9/07/09 LABOR DAY, PEARS AND ACORNS

Monday, Labor Day, 8:30 AM. 63 degrees, wind NE, calm. The channel is lightly wrinkled and hazy. The sky is mostly sunny and the barometer trends down, predicting partly cloudy skies.
The pears are ripening, the tree pictured is in the Bonney yard on Ninth and Manypenny. Erickson’s Orchard now has pears. The red oak acorns are ripening also, and it looks like a good harvest for deer, squirrels and grouse. Red oak acorns are not edible for humans, but white oak acorns are, and were much used by the Indians.
I just finished re-reading Ayn Rand’s classic, “Atlas Shrugged,” a fitting novel for the holiday, with its celebration of free enterprise, free people and the dignity of work. Now it’s on to David McCullough’s “1776” and his account of the Revolution (his “John Adams” was a wonderful read!)

9/06/09 FALL PHLOX

Sunday, 8:00 AM. 60 degrees, wind W, calm to light. The channel is crawling slightly. Air and water currents at various levels from often distant sources can create wave action that seems contrary to observed wind conditions. The sky is lightly overcast, and the barometer trends down, predicting partly cloudy skies.
The Phlox genus, in the Polemonium family, consists of about 60 species, mostly North American. They are common and important garden plants, various species and varieties blooming spring, summer or fall. They range in appearance from the spring blooming, creeping P. stolonifera of dunes and dry hillsides to the tall, fall blooming P. paniculata of dry eastern woods and meadows. Phlox range in color from white to red, pink to blue and everything in between. They have few culinary or medicinal uses.
There is a common misconception that American native plants such as Phlox are underused in American horticulture, which is not really the case. American native flowers, trees and shrubs are a staple of gardening and arboriculture both here and in Europe. The issue is confused by the fact than many North American plants, introduced to Europe hundreds of years ago by plant explorers, and often much hybridized there, have been traded back over the years to North America as European plants. And of course many Asian plants have been introduced here also, since the climates of Japan, Korea and northern Asia are very similar to our continental climate and they adapt well.
The pileated woodpeckers are calling from many directions this morning.

9/05/09 WOODPECKERS, RAINGARDENS AND BEARS

Saturday, 8:00 AM. 60 degrees, wind W, calm. The channel and Island are mostly obscured by fog, but the barometer predicts sunny weather. Except for birdsong and a boat motor or two it is a very quiet morning.
I am nursing a sore foot so had to walk quite slowly this morning, which allowed me to get very close to a magnificent pileated woodpecker looking for grubs on an old telephone pole. I watched him for several minutes before he uttered his characteristic high pitched trill and flew off.

Judy Larsen is a weaver, and when in camp sets up her loom in a screen tent in the woods. She has been trying to weave scarves to sell, but a fashion conscious bear has taken a liking to her work (note the claw holes Judy has her hands through). Maybe she should just weave a nice winter scarf for mama bear and leave it outside the tent.

9/04/09 IT'S CRUNCH TIME!

Friday, 8:00 AM. 65 degrees, wind WNW, very light. The channel is dimpled, the sky clear except for some haze in the east. The barometer is trending down, predicting partly cloudy skies.
Yesterday was a fine top-down day, and we went to Hauser’s Orchard on Hwy J for some early apples. They celebrated their 100th anniversary last year, and are still a family business, growing apples, berries and perennials.
Their early apples are Duchess, Dudley, Whitney crab, Transparent and Melba. Early apples are best for baking, but are eating apples as well, although not as crisp and tart as later varieties. I think the Whitney crabapple is the tastiest of the early apples.
Our edible apple (Pyrus malus, synonym Malus pumila) is native to south-central Asia, probably Kazakhstan, whose capital, Alma Atta, translates to “mother of apples.” Cultivated since ancient times and brought to Europe thousands of years ago, apples are now grown throughout the temperate regions of the world, virtually everywhere there is a moderate climate with seasonal changes. Our North American crabapples are not the edible apple.
The apple gene pool is very young and plastic, allowing for virtually unlimited variation in fruit characteristics through hybridization, either natural or horticultural. There is nothing quite like the satisfying “crunch” of biting into a crisp, tasty apple.

9/03/09 BLOWIN' IN THE WIND

Thursday, 8:00 AM. 64 degrees, wind WNW, moderate with strong gusts. The channel is wrinkled, the sky mostly clear, and the barometer is trending down, predicting partly cloudy skies. It will be a warm day.
I collected ripe seed of fireweed for the condominium project yesterday. Epilobium angustifolium, in the evening primrose family, is also called great willow-herb because of its willow-like leaves. It is a circumboreal species, growing in Eurasia as well as North America. I was amazed and amused by the copious, milkweed-like seed heads, which I had a hard time keeping from blowing away. The back of the truck may sprout fireweed from dirt filed corners next spring. I finally got a fair amount distributed where I wanted them, even if a lot of it went “blowin’ in the wind.”

9/02/09 LOOKALIKES

Wednesday, 8:00 AM. 55 degrees, wind WSW, calm. The channel is lightly wrinkled, the sky is clear with some haze in the east, and the barometer predicts sunny weather. It will be a gorgeous day.
The tiger lily, Lilium tigrinum, is an old fashioned garden favorite, a native of eastern Asia. It is quite similar in appearance to the native Turk’s cap lily, both of which have spotted, recurved petals and are very handsome. They bloom at the same time of year. The tiger lily has more strongly recurved petals and, a dead giveaway, little bulblets growing in the axils of the leaves. It is a common escapee from gardens. The native lily has green coloration at the base of the petals inside the flower. Otherwise they are strong lookalikes.

9/01/09 EXPLORER'S POINT

8:00 AM. 58 degrees, wind WNW, light. The channel is dimpled, the sky clear, the barometer predicts sunny skies.
Explorer’s Point , just west of Ashland on Hwy 2, overlooks lower Chequamegon Bay. It’s name refers to the 17th Century French explorers, Radisson and Grosseillieers, who wintered nearby in 1624. Much of the landscape has been naturalized, and blends in with the native vegetation of the Bay.
The handsome plant with pink flowers is Monarda fistulossa, Oswego tea, in the mint family (characterized by square stems and minty odor). It is a native plant of prairies and meadows, and was much used medicinally by Indian tribes for colds and stomach problems.
The plant with the small blue flowers on multiple spikes is Salvia reflexa, also in the mint family, a sage native to meadows and prairies.
Waterfowl migrations; ducks, geese and swans, are great to watch here in spring and fall.

8/31/09 ALWAYS MOVIN' ON

Monday, 8:00 AM. 56 degrees, wind NW, moderate. The sky is clear, the channel wrinkled. The barometer predicts partly cloudy weather. Local weather forecasts had called for lows in the thirties in our region last night.
The plant pictured is Juniperus rigida, a Juniper of Asiatic origin, which has an unusual branching habit. The only reason I mention it, since I don’t care for its aesthetics, is that the one other place I have ever seen it growing is The New York Botanical Garden. The folks up the street, whose yard it resides in, are members of the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum and have received a number of unusual plants thereby. This is a good example of how people move plants around the globe, from one continent and ecosystem to another. This Juniper is merely an oddity…plants that have greater utility or beauty migrate even faster and farther, and these plant migrations have been going on since the first farmers carried seed from one slash and burn garden plot to another, or in pouches and baskets on their continual migrations to find a better or safer place to live. Plants, like people, are always movin’ on.

8/30/09 FALL IS ON THE DOORSTEP WHEN THE ASTERS BLOOM

Sunday, 8:00 AM. 53 degrees, wind W, modest with stronger gusts. The sky is cloudless except for a few on the eastern horizon. The rainy weather has blown out to the east, and the barometer predicts partly cloudy skies. The rain gage holds another .7” of rain.
Asters are the iconic wild flowers of the fall. The wild asters, also called Michaelmass daisies because they bloom around the time of the Feast of St. Michael, comprise a mostly North American genus in the Composite family. There are some 250 species. They are perennials with mostly blue, violet to purple, red, pink or white ray flowers. The center, or disk flowers are red, purple or occasionally white (one species, A ptarmicoides, is yellow). They are mostly plants of prairies, meadows and woods edges.
Since there are so many species, they can be difficult to identify, although some are well known. We have already mentioned the big-leaf Aster of the woods, and soon the showy New England Aster will bloom. The two pictured are, I believe, A. azureus(blue) and A. ericoides, the heath aster (white).
Fall is on the doorstep when the Asters bloom.

8/29/09 A HANDSOME LITTLE TREE

Saturday, 8:30 AM. 52 degrees, wind W, light with stronger gusts. The channel is obscured by fog and it is drizzling. The rain gage holds .4”, and the barometer predicts more.
The mountain ash pictured is, I believe, one of the two species native to our region. I think it is Sorbus decora, but in any case, it is a particularly handsome little tree. One difference between it and the European species (Sorbus aucuparia) is the winter buds of S. decora are gummy, those of the European species are not. I will check that out as winter approaches. Another is the more compact and rounded form of decora, which this tree definitely exhibits. The birds are flocking to the two feeders that I filled with seed yesterday.

8/28/09 VISUALIZE WORLD PEAS

Friday, 8:00 AM. 58 degrees, wind W, very light. The channel is mostly wrinkled, and the sky is overcast. We received .2 “ of rain last night and the barometer predicts more.
I have been collecting and shelling more beach peas for the Condominium project and I am fascinated by their similarities to garden peas in characteristics of the flowers, the pod and how it opens, and how the peas resemble garden peas although smaller. They even taste like garden peas, although more mealy.
According to Moerman’s Native American Ethnobotany, the beach pea, Lathyrus japonica, was used by several tribes for food or medicine. Although the Inuit considered them poisonous, the Iroquois used the stalks for food and to treat rheumatism, and the Mokah (Pacific Northwest) ate the immature seeds as peas. There is no reference to use by our local Ojibwa.
The garden pea, Pisum sativa, has been cultivated in Europe for thousands of years, and probably collected for food long before written history.
The common view of prehistoric or stone-age man as a lesser being than modern, technological man ignores the fact that virtually all our foodstuffs and until very recently all our medicines were derived from the curiosity, industry and experimentation of early, non-technological humans and their cultures. All progress is evolutionary, and we owe great debts to our prehistoric ancestors who developed and used sophisticated survival knowledge.
There are few modern people who could survive in the wild for more than a few days without their technology, and most of us do not even know how our technology actually works, or would be able to produce any of it.
So here’s to the first naked, hungry human who ate a pea! As the bumper sticker says, "Visualize World Peas!”

8/27/09 DUELLING FOG HORNS

Thursday, 8:00 AM. 55 degrees, wind W, very light. The channel and the Island are obscured by fog, and the sky is blue except for the fog that rises to great heights over the lake. We are being treated to a concert of dueling foghorns from ferries and docks, each of which has its own tone and pitch.
Some of the questions most frequently asked of me regard the lumps, bumps and pimples which may occur at this time of the year to disfigure tree leaves and branches, particularly those of willow, silver maple and sometimes oaks . These are galls caused by insects, often tiny wasps, laying their eggs under the epidermis of tree leaves, the larvae then feeding on the leaf tissue. The galls, which often have very characteristic shapes and colors, are the response of the host plant to the irritation. These galls usually do no great harm and nothing much can or should be done about them. Raking up fallen leaves and composting or burning them can minimize the next year’s infection.

8/26/09 THE BEST LAID PLANS

Wednesday, 8:15 AM. 61 degrees, wind W, light. The channel is patterned; glassy in the lee of the bluffs, wrinkled further out. The sky is cloudless and the barometer predicts partly cloudy skies. Today is a “perfect ten.”
The hated Japanese knotweed is in bloom, quite beautiful. I believe it should be controlled, but that it is foolish to try to eradicate it.
The American chestnut on Tenth and Mannypenny has a lot of fruit, not yet ripe. The stigmas of the female flowers, which receive the pollen, are still prominent on the developing chestnuts.
The first plant is terribly invasive, brought to our continent as a misguided introduction by the USDA; the second is a valuable native tree, now very rare because it has been devastated by a foreign disease introduced through commerce. “The best laid plans of mice and men oft gang agley."

8/25/09 PORCH SITTIN'

Tuesday, 7:45 AM. Wind W, light with stronger gusts. The channel is wrinkled, the sky overcast and the barometer predicts rain. The dark and quiet atmosphere emphasizes the beauty of an incipient storm.
Spending a lot of time on our back porch the last few days makes me realize anew how valuable an outdoor living area is in almost any climate, even if it is only used seasonally.
The term “outdoor living room” has been around for a century at least, and now has become “outdoor living area.” There have always been sheltered outdoor areas associated with the home, or nearby in the garden, whether called gazebos, pergolas, colonnades, patios, ramadas or whatever, adapted to the climate and architecture of most cultures. Greco-Roman classic home design often was more outdoor than indoor, given their Mediterranean climates.
The populating of California and the Southwest also sparked interest in “outdoor living” in garden design and architecture, and the converse, homes with large glass areas to “bring the outdoors in” became very popular wit h modern architecture and the advent of plate glass.
Today’s architecture and decorating have gone a step further, usually too far, in creating outdoor kitchens, bars, pizza ovens, fire pits, spas, and huge party areas, much of which is overtly lavish and ridiculously expensive.
I prefer a porch, large enough to be comfortably furnished and able to hold a small dinner party. We have several decks, but they don’t provide the shelter, comfort and sense of security of a porch. Here are my criteria for a suitable and affordable “outdoor living room.”
Covered and sheltered from the most of the sun and rain environment, with a sense of enclosure, while preserving air circulation
Suitable furniture for the style and economy of the home.
Plenty of rugs, cushions and colorful tablecloths.
Ceiling fans.
A simple heat source if possible.
Views and/or focal points in several directions, even if within a small or enclosed yard.
An area for a grill, and easy access to the kitchen of the home.
Lots of potted plants and flower arrangements.
One needn’t spend a fortune or inhabit a castle to enjoy “outdoor living.”

8/24/09: MOUNTAIN ASH BEER?

Monday, 8:30 AM. 60 degrees, wind S, light to moderate. The sky is cloudless with some haze over the Island. The barometer predicts partly cloudy skies.
Many plants are bearing ripe frit and seeds now. The highbush cranberry fruits (not actually cranberries) are a bright red, and will remain on the plants far into the winter as a “last resort” food for the birds. The cones of the blue spruce in the front yard are large and glistening with exuding sap. The early apples are in at the orchards and fall is approaching fast. I have never seen the mountain ash bear so heavily, and I am tempted to make beer from them.