White Spring

Beautiful Bark

A wet spring day is the perfect time to check in on one of my favorite trees.  This is a maple of some sort.  I thought I'd recorded it's name in a previous post but I can't seem to find it.  So I'll have to pop back over to the Scott Arboretum to find out. 

From the Rose Garden

Busy Days

This week, which began with exam days and ends with vacation days, is very busy.  And it looks like I will be teaching a class this summer after all.  So the mad scramble to rearrange plans begins.

Spring Snow

I don't think our St. Patrick's Day snow will hang around for long.  It will be replaced soon by other things.  I'm using up most of what I have to say on my three classes so this blog has been pretty quiet.  I expect that will continue into May when, perhaps, I will find more to say.  It's been a bit slow on the images as well this year.  My birding project has me taking a lot of shots that aren't good enough for the blog so today I decided to stop over at Scott Arboretum to take some pictures of the small flowers beginning to emerge.

Moosewood

I'm pretty devastated that the Scott Arboretum cut down my favorite tree without telling me.  Of course they had no way to notify me, sob, and the tree was diseased, sob, sob.  But I still had plans to get over there and do more drawings.  I will certainly have to do something with all of the images I did take.  But not too far from where the purple beech used to stand I found this beautiful little Moosewood Maple tree that I don't remember seeing before.  Perhaps it was there in the shadow of the giant tree and I overlooked it. 

Making Adjustments

Since I couldn't get into Heinz for my planned walk, thank you Congress, I went over to Swarthmore College.  It was beautiful when I started and HOT when I finished.  Hello October.  Sometimes I think that I've seen everything at Swarthmore.  Nope.  There's always something new to see or to notice for the first time.  I love the structure of this plant, for example.

Not Quite Done With the Hydrangeas

Secret Spaces

Detail

This is the shot Olivia was taking in my last post.  Looks like she's going to be ready for the Costa Rica trip!  I miss that "flower" button that the Sony has for taking up close shots but I'm glad to see Olivia taking advantage of it.  I love this image!

Summer Time

After the Storm

We went out yesterday after the thunderstorms and before today's heat wave to enjoy the latest hydrangeas.

Oak Leaf Hydrangea

Mini Magnolias

Magnolia, part 3

Magnolia, part 2: Bigger Than Your Head

I hope the rest of the summer is as laid back and relaxing as this first week.  Well, there was that goldfish catastrophe Wednesday morning, but besides that we are free and easy.  Nibbles and Bits came home from a fair three years ago.  Lets just say that Nibbles passed on and Bits had a nibble, or a bit.  But after we were all done with our CSI activities, dusting for prints, etc we went back to the garden for a little photography practice.  I'm going to see if I can turn Olivia into a photographer before she goes to Costa Rica next summer. 

Magnolia, part 1

One of the reasons I came back to Philly after we'd left is because there really is so much on offer.  And high up there on my list of favorites are the gardens.  Warm enough to grow southern plants like these magnolias but cold enough for the trees I grew up with in my young Chicago years.  These magnolias are so super cool that you can expect several more posts. 

Hydrangea Multiple

When I win the lottery I'll fill my property with beautiful hydrangea varieties like these.  In the mean time I try to curtail my consumeristic obsessions and be happy that I can walk around the Scott Arboretum for free and enjoy these amazing plants.  And that's just the hydrangea, wait until you see the magnolias!

Asarum splendens

I stopped by Swarthmore College on my way home today to see what treasures the Scott Arboretum held now that it's spring (a month early.)  One of the plant guys (professor, botanist, etc) was out hard at work and very happy to share information with me.  I wandered away to take photos until I heard him call out to a student worker.  He asked her if she would like to see something kind of cool that was flowering that he almost didn't see.  Well, I totally wanted to see something kind of cool cause I know if he almost missed it I certainly did.  At first I thought I should restrain myself and stay out of their way.  Which lasted about a minute when I dashed over to see the Asarum splendens.  These amazing flowers are low to the ground because they are fertilized by ants.  So I got to see something cool and learn something too.