Sheltowee Trace- Day 15- Turtle on the Turtle

 Well, Bill left this morning, and David and I are on our own. Problem 1- The road commission closed the road we needed just as we got there. We had to take a long detour. Problem 2- Google took us to the wrong place and I had to figure out how to get to the right place with no cell service. Problem 3- Then we had to take a car back to Raccoon Creek Road. Yikes! We didn't start hiking until 10:30 despite leaving the campground before 8 am.

We did find a nice box turtle on the Big Turtle Trail. This was a smallish box turtle, but friendly.

We had to wade Horse Lick Creek twice.

It's a good thing we decided to hike the double mile and not check out Horse Lick Road. The whole thing is a mud pit ATV trail- none of it driveable by a car. Hard to walk at any decent speed. We did meet 4 horseback riders.

The entire day was ATV trails and then 4 miles of actual road walk. Poor David hasn't seen any real trail yet, and I think tomorrow is all road walk too.

Despite the bad footing, this was a pretty scene of light through the trees on Horse Lick "road."

Found a completely new-to-me flower on the road walk. This is the native Orange Noah Morning Glory, Ipomoea coccinia. Very cool!

The campground where we stayed last night had one chicken. She loved being given treats like the innards from a pepper and pizza crumbs. She was pretty funny!

So we hiked until 4 pm, then had to retrieve the car on Raccoon Creek Rd which took an hour, then drive an hour south to our new campground. We stopped at an Arby's for a quick dinner. Got the tents up just as it was getting dark, and I'm now blogging in the dark and the bugs. Have to get to bed quick.

Miles walked in 2026: 490.6
Miles hiked on the Sheltowee Trace: 162.7

Sheltowee Trace, Kentucky. Raccoon Creek to Robinson Cemetery Road that counts- 9.8 miles (plus 1.1 mile of overlap on Raccoon Creek Rd). We are tired.

See Sheltowee Trace- Car Spotting

Colorful Planters

 I have been hunkered down all day working on maps and editing. Mostly maps. Here are some pictures from a couple of weeks ago. These planters are in Onekama.

This one has coleus, blue lobelia, a sunpatiens, and an elephant ear. Shows what a beautiful effect you can get without buying expensive plants.

This one has tuberous begonias and a grass.

And a closer view of just the two types of coleus.

And now I'm going back to maps. I want to get two more days worth done yet tonight.

See Onekama Township Parks

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

All the Colors, Not the Rainbow

Red is for the Seven Sisters Rose. This is usually varied shades of light pink with an occasional darker flower. This year all the roses are very nearly red. Since I don't like this plant much, this is at least a color I enjoy more.

For orange we have another blossom open on the 'Frosty Kiss' Gazania.

Common Mullein provides yellow. Thes are on the plant that has the fuzzy rosettes of big leaves in spring.

Green is a surprise. I just don't know what the surprise is yet. These leaves have come up in some disturbed soil. It may be one of the prickly lettuces, but it doesn't look quite right to me for that. Stay tuned.

Blue and purple don't look very different in the pictures. In real life the plants do look different. This is the Viper's Bugloss, that weed I love. I've coaxed enough of it to self-seed in the driveway beds that it's looking very nice right now. I'll share a long shot another day so you can see how much there is.

And for purple, this is a plant Betsy gave me, Moldavian Dragonhead, Dracocephalum moldavica. And there's a scientific name that's easy to remember. Draco=dragon, cephalum= head, and the moldavian. It's an annual, but perhaps it will re-seed. This one is new to me.

For white, this is one of my new Moon Garden plants. It's still in its pot because it's going in a specific place that I don't have dug up yet. This is a Guara called 'Whirling Butterflies.' It's supposed to get 3 feet tall but probably not until I get it out of that pot!

Finally, what set off this color theme in my head was the black sky at mid-day! We had a fast but heavy thunderstorm. But if there was a rainbow afterwards, I missed it.

The heat today has been the worst so far. I may have to sleep on the deck tonight. The fans have lost the battle with the interior air.

In other news, I did the morning editing and stuff, but the hateful task in the basement is nearly done. Stay tuned. Only worked outside briefly. There is a little breeze now, so I might try for a few more minutes.

See Winter Rainbow 1

The Trees Made It to Spring

I love the colors of trees in early spring, either flowering or not. Had some nice scenery on the way to and from the dentist today.

I think these are American Plum, but I didn't get out of the car to go check.

Sweet little baby Red Maple leaves!

Just extras- a bud for Canada Mayflower

And two deer moseying across the lawn at the Methodist Church.

Today was non-stop. I started with the dentist. That was a non-event. The implant is doing great. Six more weeks and another non-event check and I can have the tooth added.

Then I came home and got the mower going and mowed some grass. Then I worked on stuff for Confidence Camp until it was time to go to bell practice. Stopped at Cathy's on the way home and we talked more Confidence Camp stuff.

I'll see how much more I can get done yet this evening.

Stopped on the way home at Rothbury Rest Area. They have a tiny 0.3 mile trail.

Miles walked in 2026: 158.7

See Spring Color

I've Got Tara!

It was a very good day to NOT hike all day. I picked up long-distance hiker Tara at Timber Creek. The rain that was supposed to be over during the night hung on all day. She was very glad to come off the trail and get dried out, cleaned up, and get some new supplies. We also looked at maps.

We've been talking trail stuff all day. It's such fun! We eat very similarly, so getting things for meals was really easy. We've also been comparing how we eat on the trail. She's working on hiking all the National Scenic Trails, and my next Ludington Daily News column will tell more about her.

It was WET. She had this black oak leaf stuck on the rain cover of her pack. Very artistic.

A few of the wildflowers are trying to put on spring faces, but they were crying today. Here is Wood Anemone.

Spring Beauty was also hunkered down waiting for a drop of sun. Maybe tomorrow.

I did get to walk out and meet her on the trail. Got in 2.5 miles

Miles walked in 2026: 148.9
NCT Hike 100 Challenge: 45.6

NCT Lake County, Michigan, Timber Creek TH south and back. 2.5 miles.

See TI Kidnapped Chris

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

What an absolutely glorious day! Temps in the 70s with a light breeze. And I have flowers blooming to prove it.

The Corydalis 'Blackberry Wine' is pretty much in full bloom, and I now have at least 3 clumps. Maybe a couple of other spots of it. I'll be happy to have this spread because the leaves die back in summer so there is plenty of space for other things to fill in.

Just to complete the report, this is as good as that one lonely regular hyacinth is going to get. However, I see that there are a couple of other clumps of leaves. Maybe they will do something. I keep hoping for that, but in all honesty, they never do. They probably don't like sand. I also moved the three crocus that were in the yard to this flower bed.

The rock garden is starting to come alive! There are blue grape hyacinth all over the place. Also an OK thing because those leaves also die back.

A few violets are starting to open. I pretty much let them bloom and fill in wherever. They self seed all over, but they are easily ripped out if they get too aggressive.

The 'Kaydee' daffodils are in full bloom. Yes, the trumpets are sort of a salmon color. These are medium size- not miniature, but not full size, either.

And finally, the first photo shot of trying to show off mixed colors. The white grape hyacinth, violets in the middle and the 'Gold Nugget' Sempervivum behind that.

I worked on most projects, did errands, fixed the nylon screen door for the deck (ahh- a nice breeze), put out the bird bath

The front garden bed is pretty much cleaned up for the spring. It was amazingly easier than other years because I got it in good shape last year. I also started through the rock garden. I'm starting later than last year, but everything seems to be about a week later.

Of course, I see that some plants lived and some didn't. I'll post the body count as it becomes certain.

See Festival in Yellow

Colors from Adams Flower Show

I told you I'd share some more from the Adams Flower Show in New York, and I want to do at least two more posts. Here's one of them with lots of color. That's one of the things they do best is pile on the color, which is just what we all need in March!

I'll start with this 'Stewartstonian' Azalea. This is the variety that Sue gave me for my birthday a couple of years ago, but mine did not live. I'm sorry about that, because it's beautiful!

A plant you can always count on seeing at Adams is spoon mums. They are called that because of the little "spoons" at the ends of the petals.

Here are some more, paired nicely with tulips. Of course, in the real world, tulips bloom in spring and chrysanthemums in late summer to fall. But hey...

This could only be a houseplant where we live. It was in the tropical section. Popular name: Flamingo Flower. It's Anthurium andraeanum.

This one would do all right a little bit south of me. It's a cultivar of a mountain laurel, possibly 'Starburst'.

On another day, I still want to share some beautiful foliage plants.

I worked a little bit on most of my projects today. Best completion was that I got the lawn leveled from snowplow damage up near the house. There is still a bunch to do down by the road. That's hard work, and I can only do a little at a time.

I'm glad I shared the buds yesterday. The crocus did not survive the night. The hyacinth is still hanging in there, and I found two more patches of the corydalis! It's about to become daffodil festival here. Stay tuned.

See Adams Flower Show 2026

Adams Flower Show 2026- Around the World

I've been saving the Adams Flower Show pictures (also from time in New York). This show is put on every year by Adams Markets. This is Marie's primary produce store. They also have meats, organic stuff, a deli, and a garden department.

Well, what we found out this year is that they actually do five of these shows, one at each of their locations, all at the same time. I really don't know how they can pull this off. And it doesn't cost a thing to attend. They fill a greenhouse with the exhibit each year. This year's theme was "Around the World."

At the entrance were suitcases filled with plants and flowers.

I'll tell you up front that the pictures aren't as crisp as I thought they would be. The central waterfall was putting out a lot of mist, and I didn't realize that was making everything a little foggy. But it was awesome.

The first section was tropical plants.

And around the corner, you arrived in the Netherlands.

The Orient was across the way.

And there was a desert section.

You'll see some more individual plants from this show. It's always stuffed with bright flowers! Maybe another year we'll go to more than one location. We like how it's not so crowded as the Philly show, and although there are not contests and big sweeping themes, you can get really close to the plants.

This is the show we've usually taken Selma to, but she wasn't really up to it this year.

Today was busy with the usual tasks, errands, bell choir, and a walk.

Miles walked in 2026: 121.0
Methodist and Ludington School Forest trails, 3.5 miles.

See Adams Show 2025