Reminiscing

Going through old photographs today...

This is one of me when I am about a year and a half old on the porch of the home I lived in until I was 21.

I don't remember seeing this before and it's now one of my favorites.

Summertime

It's been a busy summer and I can't believe we're almost half way through July.

The House Wrens have already fledged two broods by the patio and one in the front yard. No one used the house in my wildflower bed on the hill this year.

The Baltimore Orioles have fledged as well.  I never know where their nests are, but at least 2 pair frequent the jelly feeder, along with at least one pair of Catbirds.

The American Goldfinches have stayed all season at the thistle feeders.

The beds around the house have done well this year with heavy spring rains.  

Things are drying out now, so I have had to start watering.

The Woodchucks and Deer have not been thwarted by my fencing of the native plantings on the hill.

The best laid plans...

Monitoring - Finally!

It's been a long winter and a cold, wet busy spring, but I finally made it out to monitor yesterday.

Our job this summer is to regularly visit some of the corridor sites.  

These are park properties that are not open to the public.  

We will search for rare species, recording the populations with GPS tracking.

I will miss our regular haunts, but look forward to visiting new places.

The Lupine in the photo is not a rare species, but is what is known as an "indicator species".

It's presence lets the park know it is managing the land well.

It  is also a sure sign of spring.

Ice Breakup

We awoke Sunday morning to open water on the river.  

It has since continued warm and rainy and the water is completely open and flowing high.

The last few weeks of winter are always the most difficult for me. 

Even with colder temperatures, it would be unusual for the river to refreeze.

The open water will attract birds migrating north and it will make all the difference.

Buddies

My elderly neighbor and I bond over nature.  

She phoned last evening to make sure I didn't miss the spectacular moon rising over the river.

I pulled the shade just in time to see the two raccoons who use our oak climbing out of their cavity.

They groomed each other for quite a while, then seemingly paused to admire the moon as well.

Native Bed Improvements

Many years ago I started adding native plants to my landscape.  At first it was because I didn't want to fuss with plants and natives need no fussing.  Gradually I came to appreciate the butterflies they attracted.  

Last fall, I went to a lecture by an entomologist named Douglas Tallamy who convinced me I needed to have as many native plants as possible for the sake of the native birds.

So, this fall I hired Susan Noblet - a native landscape designer.

She convinced me I needed to plant larger specimens and install deer fence.

I gathered the plants:

Smooth Aster

New England Aster

Little Bluestem

Ironweed

Butterfly Milkweed

Tall Coreopsis

Rattlesnake Master

Etc.

My longtime landscaping company helped me clean the non-natives out of the beds and install the new plants.

Above is the cleaned East bed with the plants set out.

Below is the cleaned West bed with the plants set out.

Above is a view of the deer fence installed around the existing Spicebush (below the Pines) - they are currently about 3 feet tall,  even though they are at least 5 years old due to deer browsing.

We planted a Black Chokeberry inside the fenced area.

The East Bed with the deer fence installed is to the left of the wooden steps.

Here is the fenced in West Bed.

We've had some lovely rain to help the newly planted roots grow over the winter.

I can't wait until spring!

Winding Down

Friday we went to a corridor site - a non contiguous parcel of land the Metroparks purchased for it's ecological significance.  

This place is known as the "4-wheeler site".

We found what we were looking for - Drummond's Dwarf Bulrush - but it was past it's prime and not worth a photo.

Most plants have started to go dormant and lost their color 

- with a few exceptions.

The muted colors and texture of fluffy seed heads are beautiful in their own way.