Posted by wilde on March 30th, 2006 — Posted in Vegetable
The nights have still had lows in the mid-30 degree range, but the last two days have been warmer than usual for this time of the year. Today’s high temperature is pushing up to 65 degrees and the sun feels wonderful!
The peppermint and spearmint growing right next to the house have been active for about a week. The first sprouts are already vining up the stone and reaching for the sunlight. They are already eight or ten inches tall.
Peppermint vining up the stone of our house in a southern exposure.
The spearmint seems a little bit behind the rapid growth of the peppermint as it is at most two inches tall.
Spearmint getting started on its Spring growth.
Last year both plants grew well in this location on the south side of the house, but the peppermint was much more aggressive. We had to keep trimming the peppermint back so that it would not overtake other herbs in this bed. It is worth keeping around though — mint tea is really enjoyable, hot or cold!
A weed that I see everywhere is blooming and will continue to bloom throughout the summer and fall. Since the ground ivy blossoms are so low to the ground and very small, I used a scanner with the lid open to get this picture. The blossoms open towards the ground and it’s practically impossible to obtain an image without breaking apart the plant. Here you can see the growth habit where one layer of leaves and blossoms grow up and over the previous set.
The ground ivy has irregular flowers that remind one of a miniature orchid.
Many of the perennials are starting to wake up. Today I saw the sprouting of false indigo, purple cone flower, hard mums, and even the star magnolia tree looks like it will blossom in the next day or so.
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Posted by wilde on March 26th, 2006 — Posted in Animal, Vegetable
Out for a Sunday drive today we came upon a one-lane covered bridge.
Reconstructed wooden bridge in Central Pennsylvania.
Plank wooden floor clappety-claps when you cross the bridge.
Close-up of the covered bridge. Were all of them red?
Trees to the left along the creek give away their identity by showing off their beautiful white trunks. These cottonwood trees are almost always found near water.
Cottonwood trees along the creek sporting white bark.
Covered bridges were constructed in sections to help fortify the roof and the entire structure. Large wooden members make up this reconstructed covered bridge.
Inside the covered bridge you can see how it was constructed.
Just after passing through the bridge we spotted a nice grouping of Coltsfoot growing near the roadside and an active spring. The weather has been quite dry of late so I wouldn’t expect this to be any runoff other than from a natural spring.
Coltsfoot growing in a moist area near a spring.
Coltsfoot blossoms are probably mistaken for dandelions by many due to its bright yellow blossoms. Closer inspection reveals the blossoms are atop scaled stalks with some reddish tones, not a smooth light green stem like the dandelion. At this stage of growth the green leaves have not yet appeared. The outline of a leaf is in the shape of a colt’s foot, so that is where coltsfoot gets its name.
Bright yellow coltsfoot blossoms along a road in Central Pennsylvania.
Driving back to the house we saw a brave little groundhog run across the road and back again before we got very close to it. These chickens were out of the coop for a breath of fresh air, too!
Rooster and chickens out in the barnyard.
When we got to our dirt road we watched a pileated woodpecker as he moved from tree to tree in search of lunch. Sounded like a great idea to us!
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Posted by wilde on March 22nd, 2006 — Posted in Animal, Vegetable
The water in the outdoor cat dishes has been frozen solid for three mornings in a row. This morning it was 32 degrees and the wind chill was 22, so the cats must have appreciated staying in the garage for the night. The suet feeder in the backyard was knocked to the ground, opened and emptied of its goodies. Since the dog went crazy sniffing around the area and barking quite excitedly this morning, we wonder if the neighborhood bear made a late night visit for a snack. This time of year must find the bears quite hungry! There has been a lot of bird activity at the window-mounted feeder — they just love the sunflower seeds, don’t they? We hope the window feeder is too high up for the bear to reach.
Well, as far as the plants go, they are not making much progress in emerging from their winter rest. Now that the weather is colder than normal the Spring emergence has been put on hold for a short time. A few more maple trees have cracked open their winter buds, but we don’t expect many more signs of Spring until the nights get above a chilly 30 degrees.
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