osage + orange

Man in the Maple

2012-02-02T06:01:00.000-08:00

Oak Park :: 2012

Hedgerow Futures Conference 2012

2012-02-01T17:46:00.000-08:00

Pack your bags! Later this year Staffordshire University will be hosting the Hedgerow Futures Conference.

Dartmoor Hedgerow :: Photo Credit - Hedgelink

I realize that any exposure to hedgerows that most of us get here in the United States may be from the lyrics of Led Zeppelin. But, some of us - here and there - are working to change that understanding. The work being done in the UK to protect these features in the landscape sets the standard for the rest of us to follow.

Into The Ditch

2012-02-01T17:26:00.000-08:00

Moraine Hills SP :: December 2011

When I gave that talk about hedgerows a couple years back I was introduced - via Dr. Rocky Smiley of Ohio State - to the biological value of ditches. They're not nearly as devoid of life as one might think, and this recent article Into The Ditch at Conservation Magazine explores their potential. After listening to Rocky's talk back in 2009 I opined that ditches might just be the aquatic cousins to hedgerows. Often ignored and often destroyed outright - but full of potential for expansion of habitat.

Why, you could even become a Tarsier...

2012-01-31T16:15:00.000-08:00

...oh yes you could!

Look, I'm a busy guy....

2012-01-26T11:39:00.000-08:00

.....but not too busy to think outside the box on behalf of America!

New USDA Hardiness Map

2012-01-26T08:58:00.000-08:00

USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2012

The USDA just issued an updated hardiness zone map!

As these things go this is big news for those of us who fret over plants - of all sorts- here in America. Here at the Mothership we find that we are firmly in the middle of Zone 6A. This is an exciting moment if only because now I can refer back to an old textbook or two to see how this map compares to the USDA map circa 1980.
Yes, the new map certainly has more detail, but here on the edge of the Great Lakes we're about as cold - or warm - as ever. So. If you're wanting to plant that Japanese Maple in Hyde Park - go for it. But if you're in Galena.....maybe not so much.

Happy Burns Day to You

2012-01-25T06:35:00.000-08:00

The Twa Dogs. Edwin Landseer,1822 Victoria and Albert Museum

In honor of Robert Burns birthday today I thought I'd share this new video link exploring one of my favorite Burns poems, The Twa Dogs.

Three More from the Trail

2012-01-18T05:02:00.000-08:00

Cook County :: 2012

Afield #15

2012-01-15T10:22:00.000-08:00

Spring Creek Valley F.P. :: 2012

New Life for Old Orchards?

2012-01-13T09:19:00.000-08:00

A recent walk through an old pear orchard in northwest Cook County led me to this interesting initiative from the NPS Olmsted Center. Perhaps these trees can bear fruit other than the edible kind?

Crabtree Nature Center - Cook County, IL :: 2012

¡El Gordo es realmente grande y realmente caliente!

2012-01-10T15:35:00.000-08:00

El Gordo :: Photo Credit - NASA Chandra XRay Observatory

Stars and Bars

2012-01-09T09:38:00.000-08:00

The silhouette of a captive Barred Owl back lit by the January sun:

Crabtree F.P. :: Cook County IL :: 2012

Vanishing Acts

2012-01-05T05:42:00.000-08:00

Vanishing Acts at Morton Arboretum :: Lisle 2012

For all you map geeks out there...

2012-01-03T05:30:00.000-08:00

This story caught my eye yesterday. A handmade map that won what is essentially "best in show" from his fellow mapmakers. You can purchase one of the maps here.

The United States of America by David Imus

Yep, I'm a map geek. Are you one too? I am guilty of having purchased maps (only a few, I promise) to destinations I hope to visit one day. I also have kept maps from earlier travels, and squirreled away maps that caught my eye from old National Geographics. I guess it is an eccentricity, but as these things go, not a bad one.

In this digital age I wonder if map reading is becoming a lost art. I'm from the pre-GPS era (cue the sad curmudgeon music) so looking at road map was pretty much how you got around. I don't like GPS units. I don't like having another voice telling me when to turn when I should be able to sort that out for myself. I'm not a complete dinosaur - I do employ sites like Mapquest from time to time, mainly to optimize driving time and to help figure out how long a trip might take. And map reading for outdoor pursuits is an essential skill. I don't know many tree huggers out there who don't also have a thing for maps.

So digital navigation has it's role. But paper maps and atlases are a wonder. Especially when they are works of art as well. It's heartening to see this art form still lives. Santa? Are you listening? Rats......late again!

Chipping Away at Starved Rock

2012-01-03T05:00:00.000-08:00

Wetlands adjacent and feeding into Starved Rock State Park are under threat of ruination due to a proposed mining project. The Illinois Sierra Club and others have raised concerns about the potential impacts this mine will have on a state park that is much beloved and much visited. The LaSalle County Board is poised to vote on this permit in ten days. I did take up the Sierra Club on their offer to contact the board on this issue, even though I am not a resident of their county.

The State of Illinois has very few remaining natural areas left. This dearth of prairies, wetlands and forests is the legacy of our collective history. Virtually all of our midwestern prairie soils were converted to farmland to feed a growing nation. The handful of prairies and wetlands that remain are here by fluke, accident, or good luck. For example, were it not for the economic calamity of the Great Depression Wolf Road and Gensburg Markham Prairies would have been subdivided and built up. Their value to society as natural areas came years later when it was recognized that The Prairie State had almost none. I don't know the land use history for this wetland parcel that is now in the spotlight, but it is the state's natural lands inventory. I'll bet there are some amazing things living there - plants and animals that have been on the run since the end of the 18th century.

It might be better now, but for the longest time I felt Illinoisans knew more about the dangers to distant rainforests and oceans than to....Illinois. And it would be hard to blame them. What is left of our vast natural bounty has been reduced - in many ways - to outdoor museum exhibits. I'm not knocking what we have, mind you. We owe a great debt to those local 20th century naturalists that raised hell to save the scraps that we try to keep and maintain today. These scraps of land give us the last living glimpses of the beauty that this land once held, and what we have lost.

I truly do not envy the LaSalle County Board. They have to again judge this age old debate of jobs vs. nature. Last fall, one of E's daughters and I rode our bikes through the Illinois River valley. We pedaled through Starved Rock and Buffalo Rock State Parks. We also toured many of the small towns along the way. I have no doubt jobs in this region are needed, and needed badly. They will try to balance the immediate needs of real people versus the loss of yet one more tiny strand holding together the Illinois landscape - a strand that probably seems anonymous to all but a few naturalists. Such anonymity is a tragedy, but it too is a part of our legacy.

No, I am not a resident of LaSalle County and I can't predict how much impact an email from a non-constituent from Cook County would have. But I am a resident of the State, and I do care about the very few natural areas that remain. Can this - or any - county board predict how the loss of one more tiny strand will affect the bigger web of nature? This is a decision I can only hope they consider very thoughtfully.

Holiday Light

2011-12-23T08:44:00.000-08:00

A white Christmas seems unlikely in these parts, but the sun and Jack Frost make the season bright:

River Forest, IL :: 2011

Intermission #4

2011-12-18T09:36:00.000-08:00

Mist Covered Mountains of Home

Hoarfrost

2011-12-18T09:24:00.000-08:00

Hoffman Estates, IL :: 2011

First Snow

2011-12-09T09:20:00.000-08:00

River Forest, IL :: 2011

I’m Thankful for the Number 23.5

2011-11-23T08:32:00.000-08:00

This is the time of the year where the questions gets posed about what we are thankful for. When I think about how I would answer that it’s a little overwhelming. I have much to be thankful for, and it’s hard to narrow down that topic. But here goes: today I’m thankful for the number 23.5, the angle of axial tilt for planet Earth. It is this celestial eccentricity - as we learn in grade school - that gives us our changes in seasons. And it’s these changes in seasons that are the basis of so many of our holidays and celebrations.

Image Credit: Wikipedia & Dennis Nilsson

Thanksgiving may be a North American holiday, but it is essentially a harvest festival. These have been celebrated for millennia - and why not? Better to throw a party when the silo is full and the livestock is plump. How would our Northern hemispheric agriculture function if we did not have the seasons to sow and to reap? Apart from farming, look at how the changes in seasons affect life on Earth.

Lately, multitudes of birds have been migrating south for the winter towards warmer climes. It’s kind of like how a dog or a cat knows intuitively where the sunny spot on the rug will be on a much grander scale. Other mammals - including yours truly - have been getting drowsier with the longer nights. There is something deep in our brains that locks us onto our planetary cycle. Somehow we all find our equilibrium with nature, don‘t we? Bears hibernate. And some of us cope with winter by watching the Bears on television with a plate of nachos. I’m thankful for that.

It’s not as if other planets and celestial bodies don’t have their axial perturbations. Some have less tilt, others have more. There is nothing particularly magical about 23.5 except that it is our tilt, and we have slowly evolved with it. But these things can change: it was detected that the big earthquakes recently in Chile and Japan changed the tilt of the Earth ever so slightly. And the gravitational pull of the Moon affects our tilt, albeit slowly.

We should be grateful that we found ourselves in a celestial sweet spot - as far as life is concerned - here on green and blue Earth. We’re not too hot (think: Venus) or too cold (think: Pluto). Robert Frost’s poem Fire and Ice warns of death by either extreme. But as long as we avoid nuclear fireballs and the corresponding nuclear winters our longer term view should be, predictable and manageable. And for that, I am thankful.

Three cheers for twenty three point five

The tilt that keeps us all alive

Not cold like Mars

We drive in cars

And never over fifty-five

Hear hear for three, point-five and twenty!

The reason (yes!) for all this plenty

We’re baked just right,

Not hot like Venus.

Where men (I’m told)

Don’t have a

drumstick.

Hip hip hooray, For Earthly tilt

It’s warm enough to wear a kilt.

The seasons come, The seasons go.

It’s such great fun, all this living

I wish you all a grand

Thanksgiving!

Followin' those Signs

2011-11-15T10:43:00.000-08:00

Last spring E and I attended a big party where the hosts had hired a tarot card reader for the guests.

Like many of the guests I had my fortune told. The woman who was doing the readings seemed competent, but for the life of me I can't remember what my fortune was. I recall that it was pleasant and non-specific in that horoscop-y kind of way.

Last weekend I was window shopping at a local ooo-woo bookstore, and I noticed they had a whole bunch of tarot cards for sale. Having for a moment more curiosity than sense, I briefly considered a purchase. And then I recalled that, as an Aries, we generally don't go for this sort of thing.

: )

Obligatory Annual Osage-orange Photo

2011-11-09T04:36:00.000-08:00

Monkey Balls!

DuPage County, 2011

In Praise of Thickets

2011-11-08T11:27:00.000-08:00

Yes, yes, as many of you know the topic of hedgerows is never too far from my mind. It’s been awhile since I’ve written about the landscape value of rough edges, but I have recently gotten a couple of flashes of inspiration. Lucky readers, your patience for the eccentric is about to be rewarded.

Last month I exchanged a few emails with Andy Schmitz the Director of Horticulture at the Brenton Arboretum in Dallas Center, Iowa. Our correspondence touched on Osage-orange trees and hedgerows. The Brenton Arboretum features these trees in their collection (woo-hoo!). I sent him the article I’d written about hedgerow preservation, which led to a further exchange about habitat loss when these features are removed from the landscape.

What caught my eye was a list of non-native and native invasive plants that he‘d recently
removed from under a weeping crabapple out there:

Poison ivy
Virginia creeper
Wild grape
Black Cherry
Common Hackberry
Gray Dogwood
Mulberry
Cat Briar
Eastern Redcedar
Eastern Cottonwood
Multiflora rose

And Andy wrote: “Just imagine what that crabapple would like if I did not pull out all these seedlings plants, 10 to 20 years from now it would be a bird paradise, a place of great cover along with plenty of food…”

My recollection of that exchange was stirred today by the sight of this essay “The Untidy Garden” published in Conservation (which is rapidly becoming a favorite of mine). Well, maybe the interplay of skinks and gardens in faraway New Zealand seems trivial, but this excerpt I think has some universal relevance:

“Skinks and probably many other small species benefit from messy habitat, however cultural norms play a strong role in reinforcing traditional values of neatness among home owners, with the result that an apparent lack of care or disorderliness in gardens can be perceived as undesirable and socially unacceptable.” And “pesticide and herbicide use may be more prevalent in tidy gardens as well as higher levels of human disturbance, both of which are likely to have detrimental impacts on skinks and their prey.”

So here in the Northern Hemisphere as we put our gardens to bed for the winter let us pause to consider the value of the small rough edges, the thickets, and the creatures that depend on them. Virtually as I type these words the northern birds are coming back to winter in balmy Chicago. Juncos and Pine Siskins, Snow Buntings and Crossbills all need places for cover. Go ahead and be a little messy.

From Oak Park to Taxco...

2011-11-04T12:14:00.001-07:00

And the show hits the road...

Rana tritiumensis

Dave Coulter - 2011

Wood block print

Morning Blues

2011-11-04T11:48:00.000-07:00

Wilmette, IL 2011

Two Brief Essays on Fragmentation.....

2011-11-03T17:21:00.000-07:00

..... from Conservation Magazine. This piece on fragmented forests led me to this article about the dangers of genetic monotony (often caused by habitat fragmentation).

"We have, in effect, become pastoralists of the wild and arborists of the forests. Speciation in the bigger vertebrates is over—our largest protected areas are just too small to foster new species of elephants, rhinoceroses, apes, bears, and cats. So we throw a few new alleles into the genetic monotony of these isolated populations."

Wilderness has the same Norse roots as “will” or “willful,” uncontrollable. “Wild” conveyed the idea of being lost or disordered. One of the earliest uses dates to the eighth century: in Beowulf, “wildor” refers to the savage beasts of the dismal forests, cliffs, and crags. In the U.S., the Wilderness Act of 1964 defined wilderness as “an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain.”

Afield #14

2011-10-30T13:24:00.000-07:00

Crabtree F.P. - 2011

Reading Around : Taking Another Run at Castle Beowulf

2011-10-19T16:22:00.000-07:00

Sculpture, Geneva IL

by Joseph Gagnepain

Ahh, this weather! A lot of people don’t like this time of year, this inevitable Midwestern slide towards winter. Mere days ago we had a nice string of brilliant blue sunny days. Now we’re paying for it with cold, wind and rain. The perfect season to finally get into that copy of Beowulf - translated by Seamus Heaney - that has been waiting for me for a long time to crack the cover. I think I will like this.

Like many across the Northern Hemisphere I was first introduced to Beowulf in grade school. I think it was in 6th grade when one of our teachers read it aloud to the class. I remember that it was interesting, but I was not on the edge-of-my-seat over the old myth.

It wasn’t until I was in my early 20’s when the writer John Gardner died, and I discovered his version of Grendel. I loved it, and come to think of it, it has been on my bookshelf ever since then. My favorite character there may be Gardner’s dragon. It’s worth reading just to get to know that winged monster alone.

One of my unanticipated joys of aging is the realization that I have forgotten so much of what I read when I was a teenager or in my twenties. Re-reading someone like Kurt Vonnegut now is even better than when I was a youngster. The words haven’t changed, but I sure have.

I think this is why I can’t wait to re-enter Beowulf’s world, and these new/old grey winds of October set the stage. And this time I’m not a kid or a young man. I’m middle aged with more years behind than ahead. Seamus Heaney is my guide, thank goodness. I appreciate words more now than I did then, and in his introduction Heaney connects modern readers to the

Anglo-Saxon text. And maybe that’s the benefit of the years? I can see these connections in a way that I never would have at age 12 or 22.

So, will Beowulf’s story be different this time? The sky is black, the mead is simmering, the rain beats against the windows. Is what is old…new? Again? Of course it is. That is a given, but I wonder how that old dragon is doing?

Gentian Blue

2011-10-16T09:57:00.000-07:00

Cook County, IL

2011

The 99'ers

2011-10-16T09:56:00.000-07:00

Spider!

2011-10-10T11:42:00.000-07:00

October 6 is Poetry Day

2011-10-06T09:46:00.000-07:00

And the 2011 Nobel Prize in Literature goes to a poet...

Congratulations to Tomas Transtromer!

Along the Old Canal

2011-10-03T12:37:00.001-07:00

.Split Rock, I&M Canal

2011

Sneak Preview: Un-Natural Disasters

2011-09-25T19:45:00.000-07:00

Un-Natural Disasters is a suite of social justice themed prints that will be on display at Expressions Graphics next month - where one may see an unusual amphibian.

Illinois Life on the Run - The Tiger's Stripes

2011-09-14T18:13:00.000-07:00

Last week on my rounds I was quite excited to see a Butternut (Juglans cinerea) tree growing (barely) on a site I was visiting. It's the much rarer cousin of Black Walnut, and it is endangered in Illinois. It is prone to a fungal disease, and the tree I saw below had a half-dead crown.

I have tried to describe how the bark of these trees differs from the dark uniform ridges of Black Walnut. The adjective I have settled on is kind of a tiger-stripey appearance, and if you ever see the two side by side you'll know what I mean.

Underneath the tree I scouted around hopefully for fallen nuts, and saw none. So, no guerrilla gardening projects this time. This is one tiger that will likely fade into the urbanizing jungle fairly soon. Threatened species or not, I can't imagine the homeowners will want to abide a sizeable dying tree for too long.

The Tree, in Nature

2011-09-12T16:19:00.000-07:00

On vacation last month I purchased John Fowles excellent book The Tree. I wasn’t planning on doing much reading on our trip to the sea, but I can’t resist bookstores and I bit on this one. It was a skinny book after all, and I was traveling light. Anyway, I’m nearly done with it, and it has almost single-handedly swept away my recent mixed opinions about nature writing. I won’t get into it much (for now) except to say it has nicely punctuated some recent little jaunts, and spurred some thinking about people and nature.

Path #1. On our way back homeward E and I stopped to gawk at a Carolina lighthouse where we were nearly carried off by mosquitoes. Safely back in the car (air conditioned, at that) we traversed miles of swamps as we made our way west. We admired the strange beauty of these enormous coastal wetlands and estuaries. It took a minute or two before we laughed and realized that we could nicely appreciate such landscapes from the comfort of a chilled steel capsule hurtling briskly at sixty miles per. If we were deposited into said swamps in our shorts and teva sandals we’d be miserable in maybe, hmm, five seconds we reckoned. Should all swamps be drained? Well no, but those skeeters sure got me moving.

Path #2. Over the holiday we went to the Morton Arboretum where we explored the maze, the kid’s garden, and did a little hike to the Big Rock. It was a fine day, and the place was packed, especially around the visitor center. I’m very fond of the Arb, but this was one of those times where it felt more like a trip to the zoo. I’m not knocking the zoo, but that’s a different, ahem, animal. Should this experience of nature be packaged thusly - with hot dogs selling (briskly, I should add) at ball-park prices?

Path #3. Later that day we ventured through the paved paths of Wolf Road Prairie, one of the finest prairie remnants in the state. One of my favorite haunts, I thought it would make a nice bookend to our visit at the Arb. Well, a prairie is a prairie, and in short order we were pushing our way through grasses and flowers well over our heads. It was just uncomfortable. We were dressed too lightly and we were soon covered with hundreds of burs that made the little hike rushed and unpleasant. Whatever beauty was nearby was dismissed as we labored back to 31st Street. We did however gain new respect for whatever peoples ventured into and lived in the real prairies so long ago.

One of the captivating things about The Tree is how Fowles describes how he and others approach, define and manage the natural world they live in, be it urban or rural. This book and these recent pathways I have trod have made me think about what my own comfort zone is. I like to think of myself as a person who is pretty comfortable “in nature” but my recent bug bites and scratches have at one end reminded me that I should wear long pants on such ventures. And at the other end I may have to face the idea that I may not be as comfortable “in nature” as I imagined I was.

Intermission #3

2011-09-08T17:10:00.000-07:00

Evenin' Breeze

An Early Harvest - Berry Go Round August 2011

2011-08-28T16:51:00.000-07:00

August, on the edge of September, is the beginning of the time of harvest. At least that's how it is here in the upper Midwest. Around here, home gardens and local markets have been filling up with produce. The bounty of another summer season has begun, which leads into autumn, my favorite season.

So, welcome to the August 2011 edition of Berry Go Round. It was a real pleasure to be asked to host this blog carnival, and I hope you enjoy this early harvest of botany and plant related blog posts. We have a wide variety of topics, but first I want to give a shout out to PatternMart.com for the following image of an "early harvest" :

We'll start with the theme of art. Christine Kane is an artist living and working in Illinois, and I dare say that she gets the very best out of local natural scene. (Not easy in a metro area with millions of people!). Her blog is Let's Paint Nature and for us Christine has offered a lovely sketch of a Black Walnut - as well as her musings on a potential harvest of said nuts. Good luck with that harvest Chris and go easy on the squirrels!

The artistry continues with the work of Colorado landscape architect (and fellow hedgerow fancier) Nancy Eastman. Her firm, Art of the Land, recently collaborated on a green roof where the harvest will be measured in energy savings and reduced water runoff. These types of innovative ideas are becoming the norm - finally.

Now, if we can only build those post-modern hedgerows......hmmmm!

Our harvest continues with The Scientist Gardener who gives us a fine history lesson in agriculture in the post Putting up Hay. Who among us hasn't wondered about those long windrows of cut vegetation and plastic covered bales that populate the pastures? His fine essay connects modern times with our farming past, and I was especially interested to read about how hay stacks were so functional even as they were consumed by farm animals.

Oh yeah, this is probably a good time to remind you readers of the gleaning work of the Society of St. Andrews. If you're able, donate early and often....Waste not, want not as my parents used to say!

And oh yeah (again!) often times when I read about the agricultural past I'm reminded of the work of The Land Institute (you've heard of them I'll bet) and their efforts to merge the benefits of food grains with perennial native grasses. This is revolutionary work that will help feed the world of tomorrow.

Sigh. Well, if there are heroes (like those folks above) there must be villains, right? Well, who among hasn't just loathed the Japanese Beetle? Note: I personally in 2011 have squashed hundreds (yes, hundreds!) of them. Well, a nice round of applause for uber-blogger Bug Girl, who will enlighten us on the relative worthlessness of those yellow beetle traps. And she will do so with great humor and wit. (It's in her contract)

The early harvest of insect and plant related mystery and wonder continues at Gravity's Rainbow, where sarcozona shares with us the mystery of inquilines - I'm pretty sure that Japanese Beetles do not qualify for inquiline status!

As I think about the word harvest and the wide variety of topics touched on in this issue of Berry Go Round I want to conclude with a success story out of Detroit, Michigan: growtown.org. (I have blogged previously about their work here) When I see projects like this get started it gives me hope about the future of people, nature and cities.

It may not be this way for everyone, but my affection for the natural world has tended to build off of other things. I'm now in my early 50's and I can look back over my stages of learning as if they were chapters in a book. It may not seem immediately obvious but my interest in prairies, birds, hedgerows, astronomy, trees, insects, and so on all relate backwards to when I was a kid fooling around in my parents garden and back yard.

I love the work I do, and I know I am fortunate to be able to say that. These are exciting and important times for anyone interested in plants and nature. There are many, many problems that need attention, that need advocates. That need you. One could even say there is a virtual harvest that could be gleaned through!

The internet can provide information and inspiration. Berry Go Round is one such source of inspiration, so stay tuned: the September 2011 edition will be hosted by A DC Birding Blog.

On Water, and now Wind.

2011-08-25T17:01:00.000-07:00

Hatteras Island, 2011

Just a week ago we were vacationing on the barrier islands along the coast of North Carolina. Here I was all ready to write about water. The joy of water in the various forms that it was presented to us: in the ocean, in the sound, and even in the hotel pool. This was a new destination for E and I, and we enjoyed it immensely. It was difficult not to fantasize about living in such beauty.

Hurricane Irene is now providing a most dramatic wake up call just as I’m putting away my swim trunks and flip-flops. Her fury is surely editing many lives at the moment, and so in that spirit I will edit my intended watery musings. I wanted to write about water and nature, but lately I’ve been thinking about the people and animals that we met in our travels.

The Ocracoke Ponies. When she was a little girl E was a huge fan of horses, and the lives of the barrier island horses became quite dear to her through the writings of Marguerite Henry in stories such as Misty of Chincoteague. So, the remnant herd of horses now penned on Ocracoke was a must see on our trip. The horses were beautiful, stocky creatures. They are now cared for by the National Park Service, so I suspect their mood is somewhere in between wild and zoo-kept. What happens to this herd in such moments? Are they shuttled off the island or are they left to their stables until Irene blows over?

The Hotelier and the Bulldog. The manager of our hotel had trained a bulldog to ride a skateboard. This is cool beyond words. ‘Nuff said.

The People at the Grocery Store, the Bakery, the Shell Shop and the Bookstore. In hindsight these were the folks (along with the hotel staff, of course) that we interacted with the most.

They fed us, informed us, and amused us in the way that any good neighbor might. In short, they made us feel at home.

The Man on the Boat Named Baum. On the ferry boat to over to Ocracoke we spoke to one of the boatmen about the boats. His last name was Baum - one of two on our ferry that afternoon - and one of the eight boats is named after his great-grandfather. The name Baum was also inscribed on the old site of the Cape Hatteras lighthouse. We weren’t sure if that was the same man, but the family clearly has a name on the islands. During our sunny transit over Pamlico Sound Mr. Baum related to us the assorted procedures they go through in the event of a storm.

Procedures I have no doubt they’re executing as I type this.

Seaside!

2011-08-18T17:26:00.000-07:00

Hatteras Island,2011

Hover Craft

2011-08-08T18:02:00.000-07:00

. Cook County, 2011
.

Dream a Little Dream

2011-08-08T17:41:00.001-07:00

Daydreams often lead me back to 70.8%.
Hmm. I think it's time to get back to the sea!

Berry-Go-Round

2011-08-08T16:56:00.000-07:00

If you need a green minute take a look at the July edition of Berry-Go-Round hosted this month at Beyond the Brambles. BGR is a monthly blog carnival devoted to all things botanical, and the next edition at the end of the month will be hosted by yours truly here at osage+orange! If you wish to submit something relevant, please do so by 8-25-11!

Backlit

2011-07-27T16:59:00.000-07:00

'Cook County, 2011

A'mazing in the Motor City

2011-07-24T14:51:00.000-07:00

The other day my friend KW sent along an update on the progress at the Penrose Art House & Art Gardens. Being that I'm a fan of labyrinths, I'm happy to pass on these photos of the new Penrose Meadow Maze, designed and created by the "maze team" below....

From design.....

To layout in the field....

To the fine tuning....

And the field testing....

To the Grand Opening!

The Penrose Art House & Art Gardens are affiliated with Growtown.org an organization that is devoted to finding solutions to:

"Food insecurity, high unemployment, poverty, vacant land and fragmented neighborhoods act as barriers to opportunity. These critical issues face post-industrial cities like Detroit. GrowTown provides the framework and support to build enabling spaces and connections that make the growth of dynamic and sustainable communities possible – from the ground up. Post-industrial cities like Detroit are rich in land and infrastructure, but poor in capital. Urban farmers, activists, entrepreneurs, and innovators are scattered over a vast landscape. GrowTown offers a ToolBox of low-cost, adaptable solutions to harness positive community energy into distinctive centers of growing community..."

All in all some a'mazing work I'd say. Well done!

Intermission No.2

2011-07-17T16:42:00.001-07:00

Stevie Wonder - Master Blaster

Spaced Out

2011-07-10T19:21:00.000-07:00

Photo Credit: Lunar & Planetary Institute

Last Friday night we set up the telescope in the driveway. A warm summer night, the recent dry spell held the mosquitoes off as well as could be expected. The stars don’t really start to appear until after nine o’clock, so we passed the time, map in hand, observing features on the half-Moon, hanging low and clear in still-blue southwest sky.

Last Friday morning the space shuttle Atlantis took off on the last shuttle mission. On the radio earlier there were a few stories about this final launch, the end of this program. It’s a bittersweet moment for many people who will lose their jobs, who had great pride in their work. I’ll never live long enough to know, but I wonder if this event marks the end of the “American Half Century” - that span of time from the end of World War II to roughly 2008 when the bottom dropped out?

When I was a child the space program captivated me. The Gemini and Apollo launches caused everyone to pause to witness the moment, broadcasted live on all three networks.

But if the space program of the 60’s was the Gold Medal at the Olympics the shuttle program of the last 30 years was the Chicago Cubs. Steady, but no excitement. We’d mourn the terrible accidents of course, but I’d wager that more people got excited by Voyager, Hubble, and Mars Rover missions than by the shuttle program.

But NASA was something Americans could be proud of, even when other aspects of our society left us disappointed and cynical. Sure, maybe there was some propaganda peppered in but didn’t it make us feel like we could do what we set out minds to? And that’s what hung in my mind Friday, that maybe the United States says it is only closing one chapter, but maybe it’s putting the entire book back on the shelf.

It crossed my mind that the shuttles flew for 30 years - how come we never upgraded them the way we do cars or computers? (Oh, I’m sure there were many improvements along the way - I’m not being critical) Maybe this is as good as it could get? I have no doubt that a new vehicle was needed, but I wonder now if it is likely to be built? These things take a rare combination of momentum, money, and political will. I just don’t see these stars lining up in this country anytime soon.

Let’s face it - we live in a different world today. The very tools that the space program helped to develop show how many aspects of the global environment now deteriorate. Perhaps it is time to focus out attention closer to home. It will be like a stay-cation. Oh sure, we’ll pop off the occasional robot to chase an asteroid for fun, and we’ll hopefully be able to afford to keep our military and communications satellites humming along.

But for now, I think Major Tom has clipped wings.

From the suburbs of Chicago one can see through the lens of a modest telescope craters, mountain ranges, and even individual peaks on the Moon. Our little neighbor in the sky is amazing and beautiful, but it is devoid of life. I’m told there are some American flags plunked in the dusty soil up there. Only time will tell if that was our high water mark.

From Jar to Maple, and beyond

2011-07-10T09:56:00.001-07:00

The King of Rock

2011-07-04T17:59:00.000-07:00

Matthiessen S.P. 2011

Solstice Morning

2011-06-21T14:38:00.000-07:00

Kane County, 2011

Afield #13

2011-06-21T14:35:00.000-07:00

Kane County, 2011

Illinois Life on the Run

2011-06-19T09:28:00.000-07:00

Prairie Indian Plantain

Kane County, 2011

High Water

2011-06-13T12:29:00.000-07:00

Cook County, 2011

weir eft #4 - "A more dynamic and violent place..."

2011-06-09T17:46:00.000-07:00

A perfect storm of stupid. Cheery reading care of the Guardian.

2011 Friends of the Forest Preserves Photo Contest

2011-06-09T17:23:00.000-07:00

What a nice surprise it was to learn this week that one of my photos was recognized by the Friends of the Forest Preserves in their annual photo contest.

Cook County is home to millions of people, but these assorted photos are evidence that the natural world hangs on and has the power to enchant. It's these small moments of wonder that continue to propel my work and much of my life. A long time ago I committed myself to world of urban horticulture and nature. That work, I'm happy to say, continues to take me in wonderful and challenging directions. I hope that these photos may inspire others, and it's a real honor to be included with this group of artists.

From the Blogosphere....

2011-05-31T19:41:00.000-07:00

If it's any indication of how busy I am in May, I'm just getting around to posting about Berry Go Round #39 - that was up all month at Foothills Fancies! Sally is one of my favorite nature bloggers, and I hope you ramble on over and check things out there.

Look out! Later this summer osage+orange is slated to host BGR!

Perched

2011-05-29T09:45:00.000-07:00

A mourning dove surveys the scene from her nest in a crabapple tree.

Afield #12

2011-05-22T18:50:00.000-07:00

Kane County, 2011

Green Fingerprints

2011-05-18T18:58:00.000-07:00

Lombard, Illinois was the host for the 2011 International Lilac Society convention. They were gracious to invite E and I as guests for dinner last month. It was a genuine treat to revisit Lilacia Park, where I once plied my pruners over twenty years ago. It was even better fun to see how the collection and park have grown and improved in the last two decades.

They say that we all stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before us. This odd little collection of lilacs was started in the 20's, with the help of Jens Jensen - no less. The intervening years have brought many changes to this gem, but it still shines, brighter than ever. It was a nice place to work, and I learned a lot. Mainly, I remember some really great people, some who are friends to this day.

Lilacs are shrubs that merit more attention and respect. Most people think of lilacs as utilitarian plants that come in one color: purple. How many of us knew there are literally hundreds of cultivars that have been developed over the years? It seems they are more fondly regarded in Europe (France and Russia come to mind) than they are in America. But they're still durable fine plants for cold climates, especially if you have a sunny spot in your yard.

Spring, finally

2011-05-08T14:08:00.000-07:00

Wilmette, 2011

Sharpen up those trowels...

2011-04-29T08:47:00.000-07:00

....the big day is coming:

Green Stamps

2011-04-29T08:43:00.000-07:00

The USPS has given green stamps a whole new meaning!

In the Year of the Juniper

2011-04-21T17:17:00.001-07:00

April is a fine month, but it is not my ideal time for writing. I have found myself in the midst of yet another springtime rush, the 2011 version slightly tempered by bouts of inclement – even by Midwestern standards – weather. Since the first day of spring we have had a few, and only a few, really fine days. We flirted with temps in the 80's a couple times only to be later sleeted and snowed upon. None of this surprises me, and the work carries on in spite of intemperate days.

And what work it is. The gardens I work in are slow to awaken (see above) which isn't all bad. This time of year I spend most of my time pruning, mainly removing winter damage caused by cold or animals. As the temps warm safely beyond freezing I work my way into the tribes of evergreens, shaping them without making them look shaped. I received a really nice compliment the other day from a landscape architect I work with. I had taken on a stately old hedge of Pfitzer junipers that was starting to get out hand – a little wild you could say. Anyway, I was told that one couldn't even tell they had been pruned. This is the sort of thing that makes my day. It's not easy getting these plants to look natural, yet keep them in the bounds of a garden. If 2010 was my rose year then 2011 seems to be shaping up to be my juniper year.

But it's not all pruning. I have, as tradition holds, found beds to turn, soils to be spaded. E's garden is shaping up well. Nothing improves lousy clay Illinois soil like a ton of autumn leaves plowed in before winter. Of course these beds have now been thrice turned in twelve months, which ought to beat any prospective tomato bed into submission. And in another couple weeks I will make a fourth time, just for good measure.

Of course whenever I take spade to soil I think fondly about Ed and Helen, elderly neighbors of ours when I was growing up. I worked in their garden, and it was among my first experiences with spades and roses. Obviously something then got through my thick teenage skull, as here I am in my fifties going on still about these old garden rituals. Ed and Helen were good friends to me for too short a time, and so when I do this work, I feel it honors their memory. I hope I do it well.

Speaking of good friends I rediscovered a favored garden hoe that I thought for sure was lost. This is an uncommonly heavy hoe, and apart from a little rust it looks as good as ever. It doesn't know it yet but it will soon be sharing the balance of this intemperate April at my side. Together we have some damp soils to attack, some rituals to uphold.

Afield #11

2011-04-03T07:50:00.000-07:00

Cook County, 2011

10 Best Things We Can Do For Animals

2011-04-03T07:45:00.000-07:00

Jane Goodall weighs in for animals in the latest issue of YES! magazine...

Intermission No.1

2011-03-27T11:46:00.000-07:00

. Sun Ra - Sun Song

A Tree for the Ages. Really.

2011-03-26T11:16:00.000-07:00

I’d guess that all arborists - like myself - have opinions about tree species that they like or dislike. I imagine our old friend the Silver Maple is one that inspires feelings in nearly everyone. Last week the local cyber-arbor community was all abuzz about a recent article that named the Silver Maple as a champion tree for carbon sequestration - which is a fancy way of saying “soaking up pollution.” Any sort of positive news about Silver maples gets folks riled up.

For myself, I’m pretty neutral about them. I appreciate their role in nature (they’re native to Illinois) but I doubt it would be my first choice for planting. That said, if I had one in my yard I wouldn‘t grouse. It seems that Silver Maples have gotten a bad rap, but every now and again a study will appear from somewhere trumpeting their good qualities. Among those I would include tolerance of damp clay soil and a vigorous growth habit.

I weighed in on the conversation by noting that our beloved Des Plaines River was thus named in honor of the maples growing along it’s banks by those intrepid 17th century French canoeists. The word “plain” is a cousin to the word “plane.” Maple trees apparently were also commonly called “plane trees” - like sycamores which also share the banks of local waterways.

And if you explore the Des Plaines today you will see that the Silver Maple is still a dominant species in the low areas. You have to admire any tree that can grow in spite of whatever is floating in that river these days. Now it appears this often maligned species is a weapon in the fight against atmospheric carbon and global warming. This dog may finally have it’s day?

So next time you gaze down the mighty Des Plaines, squint your eyes a little and use your imagination. That blurry scene that greets your retinas is in many ways what the locals saw some three hundred years ago. That is due - in a big way - to the durability of the Silver Maple which persists in a world that Marquette and Joliet would scarcely recognize once they got out of their canoes.

Back to the Front!

2011-03-23T08:26:00.000-07:00

.

Check out this recent article from Resurgence that profiles an innovative urban gardening initiative in Leeds. There are even a couple sample garden designs to provide inspiration!

Stony Grey Soil

2011-03-16T17:05:00.000-07:00

Stony Grey Soil

by Patrick Kavanagh

O stony grey soil of Monaghan

The laugh from my love you thieved;

You took the the gay child of my passion

And gave me your clod-conceived.

You clogged the feet of my boyhood

And I believed that my stumble

Had the poise and stride of Apollo

And his voice my thick-tongued mumble.

You told me the plough was immortal!

O green-life-conquering plough!

Your mandril strained, your coulter blunted

In the smooth lea-field of my brow.

You sang on steaming dunghills

A song of coward's brood,

You perfumed my clothes with weasel itch,

You fed me on swinish food.

You flung a ditch on my vision

Of beauty, love and truth.

O stony grey soil of Monaghan

You burgled my bank of youth!

Lost the long hours of pleasure

All the women that love young men.

O can I still stroke the monster's back

Or write with unpoisened pen

His name in these lonely verses

Or mention the dark fields where

The first gay flight of my lyric

Got caught in a peasant's prayer.

Mullahinsha, Drummeril, Black Shanco -

Wherever I turn I see

In the stony grey soil of Monaghan

Dead loves that were born for me.

EAB - The latest map...

2011-03-09T08:06:00.000-08:00

....and the Green Menace moves on.....

Starry Messenger

2011-03-03T07:26:00.000-08:00

Cook County, 2011

Afield #10

2011-02-23T06:49:00.000-08:00

Kane County, 2011

weir eft #3 - About time to google "Venice"....

2011-02-23T06:46:00.000-08:00

....for some of you!

Three Cheers for the Volunteers

2011-02-21T06:30:00.000-08:00

Over the weekend a group of volunteers met out at Lone Grove FP out in Kane County to cut brush, and generally make life miserable and short for some unlucky buckthorn, honeysuckle and multiflora rose on the edge of the site.

It's a rare parcel of land that contains remnants of oak savanna and wet prairie. And things are getting better and better for this ancient - by local standards - grove out in exurbia. The county has recently performed some major clearing of invasive species there.

This revitalized volunteer stewardship effort will complement the work that the county does. Spring 2011 could be a remarkable season for Lone Grove. In the wake of this recent clearing it will be exciting to see how the native flora and fauna respond.

In a world where the environmental news is often times sad it's important to point the spotlight on the folks who spend the occasional Saturday cutting brush and generally having a lot of fun doing it. According to the old county survey maps, this grove was apparently once known as "Lonely Grove" perhaps due to it's isolation in the sea of prairie grasses.

But I have a hunch it's not so lonely anymore.

Kane County, 2011

Walk the Walk

2011-02-17T08:45:00.000-08:00

This story in the NY Times is worth reading, and here's 198 reasons why...

Searching in this Fifth Season

2011-02-16T08:32:00.000-08:00

When I was a young man I never imagined that I would spend my entire life - up until now anyway - here in the Midwest. I won’t ramble on about the years, but I will say that I am happy with that outcome. And one of the pleasures of living here is enjoying four distinct seasons. Well, usually they’re distinct. Sometimes winter will jump right across spring into summer. I have but one seasonal complaint, and it’s with what I will call the Fifth Season.

We’re in it right now, this transition from winter to spring. It should be a time of anticipation but these flat skies and sodden landscapes leave me antsy, wishing for more. More cold, more color, more anything that awakens my senses. I may be the only one, but I found our recent blizzard and the subsequent cold snap preferable to this balmy slump of muted white, tan and grey.

I find myself focusing lately on any active darkened speck that skitter or sweep across a dome of sky the color of oatmeal. Gangs of starlings, crows, pigeons - along with the odd hawk or falcon - punctuate the drab horizons and cluster upon telephone lines. Even squirrels and chickadees gain visual appeal in this season.

Maybe this is part of the appeal of Valentine’s Day here in the northern hemisphere? Just how can we possibly resist the opportunity to splash our surroundings and tingle our retinas with electric scarlets and cardinal reds? Do our brains hunger for these bursts of color? Not to worry: green Saint Patrick's Day is soon to follow.

I remember when I was a boy a beloved book we had of Andrew Wyeth paintings. I think he is a master, but I was impatient (then) with his pale watercolor landscapes and interiors of Pennsylvania and Maine. I’m impatient (still) with this drab fifth season, and may be until I die. But for now I will train my eyes in search for signs of the next act. These days both the buds and the rivers are swelling, and green shoots can’t be too far behind.

Hurry now.

And I can only hope this doesn't translate into some sort of intergalatic drive-thru order...

2011-02-09T11:14:00.000-08:00

....like "I'll have seven-billion humans and a diet Coke to go"

Stewart Maginnis on Poverty and Forest Restoration

2011-02-09T08:36:00.000-08:00

Now, here's a hopeful story from the CIFOR website...

Afield #9

2011-01-30T13:58:00.000-08:00

Ogle County, 2011

weir eft #2

2011-01-28T05:44:00.000-08:00

Please.....will someone give me an asprin?

Waste not, want not.

2011-01-26T07:04:00.000-08:00

This radio story from NPR captured my imagination last week...

The Gleaners

Jean Francois Millet

The Robert Burns Zombie Cottage of Hotlanta

2011-01-24T11:50:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow is Robert Burns 252nd birthday. Here's an interesting story you can share at Burns Supper.

weir eft #1 - Build That Boat!

2011-01-22T11:31:00.000-08:00

Some definitions are in order:

If a weir is a small overflow dam used to alter the flow characteristics of a river or stream...

And an eft is the terrestrial juvenile phase of a newt....

Wier eft is recognition that we're pretty much, umm, "eft".

Stories like this qualify.

Hedgerows on the March

2011-01-18T15:52:00.000-08:00

Informational sign, Hedge Garden

Morton Arboretum

Lisle, Illinois

I know it's been a little while since there has been any hedgerow news posted around here, but I want to assure nervous readers that the subject is never far from my mind. Over these past few wintry weeks progress has been made spreading the joyous news of post-modern hedgerows far and wide.

OK, well maybe not as far and wide as I'd like, but there have been direct, dramatic discussions and entertaining email exchanges about possible pilot projects. Really. And lucky locals will get a glimpse of the grandeur at the upcoming Wild Things 2011 Conference.

11 out 50 ain't all bad...

2011-01-12T09:11:00.000-08:00

Last November I took another swing at writing the NaNoWriMo way - which equates to 50,000 words in one month. I get the impression that there are folks out there who really prepare for this event, but I'm not one of them. My effort in 2009 was completely spontaneous, as it was in 2010. In 2009 I think I fizzled out at 8,000 words, and in 2010 I ran up the white flag at just over 11,000.

I may have been a failure at hitting the 50K mark, but I learned a lot in the process. I learned that it's quality and not quantity that counts (i.e. there are days where I have written a page's worth to find one sentence that I'm proud of). And I also learned that I can crank out 2,500 words in a day when I have the incentive. That's not easy - or at least it wasn't for me - and I was proud of that personal stat.

In the 2010 round I focused on writing about something I'd taken a couple of stabs at before. And even though I participated for only about 8 of the 30 days I felt like I was left with the framework of something that I was content with. And maybe it could be basis of something worth reading, someday.

Where this goes from here is up to me, but I know now (and I kinda did anyway) that the main thing is the story, and not the word count. Still, I appreciate the NaNoWriMo approach, and I'd tip my hat to anyone who can write that quantity of anything, readable or otherwise.

Afield #8

2011-01-10T11:31:00.000-08:00

Kane County, Illinois - 2011

I'm sure you do....

2011-01-07T06:37:00.000-08:00

...but I thought I'd ask.

Celebrate Urban Birds with a 2011 Mini Grant

2011-01-07T06:10:00.000-08:00

Celebrate Urban Birds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology invites organizations and educators to apply for mini-grants to help fund neighborhood events in communities everywhere. Celebrate Urban Birds is a free year-round project that collects information from everyday people about 16 species of birds that may be found in urban areas.

Cedar Waxwing

Photo Credit: Cornell Lab of Ornithology "Jupiter Saturn"

How many plants are there?

2011-01-07T05:58:00.000-08:00

Good question. The answer -as of today- is 1,040, 426 specimens according to The Plant List. The list includes dandelions and oaks - Coulter pines, too!

This time....

2011-01-05T20:42:00.000-08:00

....there will be no Noah's Ark....

Afield #7

2011-01-05T07:34:00.000-08:00

Cook County, IL - 2011