Two Old, One New

 This is the 'Blackberry Wine' corydalis I got from Ester years and years ago. It always looks great in this early part of the season. I might try a little bit in the rock garden, but I think that will be too much sun for it even though it is a perfect height.

Here's one I may get yelled at for keeping. It's Lesser Celandine or Fig Buttercup, formerly Ranunculus ficaria, but now Ficaria verna. It can be very invasive. However, it's always just stayed neatly in this one area. It adds a nice blanket of color here in early spring. I can always start ripping if it wants to branch out, but I've had it for about 25 years. The leaves and everything disappear before mid-summer. I'm going to try again this year to put marigolds in that area later. I started a flat of seeds.

Here's the newbie! Like the Lewisia I showed you yesterday, I have tried to grow this plant before with no success. Although, the other times I tried to grow it from seed. We'll see if starting with a mature plant solves the problem. It's an Icelandic poppy, and the variety is 'Spring Fever Mix.' I love how it has yellow and orange flowers on the same plant.

I edited and worked on plant records for indoor work, and did a little gardening and a lot of autumn olive removal outside. Of course, you can hardly tell I worked on the autumn olive. I have taken a "before" picture, so maybe in the fall it will look like I did something.

See Blackie Finds Pinkie

Blackie Finds Pinkie

 They won't get planted out of thier pots until tomorrow (I've been hardening them off and tonight is supposed to be really cold, but then it will warm a bit), but the black sempervivum has found some pink friends. You may remember that a few days ago, I discovered that after year one (or at least in early spring) the 'Black' sempervivum really is nearly black.

The pink flowers are Lewisia. I had one once long ago and it died. I never could understand why, because the rock garden should be a place that makes it really happy. But it was small and came by mail order. These are larger and healthy. They are native to the Rocky Mountains. I think these look great together.

Monica and I went out to the North Country Trail today just for a short while to check on some things for an upcoming event. I had not realized that this wetland was visible from the trail when there are no leaves on the trees!

You know I love new information! This is a wetland that is the headwaters to Tank Creek. I have wandered around there a few times in the past, but got there from a different starting location. The link below is on a nicer day when dog Maggie and I visited years ago.

We didn't walk enough distance to say boo at. I won't count it for Hike 100, but I'll use it to get my yearly mileage back to an even number of tenths.

I did a number of small things I was supposed to do in addition to the time with Monica today.

Miles hiked in 2025: 138.5

See Still Too Early for Flowers

Easter Music 2025

 The music this morning was terrific! I've included our handbell piece (the hardest we've done this year), the choir, and a soloist.

We played "Hallelujah" by Beethoven from The Mount of Olives. Becky is on piano.



The choir sang "Easter Song" by Anne Herring. Directed by Becky, of course.



And Hunter Brown singing "The Trumpet Shall Sound," by Handel. John Taranko on trumpet and Becky on Piano. A little bad camera work, but I discovered I had to hold the camera to get them in the frame, and I wasn't fast enough to get set up in time. Also, these are just recorded through my camera microphone, so he actually sounded even better than this.



I slept 1.5 hours last night. I was fine in the morning, but felt punch drunk all afternoon. I don't seem to be good at taking naps in the daytime. I managed to putter around in the gardens a bit.

I should sleep tonight!

See Handbells- Here I Am, Lord

Getting in Some Hills

 Cathy and I, and another lady named Barb, hiked today on the south side of Ludington State Park. The north part won't be reopened for several more months.

This was partly for fun, and partly my training regimen to get ready for summer. We took one of the trails that is really hilly. Here we are on a ridge, but there is plenty of up and down to switch ridges.

These trails lead to Hamlin Lake, but I learned one new fact today. The north end of my favorite trail loop (see link below and the stone shelter) is just beyond that conifer-covered point. Cathy has spent time on the lake in a boat (I haven't much), so she knew that fact.

More hilly sections.

And I found some white oak acorns that the squirrels and deer hadn't eaten over the winter. A little bitter, but edible. It's a great survival food. (The red oak acorns are truly bitter. You'd have to be desperate to eat them.)

And here's the best news. We did 4.25 hilly miles. I carried a 17-pound pack, and I wasn't too tired to do anything else when I got home. I'll get there!

Miles hiked in 2025: 138.1

Ludington State Park- various trails south of Hamlin Lake. 4.25 miles

See My Favorite Ludington State Park Loop

Rain, Not Quite Singing in the

 Heavy rain last night, and more rain today. But it got briefly sunny mid-day, and I took a short walk.

This is my big garden bed that I am going to slowly work on reclaiming. This is what it looked like in 2003. Hasn't been decent since.



This is the same angle today. I see that I got more autumn olive cleared last fall than I had realized! That's great news, although it needs so much additional work, it's not funny. At least some sunlight can get in there now.

But I'm always more interested in processes than finished results. I see that I did throw a lot of daffodil bulbs in the beds on the far side of the path. In a few more days it will be worth showing you again, even if there won't be much variety. I think I need to give away more daffodils!

I was hoping for wildflowers in the cemetery ravine, but not a glimpse. Not even bloodroot which is often so early I totally miss seeing it. There were only tiny trout lily leaves.

Oh look! There is one flower with buds. Marsh Marigold. Maybe I'm pushing the season. I looked up wildflower dates from several other years, and I guess this is just about average. Maybe I'm impatient because last year was early.

Well, we surely needed the rain.

I edited, worked on a couple of projects including plant records. I'd like to have them in better shape before I start playing in gardens this year. It's a huge job because I decided I needed to update all my "rock maps" when I relaimed the garden in 2023. Not only were a bunch of the old pages filled with notes, so many plants were gone that they really needed to be redone. I don't have those done yet, but I keep working on it. At least the records of what I bought and where I put it are up to date.

Miles hiked in 2025: 133.8

See I Want My Garden Back

Still More Euphorbias

 There are yet more Euphorbias I can show you from the Philadelphia Flower Show. It's such a diverse genus, I never get tired of marvelling at the variations.

This one is Euphorbia decaryi. I thought maybe I'd shared this one before from previous flower shows, but a search says not. There are about 2000 classic species of Euphorbia, making it one of the largest genera.

One thing they all have in common is that the colorful parts aren't really flowers. You know this already because Poinsettia is a Euphorbia, and I'm sure you've been told the red or white colors are bracts, not flowers.

This one is Euphorbia hofstatteri, and I think you don't want to make friends with it. Actually, all Euphorbias have a toxic sap, so you don't want to break the stems and play with any of them, although some are more toxic than others.

Here is Euphorbia polygona, Crested Montrose form. There were two of these plants, and they don't look very similar. I have to assume they were each in a slightly different phase in the life cycle.

I have one Euphorbia in my rock garden by choice. Do you remember which one? You will see it in just a few days. It's getting ready to bloom for the first time. But I'll keep it a mystery for now.

I also have one Euhorbia "weed" that I let grow just as a ground cover where no plants have been placed yet.

Looking like a writhing green caterpillar, we have Euphorbia ammak. You know the only reason I "know" all this is that they had labels, right. I do know a few when I see them, but I suspect that being a Euphorbia expert would be a lifetime pursuit by itself.

Here's another cactus-y one. Some Euphorbias are succulent, some have spines like cactus. Others are neither succulent or spiny. This is Euphorbia aeruginosa.

My favorite for this bunch is Euphorbia crassicaulis. This is native to Madagascar.

Over the years I've shown you pictures of over 30 different Euphobias. Only 1970ish to go. Haha. If you care, Wikipedia has a complete list of over 5000 species which includes several genera that are now being thrown into Euphobia.

In other news, I edited in the morning. The weather was great and I spent some outside time in the afternoon. I continue to remove autumn olive- the never-ending project, and did some other stuff. Still a little early to start weeding the gardens. There are things that aren't up at all yet, and I'm afraid I'll dig things up by accident. Worked on garden records which I hope to get in better shape before I start playing with things for this season. It's supposed to rain all day tomorrow!

See Euphorbias

It's Beginning!

 Almost a full month later than last year, but finally there are some things starting to bloom. All but the last of these are in the rock garden

This is an early minuature daffodil, and now that the bulbs aren't all crowded by weeds, they have started to show up in several places again. This is Tete-a-Tete, and they are about 4 inches tall.

The pasqueflower is reliable. There are actually two clumps in bloom right now

Here is a really old leftover from the original rock garden. This is a squill, some species of Scilla. They were purchased so long ago, they aren't even in my plant spreadsheet. Maybe my mom gave them to me. They need to multiply significantly to look like much. That's probably too much to ask, but I'll take one tiny blue flower for a smile. The picture is about twice lifesize.

I'm not going to start a rock garden tour just yet, but I have to show you this. It's always interesting to see how the various sedums and sempervivums change color through the season. For example, the Sempervivum 'Gold Rush' is, right now, a dark maroon. It apparently needs to be warmer to turn yellow.

But I will show you this one. This is Sempervivum 'Black' that I purchased last year. I've been pretty unhappy with it because it never got dark enough to look anything approaching black all the rest of the season. Well, look at it now! I think it needs some pink friends around it that will bloom early and showcase it. I need to think about that.

And who says you can't still have surprises in a familiar landscape. I discovered a few days ago that a clump of the double daffodils (which all came from Grandma Leary's flowerbed) has popped up in the old lilac hedge. Wow!

I was very naughty today. I worked on one of my pet projects all day. OK, I went shopping, but I didn't do anything else that I was supposed to.

See one lone crocus

WSCC Concert Choir- Spring Concert

 This evening was the spring concert by the West Shore Community College Concert Choir.

I know that pictures of people singing aren't too compelling. I'll just tell you that they had a good cross-section of ages, not only in the choir, but singing solos.

They did folk songs, hymns, a funny song, and quite a few show tunes. Here, they are doing a medly from My Fair Lady, with Professor Higgins asking Eliza, "Where's that blasted plain?"

Of course, this was all put together, and mostly directed, by Becky Sopha. She was presented with flowers at the end.

I edited and worked on other projects until it was time for bell practice.

See WSCC Concert Choir- 2014

Mackenzie Pathway

 I made my trip to Cadillac this afternoon and took time to stop and hike more of the Mackenzie Pathway. I was there for about 20 fast minutes in 2015, and before that I think it was the late 1990s when I was previously there.

There are multiple ski loops, and I didn't have time (or probably energy) to do all of them today. I did one path up the center to the outer loop and then followed the outer loop back to the beginning. The trails are for hiking, mountain biking and skiing, so most are wide and level (side to side- there are hills). In the winter there is a X-Country ski trail connection to Caberfae Peaks.

If there are any good views, I didn't find them. I'm thinking probably not, because even though there were a number of ups and downs, there as only 85 feet of elevation difference between my low and high points today.

There is a bluff along Johnson Creek with hemlocks in the gully, but the creek is very small at the bottom.

Best space was this bit of wetland along the bluff.

But, lookee, lookee! Finally some wildflowers. There were a lot of hepatica in bloom, and some had leaves showing (usually you don't find leaves at the same time as the flowers), so I can definitely say these are sharp-lobed hepatica.

And lots and lots of ramps (leeks).

This is a richer bit of woods than some other places in the Manistee National Forest. There were baby leaves for trout lily and dutchman's breeches. This could be a nice place for a wildflower walk in a month.

Very good day. I edited and did other things in the morning, then took this hike and did my Cadillac errand in the afternoon.

Miles hiked in 2025: 132.8

Mackenzie Pathway, Wexford Co., MI. various loops, 5.8 miles

See Sunday Hikes

Philadelphia Flower Show - On Time

  This is the last of the miniature arrangement categories from the Philadelphia Flower Show. I thought this class was quite interesting because it was open for only judges to enter, and they had no advance time. The were allowed to bring clippers, and all other materials were supplied. Class name was "On Time."

The plant materials were: Craspedia (billy balls- the yellow spherical flowers), Freesia, Oncidium orchid, Galax (wandflower), and lily grass. They did not have to use all of them, but couldn't add any others.

This is the fourth place winner. The other judges (I assume it was not judged by the exhibitors) liked the contrasting colors, but said the base was too heavy.

In addition to the plants, they were given these accessories. I don't know if they made the "pots" from the foam circles. If they did, I don't know how they painted them. However, not all the pots are the same, so I can't explain that.

Third place- the judges said it has great rhythm and movement, but the Craspedia (yellow balls) were dominant and threw it out of balance.

On second place the judges liked the repetition of the cirular forms saying it conveyed serenity, but this one didn't have enough plant material at the base for them.

And first place... well, I have to admit that it's pretty classy, although maybe a bit busy. The judges said, "skilful manipulation of components creates a distinctive rhythmic flow."

I have no idea what the class title "On Time" has to do with anything, except maybe because it was sort of a timed competition?

Today went well. I managed to get some things done. Tomorrow I have to go to Cadillac. There are a couple of flowers blooming here now, about a month later than last year! I can see some other plants starting to come up. Garden pictures soon.

See PFS- Spectrum of Fire

Trail Adopter Training Day

 Today, the Spirit of the Woods Chapter of the NCTA held a training seminar for those who have or might want to adopt a section of the trail.

We started out with classroom time in the morning with Kenny Wawsczyk, the Michigan Regional Trail Coordinator for the NCTA.

Then we were treated to lunch provided by the Chapter but assembled by Pete, our Trail Adopter Coordinator. We had yummy things, but I was so busy talking with people I forgot to take a picture.

Anyway, after lunch we went out to the trail for some simple demonstrations. Pete and Dan cut a tree that was blocking the trail, and they talked about "pinch points" to help make decisions on how to cut something like this that is leaning.

We all posed for a picture at the Vince Smith Bridge. Yes, where I was only yesterday.

Kenny demonstrated some proper techniques for lopping. In this instance, he's explaining that small trees to be removed should be cut down flat to the ground so they don't leave potentially dangerous pointed stubs.

We took a very short side trip to a place called the "Blue Hole," a spring near the Big Sable River that is about 25 feet deep.

That really took all of the day. We had good amounts of time to talk with others about trail-related things. The Chapter has upcoming officer elections in June, and we're trying to get a full slate lined up. There are projects that need to be discussed, and lots of people had questions. All in all, a really excellent day. Not to mention, the weather was gorgeous!

When I got home, I did a tiny bit of yard work. There was also a tiny bit of walking on the trail, but it was so little, I'm not even going to count it.

See To McCarthy Lake