6/19/08 AZALEAS: USE WITH CARE

Thursday, 7:45 AM. It is 47 degrees, the wind E, calm. The channel is again like glass. The barometer is down, predicting partly cloudy skies, currently blue with some high, thin white clouds.
Some lilacs are still blooming, particularly the white ones by the back porch, but most common lilacs (Syringia vulgaris) and their hybrids are over. There are many crosses of Persian and other lilacs still to bloom, but to me they all lack the effectiveness of the common lilac…size of bloom, fragrance, and the ability to hold up as a cut flower. There are few things like the common lilac to bring the outdoors in.
Azaleas are blooming, and many do well in Bayfield and along the lakeshore. The most dependable are the recent introductions by the University of Minnesota, the “Northern Lights” series (‘Rosy Lights’, ‘Lemon Lights’, etc.) Many varieties of the flame Azalea are also hardy here. Botanically, Azaleas are classified in the genus Rhododendron, according to their flower characteristics, the real difference being that Azaleas are deciduous, and the Rhododendrons more or less evergreen. Azaleas and Rhododendrons are native throughout the Northern Hemisphere, and have been hybridized almost beyond definition over the last several hundred years. A note of caution regarding their use in the landscape: many Azalea (and some Rhododendron) flower colors are eye catching but garish, and unless you are a collector of this group or have some other special interest in planting them, caution is advised, as misuse can result in clashing colors and design concepts, and a busy and unattractive landscape effect.
The poppies are suddenly blooming in the garden this morning, and the peonies will soon follow, so the garden will be colorful again. I need to do some tree pruning this winter, as the garden is getting too shady.
I need to mow lawns today and get the boat out of the Johnson’s barn, as family will begin to arrive in a few days and everyone will want to get out onto the water.

6/18/08 ANDY'S CHICKEN AND PAUL'S HAWTHORN

Wednesday, 7:30 AM. 45 degrees, wind E, calm. The channel is like glass. The barometer predicts sunny skies which are now blue with some haze.
We went to the Larsen’s for dinner, they are living in their “winter camp,” a large multi-purpose room at the back of their metal barn. Andy is building an elaborate roofed tent platform that will house a large new Cabella’s tent, and will be a luxurious camping facility. Judy is anxious to be cooking outdoors in the cook shack, as she and Andy are truly gourmet camp cooks. Anyway, we had a nice evening with them and Myron, who lives up the road and probably smelled the chicken roasting. The ticks and mosquitoes are still fierce in the woods and it was just as well that we ate inside.
Coming home just about dusk we saw a yearling bear on Hwy. K and Lohman’s (Myron’s) road. He wasn’t shy and we got several good looks at him but I didn’t have my camera.
There has also been a big sow with cubs in the area, getting into things, and Myron says her tracks alone weigh over twenty pounds.
We have what I am calling a Bayfield signature tree, it is a Paul’s Scarlet English hawthorn, Crataegus laevigata ‘Paul’s Scarlet,’ an old fashioned variety. Probably the most beautiful of the hawthorns in flower, it is located in the little park on Sixth Street and Old Military Road. I would like to propagate it and plant it throughout the city.
Former Bayfield resident Howard Larsen had propagated some and planted them around town and they seem to be doing well. “Paul’s Scarlet’ is usually susceptible to all sorts of disease problems and is seldom used these days, but this tree seems to be resistant, either because of our Bayfield microclimate or in that it has evolved a true genetic disease resistance.
The dominant male hummingbird is driving himself crazy trying to defend (now two) feeders from interlopers, and I am tempted to put up a third and push him to the limit.

6/17/08 PORCHES AND BEACHES

Tuesday, 8:00 AM. 52 degrees, wind NE, moderate. The channel is wrinkled. The barometer predicts sunny skies, which are a cloudless blue at present. The aspen leaves are flitering merrily in the breeze, and it is a “see forever” day.
Lucky and I hadn’t been to the beach in some weeks so we went this morning, I made a dozen casts in the Sioux mouth to see if a northern might be lurking there (nope). It is always amazing how the beach and dunes and sand bars change with the storms.
The sand cherry, Prunus pumila ( I believe that is what this small shrub in the cherry family is) is in bloom, and when it bears fruit we will look at it again. It is quite pretty in flower, and does its job of holding down the sand well.
The back porch is now a wonderful place to sit and eat or just relax, the lilacs providing an unbelievable fragrance. Family (lots) will begin arriving in about a week, so there is much work to do.

6/16/08 NOTABLE NATIVES

Monday, 8:00 AM. 50 degrees, wind NE, calm to light. The channel is calm. The barometer is up, predicting partly cloudy weather. The sky is mostly overcast with high gray clouds.
There are two native shrubs of note just beginning to bloom in the woods on Ninth Street; mountain maple, Acer spicatum, which bears upright spikes of whitish green flowers and has rather large palmately lobed leaves; and the pagoda dogwood, Cornus alternifolia, which has flat clusters of tiny dogwood blooms and is the only dogwood with alternate leaves and branches.
The mountain maple is a very handsome under-story shrub, not readily available in the nursery trade; the pagoda dogwood, so named because it has an interesting “oriental” shape, is available but is rather finicky to grow. Neither shrub is known by many gardeners, and both could be used more.
My Iris are not performing well this year, “mea culpa,” they need to be divided and I will have to develop a new bed for them somewhere. I made the mistake of planting Iris in with other garden perennials and if I divide them in place I will ruin a lot of other things, particularly bulbs. Iris are not good plants for the careless gardener!

6/15/08 NEW TREES, OLD ARGUMENT

Sunday, 8:00 AM. 55 degrees, wind S, moderate. The channel is wrinkled. The barometer predicts rain, but skies are mostly clear with some haze.
The scent of lilacs wafts wonderfully onto the porch. The poppies are opening, the Iris as well, and peonies in a day or two. Bird song fills the air. It is a fine day.
The newly planted red buckeyes, Aesculus pavia, ten in all, along Sixth Street are in bloom. They will be spectacular in a few years. These are hybrids of a southeastern US native. They are a grafted tree. They don’t get too large, perhaps thirty feet in height, and should not bear fruit, a boon for a street tree.
Many well-intentioned people think all trees and particularly street trees, should be forest natives…no foreigners, no hybrids, no grafts. Acceptable street trees must have certain attributes; pest and disease resistance, strong wood and branching, a minimum of plant parts that fall to the street, adaptability to city conditions, and beauty and interest. This process of elimination leaves fewer and fewer possibilities, and the arborist needs all the help he can get from the nurseryman. Suffice it to say that the argument between nativists and horticulturists, particularly as regards street trees, is unwelcome and impractical.
The Blessing of the Fleet concert, Baroque music of Bach, Telleman and others, was excellent as usual, and the Blessing at city dock is at noon today.

6/14/08 BLOOMS, BUGS AND BREEZES

Saturday, 7:15 AM. 52 degrees, wind S, moderate with stronger gusts. The channel is wrinkled. The barometer predicts rain, the skies are overcast, with patches of blue.
The shrub dogwoods are blooming, the one pictured here with panicles of small white flowers is, if I recall correctly, gray dogwood, Cornus racemosa.
The little Canada mayflower, Maianthemum canadense, is in bloom in the woods, also known as wild lily-of-the-valley, it looks somewhat like a diminutive version of the common garden plant.
Being Saturday and early, there wasn’t the heavy detour traffic on Ninth Street that has been altering our walking route, and we went all the way and through to the woods, where mosquitoes were fierce due to all the rain. It reminded me once again of the importance of channeling breezes when landscaping to minimize bothersome insects. We are seldom bothered on our back porch.
The Rhododendrons in Cindy’s yard are spectacular this year. They look pretty close to R. carolinianum, the Carolina rosebay, but I can’t be sure. For the best Rhododendron and azalea displays anywhere, visit Calloway Gardens, Pine Mountain, Georgia, in April…you will not be disappointed.
The pickup and the garage are close to overflowing with recycles and garbage and a trip to the Recycling Center is imperative this morning.

6/13/08 FOG, BEARS AND SHRUBS

Friday, 7:30 AM. 47 degrees, wind E, calm to light. It was quite foggy an hour ago but the sun has come out and burned it all off. The barometer predicts rain but it is a bright , blue-sky morning. The channel is calm to slightly wrinkled.
A bear is active again in the neighborhood, having gotten into a garbage dumpster just up the street and leaving his calling card in the middle of the road. He was probably sitting in the dumpster at sunup. If I get ambitious I will have to get up earlier one morning, put a leash on Lucky, and try to get a photo. The Park Service has closed the Meyers’ Beach Trail due to an aggressive sow with two cubs.
There are some old-fashioned shrubs that are often used in our landscapes, some good, some not-so-good. Pictured are a pink cultivar of Weigela, along with a “snowball” Viburnum, and a honeysuckle, Lonicera tatarica. The only one worth growing, in my opinion, is the snowball Viburnum, which has good blooms and good fall color. The Weigela blooms nicely but is straggly and has nothing to offer in fall color. The honeysuckle is rather undistinguished and is extremely invasive and should not be grown.
Today is a lawn mowing day, as soon as things dry out a bit.

6/12/08 "IT WAS A DARK AND STORMY NIGHT"

Thursday, 7:30 AM. 48 degrees, wind ENE, calm. The sky is overcast, and earlier fog has lifted. The barometer predicts rain.
We got a lot of rain yesterday, over an inch, and the ditches are running brim-full. It was a dark and stormy night, as they say, the dog nervous from the thunder and lightning and coming alternately to Joan and me for reassurance. No damage seems to have been done, and the lake level should be rising. The temperature has risen a full ten degrees since last night, when I was almost fearful of a frost.
The perennial garden got a passable weeding during the rain yesterday, and I will try to cut down some daffodils and further clean things up today. The wrens are protesting my presence on the porch but they will just have to get used to sharing.

6/11/08 GOLF, PROSE AND CONS

Wednesday, 7:30 AM. 37 degrees, wind NE, light to moderate. The barometer predicts sunny skies, which are presently overcast. It was very foggy earlier, but it has lifted. We are stuck in a cool, damp weather pattern, rather like an English or far northern European spring. Or, perhaps, Siberia? Anyway, it’s better than floods, tornadoes and heat waves. The plants and animals take it all in stride, and so should we.
The Bayfield Chamber of Commerce & Visitor Bureau “After Hours” event on Madeline Island was very nice and well attended. The Madeline Island Golf Course was designed by famous golf course architect Robert Trent Jones. I don’t golf but have a long association with golf course maintenance, and this one is a beauty. The last time I golfed I ended up caddying the last several holes for the foursome. I'll let your imagination run wild as to why.

6/10/08 A TALE OF TWO TREES

Tuesday, 8:00 AM. 37 degrees, wind E, calm. Fog once again obscures the Island and the fog horn is bellowing down on City Dock.
The apple trees are at peak bloom, and driving through the orchard country it is apparent where trees are being pruned for production and where they are neglected, as the neglected trees have far more blossoms and are prettier. I prefer to prune apple trees, even if not grown for production,and pruned and sprayed, the old fashioned way…the top branches pruned out, and the whole tree pruned into an almost weeping shape. The structural character of an old apple tree is, to me, a far more important aesthetic than the blooms. Apple trees are very long lived, and can assume an ancient, gnarled character. The apple tree reportedly responsible for inspiring Newton’s ‘Principia,’ the theory of gravity, is still alive in England, and is well over three hundred years old. Now that there are dwarf varieties and trellised apple trees the old fashioned appearance is not as prevalent, which makes them even more important as a landscape feature. Such pruning must be done yearly, and it takes years to form the character of a tree, almost like doing Bonsai. I look upon it as an annual late winter ritual. I have only one apple tree, quite old, and I don’t spray it anymore except perhaps for a dormant oil spray, and the apples are good for little more than deer feed, but it is an anchor in the landscape.
We are going to Ashland today, and with gasoline prices what they are, we have saved up a lot of errands to accomplish at one time, so will be gone until late afternoon. We go to La Pointe by ferry for a Bayfield Chamber of Commerce & Visitor Bureau “After Hours” event this evening, and the captain may have to use radar, sonar GPS and perhaps intuition to get us there and back.

6/09/08 BAYFIELD, OREGON?

Monday, 8:00 AM. 47 degrees, wind SW, calm. The channel is crawling slightly, the barometer predicts rain and the sky is overcast. We had intermittent heavy rain last night and the rain barrels are full.
It is a noisy morning, as through traffic is being routed down Ninth Street, Hwy. 13 being closed to put a huge new culvert in from Seventh Street east across Sixth Street. There are also new culverts being installed across Eighth and Ninth Streets, a huge project. These culverts provide road crossings for one of the major ravines which dissect the town, and which naturally channel water from the bluffs to the lake. They provide a relevant lesson that just because something is natural it is not necessarily maintenance free. More at some other time.
Oregon Grape Holly, Mahonia aquifolia, is a shrub beautiful in flower, fruit, and summer and fall foliage. Its fragrant yellow flowers develop grape-like clusters of blue berries. I have seen masses of them growing in the Cascade Mountains of the Pacific Northwest. Our climate is rather similar and has been particularly so this last winter and spring, and they grow well in Bayfield.
I don’t think my apple grafts took, I need a sharper knife and more patience.
I need to mow the lawn today, if it ever dries out, and then on to weeding the garden.

6/08/08: PEAR TREES AND LOONS

Sunday, 7:00 AM. 53 degrees, wind NNE, calm. The channel is smooth as glass, the Island trees casting their reflections far out over the channel waters. The sky is overcast but the barometer predicts sun. Pear trees are in full bloom. They are hardy here, quite decorative, and generally trouble-free. Both wild and domestic strawberries and also blueberries are in full bloom.
Our back porch wren sings constantly, and there must be a thousand robins in the neighborhood. And, just now, the wild, lonely song of a loon wafts up the hill from Seagull Bay.

6/07/08 WILD FLOWERS AND WILD WEATHER

Saturday, 7:15 AM. 59 degrees, wind S, moderate with gusts (it was very windy yesterday evening, with large white caps on the channel). The channel is bumpy with white caps, the barometer predicts sunny skies, presently clear with a few high thin white clouds. We have dodged the fierce storms that hit just south and west of us. It is a fine day today, and we received about an inch of rain all told the last few days, and lawns need to be mowed again, and the gardens weeded.
The lupines (Lupinus perennis) are in bloom in the wild area on the south side of the house, and the false Solomon’s seal (Smilacina racemosa) on the woods edge on the north side of Manypenny Ave., between Tenth and Eleventh Streets. False Solomon’s seal bears its flowers in a terminal spike, while the true Solomon’s seal, a different genus and species entirely (Polygonatum) bears flowers in twos along the leaf stalk.
Today is the Bayfield in Bloom annual city garden tour, and we will get out during the day and see how it is attended. It is earlier this year, to coincide with the annual yard sale event, but all four of the gardens are good spring gardens and very nice.
Too many things to do today to enumerate, and Andy and Judy are back, and coming to dinner.

6/06/08 REAL SWEETHEARTS

Friday, 8:00 AM. 46 degrees, wind ENE, light to moderate. The barometer is down, predicting rain. It has rained intermittently through the night and early morning, perhaps one-half inch. Fog obscures the channel and the Island. We needed the rain.
The mountain ash are coming into bloom. The most common species, both in landscapes and escaped into the woods here, is the European mountain ash, Sorbus aucuparia. The American mountain ash, S. americana, is native to the boreal forest, which we have remnants of here. It is more shrub-like. It may be found close to the lake, maybe on the islands, and more likely in the Upper Peninsula. These trees are called “ash” because of their compound leaves, but they are not related to the Fraxinus genus. There is also an Asian species and a few horticultural varieties, notably ‘Decora’, found in the nursery trade. All are very decorative in bloom and fruit, the European with orange berries, the American with red. They all have good, but not spectacular, fall color. The European is more tolerant of landscape conditions, so is more often planted, but S. americana certainly has its place. They can be hard to tell apart especially when young, but the American mountain ash has sticky dormant buds, the European has dry, wooly buds and blunt-tipped leaflets. Birds love the berries of all of them.
These are not long-lived plants, perhaps twenty years, so should be used as accents in the landscape, not as anchors. They have some other problems, including fire-blight, and are prone to trunk damage by sapsuckers and yellow-shafted flickers, but all-in-all these are wonderful trees and shrubs, just don’t expect a long and trouble-free association with them. Think of them as you would a high-school sweetheart; fun and memorable, but probably not a life-long companion

6/05/08 FLOWERS AND COLOR IN THE LANDSCAPE

Thursday, 8:00 AM. 44 degrees, wind NE, calm. Fog obscures the channel and the Island, and the barometer is down, predicting rain.
Red oaks (Quercus rubra) have been in bloom for at least several days, not very apparent, as the long catkins are the same color as the leaves. The mountain ash trees are about to bloom, as are the very first of our wild lupines.
I attended a Public Works meeting yesterday at which was discussed whether or not to continue garden water meters, which allow people to water gardens and yards without paying the sewer surcharge, although they pay for the water. Representing the tree board, I argued for retaining them as they encourage growing vegetable gardens, caring for trees and for community beautification in general. The opposing argument is that they encourage wastefulness, and are out of sync with state policy in the southern half of the state, where water shortage can be an issue. There is an element of political correctness in all of this which I find disturbing, but the matter was resolved in good faith and spirits, and garden meters will remain available for the foreseeable future. The upshot of all this is, for me, that we need more honest policy debates on environmental issues, and less rancor on all sides of these questions.
As I look out the window to the young red oak across the street, chartreuse splashed against the dark green of pines and maples, I realize again the power of color in the landscape, irrespective of pretty flowers.

6/03/08: FLOWERING CRABAPPLES

Wednesday, 7:45 AM. 43 degrees, wind ENE, calm at present. The channel is bumpy. The barometer is down, predicting rain. The sky is overcast.
It is a dark day, but brightened by many blooming plants. The flowering crabapple trees are blooming profusely here now. One of my favorites is the smallish, spreading, white flowered Sergent’s crabapple. Another great crabapple is the pink crabapple in the Carlson’s yard to our east, it is probably a ‘Dolgo’ but I am not sure. The crabapples, of the same genus as edible apples, Malus, is extremely variable, with great genetic plasticity, and there has been hybridization of these ornamentals for hundreds of years. There are a few North American species, and many European and Asian species, all interbred so that the origin of most trees can be considered truly horticultural. One of the best places in Wisconsin to see flowering crabapples is Whitnall Park in Milwaukee County, they usually are at their peak there in mid-May. When selecting crabapples, check on their resistance to pests and diseases, particularly to fire-blight and apple scab. There is no longer any reason to grow problem prone crabapples, there are many resistant varieties now available.

6/03/08 VIBURNUMS AND LILACS

Tuesday, 8:00 AM. 45 degrees, wind NE, calm to light, the channel is slightly crawling. The barometer is down, predicting partly cloudy weather. The skies are mostly overcast with high, thin clouds.
The Tree Board meeting went well. We were cleared by the Public Works guys to use an old jeep-mounted water tank that was once fire equipment. We watered all of the new trees in the City Marina Park, and will water all of our newly planted trees on a weekly basis if we do not get at least an inch of rain. This is a must for new trees at least for their first year.
We are trying to educate everyone not to mow our daffodils until about two weeks after they quit blooming and the leaves loosen from the bulb. If they are not given that much time to photosynthesize nutrition for the bulb they will weaken over time, stop blooming and eventually die. Too many people are caught up in the neatness of lawn mowing, anxious to have everything uniform all the time, and not willing to stop and think. So what else is new?
There are still trees and shrubs left to bloom. Viburnums and lilacs are blooming now, to be followed in a day or two by mountain ash and later tree lilacs and buckeyes. Some tulips are still blooming, and dwarf Iris and bleeding heart have begun. The primroses have been beautiful this year.
The poplars are shedding their fluffy seeds, which drift about like diminutive parachutes on the morning breeze.

6/02/08 INVASIVES

Monday, 7:30 AM. 52 degrees, wind NE, light with stronger gusts. The channel is smooth to wrinkled. The barometer predicts sunny skies, presently blue. We had a W wind come through with some rain yesterday at dinner time, it blew enough I would not have wanted to be on the lake.
The humming birds are having their little aerial battles over rights to the feeder, the contents of which they have diminished by half.
What many call a “red maple” because it has red leaves all year long is an old fashioned cultivar of the Norway maple, Acer platanoides, those around Bayfield probably the variety ‘Crimson King”. These are mostly selections of the even older ‘Schwedler’ cultivar. Many people like them as accent trees particularly around old homes. All Norway maples and their cultivars should be used sparingly, as they seed heavily and are quite invasive in woodlands. They are a major invasive in New York City’s Central Park, for instance.
A lone wolf has taken a calf out on Soper Road, near the Larsen Sugar Bush. The carcass was only partially eaten, and the DNR folks say if it had been an attack by a pack it would all have been eaten. One bite to the spine is all it takes for a wolf to kill a calf.
There is a Tree Board meeting this afternoon, and plenty of work to do until then.

6/01/08 HORNETS AND DISHWASHERS

Sunday, 8:00 AM. 53 degrees, wind W, calm at present. The channel is wrinkled. The barometer is down, predicting partly cloudy skies, which are that at present. It is a quiet morning except for birdsong.
Solomon’s seal and Canada mayflower are about to bloom in the woods. I picked up a baldfaced hornet’s nest a couple of years ago and Joan has had it as decoration in the bedroom (after frost they are empty of live insects and none will hatch from it) and I have heard that wasps and hornets are very territorial and will stay away from the nests of others. I put it on the porch to hopefully discourage wasps and hornets from the area, but I don’t know if the territoriality is inter-specific. I will keep you posted.
I have a bit of household engineering info to pass on…I spent the better part of Saturday with my head under the sink and in the dishwasher, and can attest that olive pits (twenty one in this instance) will over time plug a dishwasher drain. Be careful, it’s a jungle out there!
Crabapple trees are in bloom throughout town, and in the orchards where they are used as pollinators, and their cheerful, colorful blooms really announce the beginning of summer for me.

5/31/08 WILD CHERRIES

Saturday, 7:15 AM. 49 degrees, wind E, light to moderate. The barometer predicts sun, skies are blue with high black rain clouds on the eastern horizon. We may get a shower. We got another quarter inch of rain yesterday and the two rain barrels are full. I haven’t turned on the outside water spigots as yet and hopefully won't have to for a while.
The wild cherries... pin, choke and black, are all in bloom, and woods edges and old fields are white with them. The cherry illustrated is choke cherry, Prunus virginiana. Apple trees have begun to bloom, I don’t know about the domestic cherries. Juneberries are about finished blooming.
I participated in a work crew for the Conservancy yesterday afternoon, led by Grandon Harris, who is a great volunteer. We placed railroad ties and gravel on the Iron Bridge trail, which leads up the ravine north of town, starting across the street from the library on Third and Washington. A good project.
We went to Cornucopia to the Village Inn (one of my favorite places) for fish fry last night, the first time in a while. It was excellent, the ride out and back very nice.

5/30/08 JACKPINE

Friday, 8:00 AM. 45 degrees, wind ENE, presently calm. The barometer predicts rain, which we received one-half inch of last night. Skies are overcast, and fog obscures the Island. We need a good rain, so I hope it continues.
It was a quiet walk with only a few rain drops, and no one else out, except the omnipresent Roxie, who has acquired a whiffle ball the size of a soft ball from somewhere.
The pines are ready to shed their pollen, the male cones of the Jackpine, Pinus banksiana, on the south side of the house, about ready to burst. I am very fond of the tough, picturesque Jackpine, native to our Wisconsin barrens. Ours has a very oriental appearance, caused by many of its terminal buds being killed by borers each year. The borer is a landscaping ally, producing an appearance I would be hard pressed to obtain with artful pruning. I planted this tree seven years ago, as a seedling.
I have a number of landscaping jobs to do, it will be a full day.

5/28/08 A SIMPLY GREAT GARDEN

Thursday, 7:00 AM. 47 degrees, wind W, calm. The barometer predicts rain, and skies are blue with some haze. The channel is slightly wrinkled.
All the indoor plants are now outside, including the lemon tree, the croton, and the Agave.
Today’s photo is of one of the very few remaining home gardens that I see in Bayfield these days. Mike and Sharon Bonney do a great job with vegetables, fruit trees and berries as well as flowers. It is a productive and eye-catching garden. It takes years to develop a good vegetable garden soil, and theirs is a nice dark, friable loam, and virtually weed free by dint of patience and hard work. We have a number of grand, professionally maintained formal gardens in Bayfield, but I don’t think they can compare to this pleasant, productive, much loved and cared for garden.

5/28/08 PIN CHERRIES IN BLOOM

Wednesday, 8:00 AM. 47 degrees, up from 38 at 7:30 AM. Wind NE, calm. The barometer predicts sunny skies, currently hazy. The channel is wrinkled.
More and more trees and shrubs are in leaf and bloom; red elderberry on the side of the house, a native pin cherry, Prunus pennsylvanica, down the road; both very attractive wild plants. Natives seldom are fooled by the weather.
Motel Mike says he has seen later springs; about fifteen years ago he says there was not a tree in leaf on Memorial Day. Erick says his peas are just coming up, and Mike B. is going to plant his today.
The baskets are back outside, and will stay there now until fall. Have to get the herb garden planted, and water ten newly planted red buckeyes, city trees, and mow lawns today or tomorrow.

5/27/08 TWO THOUSAND AND FROZE TO DEATH

Tuesday, 8:00 AM. 37 degrees, wind NE, calm to light. The channel is “wrinkled.” The barometer predicts sunny skies, it is a crisp, clear beautiful morning in mid- April.
It got down to 32 degrees last night, and I had to schlep all the plants in again, ahead of rain, wind and frost, and out again into the sunshine this morning.
Mike at Seagull Bay Motel says they had a full weekend, despite the weather. He has fishermen who come up early and leave their boats during the week and return each weekend, but all left with their boats yesterday. Mike says it was a good early fishing season (my boat is still in the barn) and he is happy to have the boats out of the way, and no more fish guts. The way this spring has been he was lucky he didn’t have to plow snow around them.
Marilyn, neighbor to the east, gave me a number of dwarf lilacs from their property in Eau Clair, and planting them will be one project for the day. Our wrens are busy building their nest on the porch, twittering constantly.
In the context of current weather conditions hereabouts, I must mention a historical event, the explosion of Krakatoa Volcano in Indonesia in 1883, the ash from which, circulating in the stratosphere around the earth, caused "global cooling," and subsequently that year became known in vernacular history as Eighteen-Hundred and Froze To Death. Has anyone heard a loud "boom" lately?

5/26/08 MEMORIAL DAY 2008

Monday, Memorial Day, 7:30 AM. 44 degrees, wind E, calm. The barometer predicts rain, and fog obscures the Island.
There were some warblers flitting about this morning and I identified a few, but the light is not conducive to the activity this morning. I have new found respect for the birders who are actually adept at finding and ID-ing warblers.
The photo posted is of the Red Cliff Reservation Veterans Park, a memorial to the fallen heroes of our nation, and in particular, those of Red Cliff and the Town of Russell area. This morning it is a quiet place of homespun beauty, overlooking Basswood Island and Buffalo Bay. Nothing fancy, just the work of ordinary people. I have walked the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C. early in the morning, and have sat on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial after dawn, without another soul in sight, contemplating our history, and I find this unassuming place at least as compelling. After all, it is the little people of our country communities and city neighborhoods who have most truly kept the faith in freedom and democracy alive through all our years and all our struggles, they are our Great Warriors, who didn’t run away from the fight.

5/25/08 JUNEBERRY BLOSSOMS

Sunday, 7:45 AM. 60 degrees, wind S, calm. The channel is like glass. The barometer is down, predicting rain, skies are overcast. We got a trace amount of rain last night, and things are damp.
It is another quiet morning, the walk uneventful except for someone’s dog howling inside the garage he obviously objected to being kept in. Loud, long, mournful hound sounds.
I got all the hanging baskets planted yesterday and put them in the garage with the door open to harden them off. They will be spectacular. I have put indoor plants out and back in a couple of times. The lemon tree is desperate to be outside.
The pretty native Juneberry tree in the garden, probably Amelanchier laevis (there a number of natives that hybridize), is in bloom, as is the PJM Korean Rhododendron in the front yard. The Juneberry is a volunteer, it's mother lives in the woods across the street.
I saw my first bear of the season yesterday, a big black blob (try saying that three times real fast) on an abandoned driveway just west of the Reservation on Hwy. 13. By the time I stopped and backed up, he was gone. You never know when or where they will show up, bears have their own agendas.

5/24/08 AWSOME MORNING

Saturday, 7:00 AM. 38 degrees, wind SW, calm. The channel is calm. The barometer is down, predicting rain, but skies are blue. The wind, such as it is, has shifted, the barometer has dropped, and a big storm system is moving in slowly from the southwest. We need the rain, but it should be a nice day, and to quote an early rising neighbor, it is an “awesome” morning.
We got our annuals yesterday at Hauser’s and my weekend task is to make up our hanging baskets and pots. I put them in the garage last night to harden them off, and may put them back there for a day or so after I make them up. I bought a large bag of commercial potting mix, which I have found pays, as it has the proper drainage and nutrient qualities for good baskets. I usually put up eight baskets but may do a couple more. I try to have a little variety, but the conditions are windy and rather tough and I rely mainly on ivy leaved geraniums, along with a fuchsia and a petunia basket or two, all mixed with a few trailing things, etc. I find baskets the perfect accent for a domestic landscape, even if they are a lot of work, as they add color and interest wherever one needs it.
The humidity is still low, and one can see for sixty miles or so including the iron ranges, which appear as distant mountains, which they are, even if worn to relative nubbins over the last umpty-ump million years.

5/23/08 MYSTERY SOLVED

Friday, 7:30 AM. 40 degrees, wind E, light. The channel is slightly wrinkled, the barometer is down, predicting mostly sunny skies, which currently are darkly cloudy.
I talked with my buddy and award-winning naturalist Andy Larsen regarding the warbler migration, and he says the birds that were here in great numbers a few days ago have obviously moved on, and any that nest here have dispersed into their nesting territories and are not that obvious. He says they migrate on a barometric pressure high, and stop and rest whey they run into a low. When the low lifts thy all leave en mass, at night, and consequently just disappear from our sight. He will right a few paragraphs of more complete information which I will post at an appropriate juncture.
Lichens are another fascinating subject that we can explore at some point, but for now please note the photo of lichens on a red oak tree in the woods at about 12th and Manypenny avenue.

5/22/08 SMELLY STUFF

Thursday, 7:30 AM. 39 degrees, wind E, light to calm, channel smooth. The barometer is up, predicting sunny skies. At present skies are partly cloudy. An east wind will keep us cooler than normal as long as it persists.
Forget-me-nots and marsh marigolds are blooming in the ditches, and violets and pussytoes in the lawns. The oaks are finally leafing out. The Amelanchiers (Juneberries) are ready to bloom, the first of our more ornamental trees to do so.
There has been commercial spraying for dandelions on some properties and on the park down the road, and the noxious smell of 2,4-D permeates the air. I prefer to live with the dandelions, which, if we used them in salads and to make wine would be considered, as they are in Europe, a valuable plant (they were brought here by settlers because they were considered a pretty and useful reminder of home). Spraying lawns for these “weeds” also kills the violets, hawkweed, pussytoes, ajuga and a lot of other pretty and interesting plants. Some of the most attractive lawns I have ever seen have contained all these plants and one of the most beautiful was full of creeping Charlie, its tiny flowers creating a fine blue mist over a large tree studded expanse. Grass and “weeds” can coexist if sensibly managed, to the benefit of both esthetics and the environment. More on this subject at some future time.

5/21/08 THE LONG, LONG SPRING

Wednesday, 8:00 AM. 40 degrees, wind W, light to moderate. The channel is blue, alternating from glassy to slightly wrinkled as the west wind plays about upon its surface. The barometer is down, predicting partly cloudy skies, now magnificently blue.
The warblers must be staying low to the ground in the cool and breezy mornings. I saw lots of white throated and other sparrows and small birds, but no flittering warblers. But, as I have said, I am not that great a birder.
This slow, cool spring has been wonderful for bulbs, the daffodils and tulips lasting for weeks, and I am guessing the perennials will be great as well once the really get started, so in many respects this has been a particularly nice spring. One just has to dress as though it is April instead of almost June.