Today’s report was written by Dale Hoyt. The photos
that appear in this blog are taken by Don Hunter; you can see all the photos Don took of today’s
Ramble here.

Sixteen ramblers braved the humidity and temperature
today.

Continue reading →

Today’s
report was written by Hugh Nourse. You can see all the photos Don took of today’s
Ramble here.

Nineteen Ramblers met at the Arbor at
8:00AM.  First Hugh read from Simon
Barnes, How to Be Wild (London, UK: Short Books, 2007), page 24:

            “Nature
is bad, not to be trusted, full of dangers, an implacable, almost a personal
foe.  Human civilisation is good, safe,
to be cherished.  Civilisation is, in
short, the answer.  Civilisation is a series
of small, perpetually threatened islands in a sea of wilderness.  This was the situation for all humankind from
the time of the invention of agriculture 10,000 years ago, and it held good
until the last two centuries.  Now the
situation is the exact opposite.  It is
hardly surprising that human nature is struggling to cope with this
extraordinary reversal.

            “These
days, the wild places are small, beleaguered islands in a sea of
civilisation.  These days, it is nature,
not civilisation that is under siege. 
These days, we seek peace in nature and destructive passions in the
city.”

Our route today was through the
International Garden to the Purple Trail, then left on the Orange Trail up to
the Upper Parking Lot.

Our first stop was the American South
section of the Garden, where we found wild bergamot, crimson beebalm,  and Virginia spiderwort still blooming.  Two new plants were blooming:  giant ironweed and Southeastern
beardtongue.  Out on the trails we have
been seeing a lot of black snakeroot, and we saw it here in this section of the
Garden. We also noted the rounded shape of the fruit of the wild blue indigo,
so that we could compare it later to another plant.

Crossing the Flower Bridge a silvery
checkerspot butterfly landed on the flowers on the bridge.  While there we looked into the wetland below
and saw beautyberry, and Lotus in bloom. 
Hmmm.  There was also pokeweed!

We admired the fruit of the bigleaf
magnolia, and then observed how few buckeyes were created from all those many
flowers previously on the bottlebrush buckeye. 
It reminded us that few of the flowers in the hundreds of flowers in the
panicles were actually perfect (had both male and female parts). Most only
showed anthers (male parts). In the nearby redbud tree were lively tent caterpillars.

In the Oriental and Chinese Garden we
found a reddish-purple resurrection lily (Lycoris squamigera) near the Tori
Gate.  We also spotted an asiatic day
flower in the same bed.

In the Threatened and Endangered Plant
Garden the plum leaf azalea was in prime midsummer bloom, most beautiful.  It is native to Providence Canyon State Park,
and to the area of Callaway Gardens.  In
fact, one of the reasons for establishing Callaway was to preserve the plum
leaf azalea.  Don spotted a banded
tussock moth caterpillar on one of the leaves. Next to these shrubs were the
Florida torreya trees.  This is a
safeguarding site for these plants that are struggling in the wild along the
Appalachicola River in Florida and near Lake Seminole in Georgia where they are
found in steephead ravines.  The problem
is that they do not produce viable seed and only grow vegetatively in the
wild.  It is thought they are relicts
from an earlier colder geologic age, and have been unable to move farther
north.  The Carolina lupine or golden
banner is a plant of concern in Georgia, in fruit here today.  The point of visiting this plant was to see
how different the fruit was from that of the wild blue indigo we had seen
earlier.  The leaves of both plants are
similar, but this one’s fruit is very flat, a characteristic of the Thermopsis
genus and not of Baptisias which have more rounded fruit. The pink flowers of
the meadow beauties stood out as we turned around to view the bog.

Moving on to the American Indian section
we noted the black cohosh in fruit, its flowers long gone. On the top of the
hill with the granite outcrop were several trees damaged in a recent
storm.  It looked like lightening had
struck the main big tree.  We told the
story of the curators and other workers cleaning up the site after the
storm.  There was a wasp nest in that
tree, and when they started chopping up the limbs and hauling them away, at
least one of the workers was stung several times in the face, arms, and backs of
the legs.  Cora Keber told him to put chewing
tobacco  on the stings to take down the
swelling. It seemed to have worked.

We now turned to walk down the Purple
Trail to the Orange Trail.  I thought
there would not be much to see here at this time of year.  What do I know?  There was lots to talk about.  First, was a reminder of the fuzzy, hairy,
poison ivy vine on the white oak tree. 
Nearby was an aged, partially disintegrated chanterelle mushroom, the
first of many mushrooms to be found today. 
Then we reviewed again how to identify the hop hornbeam
(cat-scratched-like bark and doubly serrate elliptical leaves.)  Further, we noted the holes the sapsucker
drilled in the trunk, in circles from top to bottom of the tree.  The sapsuckers eat some of the sap that seeps
out, but the sap also attracts insects, who then provide more food.

Sue and Ed pointed out an invasive
Chinese wisteria growing by the path up to the Heritage Garden!  Someone will have to deal with that, or it
will be trouble.

Don found a swarm of Carolina mantle
slugs in a waterhole in the trunk of another hop hornbeam.  This tree seems to be the most common
understory tree in this area.  We did
talk about this area being a typical mesic oak-hickory-pine forest of the
Piedmont.  On a nearby sweetgum was a
daddy longlegs. Then George caught an American toad.  It quickly leaped away, and we had to be
careful not to step on it.

When we stopped to talk about the huge
Persimmon tree down the slope, Don found a white a coral slime mold on a
rotting log at our feet.

Arriving at a big hole in the canopy of
the forest, we were reminded that a huge northern red oak had come down in a
storm and opened up the canopy to bring light to the forest floor.  Young saplings and other plants will take
advantage of the light to begin filling up the space.  We stopped to view another of the twig
structures put together by the artist, Chris Taylor. As we passed through the
opening in the old deer fence, several mushrooms were spotted, one of which
might have been a Japanese parasol. 
Nearby was an oak apple gall which had a big hole through which the
insect had emerged.  Don found a surprise
lichen, greenish with black dots, which was new to me.

George was with us today, and as usual
came up with great finds.  He found a
triangulate orb weaver to share with everyone. Ronnie found a group of puff
ball mushrooms to squeeze and release the spores.  From here to the river were more mushrooms
and slime molds.

At the river, we joined the Orange
Trail.  First, however, we had to show
the new comers how to distinguish the hop hornbeam tree from the musclewood
tree.  As we have seen the hop hornbeam
was an understory all along the Purple Tree. 
The musclewood wants to be near water and is found by the river and
streams. We have already talked about the hop hornbeam.  The trunk of the musclewood tree is smooth
and sinewy like muscles.  Sue spotted the
sapling of a silverbell tree next to the musclewood.

Tom made the find of the day by spotting
a lavender bloom on the banks of the Oconee River.  Don climbed down the bank to get a closer
picture of it.  We were able to identify
it as monkey flower by viewing his photo.

From here we could see the big boulders
in the river below the heath bluff where in spring we had seen the huge mass of
mountain laurel.

We found the leaves of trumpet vine on
the massive old river birch near the bridge. 
At the bridge we talked about the beaver pond. At the time the beavers
were there, a University pig farm was near the headwaters of the stream. After
the beavers left and their dam disintegrated, the University built a new small
dam to make a sort of retention pond to purify the water before it enters the
Oconee River. As we crossed the bridge Hugh noted the samara (winged seeds) on
the floor of the bridge. They had come from the huge green ash trees that are
the dominant canopy tree in the flood plain.

Rambling around the beaver pond, Don
pointed out more black snakeroots. and Ronnie found a white avens in flower.
Somewhere around this spot someone spotted a leaf footed bug on a tree root. At
Ben’s bridge there were raccoon footprints in the mud.  From the bridge we could see many hairy
angelica plants flowering in the beaver pond area.  Sue noted that they are not supposed to have
their feet in water, but although damp, these plants were not in standing
water.  From the bridge we also observed
the sensitive fern.  There were no
fertile fronds to show how they are distinguished from netted chain fern,
although we have observed them in the past. 
The sensitive fern fertile frond has branches tight to the rachis
(stem).  The netted chain fertile frond
has horizontal branches that have netted chain-like indentions in the branches.
Where the trail passed next to the stream we could see minnows dashing for
cover.

Our next stop was the slope where the
hepaticas bloom in January, sometimes as early as January 2.   Later, bloodroot also flower on this slope.
Moving up the trail we stopped to admire the smoky-eyed boulder lichen.

Why is it that every time the Ramblers
start along the narrow trail by the stream with no place to step aside, several
runners and hikers come and want to get through?  In this stretch, we noted several interesting
plants:  jumpseed, named for the way the
achenes (seeds) jump off when touched, naked tick-trefoil, and pipsissiwa or
spotted wintergreen.  Almost in the water
by the boulder where a side stream joins the main creek, Hugh pointed out
yellowroot.  It was not in bloom, but is
interesting because historically the roots were used to make a yellow dye.
Behind this spot Don found a green lacewing larvae on a hop hornbeam tree.  On a nearby musclewood tree we noted the
frizzy hook moss, that seems to grown on many of this specie of tree along the
stream. Farther along there were tiny shelf mushrooms on a hop hornbeam.  That tree had scars in the trunk that looked
like it had been struck by lightning. Next we stopped to admire the great patch
of broad beech fern.

One of the reasons that I wanted to take
the Orange Trail today was to see the huge tulip tree that had fallen across
the trail and stream.  The amazing thing
was to see the place from which it was uprooted.  It had been growing on a flat rock near the
middle of the stream with some of its roots going across to the far side of the
stream. Crossing the stream on the bridge, we saw beech blight aphids over our
heads on a branch of the large beech tree by the trail.  Here Sue and Ed saw a yellow billed cuckoo.

Then Don had another great find, spotting
a flowering cranefly orchid.  We see its
leaf all winter and part of the spring, and then it disappears.  In summer it sends up a raceme of beautiful
yellow-tan flowers that resemble craneflies. 
But the colors blend so much with the background that they are hard to
see and photograph.

In this next section we often find either
rattlesnake fern (winter-spring), or grape fern (summer-fall).  Today we spotted a southern grape fern (Botrychium
biternatum) with its fertile frond coming from near the ground. (To
remember: Grape Goes to the Ground.)  The fertile frond of rattlesnake ferns arises
from the joint of the three vegetative fronds. Martine found a log with a dense
population of the very beautiful fernleaf moss.

We stopped by the black cherry (Prunus
serotina) tree by the old deer fence, so that Hugh could talk about the change
in the forest. We had left the streamside habitat, but had not returned to the
mesic oak hickory forest.  Instead we
were in a transitional forest changing from pine to hardwoods.  Pines can’t grow under a canopy of pines,
whereas the hardwood trees can.  After
agriculture the pines are first to grow, but under their canopy come the
hardwood trees.  From here to the end of
the trail the forest is in transition. 
About ten yards from the end there is a spot where a large pine was
broken off about 20 feet from the ground, and next to it were a number of
hardwood trees growing rapidly.

Behind this spot along the trail, we
found a large sparkleberry (Vaccinium arboreum).

Reaching the Upper Parking Lot, many
retired to Donderos for snacks and conversation.

Hugh

Today’s
report was written by Hugh Nourse. You can see all the photos Don Hunter took of
today’s Ramble here.

Sixteen Ramblers met at
the Arbor at 8 AM.  First Hugh read a
poem from Mary Oliver called “The Summer Day.”

Who made the world?

Who made the swan, and
the black bear?

Who made the
grasshopper?

This grasshopper, I
mean—

the one who has flung
herself out of the grass,

the one who is eating
sugar out of my hand,

who is moving her jaws
back and forth instead of up and down—

who is gazing around
with her enormous and complicated eyes.

Now she lifts her pale
forearms and thoroughly washes her face.

Now she snaps her wings
open, and floats away.

I don’t know exactly
what a prayer is.

I do know how to pay
attention, how to fall down

into the grass, how to
kneel down in the grass,

how to be idle and
blessed, how to stroll through the fields,

which is what I have
been doing all day.

Tell me, what else
should I have done?

Doesn’t everything die
at last, and too soon?

Tell me, what is it you
plan to do

with your one wild and
precious life?

Our ramble today was
through the Shade Garden on the paved path to the service road, across the
service road on the White Trail to the power line right-of-way.  There we went up through the Elaine Nash
Prairie to the fence at the top of the hill. From there, left along the fence
to the White Trail to connect up with the Short Tree Trail that follows the
service road to the Green Trail. We turned left on the Green Trail, which
intersects the White Trail, which we took back to the Shade Garden.  We then walked back up the paved path through
the Shade Garden to the Arbor.

            In the Shade Garden, we stopped to see that the black
cohosh that had bloomed earlier was now in fruit.  Next we looked at the pin galls on the
American witch hazel.  They had turned
black and one could see the exit holes of the insects on the back side of the
leaf.  Apparently, native insects do not
bother the oriental witch hazel across the path because it did not have any
galls.  Virginia sweet spire was a
massive bush in full bloom.  There were
bumble bees still on the blooms where they had spent the night.  After it heats up they will be gone.

            Across the road and up the White Trail, we stopped to see
river oats (Avis’s fish on a pole).  Next
was the fruit of a hawthorne (I believe it was Crateagus uniflora). A very
small sapling of winged elm enabled us to view the corky flanges (wings) on the
branches which give it its name.  A
number of wild petunias were in full bloom. 
So was a small beautyberry bush. Avis found a few perfect flowers among
the many imperfect ones on the buckeye shrubs. Later we looked at a buckeye
shrub that was developing seed—the buckeyes—and noted how few buckeyes there
were compared to the many florets on the bush. 
Only perfect flowers yield buckeyes and most of the florets are only
male flowers.  Tom spotted a Mississippi
kite in the top of the sycamore tree.  As
we observed him or her (?), it flew away, but went in a big circle and returned
to the same spot.  We did identify a
northern red oak sapling.  The
hophornbeam was still showing its seeds, but now most were turning brown.

            Up the two-rut road through the Elaine Nash Prairie we
found many blooming plants and insects. There was the Carolina desert chicory,
which we saw two weeks ago, still 
blooming. Horse nettle, bitterweed, field thistle, and common mullein
were all in flower.  Don found a leaf
footed bug, and nearby were the reddish leaves of the beefsteak plant.  Also nearby was a small sensitive brier, but
across the rutty road was a huge patch of it to consider.  Below was heal-all, which some were surprised
was not native.  We talked about the
whitish leaves and bracts of mountain mint. The white actually comes from
whitish hairs covering them.  Wild
bergamot continues to bloom, although it was beginning to look ragged and many
petals were gone.

            Sue wondered what a particular yellow composite was.  She thought it was a whorled coreopsis, but
it looked too small to me.  She was right
though; we looked up its characteristics in our field guide and they matched
the plant in front of us.  More species
of yellow composites are coming into bloom now. 
Later we found a hairy sunflower, near a flowering rabbit tobacco.  And next to the sunflower was a whorled
rosinweed.  It was neat to see the
difference in color since they were so close together.  Rosinweed is a much paler yellow and its
bracts are rounded, while the bracts of the sunflower are pointed and even
reflexed.  The latter is also very hairy
on stems and leaves.

            Don found a common agrimony.  Many bumble bees were visiting the wild
bergamots. Bees, butterflies, and grasshoppers were beginning to move
about.  We think the butterfly was silvery
checkerspot.  The plume grass flowers
were gone leaving only a woody like stalk where the flower had been.  Surprisingly, summer bluets were still
blooming. Off the trail Avis discovered a nice patch of bracken fern.  In the same spot, Don found a juniper
leaf.  As we got toward the top of the
hill we found deer prints in the mud. 
This part of the area is usually very dry and sunny, so that many plants
and lichens that are found on granitic outcrops are also found here:  Dixie reindeer lichen, pixie cups, British
soldiers, and pineweed.

            Turning left at the fence we worked our way along the
fence to the White Trail and to the service road which is at this point part of
the short tree trail.  Someone pointed
out some short trees!?!  This road runs
along a xeric (dry) ridge, so the trees we found belong to that habitat:  winged elm, sweetgum, scarlet oak, northern
red oak, white oak, hop hornbeam, post oak, southern red oak, and black
gum.  Much time was spent showing the
difference in leaves between the various oaks. 
We divided them into white and red oaks first, the latter having points
on the tips of the lobes of leaves.  The
scarlet oak leaves have much deeper sinuses between points than northern red
oaks, and the southern red oak leaf is scythe like.  If you hold the leaf so the stem is at the
top it looks like a bell.  The horizontal
branches of the black gum were very distinctive and diagnostic.  Along the way we almost ran into a spiny orb
weaver’s web.  Nearby was a muscadine
vine that was bearing fruit high up on a tree branch.  Muscadine is all over the ground, but rarely
blooms or provides fruit there.  Only
when it gets higher does it flower and fruit. 
We expected to find sparkleberry bushes here, but found only  highbush blueberry .

            Going left on the Green Trail it was delightful to see
the dancing ballerinas (beech aphids) on a beech tree.  We have not seen any since last year.  While we were at the beech tree, we talked
about the thin bark and shallow root system of these trees.  As a result they are very sensitive to
fires.  Since wild fires are suppressed
nowadays, beech trees have become more numerous.   Tom found a stinkhorn mushroom.  At one of the water dips recently dug in the
trail, Don stopped to tell how they should be done.  He helped Walter Cook put these in last
Tuesday.  They worked from 9 to 4!  How did they do it in this heat?  We stopped to admire a shagbark hickory
(Carya ovata). Don also pointed out the free-growing mycelium at the bottom of
a tree.  “Mycelium is
the vegetative part of a fungus,
consisting of a mass of branching, thread-like hyphae. The mass
of hyphae is sometimes called shiro, especially within the fairy ring fungi.
Fungal colonies composed of mycelium are found in and on soil and
many other substrates.”  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MyceliumNearby was a red
mulberry tree sapling. Farther on was a beautiful fresh Japanese parasol
mushroom.  Before leaving the trail
someone spotted a blooming elephant’s foot.

            Back under the power line
right-of-way. Don also pointed out purpletop vervain.

            It was now getting very warm and
time to return to the Arbor and to Donderos for drinks and refreshment.

Hugh

Today’s
report was written by Hugh Nourse. You can see all the
photos Don Hunter took of today’s Ramble here.

Today twelve Ramblers
met by the arbor.  As we were gathering
it started to rain but the brief shower ended by 8AM when Bob Ambrose recited
his poem “After The Next Rain.”  You can
access his poem here http://bobambrosejr-private.blogspot.com/2015/05/after-next-rain.html.  If you do not have access yet to this site,
e-mail Bob at bobambrosejr@gmail.com
and he will add you to the list of people who can access it.

We
were free of rain the rest of the morning, in fact there was hardly a cloud in
the blue sky when we finished.

Our
route for today was the hummingbird trail in the formal garden areas because
the storms on Tuesday had caused severe damage to trails with many downed
trees.  The idea was to see nature in the
formal Garden area.  Some do not think of
a formal garden as being  part of nature,
but it is.  We left the arbor and headed
down towards the Flower Bridge, passing by the American South garden. Before
reaching the Flower Bridge we took the left path through the Spanish America
Garden, the Mediterranean and Middle East Garden to the Physic Garden.  From there to the Heritage Garden.  Spent some time in the Heritage Garden and
the Berckman Orchard down the slope below the Heritage Garden.  Walked through the Flower Garden stopping at
hummingbird markers.  Went behind the
stage, climbed up the stairway to the Rose Terraces, detoured along the Ellipse
to the Day Chapel. Walked back through the Heritage Garden, stopping briefly at
the Herb Garden before finishing at the Conservatory.

            In the American South we observed
wild bergamot, crimson bee balm, and Virginia spiderwort. As we turned left
before the Flower Bridge we spied bottlebrush buckeye in full bloom. Its
flowers (inflorescence) are in a panicle. 
We talked about the difference between a raceme, spike, and
panicle.  A spike is a elongate
unbranched indeterminate inflorescence with sessile flowers.  A raceme is an elongate, unbranched
indeterminate inflorescence with pedicellate flowers.  A panicle is an indeterminate branching
raceme; the branches of the primary axis are raceme like and the flowers are on
pedicels.  Over the last two weeks we
have noticed that there are few perfect (both male and female parts) flowers in
each panicle.  There may not even be
any.  This would lead to very few
buckeyes (fruit of this plant).  To see
this we back tracked over the Flower Bridge to the bottlebrush buckeye that we
have been looking at for several weeks. 
It was now in fruit and we could see how few there were on each
panicle.  Some had none, a few had one to
three, and only a few had four or more buckeyes developing.

            Returning across the Flower Bridge
we stopped to view the hummingbird nest seen over the last several weeks.  The babies had fledged, and it was empty, but
we could still see the very interesting, small, lichen covered nest with the
naked eye.

            The first plant noted in the Spanish
American Garden was a Peruvian lily, Alstroemeria sp. I could not remember the
name at the time, but did remember that our oldest daughter’s father-in-law, a
horticulture professor at the University of Minnesota, had chosen this flower
for the bouquets for her wedding with his son. 
He had developed cultivars of this lily for the nursery trade.  Next was one of the many spiderwort
cultivars.  We also passed by the Arizona
cedar.  We were drawn over to the Great
Lawn to see a silvery checkerspot butterfly that Ronnie had found.

            In the Mediterranean and Mideast
Garden we noted the chaste tree with five palmate leaflets and a blue purple
raceme of flowers.  It attracts many
bees, but it was still too early for them to be active.

            Walking through the hop-covered
arbor into the Physic Garden we paid special attention to the Native American
Meadow with wild quinine, rattlesnake master, culver’s root, and an
unidentified mint. From here we could see damage done by storm.  A really tall tree by the big granite outcrop
beside the Physic Garden had probably been struck by lightening and was broken
off about twenty feet high.  Wilf Nichols
told us earlier that there had been a wasp nest in that tree and one of the
workers clearing the damage was stung. Before leaving the Physic Garden we
noted the dwarf yaupon hollies outlining the sections of the knot garden, with
marigolds in the middle.

            Taking the path through an arbor to
the Heritage Garden we found blackberry lilies. 
Some were in flower, others just closing up.  This native of China has become naturalized
here in the U.S; there are several out at Rock and Shoals Outcrop Natural
Area.  It is called blackberry lily
because the fruit looks like a blackberry. As we approached the bridge into the
Heritage Garden, we were looking for hummingbirds, but still saw none.  The American beautyberry was in bloom, and we
talked about the striking purple berries that will come later. Beside it was a
red buckeye tree, with buckeyes.

            In the Heritage Garden we talked
about how it is arranged with Heirloom perennials on the left and heirloom
roses on the right.  Straight ahead was
the Bittern Fountain in the middle of a parterre. There was some discussion of
what ‘parterre’ means. (“An ornamental garden area in which the flower beds and
path form a pattern”, Webster’s New World College Dictionary). Tadpoles with
legs were swimming In the fountain.  We
wondered if they could get out of the pool which seemed to have steep
sides.  One answer was that there was a
disc from which they could get out, and we did see some toads (frogs?) on the
ground around the pool.  On the other
side of the parterre were two more sections of the Garden.  On the left was the Fruitland Nursery Plants
which included the Hardy Orange. This plant is not native, but I have seen it
in the natural areas at the new Tallassee Tract.  The fruit is bitter and not edible.  Here was the first spot we found pollinators
this morning:  a bumble bee.  The scientific name of hardy orange has
recently been changed from Poncirus trifoliata to Citrus trifoliata.  Botany of the Day had this to say about the
plant:

          Whether
you think trifoliate orange is a Citrus or not, this species is
undeniably important to the lemons and oranges that we love to eat. Citrus trifoliata (pdf) makes an excellent
rootstock
for other Citrus species. It is very cold hardy (withstanding
temperatures well below freezing), so other Citrus species grafted onto
the rootstock can produce trees with tasty fruit that survive in cold climates.
Arguably, the most significant advantage of a Citrus trifoliata
rootstock is that it confers resistance to the citrus tristeza virus, the most
economically-damaging Citrus disease. Trifoliate orange also hybridizes
freely with other citrus, and has been used to make numerous crosses including:
citremons (with lemons), citranges (with sweet oranges) , and citrumquats (with
kumquats).

Also on the right side of the Garden here is a bed of
heirloom annuals. Through the arch into the Trustees Terrace are row crops with pecan trees on one
side.  This represents the first
agricultural experimental station in Georgia, the trial garden for the early
Savannah settlers.

            Next we
went down the path with trees sold at the historic Berckman’s Orchard on the
left.  Here we looked at the solitary bee
condos.  These are made up of many tubes
enclosed in a box or cylinder.  A bee
lays an egg in one of the tubes, adds nectar for food and walls it in.  She then adds more eggs, one after the other
and finally seals the tube with mud. 
When the eggs have developed into bees and are ready to emerge they come
out in reverse order.  The males are laid
closer to the end and come out first so there will be plenty of males when the
females emerge.

            By now
it was getting warmer and the bees were at work. Following the hummingbird
trail in reverse at this point, we passed into the Flower Garden below the
Orchard.  Here was a slope of crepe
myrtles, some yarrow, and a blue sage. 
The carpenter bees were busy robbing the nectar from the blue sage without
pollinating it by biting a hole in the end of the flower and not going through
the tube of the flower where the anthers are. 
The next stop was the wildflower meadow, which included yarrow,
partridge pea, Mexican hat, Carolina desert chicory, wild bergamot, spotted
beebalm, purple coneflower, blanket flower, black-eyed Susan, and brown-eyed
Susan.

            The all
American Selections Display Garden was blooming profusely, and the bees were
all over it.  There seemed to be honey
bees and smaller ones.  Down the walk we
came to the second of the three wildflower meadows.  This second one has been changed to an aster
garden, but was not really blooming yet. 
The third one has been made into a grass meadow containing mostly
cultivars of native grasses, such as panicums.

            Walking
behind the stage in the Flower Garden we saw many species of hibiscus.  There were also cannas beside the stage.  From here we started up the steps through the
terraces.  First we stopped at the
Fragrance Garden which included a lot of thyme. 
The pollinators we saw busily working the thyme were both honey bees and
bumble bees.  Here we also saw a female
eastern tiger swallowtail butterfly and a silvery checkerspot butterfly.  We also began to see hummingbirds above
us.  At our feet in the grass was
Virginia buttonweed.

            Going
up the grand staircase from the Sunflower Gate made by Andrew Crawford we
passed lantanas, and white muhly grass that will look fantastic in the
fall.  In the Rose Garden we noted that a
lot of cleome had been planted.  One
reason we are seeing so much of it in the Garden this year is that it has a
smell that drives away deer. It seems to be working.  Other flowers have also been planted among
the roses, including marigolds.  In the
wood chip mulch we found some interesting mushrooms with black or gray tops and
white stems.  Ronnie picked up an oak
apple (gall) here.  We also saw several
hummingbirds at this point.

            Reaching
the ellipse we walked toward the Chapel where Ronnie and his mother found more
tadpoles in the fountain.  In fact there
was one sitting on a water lily leaf; he still had a tail.  Sue Wilde found a label on a woody shrub with
velvety leaves that we could not identify earlier near the stage.  The name was Hibiscus grandiflora.  She also noted with surprise several long
leaf pines in their grass stage.

            On our
way back to the Conservatory we stopped again by the Heritage Garden to look
the many lichens on an old wooden bench. 
Behind the bench small flowered anise was blooming. Also by the Heritage
Garden is a wonderful live oak tree.  A
fairly young tree, it just doesn’t have the majesty of the grand old live oaks
on the coastal plain or barrier islands. 
Those trees were very important in shipbuilding, providing dense strong
wood for the main keels of the early colonial ships.

            Lastly,
we stopped in the Herb Garden to see if the pollinators were active there
yet.  They were.  I think we mostly saw bumblebees and honey
bees, especially around the cock’s comb.

            From
here it was only a step into the Conservatory for conversation and snacks at
Donderos.

Hugh Nourse