PA Plantings

The ice storms and dreary weather have gotten me down so I just want to do one more post this year to keep my spirits up and try to think about spring. I do like cacti with ice on them. but I prefer them with flowers! Eventually spring will come, I can hardly wait! Happy New Year The new flower of the week in the greenhouse is Lachenalia viridiflora Erythronium americanum red anthered form in the wild in Lancaster Co. PA Narcissus rupicola in our garden last spring. It is good to know it is near the cacti just waiting for a little bit of warm waether.

Jigzone does nice digital jigsaw puzzles. You can even have your own pictures "jig sawn". Here is one of mine. Click and drag on the pieces to move them. They will "snap into place" when you let go of them if the are close enough to the correct position. Pieces are in the correct orientation. puzzle4 Jigsaw Puzzle Castilleja sp. (C. integrifolia?) taken in Wasatch Mountains of Utah, July 2006 at the NARGS Annual Meeting. The gallery of my puzzles on Jigzone is here: My Puzzles Jigsaw Puzzle Gallery - JigZone.com

I just came across a web site that I would like to share with people. It is the Listening to Birds an anthropological approach to bird sounds web site. As soon as I found it I just had to tell my sister about it and put in my contribution about R-b nuts ! I love hearing many bird songs and call but the one that always brings a smile to my face is the little anh-anh-anh sound that Red-breasted Nuthatches make as they chat among themselves as they energetically search for food along the branches and trunks of trees. I like this call so much because this subtle yet cheerful sound inspires me during the cold months that they spend in our area and also the fact that they don't come here every year so they are an irregular delightful surprise when the do come and spend the winter.

We had a wonderful large Dianthus erinaceus in our dry sand bed for about 15 years that was one of the first things that visiting rock gardeners noticed. As it grew over the years it expanded out on the top of the wall and it smothered other plants like Gypsophila aretioides but we loved it anyway. This big spiny cushion bloomed well every year but never set seed (The anthers did not appear to produce viable pollen) and I could never get cuttings to root so we knew it was only a matter of time before we would lose it. Most years it would get some dead brown patches that I would pluck out and it would heal up easily over the summer, but this year the dead patches grew steadily larger and the plant was dead within tw0 to three weeks. So our favorite Dianthus was gone, but this year a plant given to us by a friend came into bloom and replace our dianthus void. Growing nearby his spectacular young Dianthus myrtinervis ssp. caespitosus was spectacular. I can only hoped it will live as l...

I just learned about The Invasive Species Weblog at the 2007 Weblog Awards (Voting going on through Nov. 8th.) in the Best Science Blog category It is full of great information and links about invasive plants and animals.

Now that we have had our first frosts, the outdoor blooming season is seriously slowing down, but, in our little greenhouse where our winter blooming Mediterranean climate bulbs live, things are just getting started. Some South African bulbs flower first for us. With Mediterranean and Californians coming later. The first "Winter rainstorm" came on September 21st when I began watering for the growing season and now the first flowers are starting. We keep it set so the temperature stays just above freezing at night in the winter and we let everything go dry and dormant so we don't have to do any watering in the summer when we are busy outside! Oxalis purpurea 'Ken Aslet' (S. Africa) -A gift from our friend Lee Raden. An early Octbober picture first followed bb one February picture so you can see how it just goes on blooming for months. Polyxena sp. 'Silver Hill 11157' (S. Africa) -From Silverhill seeds. Massonia depressa (S. Africa) -According to the The ...

November 15: Fred Habegger: "Meadow Wanderings." A longtime Muhlenberg member, Fred will talk about his meanderings through the meadows of Lancaster Co. and show slides of the plants and animals found there (including butterflies!). As John Wolf says: "Don't miss it, Fred is a fabulous photographer". These pictures are two that Fred Shared with us at the September meeting. I especially like the "Crocodile". Board members please note there will be a short Board Meeting at 6:45 pm. (Everyone is welcome, we will be discussing next years programs and field trips.)

Our Friend Carol Lim has published a great web site about the North Amercan Species of Clematis in Section Viornae . Often called "Leather Flowers" or "Americal Bells" many species are of very restricted range so few people see these beautiful flowers in the wild although hybrids using the red genes from C.texensis are common in cultivation. We have several plants of, what I am pretty sure is, C. addisonii in our garden. I took these pictures in our graden the last week of May and the first week of June 2007. I think everyone should try to grow these plants when seed is available or nurseries sell plants . Carol has links to some nurseries on her web site. __________________________________ Update: Link to Larger version of my Pictures of Clematis addisonii.

Reading, PA from Neversink Mountain For several years when Jan an I went looking for native plants we either went to places we are familiar with in our area like Nolde Forest Env. Ed. Center , Shenk's Ferry and Pennsylvania State Game Lands #52 on the Berks/Lancaster County line south of Maple Grove or we went to the NJ Pine barrens. In recent years we have been going on field trips with the Muhlenberg Botanic Society to learn more about native plants in our area and we have had a great time. iin the last fw months we have learned that he Mengel Natural History Society of Berks County where we live has field trips to some very interesting locations which we have wanted to see for a long time but didn't know exactly where to go for the "good" plants or where the public access is to the areas. After meeting Karl Gardener last year when he volunteered to help collect and wildflower seed at the Union Twp. meadow, I arranged a trip with Karl to the Berks County Conserva...