Memorial Day, May, 2019

Nathan William Cox,
Olin Julius Cox,
Frank Earl Glass II
Nels Leroy Hansen,
David Ward Redmayne

Blustery Day

Last evening a tornado warning was issued for not far from me. That brought fierce winds and rain squalls here - I love heavy weather. I had spent much of the day weeding and tidying up the front gardens. I realize that after I'm gone they will quickly revert to grasses and that's fine. The only constant is - change - after all.

Just before the rain and wind started the birds went crazy flying around helter skelter. Even while it was raining, the hummers were feeding as if there would be no tomorrow. Clicking on photos will enlarge them.

Can you see the dogs in the upper right hand corner below? I think they've found a returning garter snake that will soon participate in the annual snake frenzy. They observe and smell but so far leave them alone.

Primula - Cowslip

I've had many cultivated hybrid primroses but none were more appreciated than this wild (species) primrose. It's hardier and sometimes self sows fulfilling one of my few plant requirements: easy of nurture, hardy, returns each spring, self seeds easily, lovely smell, heirloom plant bringing with it memories of a loved person in my life.

Primula veris

Grape Hyacinths - pruned by rabbits

Purple Vinca minor

Pulmonaria

White Throated Sparrow

Zonotrichia albicolis

 We used to travel to Point Pelee in extreme southern Ontario, Canada in the spring to enjoy the flocks of returning migratory birds as they reached that point of land projecting into Lake Erie. Thousands of birds met hundreds of birders. (Do the Brits call them "twitchers"?) Now I just have to look out my windows as the migrating birds come to me here in Michigan's Thumb.

Lily of the Valley

Convallaria majalis

 I fully realize that one is not supposed to encourage Lily of the Valley in the garden because it is not native and can be invasive - as these photos show. But on plus side deer and rabbits do NOT eat them and they do seem to be able to out compete other plants and so present a nice green carpet which smells lovely for a week or so every spring. I hacked away the grapevines and removed the dead tree branches from this area in my back yard and have encouraged this patch of pips. I've wondered how it started. Did someone plant the first plants or was a wayward seed delivered to this spot by some bird? Regardless, they please me.

Peonies, iris, lilacs all delight me in turn when they flower. Years ago a lady in Palmer Woods invited me into her garden and gave me several pips of the rare striped lily of the valley. My friends Basi and Andy had tried for years to get some pips from her and she refused. Basil was unhappy she gave me some. They increased in number but sadly I left them in Royal Oak when I moved. Jon promised me he would go back and ask the new owners of 810 for a few plants but that never happened. over the years I have ordered them from several plant companies but they have never arrived alive. They are expensive. Very expensive. This year I ordered some from Klehm Song Sparrow which has reliably delivered many plants to me before.  Here's hoping.

Daffodils - fully a month behind this year

Baltimore Oriole Female

Icterus galbula - Male Baltimore Oriole

Although they do eat fruit more than 80% of their diet is insects, especially injurious ones in fruit orchards. Nests are strong and usually built at the ends of drooping branches. I had a pair stick around last year ans they or their progeny seem to be back again this year. David convinced me, easily I add, to feed them again.

Wilderness Arboretum in Huron County, Michigan

This morning in Huron County, Michigan along the way to Port Austin and Caseville I found another wonderful barn-quilt along Lakeshore Drive. Clicking on photos will enlarge them.

My goal today was to find the Wilderness Arboretum near the tip of Michigan's Thumb by the shores of Lake Huron. There were no other humans nearby, so I felt like I had the whole nature center to myself.

The paths were well marked yet still in harmony with nature. Areas that were wet or swampy had elevated walkways. This preserve is obviously very well cared for.

I found several clumps of various species of mosses, club mosses, and liverworts that reminded me of coral reefs in warmer climes. Wintergreens are everywhere!

Ferns are just beginning to unfurl their fronds. Even though the tip of the thumb is about an hour further north from me, their spring is ahead of spring here. Our ferns are still slumbering, the trees have yet to open their leaves, and flowers are days if not weeks away.. Many early flowering trees "up north" have their flowers open and ours are not even budded.

Yes, this place is heartwarming. 

Quarante-Neuf Ans

 Nous avons eu une celebration pour notre amie qui a acheve quarante-neuf ans le weekend passe.

Bon anniversaire

Nos vœux les plus sincères

Que ces quelques fleurs

Vous apportent le bonheur

Que l'année entière

Vous soit douce et légère

Et que l'an fini

Nous soyons tous réunis

Pour chanter en chœur

Bon anniversaire

Lyricist: Jacques Larue

Composer: Louiguy

Royal Oak Visit

I drove to Royal Oak this morning in order to buy food from Holiday Market for a 49th birthday celebration this weekend. I-696 is still a hot mess years after they started "fixing" it but the rest of the drive was actually pleasant even though I drove in rush hour traffic. Not bad at all.

I've seen more fishing activity this spring than previous years. David? Salmon? Lake Trout? AUCE Perch?

The house from the North-Woods.

Some perennials living in the North-Woods.

Daphne

Epimediums in bud

Daffodils - from one bulb years ago

Magnolia with Dogs

One of the the things that I love about perennials is that if they are well sited, they increase in size and health every year. Of course many of them have a flowering period that may last only several days to a few weeks and then they're finished for another year. Well planned perennial gardens have rotating periods where something is always in bloom, there is always something to look forward to. And they don't have to be planted every year like annuals do. With luck, after a few years, they can be divided and spread around the yard.

Game of Thrones Rock with Robin

Hummingbird - Finally Back Home

Hummingbird

Hummingbird

Flickers, unlike most woodpeckers, migrate south in the fall and return in the spring probably because they feed primarily on ants and ants hibernate and are out of harm's way under snow and the frozen ground. A few years ago I lost a birch bark tree in a storm. I never remove the remaining stub when a tree is topped because I know that some bird - chickadee, nuthatch. brown creeper, downy woodpecker, hairy woodpecker, red-headed woodpecker, flicker, etc. may eventually, as the wood softens with age, excavate a nesting site. Patience rewarded. In the first shot you can barely make out the well camouflaged flicker.

This site is very close to the house but outside the fenced area in my North-Woods and on the north-east edge of my bluff. I am going to love watching them nest - - - - from the comfort of my home.