the · affected · provincial’s · almanack

Garter snake dozing in a Quaker cemetery. Found him while returning from my plant thievery excursion. Hopped over the stone wall a few feet away so as not to rouse it.

Now go out there and be somebody.

(And yes--my fingernails are quite atrocious. But this was after a day of planting pitcher plants and sundews, so nyeah.)

With the help of my friend Ron at Rarefind Nursery, I managed to introduce a wild plant into polite society yesterday: an unusual Clethra alnifolia (Sweet Pepperbush) I had found growing in a secret location in the Pine Barrens. It has smallish foliage, and the calyx and main stems of its white racemes (bloom clusters) are salmon to peach in color. (C. alnifolia tend to have uniformly white racemes). The plant itself was rather small, but that may be due to it being an older specimen (my cuttings were a bit woody). The small size could be a sign of dwarfism, though. Hard to say at the moment.

I collected and dropped off the cuttings yesterday afternoon. Ron lovingly shaved the woody growth from the cuttings, treated them with rooting hormone, set them into a tray, and put them into the greenhouse. If the cuttings take and the plant is deemed commercial, it might be offered for sale. At the moment we're calling this plant 'Batsto Blush.'

Chances are that the cuttings may not do well, or this plant won't be any great shakes on its own; at best it may just be used for hybridizing with other Clethra stock. We'll have to wait a couple years to see what kind of plant it becomes. It was great fun, regardless. Got to hear all about Ron's botanizing adventures in China and Siberia. We have another solid week of Clethra blooming, so we'll see what else I can find out there.

Thanks, Ron!

The monarch butterfly eclosed and flew away, leaving this tiny sculpture behind. Our friends Frank and Marie lent us a breeding cage for our new charge. With our newly planted milkweed, we hope to see more Monarch butterflies.

Friends F and M grow a variety of milkweed species on their property, and hand-rear monarch butterflies. More photos here.

Found him hanging under one of my angel's trumpets.

Came across these gems after ripping up a beaver dam that was flooding an orchid bog. The gods were pleased. Had them last night, and they were delicious. ( Read more... )

Back on that maritime jaunt, I found a tagged horseshoe crab stuck in the debris of a concrete building. I took his tag number, and emailed it to the Dept. of Fish and Wildlife. Turns out you do get a snappy little pin--just got mine in the mail, along with a certificate of participation (and you can bet that's gong on the resume!) So if you find a tagged horseshoe crab, call it in. Your lapel will thank you.

Horseshoe crabs are ancient arthropods, and are among the last remaining animals of their kind. Horseshoe crabs have copper-based blood, if you can believe that.

During the new and full moons of May and June, they gather along the Delaware Bay where they mate en masse. We came across a major mating site yesterday, with hundreds of crabs. Many were stranded by the tide and had to be put back into the water. We must have rescued about fifty live crabs between the three of us. One of the live crabs had a tag from the Dept. of Fish and Wildlife, with a contact number. Our man Ed was quite excited. "You get a pin!" he exclaimed.

( Images behind cut. )

Other plant nuts on LJ have mentioned this, so I suppose I'll join the crowd.

I'm looking forward to reading Amy Stewart's book. Much of it is likely to cover facts I already knew but it's such a fun premise:


Looks like her book tour will be taking her to the Brooklyn Botanical Garden on Sunday, May 31st. Might be worth the trip.

The cover looks familiar, but the sales rank sure doesn't. ;)

Fell from our tree in a storm, and was promptly abandoned. Put the eggs back in the nest and left it there, but there's little to be done, sadly. Beautiful, though. Beautiful and sad, that is.

We came to pay our respects to Alexander Wilson, the father of American ornithology. ( Read more... )

I found this carpet of needle-like crystals in a muddy tire rut on a trail out in the Pine Barrens. Some were almost four or five inches tall. Not sure what causes the ice crystals to form like this rather than simply forming sheets of ice. Maybe it's the mud in the water?

I do like how the pine needles and ice needles seem to intertwine--crystal and vegetable versions of one another. ( Read more... )

This was a huge tome: the binding was extremely fragile, but the pages were in nice condition.
( More images of botanical plates behind cut )

Joel also showed me an original edition of Alexander Wilson's famous work, American Ornithology. Wilson worked himself to death hand coloring each of the plates in all his books. In fact, he died a year before it was finally published. He's buried at the Old Swedes' Church in Philadelphia.( Read more... )

PS: I'll be paying a visit to Wilson's grave tomorrow afternoon before attending that screening of Helvetica tomorrow evening. Care to join me, my fellow Philadelphians?

Over the summer my friend Joel Fry, Curator of Bartram's Garden, treated me to a couple hours' perusal of their collection of books and manuscripts. Most significant among the items are their rare American, British, and French editions of William Bartram's book, Travels through North and South Carolina, Georgia, East and West Florida, the Cherokee Country, the Extensive Territories of the Muscogulges or Creek Confederacy, and the Country of the Chactaws. Containing an Account of the Soil and Natural Productions of Those Regions; Together with Observations on the Manners of the Indians.

The book is a groundbreaking work of American natural history--the first book of its kind, really. Published in 1791, it was eventually followed by the works of Alexander Wilson, Thomas Say and John James Audubon--all of whom owed a debt to Bartram. ( Passages from the book )

( His influence on the Romantic poets )

( Photos of the original American edition )
( Photos of the later British edition )
( Photos of the French edition )