waterfall

A garden waterfall this summer . . . .

American Cranberry

An explosion this year of high bush cranberries, viburnum trilobum, it is actually a viburnum and a noted woodland garden planting.

Wonder

This image of Frederick E. Church's Niagara Falls' Horseshoe Falls was painted in 1857. He also painted American Falls. A member of the Hudson River School of painters led by Thomas Cole, Church's Niagara paintings are held by the Corcoran Gallery in Washington. Corcoran, also a college, is an amazing resource. As neighbors of Niagara, its majestic power is worth a regular visit.

World Butterfly Conservation

The Monarch butterfly, Danaus plexippus, sometimes called the "milkweek butterfly," is an amazing looking caterpiller. Will these butterflies overwinter at the Mariposa Butterfly Biosphere Reserve in the cloud-forested mountains of central Mexico? If so, they prefer to gather around a certain fir tree . . . Abies religiosa . . . .

Aaron's Beard or Creeping St. John's Wort

On the Rochester Civic Garden Center's summer tour of gardens . . . .

Hypericum calycinum is an evergreen ground cover with a startlingly yellow flower. Related to St. John's Wort ~ Hypericum perforatum. St. John's Wort was gathered and burned to ward off evil spirits on the eve of St. John's Day, mid-summer or summer solstice feast, usually around June 24. The term 'wort' refers to the 'plant' or 'herb' aspect. Traced before 1000 to Middle English and Old English wyrt --descended from the German, würze or spice.

Gardens are coming into bloom

Butterflies love Liatris spicata, gayfeather, denizen of the prairies which blooms from top down . . . Also known as marsh blazing star, a member of the aster family.

The lake

We call L. Ontario 'the lake' because of its powerful pull and presence.