Turning Toward the Light

Two late-spring wildflowers

Most woodland wildflowers bloom in early spring, but two of my favorites blossom a bit later than the rest. The tall white spire over the glossy rounded leaves belongs to Galax urceolata, also know as Wandflower. It's a native of the southeast, but can grow as far north as zone 4. The glossy, rounded, heart-shaped leaves are evergreen, so galax makes a great groundcover, albeit rather slow-growing. It is shade tolerant, and prefers an acid, moist, organic soil. There is a good-sized patch of galax at Garden in the Woods, and when a beam of sunlight reaches down through the trees to light up the white flowers it is quite lovely.

Further back, the small mounded plant with the light blue flowers is Scutellaria serrata, Allegheny Skullcap, a member of the mint family. I love the cool blue flowers against the dark green foliage. I had a hard time finding this plant for sale, eventually ordering them from an online native plant nursery. Of the three I got, one died, and one had rather pale flowers, but the third produced these lovely blue blossoms. According to Bill Cullina (in his book Growing and Propagating Wildflowers), Allegheny Skullcap is also hardy to Zone 4 and is fairly adaptable to different growing conditions.

Fish swimming on the 18th fairway

I was driving out to the Garden in the Woods plant sale this morning, when I heard a radio report that a local golf tournament had been cancelled because there were literally fish seen swimming on the 18th fairway. (The fish were actually swimming in the Sudbury River, which had become co-located with the 18th fairway.) Yes, it was still raining, and it continued raining for pretty much the whole event. Luckily, my job as tally clerk meant that I got to spend most of the afternoon under a tent, but it was still pretty damp and chilly.

The co-workers on my team were a member of the board of trustees, and a college student who was there to do community service. So we had some interesting chats in the lulls between buyers.

I was worried that the rain would have a big impact on the sales, and certainly there were fewer customers than usual, but most of the customers who did come were pretty major plant fanatics, so I think the average sales might have been a bit larger than average. Most of the plants that I donated were sold, which was gratifying. Here are some pictures of the soggy event.

On the left below is the line of people waiting to check out under the green tents, which is where I was stationed. And on the right is a holding area in the parking lot where people could leave their purchases while they went to fetch their cars from the offsite parking.

I'm back home now, watching the Belmont Stakes (mostly for the live coverage of Barbaro in his recovery stall at the Bolton Center) . It's bright and sunny in New York, so I guess there's hope for us tomorrow.

Rhubarb Tea Bread

Last year I posted a really simple recipe for Rhubarb Pudding. This year I'd like to share one that's just a little bit more complex, but really good - Rhubarb Tea Bread. People will like this, even if they think they don't like rhubarb.

Beat together 1 1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar, 2/3 cup vegetable oil, and and 1 egg. In a separate bowl, combine 1 cup buttermilk or sour milk (add 1 tablespoon lemon juice to 1 cup of milk and let stand 10 minutes), 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon baking soda, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Alternately add the milk mixture and 2 1/2 cups of flour to the sugar mixure, beating well after each addition. Fold in 2 cups chopped rhubarb and 1/2 cup chopped pecans. Pour batter into 2 lightly greased/floured loaf pans. Decorate tops with pecans, and/or brush with melted butter and a sprinkle of sugar. Bake in 325 degree oven for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick in the center comes out clean). Cool on wire rack.

The last time I made this (yesterday), I made some choices to make the bread a smidge more healthy. I used non-fat milk, a Splenda/brown sugar mix in place of the brown sugar, and white whole wheat flour. (White whole wheat flour is a great new product that has all the nutritional value of whole wheat flour with the mild flavor of white flour.) These changes don't seem to have hurt the end product much, and definitely reduced the calorie count while improving the nutritional value.

Tulip Tree

I was driving home today, on a street I'd gone down thousands of times, when I caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of my eye that caused me to come to a screeching halt (luckily it was a quiet street) and grab my camera. It was a tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera) in full bloom. Even more importantly, it had a blooming branch low enough that I could look right into the flowers.

Here's the thing. We have a tulip tree at the Garden in the Woods, but it grows in the woods, very straight and tall, and all the flowering branches are way up at the very top, where you never get a chance to see them. But the tree I'd run across was planted as a specimen in someone's front yard, so it had fully developed lower branches that were hanging down near the roadside and just bursting with flowers. I don't know why I'd never noticed it before.

The tulip tree is native to eastern North America (Boston is just about the northern edge of its range), and you can probably tell from the shape of the flower and seedpod that it's a member of the magnolia family. The name tulip tree probably derives from the flower, which has some resemblance to a giant tulip (one that's about 4 inches across!). In the wild, tulip trees prefer moist soils, and tend to grow near streams. They need sunlight, so will not grow in established woodlands, but frequently get their start in abandoned fields.

The picture on the left, below, looks down into the flower and shows the many stamens and cone-like pistil in the center, surrounded by the orange-splotched corolla. The picture on the right shows 3 stages of the flower (click on thumbnail to enlarge). In the center is the flower bud, on the left is a blossom just starting to open, and on the right is the fruit that remains after the petals have fallen away. According to this informative article by Donald Beck, each flower is only receptive to pollination for 12 to 24 hours after opening.

An Inconvenient Truth

I just got back from seeing An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore's movie about global warming. And I've gotta say, if you care about the future of this planet and the things living on it, try to go and see this movie, and especially try to get your skeptical or uncaring friends to go and see this movie. Al Gore is a good teacher, who explains the evidence in very clear terms, and also shows a bit of his human side in the process. And the movie ends on a positive note. There is a lot we can do to stop global warming, if we can only care enough to start doing it.

An Inconvenient Truth is currently in only limited release. You can download a pdf list of the theaters where it is showing here, or get the latest info at the movie's website, climatecrisis.net.