Lawn And Garden Musings

I've been busy around the yard lately. One small job, which I've considered doing for a long time but never accomplished, began with dumping some compost over the fence into the dogs' yard:

I used it to cover up two rocks and to fill in a low spot. How much good it will do and if the dogs will leave it in place remains to be seen:

One of the most ubiquitous wildflowers in the yard began to flower. It is Bladder Campion, a member of the Pink family. And of course that is Red Clover below:

You've seen lots of photos of the healthy Ninebark, but I've been distressed about the one which got sick last year and is now stunted and haven't photographed it. Today I noticed that it is growing and doing well, albeit a year behind its nearby relative:

The little rock garden is so crammed with flowering perennials now that I can't even pull weeds - except at the outer margin. I took this photo to illustrate the Asiatic Lilies preparing to bloom and the three or four stems of Blue Sea Holly which are developing rapidly. Only the one on the right is beginning to turn blue so far:

Photos of the Blue Sea Holly flowers show it to have feathery, blue "petals." If they're going to have such blue petals, they'll need to start growing some soon:

I was surprised to see that the Magic Carpet Spirea had nearly doubled in size and was blooming profusely. It is a dwarf variety, but looks as if it will be able to hold its own, even as the other plants outgrow it:

And another shot of the old fashioned rose. It was putting on such a display that I couldn't resist. It pleases me to think that it survived a decade or more of being mowed down, and that I then saved it by simply mowing around it:

Another common wildflower has begun to bloom. It is a member of the Mint family and I have trouble remembering its name every year. But this year I recalled it with a glance at my field manual. It is called Motherwort because tea from its leaves was used to ease tension and other ailments of new and expectant mothers:

And in the lawn, the ubiquitous Heal-All has begun blooming (and so has White Clover). Also called Self-Heal, the plant has been used as a poultice for all kinds of wounds, rashes and skin ailments. I have read that new studies seem to indicate it can also inhibit the growth of viruses, including HIV:

Do you remember the trouble I had getting a Globe Thistle to grow? It took a few years and lots of effort, but I finally have one healthy plant - and this year it is sending up about three flower shoots:

At the top of each shoot I can see one baby "globe" developing, though I suspect there will be more of them. Maybe it will spread and I will have more Globe Thistle plants in the future. I've read that they are not invasive and several attempts to grow them from seed have failed, so that may not happen. Nonetheless, I'm happy to have this one:

St. Regis River Access Plants - Part 2

I was hiking with the dogs along the St. Regis River and photographing the abundant wildflowers there (see also Part 1, posted yesterday). There was a lot of Heal-All, and it was unusually large and deeply colored:

It was the Cardinal Flower I'd come to see, but there wasn't any to be found - until Jack called my attention to some. He walked right underneath a brilliantly scarlet spike of flowers:

I looked around and found more Cardinal Flowers growing next to the river. There were fewer of them than most years, but enough to get some good photos:

Some of the Cardinal Flowers were just beginning to open:

And some hadn't yet opened at all:

We walked uphill, away from the river, and continued on the trail where we found patches of Moss and Wild Strawberries. Now that we were back on the trail, I didn't know what kind of plants we might find:

We found lots of Yarrow in bloom:

And Cow Vetch, some of it 4 feet high, supported by the surrounding plants:

Wild Blackberries, though none were ripe:

More Common Milkweed. This one was so gigantic that I snapped a photo with my hand to show its size. It reminded me of the Rubber Tree Plants which were popular house plants when I was a boy:

And of course there were Oxeye Daisies. I'll post Part 3 tomorrow:

High Flats State Forest - Part 3

The dogs and I were exploring a new (to us) trail in High Flats State Forest and were almost back to our car. I stopped to photograph this Common St. Johnswort and the bedraggled Oxeye Daisy behind it:

A better looking Oxeye Daisy and a Heal-All in flower:

The dogs were much slowed down by now and I no longer had to call them back. They stayed close to me now that they were tired:

And the forest was lovely:

Cream colored mushrooms;

Clover got tangled up in a clinging type of Bedstraw. I looked it up when we got home and decided that it was probably Cleavers, a member of the Bedstraw family which sticks like Velcro. I carefully removed it from her hair before it got too entangled:

I saw a flash of yellow off in the woods and started off for a closer look. But before I got there, I saw these tiny (1") golden mushrooms:

And right next to them were these even smaller (3/4") bright red mushroom:

I got photos of the tiny mushrooms and then continued on to this giant (12") yellow mushroom. Luckily, Clover got in the picture to help show just how big it was:

Oh no, it's not autumn yet! This Mountain Maple leaf was, I hope, an anomaly:

As we neared the end of our hike, I contemplated whether we'd return. With nothing marked, I doubt we were on the trail I'd intended, and Close Pond, the destination I was after, turned out (I think) to be right next to the road where there were no visible trails. I think I'll go back to Whiskey Flats before I return here, though there sure were a lot of interesting things to see:

We were almost to the road when I saw these yellow flowers. I remembered that they were a kind of Loosestrife, but didn't remember which one. I looked it up when I got home and decided they were Fringed Loosestrife:

The road we'd taken to get here wasn't much bigger than the trail, though it had fewer rocks and ruts. The dogs were happy to see our car again:

And they were tired. Daphne, Jack and Clover curled up for a nap on the front seat:

Seamus rode in the back, but wanted to see out the windows. Fergus was next to him, already napping:

High Flats State Forest - Part 2

The dogs and I were hiking in High Flats State Forest (see also Part 1, posted yesterday) and came to a beaver marsh which was down in a valley. We walked down to see it and the three little dogs went exploring. Seamus did not want to cross over the fallen tree trunks to get there, so he just watched:

It was a mysterious, magical place where birds and frogs called all around. Little Jack waked through the water to see what he could find:

Then we climbed back up the hill and continued on our way:

Probably a resident of the nearby beaver marsh, this female Black-Winged Damselfly paid us a visit. I knew it was a female because of the white spot on her wings. I knew it was a Damselfly because she held her wings together when at rest. Dragonflies keep their wings outstretched:

It had become clear to me some time earlier that we were on the wrong trail, but we explored it anyway and then began retracing our steps. When we arrived back at this lovely creek, we stopped for a drink:

Refreshed and happy, we returned to the trail and continued on our way:

As before, the open meadow beside the beaver marsh filled the dogs with joy. I liked it too, with all its Black-Eyed Susans, Queen Anne's Lace and Heal-All flowers:

But the dark forest was just ahead:

It was a lovely trail, and the dogs were by now too tired to run ahead like they had at the beginning. This made for a more peaceful experience:

I stopped for a closer look at this brown, wood-toned (it even had rings) mushroom:

It had rained the previous several days and everything was wet, yet the trail was mostly dry:

This yellow mushroom was just pushing up through the moist earth. I don't know what kind of bright red berry that was next to it. I looked around to see what plant might be near but didn't notice any obvious berry plants:

A Forest Troll:

Lovely brown and yellow mushrooms:

And a toasted looking golden mushroom. We were nearing our starting point but not there yet. I'll post Part 3 tomorrow: