Don's Blog Junco on the day of Winter Solstice

Today is the winter solstice which is the shortest day of the year. Each day after today will be about 5 minutes longer. 

I am already reveling in the thought of the new found light.

This dark-eyed junco (Junco hyemalis) is enjoying the solstice.

Juncos are in the sparrow family.

Don's Blog nWoodpecker erratum 12-20-16

Several folks have correctly pointed out that the woodpecker I pictured was a red-bellied woodpecker

rather than a red-headed woodpecker. The red-bellied woodpecker (pictured) has a small spot of red on the back of his head and a checkered back. The red-headed woodpecker has a red hood around his head and a black back. Both are medium sized and are the ultimate bullies of the neighborhood. It goes to show you that the Flower Guy may know something about flowers but is sometimes wanting in the domain of birds.

Don's Blog Bullies 12-20-16

Blue jays (Cyanocitta christata) are the bullies of my neighborhood. They are larger than the songbirds

which scatter when the blue jays light on the perch.

On the other hand this young blue jay as no match for this red headed woodpecker.  (Melanerpes erythrocephalus). Nobody messes with him, not even the gnome in the tree.

Don's Blog Cardinals 12-19

It has been frigid in the Heartland so we have been feeding the wild birds.Both male and female cardinals (Family Cardinalidae) have been frequent visitors. They are passerine (three forward toes and one backward toe) and are buntings (strong stubby beaks). The female differs markedly in color from the male but both have red beaks. They are 'puffed" out to stay warm with the temperature at single digits.

 

 The males are always breathtaking.

Charrette Creek II

We discovered Charrette Creek Road very soon after we purchased our Innsbrook chalet. Here

are the three boys going off a large boulder into the crystal clear water. Chris has on his water wings.

Don's Blog Charrette Creek 12-4-16

Jan and I re-explored Charette Creek yesterday. We are fortunate to have this natural stream just minutes from the western gate (Linden) of the Village of Innsbrook (established in 1998) which encompasses our Innsbrook Resort. Charrette Creek is a tributary of the Missouri River. The creek includes  the North Fork of Charrette  Creek and a fork arising below the spillway of Lake Aspen. Our lake house is on Lake Aspen which is included in the valley above the creeks origin. The North Fork arises north and west of Reifschneider State Forest. We have been exploring this area for over 38 years. Turning south on Schutzengrund Road we drive on a gravel road which goes down to the Missouri River valley and becomes Charrette Creek Road. The road  is magical and on this grey cloudy December day with the leaves off the trees we can see the stark beauty of the creek and its surroundings.

As the creek meanders south to the Missouri it crosses over five low water bridges. As the water rises and falls with the rain it has not been uncommon for us to be stopped by high water but with luck and common sense so far we have not been stranded.

For years we have loved the  incredible beauty of this area. We have waded and gone swimming and

enjoyed picnics. It can be a little dicey since it is not public property and we have not ever found anyone to ask for permission. We have been lucky so far.

Our favorite place is a natural swimming hole with high limestone bluffs.

The water is crystal clear.

The creek flows south and enters the Missouri River just west of the Washington Bridge.

Final Flower for the Day Delphinium 12-2-16

Its time for this years Flower for the Day to wind down. This exquisite delphinium was my 

favorite wild flower for the year. I hope you have enjoyed this years posts.

The Flower Guy

Flower for the Day Nature Walk 11-30-16

It is the last day of November and I took a walk around the gardens to see what was still blooming. 

As I stepped out onto the deck there was a dead juvenile robin lying there, still warm with soft breast feathers.

And there were a few hardy flowers still blooming after several killing freezes,

including several black-eyed Susans,

a yellow coneflower,

some about to bloom purple pansies,

and a plethora of cranberries on surrounding trees.

Flower for the Day Burning Bush 11-22-16

Our burning bush (Euonymous alata) which sometimes looks like a red lollipop  is one of the last to turn red each year. It finally turned this week.

This deciduous shrub grows to 8 ft  tall, often wider than tall. The stems are notable for their four corky ridges or "wings". The word alatus (or alata, used formerly) is Latin for "winged", in reference to the winged branches. These unique structures develop from a cork cambium. deposited in longitudinal grooves in the twigs' first year, unlike similar wings in other plants. The flowers are greenish, borne over a long period in the spring. The fruit is a red aril.

The red aril is an extra covering over the seed.

Don's Blog Saving Zinnia seeds 11-18-16

I don't usually pass out tips but this is  easy and it works. As you know zinnias come in many different colors so separate the dry flower heads into color groups. The flower head has to be completely dry. Purists claim dry flower heads on the branch produce the best but others say that the "picked" flower head works fine if it dries for 2-3 weeks. If it is completely dry it sort of disintegrates in your hand as you separate the petal/seed unit from the flower head. The zinnia seed is part of the base of the petal. If the unit is not dry then the seed is green or white and is too immature (or non-pollinated) to produce the plant. See how the arrowhead seed is greenish and pale.

For the seeds to be viable they should be dark brown to light black. That is the color of the seeds coming from commercial packets. Once the flower head is dry then a finger pinch of petals can be separated from flower head and the seeds will be underneath. By taking the seed bunch in in the other hand and twisting the dessicated seed bunch it can easily be separated from the petal "chaff" which can be discarded.

The seeds can be put in a marked envelope and kept dry for next years planting. Zinnia seeds are not especially expensive but the seed packets do not separate the different zinnia types. This process will allow you to have more of the specific colors and forms that you enjoy.

Don's Blog Moon in Perigee Coming Up 11-12-16

This is from Rich and Kath McFall's Newsletter on the website InnsbrookNature.com:

Watch for the Supermoon this weekend by Rich McFall If you are in need of something that is bright and uplifting after an exhausting week, Nature has it ready for you this weekend. A rare "Supermoon" will be visible starting on Sunday evening. Supermoon Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls) What is a Supermoon?  The Moon's orbit around the Earth is not a perfect circle, but elliptical, with one side closer to Earth than the other.  As a result, the distance between the Moon and Earth varies through the year.  When the Moon is at its closest, it's called "perigee".  When it's furthest away, it's called "apogee".  When a full moon coincides with perigee, being closest to the Earth, it's called a Supermoon.  In fact, the moon hasn't been this close during full moon since 1948 and won't be again until 2034. According to space.com's article "Supermoon November 2016:  When, Where & How to See It", the Supermoon will look about 14% larger than an average full moon, and an impressive 30% brighter. More information at http://www.space.com/34515-supermoon-guide.html A favorite place for us to watch the rising moon, as well as planets and constellations, is from the Lake Alpine dam. This location offers the most expansive horizon in all directions of Innsbrook. This time of the year you will also hear coyotes howling across the Tyrolean Valley, seemingly in competition with each other. Let's see if a Supermoon really brings them out!

We'll be out there with the crazies.

Don's Blog A Strange Encounter 11-12-16

Last night I was grilling some steaks on the deck just before sunset when I had the sense that I was not alone .

When I looked up I saw a fat raccoon had walked by me and was walking  toward the west railing. In my shock I wondered what was going on. We never see raccoons during the day here. Was this animal crazed by the election results, hungry, or just curious? He circled the deck and started coming towards me. I asked him if he had "the distemper" but he refused to reply. 

I had nothing to protect me (my tongs were on the table) so I got a chair to get him away from the Weber Kettle.

I was worried that the steaks would burn. I pushed th chair towards him and he sauntered to the lower  deck.

When he couldn't get into the hot tub he squeezed slowly through the deck rails and back to the ground. He headed around the house towards my neighbor.

Flower for the Day American Beautyberry 11-11-16

American Beautyberry  (Callicarpa dichotoma) is a deciduous flowering shrub which produces

exceptional purple berries in the fall which hang on into early winter. Who could not love multiple little purple balls?

Flower for the Day Marigold 10-9-16

This little patch of marigolds is from some seeds I broadcast in early July.

Marigolds (Calendula) are in the daisy/aster family and handle the draught and the cold very well.

I have had better luck with plants than seeds but these are prospering.

Marigold

God willing, she said,
Looking at the dwindling garden flowers
This winter we'll have blooms of marigold.

Her clayed hands some smudged on her face
They speak of her hard stolen recess
From the grinding chores of running a family
And still when the wind turns cold
Dream for beds of marigold!

God willing
Before her dream's warmth fades
The garden will be blooming with marigold beds.

Pradip Chattopadhyay

Nov 15, 2013

Don's Blog The last of the monarchs 11-8-16

On election day here are the last of the monarchs. This monarch was seen as a lone traveler 

in the front garden on a zinnia. Photo by Jan.

And this image is from atop the entrance to Greenscape Gardens, down the street.

It is our favorite garden center.

Flower for the Day Zinnias 11-4-16

Its November and the zinnias just keep blooming.

Don's Blog Fish on the Beach 11-1-16

We have a small sand beach at the lake house. This weekend there were remains of a huge paddlefish

on the beach. It was about four feet in length and had been cleaned down to its hard heavy bones by the locals.

Paddlefish (family Polyodontidae) are basal Chondrostean ray-finned fish. They are referred to as "primitive fish" because they have evolved with few morphological changes since the earliest fossil records of the Late Cretaceous, seventy to seventy-five million years ago. The American paddlefish (Polyodon spathula)  is native to the Mississippi River basin in the U.S. The snout (rostrum) of the paddlefish is broad and paddle-like. Common morphological characteristics of paddlefish include a spindle-shaped, smooth skinned scaleless body, heterocercal tail, and small poorly developed eyes. The jaws of the American paddlefish are distinctly adapted for filter feeding only.They are ram suspension filter feeders with a diet that consists primarily of zooplankton, and occasionally small insects, insect larvae, and small fish. They are one of the largest freshwater fishes in North America commonly reaching 5 feet  or more in length and can weigh more than 60 pounds. The paddlefish on the beach was at least 4 feet long.

Now the question is what the hell are paddlefish doing in our 15 acre man made lake? I do not know.  We have watched them breech in the lake for years. As filter feeders they seem to be harmless. They are huge and the carcass was hard and heavy. They are mentioned in the Innsbrook Fishing Regulations: "Release all paddlefish." They are a source of caviar but I am not certain who would own it or how it could be harvested.

I guess I will have to wait for the invitation to the Lake Aspen Caviar Extravaganza.

Don's Blog What you always wanted to know about shellac 10-31-16

Here is a shout of thanks to my Innsbrook buddy Dan West. Over the weekend I was using shellac

on a dresser as an odor blocker because of an offensive smell coming from the drawers. Some furniture

manufacturers in the Orient use formaldehyde in the process and when this comes out of the furniture

it is called off-gassing. But I digress.

The reason I called Dan was that when I cleaned my new brush with mineral spirits nothing happened. 

He arrived a little later with some denatured alcohol proclaiming  "if you remember your college chemistry"

then you remember that aliphatic  and aromatic compounds don't mix. That is why you need alcohol, an aliphatic,

to clean your brush. It worked.

 I looked up shellac. It is a resin secreted by the female lac bug (Kerria laca)  that lives in trees in the forests of India and Thailand. It is processed as dry flakes and dissolved in ethanol to make liquid shellac.  

Who knew?

Flower for the Day Happy Halloween 10-31-16

Just in time for Halloween this iris has bloomed today. There will be five blossoms.

 

It has not completely opened.

But here is a yellow beard - a real treat.

Flower for the Day Lemon Balm 10-27-16

I put in this lemon balm plant (Melissa officinalis) in June of this year to answer a need for 

a new kind of tea. Its white flowers are said to attract bees (Melissa is Greek for honey bee).

The tea did not catch on but the plant has doubled in size with a little hand watering.

Flower for the Day Stevia 10-26-16

This spring we put in a stevia plant. Stevia ribaudiana has leaves that are 150 times sweeter than glucose. 

Its leaves can be put in tea as a natural sweetener. It has been blooming for several weeks. 

Its leaves are sweet to the taste as advertised.

Flower for the Day Pink Dahlia 10-25-16

Surprises are the most fun part of gardening. Today we have second generation daisies and black eyed Susans

but the most fun are the pink dahlias that showed up this week. New this year they have shown fine green foliage and now delicate pink flowers.

It did not take long for the butterflies to find them.