Sempervivum vs. Jovibarba

 Not all the things that look like "hens and chicks" are Sempervivum. There are six genera in the Crassulacaceae family that look similar, but Echiveria, Aeonium, Greenovia and Aichryson look enough different they aren't a big problem. But Sempervivum, Jovibarba and Monanthes are pretty much lookalikes.

I don't know much about Monanthes, but I learned more about Jovibarba when I discovered that I have two of them, and there are only three species.

Both Sempervivum and Jovibarbasend up a big stalk in the middle of a mature rosette. This is 'Red Heart' a year ago getting ready to bloom.



This is the Sempervivum 'Gold Rush' cultivar in bloom this year. Most of the Sempervivum look like this and have pink flowers, but not all. Apparently, the thing to look for is that there are more than six petals that open like a star.

This is a rather sparse Jovibarba heuffelii that bloomed just a couple of weeks ago. Obviously the flowers are yellow, and they do not open like a star, but stay somewhat bell shaped. (I called this one 'Green Stars' until I learned what it is)

Here is a nice picture of this flower from a couple of years ago. All three of the Jovibarba have yellow bell-shaped flowers.



I've been waiting because it looks like the Jovibarba globerifera (which I called 'Roly Poly' for years until I learned what it really is) is going to bloom. But this big lump hasn't really changed much in 6 weeks! I've never seen this one bloom, so I really want it to succeed! If it ever gets around to it, it should be yellow.

Of course, now I want one of the Sempervivum that blooms in a different color. Supposedly 'Black Lotus' has white flowers, and has dark purple leaves. Might have to look for that one.

Busy day. Editing and stuff, then walked to the bank and PO, and then there was bell choir. I have a weird little stomach ache. I don't think it's anything important, but I may go lie down soon.

See Those Shifty Sempervivum

A Few Re-Bloomers

A few more plants delightfully refuse to admit that the blooming season is over.

The Fleeceflower often gives me a few fall flowers. Only one so far this year, and it's short. But that's OK. This is not my favorite plant, but for now, it's fine.

I really love this one. This is the 'Firefly' Heuchera that Margaret gave me. In the picture the flowers look pink, but in real life, they are almost red.

This is the Dianthus 'Olivia Wild' that I bought this year to replace something else that died. I'm liking it a lot. And it keeps on blooming as well.

Today, day 10 after the oral surgery, I had a salad for dinner. No problem... I just chewed on the other side, and nothing hurts. This makes me quite happy. I've been missing my salads. One stitch is annoying as all get-out, and they don't get taken out for a month. It doesn't hurt, so I can't complain too much. They aren't the dissolving kind, but the dentist said they might come loose on their own. Hoping this one does.

Worked on projects, went shopping, blah, blah.

See Last of the Rock Garden Color

Blackberry Lily Life Cycle

Earlier this season (August) I was happy to show you that my renewed weeding seemed to have energized the Blackberry Lily to grow and flower. I blogged about all this once before, but it was 13 years ago, so I don't feel that I'm unnecessarily duplicating. Besides, I learned something new. Two things, actually.

Their bloom seasons didn't overlap by much, but the Blackberry Lily and the 'Young Love' daylily sure looked nice together.

The Blackberry Lily isn't a lily and it isn't a blackberry. It's more related to iris. In fact, I just learned that it's been moved to the Iris genus and is now Iris domestica Formerly, it was Belamcanda punctata or chinensis. That "punctata" is a clue to its other common name, Leopard Lily, because of the spots. It seems to have had almost as many names as spots. Wikipedia lists 7 other taxonomic names for the same plant. "Chinensis" tells you that it is native to eastern Asia.

Here's a closer picture of one flower. I really like how the petals (yes, 6 petals, not 3 petals and 3 tepals or bracts- I checked) on mine seem to alternate between brighter and darker orange. I don't see this in all the pictures I find online. There is also a variety that is all yellow, but I like the spots.

I've been waiting for some of the seed pods to open to show you why it gets one of its common names. Sure does look like a nice fat blackberry! But it's not. You can also see in these two pictures how much the seed pod looks like the 3-sided iris pods if you let those go to seed.

Here's the other thing I learned this year. They aren't black when they first begin to open. The seeds start out as light orange.

I'm going to transplant one of these that moved itself more into the yard than the flower bed, and I may sprinkle some of the seeds around. If this plant is going to be happy for me, I'd like more of it instead of just a couple of loner stalks.

Another beautiful weather day! I'm pretty happy with my new computer. The processor is MUCH faster, and it's smaller which I like. I'll still be discovering things from time to time that aren't quite transferred. Today, I learned that I needed to bring over some fonts I use regularly. Probably Windows wiped out all my custom ones. But I have them all in several locations.

See Back to the Blackberry Lily for the previous similar post

Traction Treads

Fourteen people showed up today to work on the trail in Sterling Marsh. This is 13 sections of boardwalk that our chapter built in 2009-2011, and are almost a half-mile in length, total.

Here is the crew, except for Dan who took the picture. He was also our crew leader today. We got all the strips we had in place. If you go out there and wonder why we didn't "finish," it's because we have to wait a year to get enough more strips.

Because it was also Public Lands Day, and also North Country National Scenic Trail Day, Carhartt had donated quite a few of their nice orange watch caps to the Association. Anyone who became a member today got one of these free. Our chapter had five to possibly use, and five people stepped up to join and get a hat.

So, what were we doing? Well, this boardwalk has changed that entire section of trail from a continuous mudpit that everyone avoided to a "destination hike." However, because a lot of it is shaded, the wood was often wet and slippery. The Forest Service suggested we try these traction strips. They are really expensive, but the FS had some money to spend on the NCT this year. They got us about half of what we need, and we hope to get the rest next year.

They come twice as long, but Pete (who's currently on a trip) had already cut them in half and taken bundles of them out to the trail.

Our job today was to place them correctly and screw them in place. Notice the chalk line for side-to-side placement, and Pete also made the jigs so we could get them in the center of the decking board easily.

Here's what they look like- although I see that these few aren't screwed down yet. I haven't done the post yet, but I've been thinking about showing the various kinds of traction aids used on trail structures with my personal favorites. Maybe that will be a good follow-up tomorrow. However, these have to be at the top of the list. They will last much better than any of the other commonly used choices and are less likely to break and become a hazard themselves.

Of course, the open area of Sterling Marsh is almost always beautiful!

Could you tell who was screwing down that strip? My buddy Bill came for this workday! We went out for a little lunch afterwards. We had lots of trail stuff to talk about- follow up from the Adirondacks, current projects and hiking dreams.

I even did a little gardening after I got home, and worked on a couple other things a bit. Beautiful weather and a good energy day!

Miles hiked in 2025: 377.
Miles hiked on the NCT in 2025: 226.6

North Country Trail, Jenks TH south about a mile and back

See Boardwalk Dedication

A Couple of Critters

Although I often find other evidences of skunks in the neighborhood (winter tracks, dead in the road, nighttime release of their delightful scent), I hardly ever see the real thing just calmly wandering around the yard.

I do have a good skunk story though. Long ago our dog Hezekiah, who was not a killer, but he loved to play with little furry friends, brought me a snub-nosed black baby with a white nose stripe- alive. It was about the size of a chipmunk and actually looked a lot like a puppy. It did take me a few minutes to figure out what on earth it was. He'd gotten into a den of baby skunks underneath a shed and somehow avoided tangling with mom. Since the babies don't have the scent glands, the characteristic odor didn't help me with the ID. I put the babies back, but things probably did not go well for them. I really don't know. But that was my first experience with baby skunks. Really cute!

This one is full grown and I did not feel the need to approach it.

Not such a good picture of this. It's a very common butterfly called a Painted Lady, Vanessa cardui. However a search of my blog says I've never gotten a picture of one before. And it was determined to stay on the other side of the flower, but it was sure enjoying this sedum in bloom.

Worked on all my projects today. Planted some asters a friend brought me and potted some cuttings. Did a little bit on plant records. I'd like to get those caught up! Probably didn't work hard enough on things with real deadlines.

See Butterflies

Which Witch Grass?

Yeah, yeah, I don't do grasses. At least that's what I always say. But I deal with this one every fall, so I decided to try to actually identify it. I've always just called it "Witch Grass," and that is sort of fine. As OK as common names get. It's actual common name is probably "Fall Witch Grass." And remember that common names are fairly useless because they vary regionally, and have duplicates. Scientific names are much better.

I say "probably" Fall Witch Grass because I have not put the seeds or leaf sheaths under my microscope (which needs to be released from a prison of stacked stuff) yet. Maybe. Maybe I don't care enough. Maybe I do. We'll see.

I can never decide if I love or hate this stuff. It's beautiful every fall, turning the yard a soft fuzzy purple.

And in the early morning, if there is dew and slanted sunlight, everything is silver and white.

No easy ID with just that. There are at least two choices. But I'm going with Digitaria cognata. The clumps of both are very similar, although the stalks are so thin you can't tell much from this picture.

Even if you haven't noticed the clumps, you've probably encountered the stalks. They turn brown and easily break off above the sheath on the stem and blow around like eastern tumbleweeds collecting in corners of your porch, or hitchhiking into the house on your sneakers. This is the part I hate. It's impossible to escape the dang things! And they collect in numbers serious enough to make large "hairballs."

For now, my ID is mostly based on examining the flowering stalks. There are only one or two of the seeds per branch. The other serious choice has more.

If I put the microscope on it, I'll amend or confirm this.

In other news, I worked really hard today to get a few things done. I'm seriously behind on a couple of things that have actual deadlines.

See Purple and Silver

Last of the Rock Garden Color?

Some of these colors will last a while yet, but I think the last of the blooms to peak are happening now.

This is really a favorite purchase from this year, the 'Oriental Dancer' Sedum. I can't wait for it to have multiple stems next year.

It's always interesting how some plants just keep having an occasional blossom all season long even when they are past their peak time. This is the Dianthus 'Kohari.' When I bought it two years ago the patch was about a third this size. It's had one or two flowers open most of the season.

Back to a Sedum. This is the 'Rosenteller' one, and it's past prime, but I like how it's sharing the space with one out of season bloom of the Bloody Cranesbill. I only split this little patch off the big clump last fall, and it's doing great! I also like how it looks in front of that log. In the spring, it should have a little pasqueflower friend which you can barely see below it. I managed to find the one that had sprouted in the lawn and move it to the garden.

The blanketflower, Gaillardia 'Arizona Sun' always looks great from July onwards, and especially so if I deadhead it. I'll be keeping my eyes open to buy one called 'Arizona Red' that doesn't have the yellow on it.

Also, the Sedum 'Autumn Joy' seems to be about at peak. This is one of the old rock garden plants that survived. It was eaten down to stubs two years in a row, but the fencing allowed it to recover this year. You can see that it also has a little Bloody Cranesbill friend.

I don't think there is anything yet to bloom this fall unless I get some sort of a surprise. There are a couple of fun things to show you from other locations, but I have to wait a few days for one of them yet.

Got a fair amount of work done today and did my road walk.

Miles hiked in 2025: 375

See Mid-September Garden Color

Early Autumn Rainbow

Every once in a while I like to do a collage rainbow post. You get one today. The pictures have all been taken in the past week.

RED- Jack in the Pulpit seeds, ORANGE- Beech leaves, YELLOW- Sassafras leaves, GREEN- mixed leaves including oak, BLUE- the sky, PURPLE- New England Aster.

I got my new computer today and have spent most of the day trying to get my software back to the settings I had, the calendar to work, and all that sort of thing. Managed a tiny bit of productivity. Then bell choir this afternoon, and a little walk.

I should be back to full steam tomorrow

Miles hiked in 2025: 372.

Ludington School Forest, various trails, 2 miles

See Late Winter Rainbow II

Cartier Park Visit

I have been without a computer all day. That is a serious sort of weaning! I'm blogging on the old computer which could die, using accessories that have also been relegated to the "dead" pile because they are totally unreliable. My new computer is being put together, but it wasn't quite done at end of the business day.

I've been thinking about it, and I think I've had a total of 5 laptop computers. I don't think I've bought a single one of them. I can say for sure that 4 of them were used and gifts from people. I can't quite pull up the memory of where I got #2 in that lineup.

At any rate, I am forever grateful for the generosity of folks who have helped me. However, I've been fairly covetous of a computer that doesn't struggle for quite a while. I decided it's time to get serious about that.

So, I dropped my current computer off this morning along with all software disks and accessories. My recent computer problems may be all one issue, or they may be several things conspiring to do me in. So, I left all the stuff with STS Computers in Ludington. They've been my computer folks for over 30 years. They know that I know just enough to be dangerous, but they treat me with respect and don't try to force stuff on me I don't need or want. And their prices are reasonable.

Then I went for a walk at Cartier Park. We had thunderstorms overnight and the paths were damp and cool.

The last time I was there (February), the gazebo was where it's always been. But then, it was torn down because they discovered serious structural issues. But February was a while ago! Someone donated the money and a new gazebo has already been built!

Lincoln Lake was silver rather than blue today.

And did you notice who was also enjoying the water? A great blue heron.

I have managed to find some tasks to do that didn't require a computer. Mostly I read a book and tried not to stew over not being able to work on pressing things.

Now I have a Zoom meeting. I'll have to try to also do that on the old computer which needs to not be allowed to be on long enough to get very hot. Hopefully, it will hang in there just a little longer or I'll have to switch to phone.

Report on mouth- just a little swelling left. Things are good. Not eating crunchy foods yet, but everything seems to be on track.

See Mile and a Half