Chestnuts … Popping Up

Last Friday Eric Durban - resident orchid guru - guided a few of us monitors to a site in Maumee State Forest where Putty Root orchid (Aplectrum hyemale) grows.  You can just make out three green leaves and two dried stalks with their seed pods.

Each plant sends out one leaf each fall.  The leaf, conspicuous atop the fallen leaf litter, gathers energy all winter.  A single flower stalk appears in the spring, after the leaf has withered.  One of my favorite bloggers, Jim McCormick, has a great post on this orchid.

We made a mental note to revisit the site next May and see the flowers.

On the way back we stopped by one of the old Chestnut trees in the area.  When I last visited this site, the tree was difficult to find in the overgrown woods, but seemingly healthy.  It has since developed symptoms of Chestnut blight.

The Metroparks cleared the area around the old Chestnut and volunteers planted saplings grown from seeds.  Each white tube covers a sapling.  If you look closely you can see this years copious fruit.  

Perhaps by the time these saplings are as large as the parent tree there will be a cure for the blight.

23 Morning Doves

Spent the day putting up Christmas decorations.  I used to have nine of these globes and put three in each weeping crab apple tree out front.  This year three were out of commission, so I decided to put some out on the patio instead.

When I checked to see if the timer was working, I found the doves lined up looking at the river and pecking around in the beds.  Though difficult to tell in this image, there were 23 in all.

Hoping the Woollly Bears Are Right

We are in the middle of an unseasonable cold snap.  I've sorted through my coats, hats and mittens and brought out the warmest.  The Farmers Almanac is predicting a bad winter.

I prefer to hope the Woolly Bears are right.  

The theory is that the brown stripes correlate to mild winter weather.  The greater the number of brown segments, the milder the winter.  

This year the Woolly Bears have a large number of brown segments, but they are shifted toward the back of the caterpillar.  I'll take colder weather now if it means warmer weather in January!

Witch Hazel

Now that monitoring is over, Ruta, Diane and I were able to enjoy a leisurely walk in the woods this morning.   

The understory was full of blooming Witch Hazel.

Witch Hazel is unique in blooming this time of year.  

Hazelnut and Serviceberry are the other common understory trees at Oak Openings.  

End of Monitoring

The last day of the season out with the plant monitors yesterday was cold and wet.  We went to the Bumpus property as well as the property at the southwest corner of Dorr and Irwin to collect seeds.  The Metroparks use them to repopulate park land that has been cleared.

Last week the frost was on the seedpods of Swamp milkweed.

This photo was taken at the corner of Dorr and Irwin back in September - when the cardinal flower was blooming.

Treats!

Yesterday was a family fun day at Elizabeth Scott Community where my Mom now lives.  Children related to both residents and staff dressed up to do some indoor trick or treating.

Mom is wearing her favorite purple polka dotted shirt.  

She was smiling the whole time.

The kids kept coming for about 30 minutes.  

After going through several other buildings they enjoyed donuts and cider and crafts.

I'm hoping to get my own donut at the Halloween party for the residents this coming Friday.

Spoiling Our Neices

My brother got a new job in Minneapolis last month.  My sister and our husbands volunteered to hang out with our nieces so his wife could meet him to look at houses.  

We had a nice outing to The Strip District. The girls are in a donut rut.  It took a little looking, but we finally found their favorite donut shop.

Mmm...Maple Bacon donuts!  That's Katie on the left and Sarah on the right.

Another day we visited the National Aviary.  Aunt Deb and Sarah were being silly in the penguin exhibit.

My brother and sister-in-law weren't able to find a house, but they did pin down the neighborhood - and we all had a lot of fun.