WiseAcre Gardens

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What happens when you’re away 3 weeks in June? The weeds start peeking in the windows to see if you’re around.

Common Mullein - Verbascum thapsus 

 My wife considers common mullein to be an ugly weed but I happen to like the plant for it’s foliage.  The silver-gray leaves have a velvet look and feel and in garden conditions  can grow to an impressive height. This is a plant you can really look up to.

A biennial alien wildflower one used for medicinal purposes. My Peterson Field Guide also states that the seed is a narcotic fish posion. Who in the world researched getting fish high on narcotics?

 I really like how this garden bed went ‘wild’ this year. It’s hard to make out in the photo but some Lamb’ Ears (Stachys byzantina) found their way over and seem to be mimicking the mullein with their foliage and flower stalks.

I do have to admit the flowers are not anything to write home about. They’re hardly worth mentioning here.  Only a few flowers seem to bloom at any one time and the flower stalk is never seen full of flowers.

One good thing about this plant. Weeds don’t stand a chance under it. And to ‘weed’ a good space all I need to do is pull up one plant.

So next time one of these germinates in your garden you might want to think twice before pulling it. You never know when you might need to posion a fish.

 One last Photo before I go. I didn’t realize I shot more than the flowers of Yellow Loosestrife until I saw the photo. It made me think of the Green Fingered Photographer and all the great insect photos I’ve seen on his blog. The link to his site is a thank you for him taking the time to come here after I asked him to identify a ‘moth’ I happened to get a photo of the other day. Turns out it was no moth but something between a moth and a butterfly called a Skipper. I was happy to find out I’m not the only thing caught between the rungs on the evolutionary ladder.

 

Hawkweed - Vetch

 Today’s special is two for one.

Devil’s Paintbrush - Orange Hawkweed

Hieracium aurantiacum

 I love the name Devil’s Paintbrush. Makes me want to go paint the town red.

 My lawn should be filled with these but the mad mower has been busy. But they can be seen almost everywhere you go in the area.

Both the Hawkweeds and the Vetch were found along the Backwoods Road in the Town of Colton.

Yellow Hawkweed

Hieracium pratense

 King Devil

 

 

 

The second double is Vetch.

Crown Vetch 

 Coronilla varia

It took this photo to make me see thru this ‘flower’. Note how you can look through the center. It’s really an umbrel of multiple flowers.

Cow Vetch

Vicia cracca

Vetches are members of the pea family and are legumes. Once used as cattle fodder these plants are common alien wildflowers that have made most fields their home. If you ever tried to weed Vetch out of a garden you’ll know just how persistant it can be. It keeps comming back if you leave any root at all and it’s almost impossible to get all the root. But if you don’t keep yanking it out it will soon create a tangled colony that will claim independence.
 

It might be alien but these moths don’t seem to mind.
 

 With the weather predicted to be stormy I decided to hang out in my ‘backyard’ instead of heading to the backwoods to go fishing.

 You can’t miss the Grasse River in Morley. The biggest thing in the hamlet is the bridge and the old mill. On the other side of the bridge you’ll find the fire station and across from that a place to park.

 

 

 

 This section of the Grasse river is shallow and rocky. The current is fairly fast with plenty of ripples. Yesterday it was about twice as high with all the rain we’ve had lately and wading the river was quite a challenge. With slippery footing and the strong current I had a hard time keeping my footing.

Looking upriver from the bridge you can just make out where the river begins to get shallow.  Looking downstream from the bridge the shallows fade from sight around a bend in the river. It usually takes me 4 or 5 hours to wade the entire section of shallows. It would take a lot less but almost every cast gets a strike. The river here is full of smallmouth bass. They might run small but they keep you busy I’m not exaggerating when I say I catch a couple dozen 8 - 10 inch bass whenever I fish this section.

Yesterday was no different. Over 30 small bass came to meet me. What was unusual is that no keepers seemed to be willing to go home with me. Usually I manage to catch a few but with the river flowing high all the “holes” seemed to be vacant.  Next time I might get a pic of a whopper. This time I had to settle for a couple wildflower photos.

 

Canada Anemone - Anemone canadensis

 I was happy to find these - I wanted to get some better photos but forgot to go look and thought i missed them this year. I have a friend who has a meadow filled with them and it’s really a sight to see when they’re in bloom. But it’s out of the way and I never managed to get over there this spring. I will be headed that way now that i’m fishing again. The Oswegatchie River that runs along his property is another great spot to go fishing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Meadow Rue - Thalictrum

 I’m almost certain this is Tall Meadow-rue (Thalictrum polygamum but it’s size makes me have doubts. Tall meadow-rue is supposed to grow 3 to 8 feet tall but what i found was lucky to pust 2 feet. It was probably the growing conditions that stunted it. These were growing out of bare rock at the shoreline of the river. One other thing - they seem to be blooming early - my field guide has the listed as flowering in July / Sept - close enough I guess not to worry about bloom time being ‘off’.

It comes to mind that so many garden perennials started off on the wild side. Have you noticed how many wild flowers I’ve posted have family members hanging out in someone’s garden?

Now it’s time to ask who can Identify this wildflower? I can’t seem to find it in any of my field guides. It doesn’t mean it’s not there but so far I’m stumped.  It couldn’t have been more than 1 1/2 feet tall but I expect in better conditions it would grow talled. Like the meadow-rue it was growing out of a crak in the rock at the river’s edge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 The flowers were quite small - about 1/4 inch - maybe a bit larger.  Note the red stems - all the plants had them even on the flower stalks.

There were only a couple of these wildflowers along the whole shoreline. Only one spot along the bank had any and they were pretty beaten up and broken. I was lucky to find one with blooms.

 

And last but not least I had a spectator during the end of my day on the river. She was surprised to look up and see me. Holding as still as she we stared at each other before I broke the moment by waving. The deer thing took that as a sign to flee. I took it as time to call it a day.