From the Woods

I got myself out to my section of trail today to do some general cleanup. What I did was very easy- flicked sticks off the trail and clipped some encroaching branches. No problems to report. I have a few pix of interesting things from today, and a couple from the other day.

This is the bottomland hardwood swamp along one section of my trail. I know I've showed it to you when there is lots of water, and also when it is dry. But here it is in between all full of mud. The plants love it.

This small paper wasp nest must have come down in the wind we've had the last couple of days. Oddly, when I flipped it over, it's completely hollow- no hexagonal cells. I don't know if they somehow broke out, or the wasps never finished the nest.

This is wintergreen, Gaulthera procumbens, in bloom. Usually you see the red berries which last for months, so finding the flowers is nifty.

I found yet another blue/purple mushroom. I'm NOT a mushroom expert, but I think with the white gills and smooth stalk in the second picture that is has to be Purple Brittlegill, Russula atropurpurea.

Finally, this is just fun. Every once in a while a plant will produce variegated leaves. This is an oak sapling. I love it! Once, before digital photos, I found a variegated poison ivy. I wonder if I have a picture of it somewhere.

The trail work took all afternoon. I got some editing done in the morning, but didn't get out of bed fast again, so other things slipped through the cracks.

My dad would have been 122 today, and he died 50 years ago yesterday. I can hardly believe that.

Miles walked in 2026: 238.2
Hike 100 Challenge: 86 miles
Onekama Challenge: 50 miles.

North Country Trail, Lake and Mason Counties, Freesoil TH to Koenig Rd and back. 6 miles.

See Beauty in the Details

Miscellaneous Blossoms

A few things have been blooming, but most not spectactularly. Still, they make me happy.

The first one is in this post only because it wasn't blooming the other day. This is the other of my day lilies, called 'Young Love.' I'm hoping there will be a day when the all bloom together and I can get a pic of that.

Here is the Sedum 'Atlantis' that I like so much. But this is the first time it's bloomed for me.

Also just starting to bloom is this rosette of the Sempervivum 'Black.' They all look pretty much alike when they flower.

Betsy gave me a small Dahlia. I missed getting a picture of the first flower, but it has another. I have no idea which Dahlia it is. And you have to take them in for the winter. We'll see if that happens.

Here's the best of all although it didn't succeed at looking very good. That white oriental poppy I bought was determined to flower, even if late. It made a bud, but then it was trying to open those days when the air quality was so terrible. I don't know if that affected it, but this was the best it managed. Still- I can't wait till next year!

Then it quickly dropped all the petals. But I think it's interesting that the seed pod is not black like the other colors, but reddish.

I managed to get a lot done today- editing, watered the gardens, mowing, some gardening, a long phone call, and then I walked 4.5 miles on roads. OF course, since I watered there was a pop-up rainstorm! Quite windy right now.

Miles walked in 2026: 232.2
Miles for Onekama Challenge: 44

See Let the Day Lilies Begin

Roadside Blooms

Needing to keep walking to get those miles in for the Onekama Challenge. Going to be hard to do, but the weather/ air was better today, so I got in a walk. Just one of my roadwalk loops, but I did it.

Here are some plants of note along the way.

This was the first time I've noticed Elecampane, Inula helenium on this route. It's not native, and it's more of a prairie plant. But here it is! I'm going to report this to the MI Herbarium.

A nice native shrub to find. I see a little of this each year. This is Meadowsweet, Spiraea alba. It likes to have damp feet, and this is in a ditch.

Always a fun find is Swamp Milkweed, Asclepias incarnata. Definitely a wetland plant although some people are putting them in gardens with some success if they water often. This one isn't very full, but you can see the color.

Here's one that I'm not happy to see. It's False Chervil, Anthriscus sylvestris. This is becoming increasingly spread from east to west in the US and it's horribly invasive and everywhere. Not happy to see so much of it here.

Not a flower, but I caught a great blue heron flying over.

Worked my little job in the morning. Did some volunteer stuff. Walked, Zoom meeting.

Miles walked in 2026: 227.7
Miles for Onekama Challenge: 39.5

See Familiar Places

Mason County Garden Club Tour 2026

It's been several years since I was actually home when the Mason County Garden Club Tour was being held, but this year it all worked out. The stops this year were all in Ludington.

This is a special year for the Club-- it is their 100th Anniversary, and also the 24th Garden Tour they have hosted. Because of this, 4 of the 7 sites were at public locations the club maintains, and one of those had a craft you could make. I may talk about those another day, but I want to focus on the 3 private gardens.

Here is a nice walkway corner. It's edged with the Donkeytail Euphorbia and filled with a petunia planter.

This garden had mostly traditional plantings and groupings, but it was nicely done. The owner mentioned the gardners' war with the urban deer (her fencing was removed for this tour), and ironically enough, I saw a doe and two fawns just around the corner, cruisin' for a snack.

This was my favorite, and it turns out I know the owner. This is just one view of the garden... it's filled with quirky garden art, different levels, and little nooks tucked between buildings and hedges and stuffed with plants.

Now I'll show you a few of my favorite plants, or pairings of plants.

This is another Heuchera- 'Changeling'- that I like a lot.

And here is a beautiful coleus planter. Coleus is a lot like the heuchera- they come in an amazing variety of colors and shapes. But they are annuals. (You may recall I tried to keep some over the winter- I had a little success which you'll see one day soon)

This is a really nice pairing of a coleus and a heuchera. Of course no one seems to keep track of the names of any of these cultivars, which you know I want to know.

Here is, perhaps, my favorite of the day. This is a begonia from a patented series called Space Age, possibly 'Black Hole.' Of course, I can't start playing with begonias unless I magically sprout a greenhouse, or at least more space with good light, to keep them over the winter.

We did not know where the gardens were located until we bought the tickets at the start. I had thought I'd walk as much of the route as I could since the day was not blistering hot. And after seeing the map, I decided I could walk the whole thing. 4.6 miles.

Did a little editing and some cleaning up at home.

Miles walked in 2026: 223.7
Miles walked for the Onekama Challenge: 35.5

See Mason County Garden Club Tour 2018

Troutarama and the NCT

Our Spirit of the Woods Chapter of the NCTA has a new position called Communications Coordinator, and one of the duties of that person is to work on outreach opportunities to tell more people about the trail. Taylor's first big effort was to get us in the Troutarama Parade in Baldwin. She is in the yellow shirt.

The parade was a decent length and a lot of people turn out for this. (It's a four-day event with all kinds of activities)

We handed out candy and flyers about the trail.

I've shown you this once before, but this is the statue commemorating that Baldwin was where brown trout were first released in the United States in 1884.

The statue now has a very nice garden with a couple of benches around it.

And coneflowers

The parade got me some walking, and then I had to go right past the trail on the way home, so I stopped and got in some more miles.

It was a little cooler and a little less smokey. There is a lovely breeze that made life tolerable. Still, not much else happened. I didn't sleep well last night and had trouble getting up this morning.

Miles walked in 2026: 219.1
Hike 100 Challenge: 80
Onekama Challenge: 31

In Baldwin for the parade and to get to my car- 2 miles. NCT, Lake County, MI, Timber Creek to Wingleton Rd and back 4 miles.

See The Rest of Yesterday

Hosta ID, Please

 
I recently found a Facebook group that does nothing but help people identify the variety of Hosta they have. They have very exacting standards for the kinds of pictures they need, but there are several experts that really know thier stuff. I have learned for sure what several of mine are.

This is the yellow-green one I love so much that has all come from two leaves and a tiny root that I stole from a planter long ago. It has been IDed as 'Golden Scepter,' although a small one. Not immature, just small for some reason.

It is in bloom right now.

This one isn't very interesting. I'd be fairly happy to replace it, but haven't done anything about that yet. Then again, there is always a place for dark green just for contrast. This has those tiny white edges on rather pointed leaves. It was IDed as 'Allan P. McConnell.' It seems to be quite normal in size. Originally a gift from Ester. It has buds now, but is not blooming yet this year.

This is 'Golden Tiara,' but it makes me smile. This clump is probably 20 years old, in this same spot, and it stumped the experts until I got them good pix of the flowers because it is unusually small. Only 'Mouse Ears' and 'Tiny Tears' of mine are smaller. Its "normal" smallest dimension is 16" tall. Mine is more like 6". I'm very happy with it being small. This one also came from Ester.

Here are the flower stalks, called scapes.

And a pretty good view into the flower.

The one I just got from Ester last month has been IDed as 'Gold Standard.' This one is also supposed to get much bigger, but I hope it doesn't. I don't have huge beds to accommodate the big hostas. It has not bloomed yet, but it seems very happy considering it was just moved here a month ago.

Another freebie from Ester. I think I have three of these. They sort of hitchhiked on the rootballs of other plants. This is 'Halcyon,' a reliable solid blue hosta.

I think I only have two hostas yet to identify. This is great! You know I love having them identified correctly. I've found a ton of hosta groups on Facebook.

Every known Hosta has pictures and a link to the registration page at hostalibrary.org. The Facebook group is simply Hosta ID.

In other news: Air quality terrible as anyone local knows- AQI was at 500. Now it's down to 195, but the temperature went up! We had a surprise rain shower of 0.2 inches this afternoon which catalyzed the shift and bumped the humidity again. Whew.

I got myself in gear and took all the metal recycling to Padnos, the returnable cans and plastic bags to Meijer and bought ice cream! Edited and started writing my columns. The yard and gardens need work, but I really can't do much of that until the humidity backs off a little. No walking- that's not a good thing.

See One Handful of Hosta

Let the Day Lilies Begin!

There is still one of my day lily varieties yet to bloom, but I'm going ahead with sharing these because I'm not sure they are all going to be in bloom at the same time this year. The deer nibbled some buds, but then I sprinkled repellant around and so far they have stayed away since then.

First up is the lemon lily, perhaps my favorite! The yellow is so pure.

This is the 'Monterey Jack' I bought last year for $3!

Next up is the very old (registered in 1941) 'Black Falcon.' It's supposed to be one of the darkest day lilies ever developed.

And the similarly dark 'American Revolution,' registered inn 1972. They look quite different in these two pictures, but in the same light they are very much alike.

Today the air was very bad. It was even bothering me (official range "very unhealthy"). The only thing I did outside was to hang up and take down laundry. Mostly I did computer work, editing, volunteer stuff.

This does not bode well for the walking goals. If it wasn't making my eyes smart, I'd take a walk yet tonight, but I've conceded that this is bad- any exertion at all is problematic. The AQI here is 312, but I understand it is over 600 in some places in Minnesota. That is a lethal level for some people. It's literally off the scale. They say one more bad day here, and then maybe some relief.

See Lily Lane

An Orangely Success

As everyone in the northeast knows, the air quality is terrible due to the fires in Canada and Minnesota. It is unpleasant, but it affects my ability to function much less than the heat and humidity.

Next topic. Some of you know I signed up for the Onekama 30-day Challenge. This is just to help motivate me to get into shape for the longish hike I hope to do this fall. At 78, I can't just "wing it" the way I used to be able to do without conditioning.

So I set my goal for the challenge to hike 100 miles in those 30 days. That's 25 miles a week. Today is the end of the first week, and I needed 6+ miles. I could NOT make myself to get up and hike early- besides, it was already hot in the morning. Then it got hotter. Then the air quality went bonkers due to the fires in Canada and Minnesota. But the smoke blotted out the sun enough that the temperature declined to 82°. Still not great, but better than it was all day.

So... I headed out at 6 pm to get my 6 miles.

What the heck? Someone's been using spray paint in the woods?

Then I saw spots like this all over. Then I realized there were also stripes on the trees. It's the sunlight from the very orange sun through the haze!

Just for fun, I saw little orange mushrooms.

And other little orange mushrooms.

And the evening sun trying to shine through the haze.

A great horned owl flew across the trail in front of me, but no picture.

How'd I do? Got my first 25 miles.

Miles walked in 2026: 213.1
Miles walked for the Onekama Challenge: 25
Miles walked for Hike 100 Challenge: 76

North Country Trail, Lake County, MI, from Timber Creek to 8th St and back and a little more.

In other news: I stayed inside and edited a lot.

See The Small of Orange