Waterfalls and wildflowers

I'm fortunate to live in a wonderful part of the world -- our ancient mountains are rich in biodiversity of all sorts.  And we're blessed with an abundance of waterfalls, too, throughout the mountains.

So I'm just thrilled to see the final copy of my gardening companion's second book, Waterfalls and Wildflowers of the Southern Appalachians: 30 Great Hikes, University of North Carolina Press before it goes to print.

We've just finished proofing the final text and layout, so it's right on schedule for spring release.

It looks great, but even more appealing is how Tim (aka my spouse) put it together.

He carefully sifted through an abundance of interesting hikes, which included one or more waterfalls, to choose some of the very best in terms of wildflower richness, finally deciding on thirty in the Carolinas, Virginia, Tennessee and Georgia.

Then over a period of two years, he visited each site at least 10 times from spring into fall over a two year period, in order to pick up most all of the interesting wildflowers (lists for each hike are provided in flowering sequence, along with species profiles for 125 plants).

The hike narratives are interpretive, pointing out interesting wildflowers that you're likely to see on each hike, as well commenting on potential birds and other animals, so they're much more lively and interesting than standard "hike descriptions," in addition to the usual trail maps and location information.

I haven't been on all of these hikes yet, but their descriptions have me ready to go.

The book is available for pre-order (currently at a 40% holiday discount through UNC Press; click for details).

What excellent encouragement to slow down, observe, and enjoy the diversity of nature along the trail...

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It's been a wonderful fall

The cold and wind is pushing out the last fall leaves, but I'm reminded of what wonderful fall color that we've had in the Southeastern U.S.

The maples just went on and on and on.

view from Biltmore terrace

I was reminded about how beautiful it's been, as I looked back through some recent photographs.

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Large numbers of buzzards

There's been a large flock of buzzards coming through at sundown for the last two days.  They swirl around in long, looping circles, as they slowly progress onwards.  Curious.  There are upwards of 20 in the group.

We speculate about whether they're roosting nearby?

I'm thinking that I don't know that much about vultures, aside from their keen sense of smell and carrion-eating ways, but there's clearly a lot of interesting aspects to their behavior.  I'll have to learn more about them.

But, dinner needs to be cooked....

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Watercolor workshop, Part II

The second day of the workshop was yesterday, separated in time because of a family illness, happily on the mend.

Frankly, I didn't mind having some space between two intensive days of practicing technique learning...  

Still recovering from an unaccustomed cold, I didn't really feel that well, but thoroughly enjoyed our practice exercises, not meant to be "finished" pieces, but about learning technique.

We were using photographs as our "base" -- but I was still rather amazed to see quite a normal-looking run-down barn turn into this watercolor (we were learning about perspective and using sharp edges to scrap the paper).  It's turned a bit more vivid than it really looks, but is certainly way beyond anything I'd normally "paint."

An old barn

A couple of other studies were interesting, but not as complete.

A final one from a photo of evergreens and snags, along the Blue Ridge Parkway, turned into something different, too.

evergreens, snags, and meadow

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Watercolor workshop Part I

Several weeks ago, I did the first day of a two day workshop, taught by a gifted artist (Elizabeth Ellison).  Our studies that day were mountains and grassland, with learning different techniques and color theory. 

I've enjoyed tip-toeing back into art through watercolors, which I hadn't really done before until recently, although I did a good bit of pen and ink (with watercolor) drawings, largely of botanical subjects when I was younger, along with doing art in other media, too, for that matter.

I'd done a previous workshop with Elizabeth around nature journaling with watercolor, so I knew she's an encouraging teacher, and her demonstrations are remarkably helpful.

My mountains morphed (again) into more like the Rockies, rather the ancient rounded ridges of the Southern Appalachians.

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Saving Seeds

Okay Kids, so this time of year is great. "GREAT?" you may say. Zach please explain. The upside is that you get to start you collecting for next year's seeds. If you have a particular type of non-Hybrid plant that you just can't live without and want next year...why not save some seeds from it. This year, I am saving seeds from a couple different types of seeds. I'll be saving my Scarlet Runner Beans, Radishes, Peas, and Marigolds. These are really some easy seeds to harvest for beginners since there are no special techniques as compared to say tomatoes. Here is the Link on how to collect tomato seeds.

 These are pretty self explanatory, because all you have to do is take off the hull around seeds. I think the key thing is to be sure that everything is completely dry.

 So once I have harvested the seed pods, i leave them inside for a couple of days, to insure that they are completely dry. After which I start to hull them. Be sure to store them in ziplock baggies, mark their names, and dates on the bag too.

So once I have harvested the seed pods, i leave them inside for a couple of days, to insure that they are completely dry. After which I start to hull them. Be sure to store them in ziplock baggies, mark their names, and dates on the bag too.

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The fall colors keep coming...

Even in the mountains, there are still plenty of yellow and reds illuminating the landscapes.

In the Piedmont this morning, I felt like I was saying good-bye to fall color, but maybe not, even as the arctic cold front (and wind) descends this weekend.

oak-leaf hydrangea

gingko, sassafras, viburnum, and oaks

Fothergilla

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