May: A Walk in the Garden

By mid-May, the leaves on the overstory oaks, hickories, sweetgums and poplars are fully grown. The garden looks green and lush from recent rains. The spring ephemerals have bloomed and gone to seed, and there's a lull before the summer perennials start blooming. Yet there's still a few plants in bloom, many of them native to the Southeast. One of my favorite shrubs stands out amidst all the green: Oakleaf hydrangea. It thrives in the dappled light of the understory.

 Hydrangea quercifolia

I obtained divisions of creeping phlox and penstemon last spring when volunteering doing plant maintenance at the UNC Botanical Gardens. I transplanted them in hot weather and wasn't sure they'd survive. I love it when plants once again prove my worries to be unfounded. 

Phlox stolonifera

I'm not sure what variety of penstemon this is. Do you know?

Evening primrose is a beautiful lemon color, perhaps my favorite yellow of all flowers. This volunteer surprised me during a walk through the garden. It is a growing under an ironwood sapling that I also "weeded" from the botanical garden. 

If you look closely, you can see pollen on the legs of the ant on this Oenothera fruticosa. 

I'm happy to see that Tiarella cordifolia is still blooming one month later. I find it difficult to capture the fairy-like charm of this little woodland perennial in photographs. 

The geraniums after five years have finally spread to make a charming edging to the walkway.

Geranium sanguineum 'Max Frei'

Here is a close-up of a mystery azalea that charms simply because it blooms long after other the flowers of other azaleas are a memory. 

Bumblebees spend the day crawling on the blooms of Magic Carpet spirea.

Spiraea bumalda 'Magic Carpet'

I raved about Confederate star jasmine in my post yesterday. 

Trachelospermum jasminoides

Confederate Star Jasmine

It has small white flowers like stars or miniature pinwheels and shiny green oval leaves. Its sweet scent becomes more fragrant as evening approaches. Its flowers peak during the long days of May, in perfect time to perfume dinners on the deck before summer's mosquitoes drive us indoors. It's not native to the South, but I love it - confederate star jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides).

I

Bluebirds Are Back!

On April 16, the bluebirds disappeared from the box. The day before their disappearance, the babies had become loud and lively. I heard scuffling sounds inside the box and saw little heads peeking out. Then, nothing. When I mentioned the missing bluebirds, a gardening friend said, "Do you think something got them?" I chose to believe they had fledged. Now, one month later, they're back. The box is once again a hub of bluebird activity.

Male bluebird brings an insect, while juvenile bluebird hangs out. 

The female seems to be spending more time in the box - I think she's sitting on a second set of eggs.

Bird's eye view (Female bluebird)

A young bluebird frequently accompanies one of the parents and sits on the box while they are busy inside. Young bluebirds from the first brood help the parents feed nestlings from the second brood, according to "Birds of the Carolinas." Perhaps mama and papa should cut down on junior's ration of insects. He appears to be larger than either of his parents. 

Junior: "Feed me!"  Mama: "Are you crazy? You're bigger than I am!"

Note to self: Remember to remove the window screen before photographing bluebirds!

Lettuce Surprise

Before we left for 10 days in Florida, I said goodbye to my spring lettuce patch. I cut all the leaves of the biggest leaf lettuces and made large tender-crisp salads. North Carolina is subject to heat waves starting in late April, and I expected the lettuce to dry up or bolt while we were gone.

So it was a pleasant surprise to walk through the garden upon returning and behold a patch filled with beautiful baby lettuces. 

Lettuce patch surrounded by hardware cloth to keep out rabbits.

The 'Lolla Rossa' red lettuces had matured to eating size and glowed wine-red.  Even the 'Red Sails' lettuces that I had cut before leaving grew three or four new leaves. I like it when the garden demonstrates it doesn't need me. 

Salad again tonight.

Brown Pelicans

Tomorrow I return to my natural habitat. Today we walked under warm sun on a soft white sand beach, gentle waves lapping. A brown pelican, intent on scooping small fishes from the ripples along the shore, looked like a messenger from an ancient world. 

 

Like ospreys and bald eagles, brown pelicans became endangered after the pesticide DDT worked its way into the food chain in the 50s and 60s. The Eastern brown pelican was removed from the federal endangered list in 2009.  The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 killed thousands of brown pelicans, once again placing the pelican in danger. Oil slicks destroyed favorite nesting grounds in Louisiana.

Ospreys and Man

We saw another osprey nest yesterday at Fort DeSoto Park, this time on a relatively deserted beach. The ospreys were nesting on an open manmade platform within a few yards of the Gulf of Mexico. The mother was on the nest with chicks that appeared half grown. She shrieked at me when I got close to take photos, but then ignored me. It was comforting to see these majestic birds raising their young in such an exposed location, seemingly without much fear of humans. 

Ospreys nest with chicks

Ospreys became endangered in the 1950s and 60s after the mosquito-killer DDT worked its way into the food chain. Ospreys, which almost exclusively eat fish, absorbed toxic amounts of the chemical, which resulted in thinning of eggshells. In some countries, such as Scotland, ospreys also were harassed by egg collectors, resulting in diminished populations.

Ospreys nest on a manmade platform adjacent to the Gulf of Mexico

But today the osprey is no longer endangered. Ospreys got a second chance when DDT was banned after Rachel Carson's publication of "Silent Spring," which documented the devastating effect the insecticide was having on birds. We see (and hear) them regularly both on the Gulf Coast of Florida and on the coast of Maine. Several times this vacation we've seen one fly past our building, claws outstretched and carrying a fish, presumably to feed youngsters. I have also seen one perched on a channel marker, leisurely eating a fish.

Ospreys need appropriate nesting sites to reproduce. They favor tall structures near water for their large nests of sticks. Manmade platforms specially built to attract ospreys have helped them make a comeback. But the birds also make creative use of other platforms, as you can see in the photo below, taken in Maine last fall.

Ospreys' nest on an old fishing boat, Chebeague Island, Maine

I am heartened to witness ospreys and humans coexisting peacefully. It's a success story I hope will be reproduced often.

For more information on ospreys:
Osprey World
Birds of North America - Osprey

Nature as Bible

One of my favorite spiritual writers, Fr. Richard Rohr, has been reflecting in his daily meditations this week on our need for a new cosmology. 

"Nature itself is the primary Bible; the world “as is” is the primary locus of the sacred."

“For what can be known about God is perfectly plain, since God has made it plain: ever since God created the world, God’s everlasting power and divinity, however invisible, have been there for the mind to see in the things that God has made.” 

                                                                                                                             ~ Romans 1:19-20

My husband practices crane breathing on Pass-A-Grille Beach.