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Ghost Pipes, Mushrooms, and More...
Aug. 4th, 2009 09:28 pm
( Flowers and mushrooms under the cut... )
As usual, click on any picture to go see these and a few more on Flickr...
( Flowers and mushrooms under the cut... )
As usual, click on any picture to go see these and a few more on Flickr...
Volunteer to Help Science!
Apr. 22nd, 2009 11:38 amThis weekend, volunteer at the Lehigh Gap Nature Center!
You'll be working on the only superfund site approved for recreational use. Over a thousand plants will be going in to six plots ~ three within deer exclosures and three outside of the fences.
Nine different species of wildflowers will be planted in each plot, and will be monitored and measured over the next few years. They will be looking at which species grow best on the soil overloaded with zinc and other heavy metals, and, more importantly, which species do not take the metals up out of the soil and back into the food chain. They will also be studying which species are impacted by deer pressure.
We did a quick test the other day, and four of us were able to get over thirty plugs planted in less than an hour, in the rockiest corner of the rockiest exclosure, so the good news is the work will be easier than expected (and easier than getting the fences up in the first place! =)
Please RSVP as noted below to make sure you get some lunch!
~ ~ ~
April 25, 26 -- Experimental plantings in grassland restoration area
9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. -- Native forbs (wildflowers will be planted in the grassland restoration area of the nature cetner.
Lunch will be provided for volunteers.
Contact lgnc AT ptd DOT net to register so we can have lunch for you.
You'll be working on the only superfund site approved for recreational use. Over a thousand plants will be going in to six plots ~ three within deer exclosures and three outside of the fences.
Nine different species of wildflowers will be planted in each plot, and will be monitored and measured over the next few years. They will be looking at which species grow best on the soil overloaded with zinc and other heavy metals, and, more importantly, which species do not take the metals up out of the soil and back into the food chain. They will also be studying which species are impacted by deer pressure.
We did a quick test the other day, and four of us were able to get over thirty plugs planted in less than an hour, in the rockiest corner of the rockiest exclosure, so the good news is the work will be easier than expected (and easier than getting the fences up in the first place! =)
Please RSVP as noted below to make sure you get some lunch!
~ ~ ~
April 25, 26 -- Experimental plantings in grassland restoration area
9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. -- Native forbs (wildflowers will be planted in the grassland restoration area of the nature cetner.
Lunch will be provided for volunteers.
Contact lgnc AT ptd DOT net to register so we can have lunch for you.
Wildflower Survey
Sep. 13th, 2008 06:03 pmI took ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
aequitaslevitas and Rachel on a select group of the wildflowers in our yard (i.e. those currently in bloom, minus the goldenrod), some (such as the St. John's wort & New England Aster) are appearing for the first time this year, as the two meadows - the Rachel River/Brandon Canyon area and the Meadow itself - are in their third and second years of growth.
That the roadside River/Canyon area is developing as slow as the main Meadow is, I suspect, due to a couple major factors: 1) rough environment (road, washouts from the river, etc.); and 2) mown down in its prime last year by parties unknown.
I have both of the older kids working on reports of their findings - just a simple collection describing the basics of each of the 8 species we identified, as well as an extra bit describing the nastiness that is the spotted knapweed (would that be knastikness?)
aequitaslevitas complained that 11 paragraphs (intro, 8 species, 1 extra bit on invasives, and wrap-up) was a Lot Of Work, so Mr. Takes College Courses In High School and Wants to do Biology (Marine, to be sure, but it's the spirit of it...) When He Grows Up will also be including an extra bit describing each of the four stingity insects we came across on our adventures. I also had to threaten to have him identify the umpteen types of goldenrod, some of which probably need a microscope to ID...
Alas, I am cruel, forcing my children to learn on a Saturday...
aequitaslevitas and Rachel on a select group of the wildflowers in our yard (i.e. those currently in bloom, minus the goldenrod), some (such as the St. John's wort & New England Aster) are appearing for the first time this year, as the two meadows - the Rachel River/Brandon Canyon area and the Meadow itself - are in their third and second years of growth.That the roadside River/Canyon area is developing as slow as the main Meadow is, I suspect, due to a couple major factors: 1) rough environment (road, washouts from the river, etc.); and 2) mown down in its prime last year by parties unknown.
I have both of the older kids working on reports of their findings - just a simple collection describing the basics of each of the 8 species we identified, as well as an extra bit describing the nastiness that is the spotted knapweed (would that be knastikness?)
aequitaslevitas complained that 11 paragraphs (intro, 8 species, 1 extra bit on invasives, and wrap-up) was a Lot Of Work, so Mr. Takes College Courses In High School and Wants to do Biology (Marine, to be sure, but it's the spirit of it...) When He Grows Up will also be including an extra bit describing each of the four stingity insects we came across on our adventures. I also had to threaten to have him identify the umpteen types of goldenrod, some of which probably need a microscope to ID...Alas, I am cruel, forcing my children to learn on a Saturday...
A River Runs Through It
Sep. 9th, 2008 01:05 pmThat would be Brandon Canyon, and the Rachel River...
Looking southish...
...and northish...
As always, click through for more pictures... in this case, a few more of the river and canyon, and a bunch of the meadows there and up on the sandmound, as well as a single picture of Mr. B (friends & family only) and nearly a dozen of an as-yet unidentified spider (must admit, I haven't even tried...)
Looking southish...
...and northish...
As always, click through for more pictures... in this case, a few more of the river and canyon, and a bunch of the meadows there and up on the sandmound, as well as a single picture of Mr. B (friends & family only) and nearly a dozen of an as-yet unidentified spider (must admit, I haven't even tried...)
Six Down, Eight to go...
Jul. 21st, 2007 07:41 pmI planted a number of native plants today - six, to be exact - and almost got half-way done before deciding to call it a night. The hard part was figuring out where everything should go.
Most of the plants are not centerpieces or showstoppers - in fact, out of fourteen to be planted, ten are native ferns, and they are planted to help increase diversity. Growing in the wild, I've identified at least three species of fern on the property - Onoclea sensibilis (sensitive fern), Pteridium aquilinum (bracken), and - here's where the at-least comes in, as I haven't narrowed it down to a positive ID: Dennstaedtia punctilobula (hay scented fern) and/or Thelypteris noveboracensis (Parathelypteris noveboracensis) (New York fern) and/or Athyrium filix-femina (lady fern).
Today, I added an Osmunda regalis (royal fern) and an evergreen Polystichum acrostichoides (Christmas fern). On an aside, the site all the fern links point to belongs to the Connecticut Botanical Society, and is an exceptional resource for native ferns... specifically to Connecticut, but everything I've been interested in there is also native to Pennsylvania. The royal fern has a prominent location down on the island in Stone Stream, where a Christmas fern I planted last year and some native ferns are starting to thrive. It's between a winterberry that might reach 10' around and a newly planted shrub, but as it can reach 6' tall on its own, it should fit in nicely with that crowd, especially once the river birch, katsura, and paw paws provide a nice ceiling. The new Christmas fern is located alongside Stone Stream above the pair of larger hostas - there's some sensitive ferns and other natives around there, but it will take on a prominent role, especially during the months where the deciduous ferns fall apart.
The other four that went into the ground today were not ferns, all though one wants to be!
The Stylophorum diphyllum (celandine poppy or wood poppy) - a native wildflower - is positioned along Spruce Alley, where the meadow spills down off the sand mound. It should reseed itself nicely there, giving us some nice yellow spring flowers before most of the meadow wakes up for the year and gets going.
Across the stepping stones from the new Christmas fern, I planted a Physocarpus opulifolius (ninebark). It helps finish off the foundation planting, and, unlike most of the shrubs in the area around the porch, it provides a deciduous touch, and it does so with a beautiful peeling bark.
Down near the royal fern, I had tried to transplant some Comptonia peregrina (sweet fern) from the bank a year or so ago. I didn't grab enough root - it spreads by suckers, and what I planted was, essentially, three rootless sticks. As this set of three sticks has leaves and roots, I expect it to do much better. One of the key functions of sweet fern - which is a deciduous shrub - is to fix nitrogen in the soil. It will improve the soil, even as it looks pretty good (like a dark fern with woody branches) and smells beautiful.
The last one I'll list tonight was actually the first one planted, as it went in on the top edge of Bank Island, furthest from the house. It is an Ilex opaca 'Dan Fenton' (American holly 'Dan Fenton'), which is funny, because, as Louise at Edge of the Woods (who supplied all 14 of the plants) pointed out, it's a female plant. Dan Fenton may be honored by the name, but it really would have been more apt to name it Danielle... she should get along well with the male hollies, and make lots of nice berries to supply the birds with food.
I've got a couple of reviews of some new items I used today, and I'll try to write them up later, and then put them in the queue with all the book, movie, and music reviews I'm so far behind on. My goal was to post no more than one a day - but there hasn't been much worry about breaking that envelope. =)
I've also got some music reviews I'm trying to get to ASAP that will hopefully get done tonight -julianafinch's How to Take the Fall
(which is currently playing, on The Wind that Shakes the Barley, a beautiful rendition of one of my favorite tunes!), tewok (and wife!)'s Na Bi Gòrach
(as Port Righ; this was playing when I started writing this post! =), and today's arrival, Mythica's new disc Vicarious (which, no surprise, played prior to the two listed above... =). Excellent music - I've know some talented folks! =)
Most of the plants are not centerpieces or showstoppers - in fact, out of fourteen to be planted, ten are native ferns, and they are planted to help increase diversity. Growing in the wild, I've identified at least three species of fern on the property - Onoclea sensibilis (sensitive fern), Pteridium aquilinum (bracken), and - here's where the at-least comes in, as I haven't narrowed it down to a positive ID: Dennstaedtia punctilobula (hay scented fern) and/or Thelypteris noveboracensis (Parathelypteris noveboracensis) (New York fern) and/or Athyrium filix-femina (lady fern).
Today, I added an Osmunda regalis (royal fern) and an evergreen Polystichum acrostichoides (Christmas fern). On an aside, the site all the fern links point to belongs to the Connecticut Botanical Society, and is an exceptional resource for native ferns... specifically to Connecticut, but everything I've been interested in there is also native to Pennsylvania. The royal fern has a prominent location down on the island in Stone Stream, where a Christmas fern I planted last year and some native ferns are starting to thrive. It's between a winterberry that might reach 10' around and a newly planted shrub, but as it can reach 6' tall on its own, it should fit in nicely with that crowd, especially once the river birch, katsura, and paw paws provide a nice ceiling. The new Christmas fern is located alongside Stone Stream above the pair of larger hostas - there's some sensitive ferns and other natives around there, but it will take on a prominent role, especially during the months where the deciduous ferns fall apart.
The other four that went into the ground today were not ferns, all though one wants to be!
The Stylophorum diphyllum (celandine poppy or wood poppy) - a native wildflower - is positioned along Spruce Alley, where the meadow spills down off the sand mound. It should reseed itself nicely there, giving us some nice yellow spring flowers before most of the meadow wakes up for the year and gets going.
Across the stepping stones from the new Christmas fern, I planted a Physocarpus opulifolius (ninebark). It helps finish off the foundation planting, and, unlike most of the shrubs in the area around the porch, it provides a deciduous touch, and it does so with a beautiful peeling bark.
Down near the royal fern, I had tried to transplant some Comptonia peregrina (sweet fern) from the bank a year or so ago. I didn't grab enough root - it spreads by suckers, and what I planted was, essentially, three rootless sticks. As this set of three sticks has leaves and roots, I expect it to do much better. One of the key functions of sweet fern - which is a deciduous shrub - is to fix nitrogen in the soil. It will improve the soil, even as it looks pretty good (like a dark fern with woody branches) and smells beautiful.
The last one I'll list tonight was actually the first one planted, as it went in on the top edge of Bank Island, furthest from the house. It is an Ilex opaca 'Dan Fenton' (American holly 'Dan Fenton'), which is funny, because, as Louise at Edge of the Woods (who supplied all 14 of the plants) pointed out, it's a female plant. Dan Fenton may be honored by the name, but it really would have been more apt to name it Danielle... she should get along well with the male hollies, and make lots of nice berries to supply the birds with food.
I've got a couple of reviews of some new items I used today, and I'll try to write them up later, and then put them in the queue with all the book, movie, and music reviews I'm so far behind on. My goal was to post no more than one a day - but there hasn't been much worry about breaking that envelope. =)
I've also got some music reviews I'm trying to get to ASAP that will hopefully get done tonight -
julianafinch's How to Take the Fall (which is currently playing, on The Wind that Shakes the Barley, a beautiful rendition of one of my favorite tunes!), tewok (and wife!)'s Na Bi Gòrach (as Port Righ; this was playing when I started writing this post! =), and today's arrival, Mythica's new disc Vicarious (which, no surprise, played prior to the two listed above... =). Excellent music - I've know some talented folks! =)
