BLUEBERRIES AND SMOKE TREES

BAYFIELD BLUEBERRIES ARE RIPE

FLOWER SPIKE OF AMERICAN  SMOKE TREE

HYBRID SMOKE TREE

FLOWER SPIKE OF HYBRID SMOKE TREE

Tuesday,7:30 AM.  62 degrees F, 56 degrees on the back porch (Joan just turned the heat on). The wind is northerly and changeable, and calm to very light.  The sky is clear bright blue for a change; the humidity is 83% and the barometer is more or less steady at 30.12".
   I picked Buddy up from the Ashland Area Veterinarian Clinic kennel yesterday morning where he stayed while we were in Milwaukee; his wound is healing nicely.   He is sure happy to be home, and  wants to be a lap dog, which doesn't work out at all as a practical matter.
   Bayfield blueberries are ripe and available at the roadside stands and even in area supermarkets.They are very good, and we bought some yesterday evening at Rocky Acres, $4.00 a pint.  I have to get to the beach to pick the berries I have been watching or they will soon all be eaten by the critters.
  The American smoke tree, Cotinus obovata, native to the southeastern US and the Eurasian smoke tree, C. coggygyria, in the cashew family (Anacardiaceae) are both quite hardy north. Cotinus is closely related to the Rhus (sumac) species. The American Cotinus species would probably not be much planted except that it has in the past been one of the free plants offered by the Arbor Day Foundation as a membership benefit; but it does have interesting flowers and an interesting fall leaf coloration.  The Eurasian species has been hybriized a lot and there are a number of varieties available that have quite spectacular leaf and flower colors.  One is either turned on by the the smoke tree and its varieties or one is not.  In general I find them attractive, but hard to use in the landscape because they stand out so much, particularly when contrasted with the more subdued palette of northern hemisphere plants.  They literally shout, "Here I am," like an scene-stealing actor or worse, a campaigning politician.  Be careful whom you vote for!