Reading Rocks in Rockford - 2025

This year, Reading Rocks in Rockford did not conflict with National Trails Day (next weekend), so I signed up again. Last year I explained some about how well the event was run, and I'll say that again. They (the library) have been doing this for 16 years, so they have every detail covered. Every author had to have at least one book aimed at kids (babies through teens, so there's a lot of leeway there) to participate.

This is the Book Bus that is a mobile library with books for kids up through about 6th grade.

It's pretty great to see a community where kids are excited about books. There are reading awards given throughout the year. There are featured authors who speak. There are crafts, and just lots of kid-centric fun.

Flicka the miniature horse was there again.

My friend "Stella the Dinosaur," could find a soul-mate here.

But I have to be honest and say that I gave my heart to Willow the Vizsla. Yes, it's a puppy. Vizsla puppies look like miniature adults, not puppy-ish. That's one feature that helped me identify Maggie as a Vizsla.

I did quite well, for which I am grateful. Only problem, the day did not warm up as fast as I expected so I about froze for the first couple of hours. I rarely forget to take an extra jacket, but I take no responsibility for my actions before at least 7 a.m.

So three hours of driving, book vendor event, and then I took a hike. I'll tell you about that tomorrow. Hint- the NCT goes right through Rockford on the street the library is on!

I've made it to tired. Not doing much else tonight.

See Reading Rocks 2024

Late May Garden Color

The rock garden is sort of in between color phases right now. However, the Bloody Geranium is beginning to bloom. Most of the magenta-purple you see in this picture is that geranium.

Some of the geranium I have in the rock garden is a light pink (looks white in the picture). It spreads very slowly which is good. I'm trying to get a few other spots of it started and remove more of the Bloody one as I get good things to replace it. It's OK, but it's a little too tall and it's SO invasive. The roots are really a pain to dig out.

Also in the rock garden is another plant I wish I'd never bought. I have to keep fighting with it all the time too. However, it's a little easier to control. I try to keep it restricted to some clumps instead of letting it send runners all over the place. It's the variegated Vinca. But it does have beautiful large blue flowers at a good time of the season.

Moving to other locations, because I cleared out a bunch of autumn olive last fall, a few of my iris got enough sun to bloom. Purple...

... and yellow. Nothing unusual or fancy, but I'm happy to see some of them bloom again.

Best color display? The front flower bed. This is a teaser for a more complete report another day, but I'm waiting for one more flower to open before I do that. Best of all, only two of the colors you see here are from blossoms. Most is foliage, so it will look great all summer.

I think I can safely show you the knitting project one more time without giving away the final goal.

Not much gardening happened today. Editing, errands, wrote my column for Mason County Press, finished mowing the lawn. Maybe I have time to get out there right now for a few minutes!

Tomorrow is a book vendor event in Rockford.

See Nailing the Spring Color Palette

Shining Candy Corn Ganoderma Tsugae

I believe I've solved a fungal mystery, and it makes me really happy because this is a favorite of mine, and now I love it in both early and mature stages.

On Tuesday, we saw all these fungal growths on a fallen tree.

I immediately knew I was "on to" something. Especially when I saw the ones on the bottom of the log

I saw these in the Adirondacks on the NCT hike. I called them 'Candy Corn' fungus.

At that time, I managed to determine that they are in the Ganoderma genus, but couldn't be certain what kind. Gano= shining, and Derma= skin. Shining skin fungus.

Now, I'm pretty sure this is the early growth of the Hemlock Polypore or Hemlock Varnish Shelf (because they are shiny as if they'd just been varnished). The log we saw Tuesday is a fallen hemlock, so that's a huge clue. And I know that the Hemlock Polypore is found in this area.

This is a young Ganoderma tsugae. Tsugae= hemlock. One thing for certain about just about all the mushrooms/fungi is that they can look very different at different stages.

So what's this look like when it's mature? I first encountered this one in 1998 in Wisconsin, where we nicknamed it the 'Rearview Mirror' fungus because they eventually grow out at an angle on a stalk. Doesn't look much like those candy corn, does it?

And here is the upper side of a beautiful mature one. It really does look like it's been varnished. And it usually grows on hemlock. Many of the polypores are named for their preferred wood to inhabit.

I love that I've figured this out, and I love the looks of this fungus in all its stages.

In other news, there's a Brown Thrasher flying around my yard, but I haven't been able to catch a picture. Did a good job of accomplishing computer tasks in the morning. Unloaded the concrete blocks and worked on gardens in the afternoon. Yeah me!

See Fun Guys Wear Brown

Wildflowers on the Dragon Trail

We were all surprised at the variety of wildflowers we saw along the Dragon Trail yesterday. It was a stellar botany day for me as I saw three new-to-me species of plants. (Two I got fooled on, and incorrectly identified them to my friends. For shame!)

I'm skipping some of the most common plants we saw because there are other, more interesting things. Although I can't resist a couple. For example: Wild lupine, Lupinus perennis. I share pix of this very often, but it's at peak bloom right now and so pretty. I'll just remind you it's a requisite host for the endangered Karner Blue butterfly. (and the garden lupine is NOT)

Here's a very common spring wildflower, Canada mayflower, Maianthemum canadense

But the surprise is that another fairly common flower, False Solomon's Seal, has now been moved to the same genus. It used to be Smilacena, now it's Maianthemum racemosa. I showed you some of this last week, but these buds are closer to opening.

Here's another that's pretty common in rich woods, but it's always nice to see it. We found LOTS. This is Mayapple, Podophyllum peltatum. The leaves usually have six parts and look like green umbrellas covering the woodland. However, the younger plants have four-part leaves that better illustrate the name: podo=foot and phyllum=leaf.

Now, things begin to get interesting. I did not know this plant at all, except that because of the leaves I was pretty sure it was a kind of vetch. Yes. It's Vicia caroliniana, Wood Vetch or Pale Vetch, and it grows in upland forests. A decent-quality plant with a Coefficient of Conservatism of 8 (10 is highest). I tend to think of vetches as garbage plants, so I call this a nice find.

I struggled to ID a few of these. My best friend is the Michigan Herbarium site. I can usually get a plant in the correct family. If I can't get much help from photo identification programs (often wildly wrong, but you have to know a bit to know if they are wrong), then I just search all the plants in the right family that have been found in Michigan. They are also noted by counties found. So if it's never been found anywhere near where I saw it, then I'm probably wrong. (Unless I'm convinced I'm right- see the Ox-Tongue story.

I'm pretty sure this is Lonicera canadensis, Canadian Fly Honeysuckle, which I identified incorrectly yesterday. But when I got home and looked at those connected leaves at the stem (second picture), I knew it had to be some kind of honeysuckle.

Now we'll move to a member of the Brassicaceae family. Has to be: four petals, and when I blow it up the typical seed pod tubes grow out from the stem. They don't show very well at the size of the picture I'm sharing. It is somewhat atypical in that it has white flowers and narrow leaves unlike most of the Brassicaceae (mustards, cabbage) What made it a little tricky is that if there are any of the basal leaves left, they are hidden in the grass, and I did not look for them. Even I don't always remember to look for things that can help one identify a plant. Anyway, I'm pretty sure it's Arabidopsis lyrata, Sand Cress. The "lyrata" is because the basal leaves have a wavy shape like a lyre that is definitive. But I can't find any in the pictures I have.

I really learned something new with this plant, which I also incorrectly identified. I'm used to the Bluets (Quaker Ladies) that I usually see in Ohio. The flowers are the same, but the leaves are different. But this is supposedly the most common Bluet in Michigan, called Long-leaved Bluets, Houstonia canadensis.

I have one more plant puzzle to share. This is absolutely a Baneberry, but is it Red or White? Really hard to tell at this stage. In fact, I thought it was impossible. However, apparently, if I learn to check the undersides of the leaves, the red baneberry has hairy veins. It may also have a slightly thinner flower stalk (but you have to see a lot of plants before you can use this reliably in the field), and White Baneberry (Doll's Eyes) tends to have a longer flower raceme. Nevertheless, I THINK this is Red Baneberry. Next time I see baneberries, I'll start looking at the undersides of the leaves!

This is a LOT for one post, so I'll stop.

I picked up a load of concrete blocks today, did a bunch of prep for the hike (nothing very physical- mostly phone calls and decisions), and managed to spend a few minutes weeding in addition to morning computer work. Doing OK on getting things done, but I may need to pick up the pace. Only 12 days until I leave!

See Ten On the Dragon

Ten on the Dragon

As part of my continuing conditioning, I wanted to get in a ten mile hike this week. Collette and Sue met up with Cathy and me and we did 10 miles on the Dragon Trail which goes around Hardy Dam Pond.

We hiked from Newaygo SP to Brower Park. I thought this was going to get me all new miles on the trail but it did overlap with what Ellen and I did last year (link at end). No matter. The whole loop is now open and is over 40 miles. I've done just under 20 of them.

The day started out overcast, so we didn't have blue water, but some errant ray of sunshine must have been lighting these trees at the bottom of the bank below us.

By the end of the day we did get some of that blue water!

This trail wanders through Newaygo and Mecosta Counties. So this was our joke of the day. We call this a Mecosta Moose.

OK, it's obviously a horse. But how often do you come across a horse tethered in the woods with no human nearby? And it's wearing a harness. Around the next bend, we came across a wagon, also just sitting in the woods, empty. Still no human. The horse is obviously well cared for, and was not distressed, but the whole thing just made us chuckle. And scratch our heads.

Got a cool pattern picture in Rosy Run where we ate our lunch.

The big news of the day was wildflowers. I even got a new one! So you know it's a stellar day in my book. There were so many, I'll do a separate post about them tomorrow. Also, I think I've IDed a cool fungus that I also saw on the big hike.

Afterwards, Cathy and I came home by way of.. (do you recognize the location?)

... Country Dairy for some ice cream. A fantastic day, and my body is accepting the 10 miles pretty well.

Miles hiked in 2025: 190.8

Dragon Trail, Newaygo, MI. Newaygo SP to Brower Park. 10 miles

See Back to the Dragon

Front Garden Report East 2025- #1

This post will get long, but I want to get all this documented. Browse until you get tired of pictures.

I sure never thought I'd get the east end of this flower bed looking this good in only a couple of years. Due to the birthday money this year, and a bunch of free and marked down plants in the past couple of years, I've been able to fill it in fairly well. But I need to remember to take pictures earlier in the afternoon when the light isn't all dappled like this.

This is the east end of the east side.

Here it is from a lower angle with the lily of the valley patch (that is really outside the garden) behind it.

I've showed you some of these already this year. The blue is the Variegated Ajuga

The west end of the east side is a jungle. This is mixed up Globe Bellflower and the Dwarf Solomon's Seal. This is going to be a real mess to separate. I'll probably just rip out the plants that aren't in the section where I want them. This is what happens when you don't have a plan and you let two aggressive plants grow without control. However, I'm going to wait until the Bellflower blooms because it's already getting buds.

Now lets do a tour of some plants. Here you can see the 'Wiggles and Squiggles' Hosta I showed you earlier this year. It's really happy, and one leaf of the 'Forbidden Fruit' Hosta is on the right. Above that is an Astilbe (really cheap two years ago) and some tiger lilies (plant sharing with a friend last year). The new plant here is another purple Heuchera, 'Season's King' (reasonably priced).

If you look in the first picture above, you'll see a reddish heuchara encircled by the 'Mouse Ears' Hosta, 'Wiggles and Squiggles,' and 'Forbidden Fruit.' OK, I gave into temptation and paid full price for this one. It's another Heuchera, 'Carnival Cinnamon Stick.' I orginially put the 'Season's King' there, but it just needed something brighter. I resisted buying this one once, but the next trip to the store, it jumped into my cart.

Here's an unhappy Hosta, 'Vulcan.' It was another of my almost freebies two years ago. Not sure why it's so small. I don't seem to have any pictures of it from last year, so maybe I accidentally cut it off and it's just recovering. Now it's labeled so I can find it, and it should be OK in another year.

Mixed in with the old 'Francee' Hosta are two of the Allium I got at the Garden Club sale last fall. They are healthy, but I don't think they are going to bloom this year. That's OK, they'll be a nice surprise for the future. The 'Francee' is finally recovering from being chewed to the ground by the deer two years in a row.

Now let's talk about lilies. There are a couple of pathches of Tiger Lily that I was given last year. They seem to be healthy and growing, but they might not bloom this year.

This is the yellow mystery lily that I have no idea where it came from. One year it got eaten, last year it had three blossoms. It looks pretty good this year, but I'll probably miss seeing it bloom because of my hike.

I'm pretty excited about these. Can you see three lilies starting to come up among the 'Francee' Hosta? I got six bulbs for half price earlier this year. They are a variety called 'Landini.' I'll keep it a surprise what they will look like, and of course they may not bloom this first year. But I'm happy to say that all six came up. If they bloom it should be after I get home from the hike.

Finally, this is one spot of organization in the west mess. Last year I put in some of these small hosta near the front of the bed. I have no idea what variety these are. I think they came from Ester. They don't match much of anything in pictures I peruse. They stay small, and the leaves have narrow yellow edges. They make a nice border (you can see the black edging along the front of the photo). Oh, I guess I didn't catch it in the pictures, but last year I spread more of the 'Tiny Tears' Hosta to the very front of this edge as well, and it's spreading nicely.

That's plenty! But I did get a pretty good record of the work done.

I mowed all the grass up here on the hill. I'm not a super lawn-care person, but I have to say that it looks pretty nice mowed as opposed to the mess it's been a lot of years. Also did the computer tasks, blah, blah. Quite productive, and the mower is good conditioning for my core since I still don't have the seat modified. Tomorrow I play.

See Front Garden Report 2024 #3