Moon and tree Wednesday, Nov 20 2013 

Landscapes acairfearann 21:10

There are certain landscape elements that are spectacular.  The rising moon is always impressive, regardless of the location.  However, watching it rise over the hill, half hidden by towering Norway Spruce and oak in late November touches on certain cultural tropes.  How many dramatic scenes involve a great, blue-white moon behind black trees in the hills, perhaps with a few high and cold clouds? Almost too many.  It may be culturally over-used, but in reality it still makes one stop and look!

 

Road to …? Sunday, Nov 17 2013 

Esperanza and Julie's Pond and Landscapes and Modern Photos , , acairfearann 20:02

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The Problem of Scale Tuesday, Nov 12 2013 

Esperanza and gardening and Landscapes and Modern Photos acairfearann 23:45

One of the more common problems with projects around here is the ‘everything is Bigger’ one.  In the house this cropped up recently with the discovery that the ceiling in one room was not 15 feet, but more like 17 plus to the peak….of course in some other rooms it is less than seven, so no guarantees.

It is fairly typical to hit this with trees, usually when we try to prune them.

The scale of the place is rarely conveyed in photos, since I hate taking photos of people and most people around here have no desire to have their photo taken.

This rare shot helps illustrate scale. (my apologies to the model! ) 🙂 Consider it in relation to the Japanese Maple photo of a few days, which shows the same trees.

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Japanese Maples in the Fall Thursday, Nov 7 2013 

gardening and Historic Photos and Landscapes and Modern Photos , , acairfearann 23:02

I mentioned in passing that I don’t object to Japanese Maples, which is good as we have a number of them…Although some of the more strict ‘native plants only’ group would argue for them being invasive; they don’t fit the definition very well here.  They grow much too slowly to compete with native maples or oaks, (assuming of course there are native maples to seed the area).  They do, however, germinate and grow.  We started with two: a finely cut dwarf and a fairly coarse purple/red back in the 1920’s.  They have crossed over the years and have produced many babies: some with finer cut leaves than others; some with good fall color (brilliant orange or scarlet), some that are an OK purple/red; some that have green summer foliage (always orange in the fall), some with dark red summer foliage. 

IMG_4099 The original dwarf, finely cut one.  You can see a branch of the other original in the top left corner.  Sadly, this dwarf is not long for the world, this photo was taken three years ago, the top branches have since died.

IMG_4090 One of the babies with a fairly typical medium fine cut, this one is almost green in the summer.

IMG_2141 Two of the offspring, the closer one is a genuine scarlet in the fall, the other is noticeably more purple/maroon.  That is accurate color in the photo. 

Specialc099One of the earliest photos that show the original two in 1957.

IMG_4763 The same maples in 2012. This maroon color is the standard for most of the offspring as well.

 

Does anyone else Wednesday, Nov 6 2013 

gardening and Landscapes acairfearann 22:50

find little engines (in mowers, string-trimmers, chainsaws, etc) to be utterly, totally invaluable and irreplaceable? And utterly infuriating?

The lawnmower didn’t like the cold and didn’t like the load that the leaf-catcher put on it, and kept stalling. It had to be on clean ground with exactly the right amount of choke/throttle to engage yesterday.  On the other hand, I can’t imagine raking all those gingko leaves…

And the string trimmer….getting it restarted after refilling the gas tank? Flood, wait, flood, wrench the wrist, flood, start! Then it runs beautifully.  And clearing the unwanted seedlings from five acres? While going around all the wanted saplings and seedlings? Well a brush scythe would do it, but it would take forever and not be nearly as neat.

Useful gadgets, but they certainly are prima donnas!

 

Photo of the Day Tuesday, Oct 29 2013 

gardening and Landscapes and Modern Photos , , acairfearann 16:04

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American Beech Tuesday, Oct 22 2013 

gardening and Landscapes and Trees , , acairfearann 23:12

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It took its time getting established, but it is now growing steadily, at about seven feet tall (when planted it was shorter than the stakes).  They Hate being transplanted and they Hate any sort of chem-lawn environment, which is why one never sees them in suburbia.  It is just opposite the big bay windows, and at this time of year looks like a metal sculpture, all bronze, silver, and gold.  The red maple to the right has yet to turn color this year.

(and why the formidable old style t-post stakes? Because the drive is right there in the shadow of the house, and people are utterly incapable of staying Off the lawn)

 

Mega Gardening Sunday, Oct 13 2013 

gardening and Landscapes and Modern Photos , , acairfearann 19:20

We have an over-sized tree: namely a lone hemlock towering about seventy feet over the little summer kitchen, Minnietrost (the smaller of the two cottages), and even over the south end.  It is beloved of the birds, in the winter because it is a good roosting spot; but in the summer because of the Woodbine (Virginia Creeper) which is now managed to get well over halfway up it.  For much of the summer it blends in (though when it flowers, the hum of the bees is audible from the ground) but in fall….  We can’t take any credit for the impressive display, a happy accident.*

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From below

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From two high stories up, the little summer kitchen is visible below.  The south end is about thirty-five/forty feet tall.

 

*The woodbine, perhaps more than anything, is why taking it down isn’t really something I want to do.

 

 

Fall Sunset Saturday, Oct 12 2013 

Esperanza and Landscapes and Modern Photos acairfearann 18:09

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Golden Lawns Tuesday, Oct 8 2013 

gardening and Landscapes , , acairfearann 15:26

The rather ferocious (if needed) rain combined with high winds yesterday stripped the ashes of their leaves entirely.  It also caused the white pines to drop their old needles, which had been hanging up in the branches making all the pines look quite ragged and ill.  The end result is that the lawns, and the tennis court in particular, are completely covered in golden needles.*  The roads are similarly covered, there was an actual drift several inches high along the centerline through the S-curves this morning.  The needles will quickly sink into the grass, but for the moment it is really quite impressive.  I am not sure how the pines decide to shed; since it occurs every few years it ought to be spaced out, with some trees shedding heavily each year.  But for some reason, they all follow the same schedule.

*The tennis court is not a tennis court anymore, it is a pine grove and (since I mowed it recently) there is little vegetation to break up the needles.  A few volunteer dogwoods and such here and there, the rest is a golden carpet.

 

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