Use of the Forest

Public use of Saginaw Forest is encouraged. Rules for the public's use include (but are not limited to):

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Flowers and Power Tools: Not necessarily in combination.

Last week, something totally wonderful happened.

Penstemon digitalis appeared. In my "yard." Right there. As I made abundantly clear in the last post, I get pretty geeked about flowers. I wasn't expecting this one so it's given me the giddies through and through. If you happen to walk through my front yard meadow, check around the edges for this beauty and take a peak inside the corolla tube--the stamens are curled around the inside, almost like a floral ribcage. It's totally neat.

If any species of lobelia pops up anywhere, at any point this season, I might just poop my pants.

I took advantage of the raininess this week to get all of the power tools in prime working order. The chainsaw blades are sharpened. The lawnmower is getting treated to a full tune-up. In the meantime, I'll be doing the same 'ol same 'ol: chopping honeysuckle and buckthorn (emphasis on the berm road), and walking about looking for trouble.

"I must have flowers, always, and always." --Claude Monet

Thursday, June 5, 2014

So. Flowers.

As you might expect from a Landscape Architecture student, I love flowers.

Love them.

So it has been a lot of fun to see what's popping up month after month. June is a joy because one of my favorite native wildflowers, Columbine, begins it's annual display of awesome. I don't know if you've ever taken the opportunity to look at it up close, but it's such an amazing little piece of architecture. Dual colored; long, graceful nectar spurs; the crazy cluster of stamens...Aquilegia canadensis, you always steal my heart. The best of the Ranunculaceae!

Geranium and False Solomon's Seal are on their way out. Spring Beauty came and went in the blink of an eye. The days spent cooing over the little white flowers of Blood Root have passed, and with it my interest in painting red lines all over my face with the plant's colored latex.

I can't wait to see what comes next.

A flower you will see in abundance right now is Dame's Rocket. Please feel free to pull it up--it is invasive and we want it out of here!

Yesterday I cleared a tree, sharpened tools, and mowed. Today I pull Dame's Rocket. See you out there!