There is a bit of meadow where these stalks have emerged. They seem few and far between so I wouldn’t feel right harvesting them. But they look good! (Later when they fruit, they’ll have small red berries that are poisonous to humans.) There is an asparagus recipe in the oldest surviving cookbook, which is a Greek book from the third century AD. Native to Europe, Africa and Asia. Introduced to North America around 1850.
Wild Asparagus (Asparagus officinalis)
I’m including this parasitic fungus (which looks like a beached sea creature) because its life cycle is entwined with the wild crab apple trees. This fungus grows on eastern red cedars… but only if there is an apple tree nearby. To live, it requires two hosts: it has to alternate between an apple tree and a cedar. The fungal spores blow from the galls on the cedar onto the leaves of apple trees. They infect the apple tree and eventually the fungal spores from the apple tree blow back to the cedar and create new infections. Yuck.
Cedar-Apple Rust (Gymnosporangium juniperi-virginianae)
Native to North America. They require cross-pollination by insects… they’re food for many butterfly larvae. Plus, a beautiful sign of spring. (Photo taken May 1, 2013)
Wild Crab Apple Tree (Malus coronaria)
Leaves smell garlicky when crushed. An invasive that crowds out more delicate native wildflowers. It was brought to North America as a cooking herb in the 1860s. Mustard family. (Photo taken April 30, 2013.)
Garlic Mustard (Alliaria officinalis)
Dark blue and purple orchid-like flowers. This plant is introduced and invasive. It belongs to the Mint family. (Photo taken April 30, 2013. I’m way behind on posting photos, so I’m going to add the actual dates I collected the photos, for the AFs who are trying to compare this year with last year—you know who you are!)
Creeping Charlie, Ground Ivy, Gill-over-the-ground, Haymaids (Glechoma hederacea)
That Illinois flat agricultural landscape is a beautiful thing when you’re looking at it from a little plane. Here’s the descent, through the clouds, to seeing details of the homesteads surrounded by oceans of soybean fields and corn fields… with evidence of recent flooding.
We always go visit Dr. Whiteside’s giant and fabulous garden in Charleston. At this time of year, many magnolias were in bloom…
But mainly I loved all the wildflowers. They were just rampant, they were deliriously happy and vigorous. Here are a few I don’t think I’ll be seeing around Needham: the spring beauties, big bunch of trillium, bluebells, dutchman’s breeches, and a double form of bloodroot that looked like some kind of water lily or lotus.
When we were ready to leave, I went to say goodbye to Dr. Whiteside, who was out working in the garden. I asked him about that last one, what was that lovely thing… and he asked would I like a specimen for my garden and of course I would! So we tromped back to that section and he dug up this double bloodroot… and four kinds of european anemone (single and double white, a blue, and a pale blue), and while we were back there I admired a purple larkspur… so he gave me some of that… and a himalayan maidenhair fern. I felt kind of bad that he was going to so much work for me… but then it seemed like it was kind of his idea and maybe he just really enjoys sharing his garden. (Thanks to Alert Flowerophile Marilyn for grabbing my camera and following us around as Dr. Whiteside so generously dug up all kinds of things he thought I would like to grow.) Photos: April 22.
I told him I was flying home. He said no problem, just wrap them in wet newspaper. So my carry-on was a bag of soil and plants. I just smiled a lot at security.
Beautiful delicate little flowers. A delight to spot them. Madder family. Native. Last week, we went to an oratorio which included this short poem written by a troubled WWII soldier (John Meneely) to his wife:
I know a land where roses bloom
And bluets mark their compass points.
The oriole with findlong tongue
The breeze anoints.
This land I know within my heart
Is lost unless you bring the chart.
Bluets, Quaker Ladies, Azure Bluets, Innocence (Houstonia caerulea)
Native to Europe, introduced to North America in the 1860s as an ornamental, and now, a harmful invasive that has really colonized Charles River Peninsula. Forms a dense ground cover. Tiny flowers that start lime-green and yellow, and age to red. Poisonous sap.
Cypress Spurge (Euphorbia cyparissias)
I love these — they’re so amazing looking. Wild but not local–they’re native to the west. Lily family. Last year I had the wrong latin name on this. Fritillaria comes from the latin fritillus which means dice-box (were they checkered?) and the name meleagris means “spotted like a guineafowl.” Vita Sackville-West: “a sinister little flower, in the mournful colour of decay.” Hm. That’s really not how I feel about them at all…
Snake’s Head Fritillary, Snake’s Head, Chess Flower, Frog-cup, leper lily, Lazarus bell, Checkered Lily, Fritillary (Fritillaria meleagris)
Following up about the bombing… the church where my chorus rehearses was closed for a week as that area was shut down as a crime scene. Last week we had rehearsal and first I went over to check out this crowd-sourced memorial that has sprung up. I was just visiting in Illinois and everybody I met who heard I was from Boston wanted to commiserate, to know how I was affected. It felt like the whole nation was shaken up.