but after the past tough winter I have come to be wary of some of the hybrids we have planted.
As I have noted before, there are a few healthy American chestnut trees, Castanea dentata, in Bayfield; whether they are resistant to the blight that has wiped out most of the native chestnuts, or they have not encountered the disease because this is an isolated population, is not known. In any case, they are quite noticeable at present because they are just coming out of dormancy, with only a few leaves sprouted. The one pictured is on 10th Street, just south of Manypenny Ave.
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