MOUNTAIN ASH TREES ARE BLOOMING

WHAT COULD BE SO INTERESTING OUT ON THE WATER?...

...A FAMILY OF CANADA GEESE

MOUNTAIN ASH TREE IN BLOOM...

...LARGE PANICLES OF SMALL WHITE FLOWERS...

...AND FEATHER-COMPOUND, ASH-LIKE LEAVES.

Sunday, 9:00 AM,  43 degrees F.  Wind ENE, light with moderate gusts.  The sky is clear, the humidity 77%.  The barometer is more or less steady, now at 30.44".  It is a cool but pleasant morning.
   We went to the beach earlier, where Buddy and Allison got soaking wet and had to be dried off and warmed up.  The big attraction was a family of Canada Geese plying the choppy waters off the Sioux River.  Buddy did some swimming but decided he wasn't  a Labrador Retriever and ended up pointing the family of birds from the shore.  A wise choice.

   Mountain ash trees are in bloom now. They are small trees to twenty feet or so, and often shrubby rather than treed-like.  They all bear panicleS of white flowers in spring and colorful orange to red berries in the fall.  The bark of all the species and varieties is thin and cherry-like, shiny dark brown,  with prominent lenticels.  They are much used in landscaping.  

   The European mountain ash, Sorbus aucuparia, is often escaped from cultivation.  S. americana and S. decora are native to Canada and the northeastern US and upper Midwest.  All can be  rather difficult to tell apart, but the one now most sold by nurseries is S. decora, which has bright red berries, whereas the others have orange to reddish fruit.   The common name mountain ash refers to their pinnately compound, ash-like leaves, but true ash trees have opposite leaves and branches, and Sorbus has alternate leaves and branches.  All are in the Rose Family, and since they are not true ash trees (in the Olive Family) they are not a host for the Emerald Ash Borer.
  The American mountain ash is a tree of the far northern boreal forests, but the easiest way to tell the difference between it and the European species is that the former has sticky dormant buts and the latter has wooly, non-sticky winter buds.  The berries of all are edible, and are important wild life food, although they are rather too mealy and bland for my taste.  

   Mountain Ash are important trees in the landscape, even though they are  short-lived. In addition to being susceptible to fire blight,  they often are damaged or even killed by wood peckers, and are a favorite of the diminutive wood peckers known as sapsuckers, which sometimes entirely girdle a tree with their pencil-sized drillings, from which they drink the sap of the tree. Regardless of their short comings, these trees are important in the landscape as they offer prolific blooms, colorful edible fruit, good fall color and much year-round interest.

PRAY FOR THE WORLD'S CHRISTIANS,
PERSECUTED FOR THEIR FAITH

   

NODDING TRILLIUM IS BLOOMING

THREE RECURVED WHITE PETALS AND THREE RECURVED GREEN SEPALS...

FLOWER NODDING, MOSTLY HIDDEN...

...BY A WHORL OF THREE TERMINAL LEAVES

Saturday, 7:30 AM.  46 degrees F, wind NNE, blustery.  It is cloudy, cold and damp, the humidity 72% but the barometer is trending up, now at 30.22". It should clear and warm up by noon.  Allison had Buddy and I out on our walk early this morning.
   Daughter-in-law Leslie and granddaughter Allison arrived in time for dinner yesterday evening.  They were exhausted after being up and traveling since four AM.  We are all elated to have them with us for a few days; Buddy can hardly contain himself.
   A nodding  trillium, Trillium cernuum, in the Lily Family, is blooming in the front yard.  It must be a remnant, since I don't remember planting it.  This is a spring ephemeral wildflower native to coniferous and mixed woods of eastern Canada and the northeastern US and Great Lakes states.  Its' habitat is the rich soil of wet to moderate-moisture woods.  This plant may not be particularly obvious in bloom as the flower is borne under the whorl of the three oval leaves.
   The most obvious trillium in flower is T. grandiflorum, the large, erect flowers of which can turn the forest floor white; but that is a species not usually found this far north in Wisconsin.  There are six species of trillium in Wisconsin, four white-flowered, two red-flowered.
 

STAR FLOWER IS BLOOMING

UNSETTLED WEATHER 

STAR FLOWER, 5 TO 9 PETALS...

...SMALL, DELICATE. 2 OR 3 FLOWERS PER STEM 

Friday, 8:00 AM.  51 degrees F at the ferry dock, 54 on the back porch. The sky has a high overcast and lower dark clouds that are moving in from the west.  Wind light, mostly westerly.  The humidity is 95% and there has been a trace of rain.  The barometer is rising, now standing at 29.87".
   Several large, raucous flocks of returning geese flew over this morning, and we heard more that we did not see.
   Our Texas daughter-in-law and granddaughter are flying in today to spend a few days with us; we are elated.
   Star flower, Trientalis borealis, in the Primrose Family, is a diminutive, white-flowered, rhizomatous perennial native to most of Canada and the upper Midwest around the Great Lakes, and south in the mountains of the eastern and western US. Its habitat is the rich soil of moist woodlands and adjacent areas.  It is not a plant that stands out, but once observed it is interesting and unique, the small flowers having five to nine petals, unified at the base, and five to nine leaves in a whorl at the top of an erect, wiry stem.
   The Latin genus name refers to the small stature of the plant, "one-third of a foot," and the species name to its northern geography.  True to its name, the plant is only four to eight inches in height.  It blooms in mid to late spring.
 

CANADA MAY FLOWER, BLOOMING RIGHT ON TIME

CANADA MAY FLOWER

THE HERB GARDEN IS PLANTED

Thursday, 8:15 AM.  46 degrees F at the ferry dock, 47 on the back porch (seldom do the two thermometers agree this closely). Wind ENE, light with moderate gusts.  The sky is clear except for some haze in the east.  The humidly is 88% and the barometer is beginning to fall rapidly, now at 30.12".  We will get some rain tomorrow.
   I spent yesterday planting the rest of the herb garden and potting plants for the porches and decks.  Consequently I am moving about a bit slowly, but things are beginning to look nice, except that the lawns need to be mown and trimmed today.  It turned very warm yesterday afternoon and we ate supper on the porch for the first time this spring.
   Canada mayflower, AKA false lily-of-the-valley, Maianthemum canadense, in the Lily Family, is doing what it is supposed to do...blooming in May.  This diminutive understory perennial is native to sub-boreal forests  of Canada and the northern United States, and in the Appalachian Mountains as far south as Georgia.  The small, twin-leaved plants often form large mats under mixed deciduous/coniferous forest trees and shrubs.  The spikes of its tiny white flowers are followed by red-orange berries that are edible but I have never tried them (never ingest plant parts unless   you are absolutely sure of their edibility).  The berries were also used as an analgesic for headaches and sore throats, and as a diuretic, in Native American medicine.
   The common name "false lily-of-the-valley" is rather appropriate, since there is a considerable similarity in appearance and growth characteristics between the two species of the Lily Family.  The Latin genus name literally means "May flower," and the species name denotes its far northern geographic range.  This is a pleasant little plant that everyone should learn to recognize on their jaunts through the northern woodland.

SAND CHERRY IS BLOOMING ON THE BEACH

APPLE BLOSSOMS AND FORGET-ME-NOTS 

SAND CHERRY, GROWING IN THE BEACH DUNE GRASS...

...COVERED WITH FLOWERS, THE BUSHES ARE SCARCELY A FOOT HIGH

,,,CHOKE CHERRY, GROWING A FEW FEET BACK ON THE DUNE

Wednesday, 8:45 AM.  64 degrees F at the ferry dock, 57 on the back porch,. The wind is SW, light with moderate gusts.  The sky is mostly filled with high, wispy white clouds.  The humidity is 75% and there is another .15" of rain in the gage.  The barometer stands at 29.80" and is beginning to rise.  The sun is out and it will be a pleasant day.
   Yesterday morning we had a Tree Board meeting and discussed a Heritage Tree proposal to present to the Mayor and Council.  It is proving to be a complicated issue, driven by the destruction of the old white pines along Hwy. 13 by the Department of Transportation.  More of this as we develop a strategy.
   Buddy was house-bound yesterday after several days of rain, and if he doesn't get his run he will head for an open door and be gone in a flash, so we went to the beach, where we found the diminutive sand cherry, Prunus pumilla var. pumilla, in the Rose Family, in full bloom in the dune grass.
   This interesting little shrub cherry is scarcely a foot tall and spreads by root suckers in Great Lakes sand dunes.  It bears edible, dark purple cherries, which I have never found at the right stage of ripeness to give a good taste test, although they purportedly are very good and are also excellent for jams and jellies.  There is some indication in the literature that they could be commercially viable.  Their dark color indicates they would be an excellent source of nutrients.  The flowers are lightly but sweetly fragrant.
   This species has a number of varieties that intergrade across a wide range of sandy or rocky habitat throughout eastern to far midwestern North America, and some botanists lump them all together in one species and others split the variations into distinct species.  Take your pick, be either a "lumper" or a "splitter," ( (I am invariably a "lumper") but these are very interesting little shrub cherries.  Those pictured are growing on the Sioux River Beach, along with the much larger choke cherry bushes, Prunus virginiana, which grow on the back dune.
  To see other posts on the sand cherry, use the blog search engine.

SWEET WOODRUFF IS BLOOMING

SWEET WOODRUFF, A MAT-LIKE GROUND COVER WITH WHORLED LEAVES...

...BLOOMING IN MID-SPRING...

...IT HAS UMBELS OF FRAGRANT, SMALL, FOUR-PETALLED FLOWERS,

Tuesday, 8:00 AM.  Wind variable, calm with very light gusts.  There is dense fog over the Islands and the water, which has crept up the bluffs and envelops most everything.  The humidity is 97% and there is another 20" of rain in the rain gage.  The barometer is more-or-less steady, now standing at 29.86"
   The hummingbird that has claimed the feeder and the hanging baskets as his domain now has a rival, so the fight is on.  A female has injected herself into the fray, and is probably waiting to proffer her affections to the winner.  Does she have any preference as to whom will be victorious?  I am reluctant to be sexist, but I doubt it.  I suppose there is more than a hint of anthropomorphism in my commentary, but I can't help but attribute human motives and desires to wild things, at least in their baser emotions and activities.  They are too much like ourselves to ignore the similarities.
   Sweet woodruff,  Galium oderatum,  formerly Asperula oderata, in the family Rubiaceaea, is a common garden perennial,  native to much of Eurasia, much used as a ground cover.   I find it a delightful plant, very fragrant, especially when dried.  It is traditionally used to make May wine, an old-world tradition.  A few sprigs of flowering sweet woodruff, picked fresh and steeped for a week or so in almost any white wine, makes a refreshing and somewhat different drink.  I think it is pretty good, but Joan doesn't care for it.  The plant has interesting whorled leaves and umbels of minute white flowers. It has another common name, sweet bedstraw, denoting its use  in Medieval times.
     Sweet Woodruff  spreads from rhizomes as well as seeds, and I find it grows particularly well under and around pine trees where not much else will grow because of  acid soil, shade and root competition. 

THOUGHTS ON MEMORIAL DAY

RAISING THE FLAG ON IWO JIMA

Monday, Memorial Day, 9:00 AM.  51 degrees F. at the ferry dock.  Wind NE, changing to W.  It is now 60 degrees on the back porch, with occasional strong gusts of wind.  The sky is overcast and it is still raining, after over a half an inch fell last night.  The humidity is 97%, and the barometer, presently at 29.71", is still falling.
   I was something of a wise guy at 21 years of age when I was in basic training, but I was put in my place, gently but firmly, by Sargent Arpin, an avuncular figure who replaced a succession of inept drunks as my platoon sergeant.  He was rather rotund, out of shape, and more of a father figure than a military presence. How and why he ended up with our bunch of troublesome misfits was a mystery.
   Sometime after Sargent Arpin's  arrival, the commandant, doubtless sensing an overall lack of military decorum,  issued orders that the entire post would stand retreat at the end of each day.  That involved changing into clean fatigues, polishing boots, and standing at attention and saluting while retreat was played and the flag lowered.  All that was viewed as unwelcome nonsense by myself and many others, and I had the trepidation to ask Sargent Arpin why all this was necessary, although I considered it merely a rhetorical question.
   The sargent, who took all this very seriously for some reason unbeknown to me, answered in full, his rheumy eyes suddenly clearer, his middle-aged stance suddenly fully military:  "Private Ode," he said, calmly but  sternly, "We stand retreat to honor my buddies who got their asses shot off on Iwo Jima."
   Sarge, I am sure you have long since gone to that great muster in the sky, but you live on in the memory at least one of your charges, himself now an old man.
   I sincerely hope someone had the good sense to bury you in a military cemetery, next to your old buddies, and I hope they play taps over your graves today.
   With a real trumpet, and not one of those tinny-sounding, tape-playing fakes.

_______

   

   Memorial day was originally known as Armistice Day, marking the brutal stalemate of World War I, the "Great War," the "War to End Wars," that was but a prelude to the further, even more brutal wars of the Twentieth Century.
    It sometimes seems we are no further on the road to peace and human progress than we were a century ago, and yet we cannot break faith with those who threw to us the torch. To do so is to deny their sacrifice, and abandon all hope of a better world.

IN FLANDERS FIELDS
by John McRee

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

FLOWERING CRABAPPLE TREES AND LILACS ARE BLOOMING

FLOWERING CRABAPPLE TREES ARE BLOOMING PROFUSELY...

IN MANY COLORFUL SHADES OF WHITE, PINK AND RED...

...AND MANY SIZES AND SHAPES...

...COLORFUL FRUIT OFTEN FOLLOWS...

...AMAZINGLY BEAUTIFUL TREES

...MUCH USED AS POLLINATORS IN APPLE ORCHARDS

COMMON LILACS HAVE JUST BEGUN TO BLOOM

Sunday,  8:45 AM., 56 degrees F.  Wind variable, calm with light gusts.  The sky is mostly covered with high gray clouds.  The humidity is 78% and the barometer is falling, now at 30.10", predicting rain for tomorrow.  I have to get the rain barrels out from under the deck and in place, and get the rest of my planting done, even though it is Sunday.
   Spring is in full swing when flowering crabapple trees and lilacs bloom.
   Flowering crabapples have been used as small ornamental trees as well as apple orchard pollinators for many years, and literally hundreds of varieties have been hybridized and introduced to the horticultural trade.  The species of  the genus Malus hybridize very readily, both naturally and through human efforts.   Most of the hybrids are of Asian origin, but the native flowering crabtree species also play a role.
   At the same time as flowering crabapples are blooming, the common lilac, Syringa vulgara, in the Olive Family, and its many hybrids and selections are doing likewise.  Of European origin, the common lilac has been hybridized, particularly in France, for hundreds of years.  Other species of lilacs and their hybrids are just beginning to bloom as well.  Most lilacs need plenty of space to grow and need considerable pruning but are very much worth the effort, and it is a bonus when a species or variety is fragrant, and holds up well in a vase.
   Spring is well under way when these two species and their hybrids bloom.

PRAY FOR THE WORLD'S CHRISTIANS,
PERSECUTED FOR THEIR FAITH

POORER IN BUDGET, RICHER IN BEAUTY

CATHOLIC CEMETERY 

CITY CEMETERY

Saturday,  8:30 AM.  54 degrees F at the ferry dock, 59 on the back porch.  The wind is SSW, calm with occasional light to moderate gusts (therefore the warmer temperature up here on the bluff).  The sky is clear, the humidity 72% and the barometer more-or-less steady at 30.32".  It is a fine spring day, with the first fluffy seeds of the poplar trees floating about.
   Bayfield has two cemeteries, across Washington Ave. from each other, up the steep bluff just to the west of town.  The Catholic Cemetery is on the north side of the road, the public City of Bayfield Cemetery on the south side.  Both are old, going back to the beginning of the community a century-and- a-half ago. Both are the same size, with pretty much the same soil, water and other environmental conditions.
    By all appearances and accounts they are similar, except that the Catholic Cemetery has a quite beautiful and growing presence of creeping phlox, Phlox subulatta. a creeping perennial native to dunes, shores and rock outcroppings in the northeastern US (but not to our area).  It is a much-used perennial, and has evidently escaped and become established. The City Cemetery has none.
    I have pondered this horticultural mystery, and there can be only a few reasons for the discrepancy (and relative difference in natural beauty).
     It might be that the Catholics have been better and more prolific perennial gardeners, planting more creeping phlox on their graves, which have escaped into the surrounding grass lawn areas, but I see no evidence of such difference,  or between the gardens of Catholics and other gardens around Bayfield,  at least as can be inferred from the original Catholic and protestant neighborhoods.
     The most  logical reason for the difference in populations of creeping phlox between the two virtually identical cemeteries (one with many phlox, the other with virtually none) would be degrees of lawn maintenance.  Creeping phlox will grow and spread in very poor soil conditions; low fertility, low moisture, sandy soil.  I will theorize that the City Cemetery has enjoyed a better budget over the years than the Catholic Cemetery, which has favored the phlox population through lack of lawn fertilizer and probably more importantly, herbicides.
    On the other hand, creeping phlox will establish and increase itself in lawn grasses that are kept mown short.  Could it be that the Catholic Cemetery is traditionally mown more frequently than the City Cemetery?  I doubt it.
    I suppose I could delve deeper into this mystery, but am reluctant to get involved in a religious dispute; could it be that the devout Catholics pray for the creeping phlox and the more secular City Cemetery folks do not?  I sure don't wish to go there!
   Besides, I have come to the conclusion from hard experience that it is best to let sleeping cemeteries, like sleeping dogs, lie in peace.  Case in point: back in my days of working on a MS thesis on prairie restoration, I came across an old settler's cemetery in southern Wisconsin that had not been mowed for years and had unintentionally become a refuge for increasingly rare prairie plants (back then prairie plants were found almost exclusively in abandoned cemeteries and along railroad rights-of way;  2,4-D has taken care of that, of course).
    Elated, I began to publicize my find, a local newspaper published the fact that the old cemetery had not been mowed in years, and a local Boy Scout troupe took over the mowing responsibility.  The cemetery soon became neat and maintained, and the prairie plants disappeared in the bluegrass, hopefully to lay dormant under the sod along with the old settlers until the do-gooders got tired of doing good.  I have never gone back to try to find the cemetery or the prairie plants.  They are probably under some six-lane freeway.
    Regardless of the reason for the difference between the creeping phlox populations in the two locations, it is obvious to me that the Catholic Cemetery, perhaps poorer in budget, is far richer in beauty.

LILY-OF-THE-VALLEY AND MANY SPIREAS ARE BLOOMING

A BEAUTIFUL, CALM MORNING

LILY-OF-THE-VALLEY

SPIREA  'GREFFSCHEIM'

Friday,  9:00 AM.  48 degrees F, wind variable with very light gusts.  The sky is clear, the humidity 78% and the barometer relatively steady, now standing at 30.24".  It is a beautiful spring morning, and it looks like we are in for a few days of nice weather.

  Lily-of-the-valley, Convallaria majalis, in the Lily family, is blooming, its very sweet scent evident when walking past a bed of the flowers.  It was introduced to North America probably hundreds of years ago from Europe, was often planted around settlers homes. and is very persistent, often  forming large leafy mats.  If one comes across a patch of it along a roadside or in the woods it is a certain indicator that a home once stood there (there is also a native species in the eastern mountains of the US, C. montana). The attractive red berries, and indeed the whole plant, is quite poisonous, and has a long history of use as a heart medication similar to Digitalis, to treat heart failure.  Children should be taught at the youngest age never to eat anything wild unless it is given to them by a knowledgeable care giver.

   The wild Lily-of-the-valley, Maianthemum canadense, is native to much of  eastern North America.  It is a small woodland ground cover plant with attractive spikes of sweetly fragrant  white flowers, closely related to Convallaria.

   The shrub pictured is a hybrid Spirea, Spirea cinerea ‘Grefsheim’, a very showy rival to the popular old-fashioned Bridal Wreath Spirea.  Spireas, in the Rose Family, are very decorative and useful landscape shrubs, much hybridized.  They are plants of the temperate northern hemisphere, many from Asia.  They contain silicates, from which aspirin is derived, and many species have been used in herbal medicine, including by Native Americans.

WILD AMERICAN PLUM

LARGE BED OF AMERICAN PLUM...

...SPREADING SHRUBS OR SMALL TREES...

,.,WITH FRAGRANT WHITE FLOWERS,,,

...YOUNG BARK WITH LENTICELS...

...AND THORNY BRANCHES

Thursday, 8:00 AM.  57 degrees F at the ferry dock, 63 on the back porch.  The discrepancy is due to the strong northerly winds blowing off the cold lake downtown, and westerly winds up on our bluff.  The sky has a few very high, scattered white clouds.  The humidity is relatively low at 48% and the barometer is on the rise, currently at 29.97".  We should have at least several nice days leading into the long holiday weekend.
   Yesterday I  mostly spent finalizing the locations of City of Bayfield trees to be planted, hopefully next week, and calling Digger's Hotline to locate utilities.  Today our lawn must be mowed and more garden and yard work begun.
   Every spring a huge clone of American plum, Prunus americana, in the Rose Family, blooms heavily and is visible looking west from Hwy. 13 just north of its intersection with Hwy. J.  The large, spreading shrubs bloom beautifully and I find them nicely fragrant.  The shrubs are quite thorny if one gets entangled in them.  They will bear reddish fruit  about an inch in diameter, that are edible and quite delicious, in late summer into early fall.  I always mean to go back and collect fruit but always forget.  The fruit makes great jams and jellies, and is particularly attractive to bears, which will pull down whole shrubs to get at the fruit.
   American plum ranges naturally over much of the eastern and midwestern North American continent, mainly on alluvial soils, grading into numerous regional varieties on the edges of its range.  It has been much selected and hybridized horticulturally, and used as rootstocks for varieties of domestic plums.  It was an important food source for Native Americans and early settlers.
   These shrubs spread by root suckers and form large thickets, so are difficult to use in the small landscape, but are great for naturalizing in parks and on farms and estates.

HUGE NEW SANDBAR CHANGES THE MOUTH OF THE SIOUX RIVER

A GORGEOUS SPRING MORNING

MOUTH OF SIOUX RIVER NARROWED  AT ENTRANCE TO THE LAKE

BACKWATER OF SIOUX, INCLUDING BOAT LAUNCH,  COMPLETELY BLOCKED BY HUGE  NEW SANDBAR

A DEAD END FOR BOATERS

Wednesday,  8:15 AM.  44 degrees F at the ferry dock, 47 on the back porch.  Wind variable, light with stronger occasional gusts. The sky is clear with a few wispy white clouds. The humidity is 79%, the barometer beginning to fall, currently at 30.23".  It is a gorgeous spring morning, and the weather having warmed up considerably, I put the hanging baskets back up on the porch.
   Buddy and I went for a walk on the beach out to the mouth of the Sioux River yesterday and were surprised to see that recent storms have completely altered the mouth of the river by erecting a huge new sandbar.  At this point it completely eliminates access to the lake from the boat launch on Hwy. 13,  and unless the DNR brings a dredge on a barge to remove tons of sand I see no way of it being reopened.
   This sandbar is probably seventy-five to a hundred yards in length and at least 25 yards in width.  It must have been deposited by violent easterly wind and wave action.  This is by far the biggest change in the mouth of the Sioux River in the fifteen years I have been familiar with it.  The power of wind-driven water is virtually unbelievable.  What is deposited in the big lake by the river ends up tossed back on shore in a new configuration.

CROSSING THE BAR
Alfred Lloyd Tennison

But such a tide as moving seems asleep,
Too full for sound and foam,
When that which drew from out the boundless deep
Turns again home.

(second verse)

TROUT, BROWN AND YELLOW

BRrrrr....BUT THE SUN IS OUT

YELLOW TROUT LILY; NOTE MOTTLED LEAVES..

...AND  RECURVED PETALS, NODDING FLOWER...

BROWN TROUT

Tuesday, 8:15 AM.  36 degrees F at the Ferry Dock, 34 on the back porch.  Wind variable, mostly light.  The sky is cloudy and overcast, the humidity 76% and the barometer is mostly steady, now at 30.32".  It got really cold last night after the temperature fell all day yesterday.  By five PM yesterday I had brought all the hanging baskets into the house, where they will stay until the weather warms up.  We had a trace or more of snow clinging to roofs and decks this morning, which is now melting as the sun appears.
   The yellow trout lily, Erythronium americanum, in the Lily Family, AKA dog-toothed violet, is a native wildflower now blooming in damp woods in the Bayfield area.  Being a spring ephemeral, it will bloom,set seed, and complete its annual life cycle by mid-summer.  The bulbiferous plant can form large colonies, and is very attractive in bloom and leaf.  Each mature plant has two mottled leaves and a single flower. Its common name of trout lily refers to the mottled leaves, that resemble the mottled spots of the brown trout. Its native range is most of the eastern North American continent, south to Georgia.  A white flowered species, E. albidum, is also common in Wisconsin.
   Speaking of brown trout, Mike at the Seagull Bay Motel says his usual contingent of spring lake fishermen had a good catch of brown trout out in the Chequamegon Bay and the Apostles, some as large as 9 pounds.  They also caught a few Coho salmon and splake (a hybrid between lake trout and brook trout) .  They only found one smelt ingested by the fish they caught, which indicates that the smelt population is very much down this spring.

NATIVE CHERRIES, BLUEBERRIES ARE BLOOMING

NATIVE PIN CHERRY IN BLOOM...

...FLOWERS BORNE IN CLUSTERS

NATIVE LOW-BUSH BLUEBERRY...

..NOTE BELL-LIKE FLOWERS

Monday,  7:00 AM.  47 degrees F, wind SW, strong and verst gusty. The sky is overcast and cloudy, the humidity 79% and the barometer is rising, now at 29.74". We received .16"of rain overnight.  The temperature is falling, and I will have to bring the baskets inside before nightfall.
   The native wild cherries are just beginning to bloom, their white flowers looking rather similar in the landscape to the still-bloomoing juneberries.  The plant pictured is pin cherry, Prunus pennsylvanica, in the Rose Family.  The perfect (having both male and female floral parts) small flowers are borne in clusters, and have a rather earthy odor.  Note how the prominent stamens are elevated above the flower petals.  These shrubby small trees are pioneer plants, growing in abundance after fire or logging.  The small cherries are edible and very good for jams and jellies, and are valuable as food for wildlife. The native range of pin cherry is New England and the Great Lake States and most of Canada, and in the mountains of  eastern and western North America.  They usually grow on infertile soils and are short-lived, providing shelter for longer lived species that grow up beneath them.
   The low bush blueberry, Vaccinium angustifolium, in the Heath (Ericaceae) Family, is a northern blueberry native to beach dunes, bogs and other acid soils.  It grows throughout Wisconsin and is native to eastern and central Canada, New England and south to Virginia and around the Great Lakes.  It bears small blue edible and flavorful berries, is very fire tolerant and often grows in large "blueberry barrens" as almost a monoculture.  Such areas are sometimes managed to harvest native berries, either by hand or mechanically.  Blueberry picking can be a great outdoor activity, if one does not mind competing with the bears, which relish the fruit.
   I usually manage to pick some berries each year, but it is a lot of work;  however, there is nothing that tastes like wild blueberries, or makes better pies!  I have become very partial to using various blueberry species in landscaping, as they are very attractive plants and have wonderful fall color.  Use the blog search engine for additional information.