Tangled Branches: Cultivated

happenings in and around my zone 6b gardens in northern Virginia and in central Virginia

Friday, January 02, 2009

New Year, New Birds

I finally got my Pine Siskins. Everybody else has been seeing them for weeks now, and I had never seen one ever. I filled the feeders at Tangled Branches South yesterday after a two week absence and had customers within an hour or two. If there were Siskins there yesterday I didn't see them, but this morning I looked out at the usual Goldfinches and ... hey, those aren't Goldfinches.

At a casual glance out the window the Siskins look a lot like Goldfinches. But looking more closely, you first notice the streaks, then the yellow in the wings, and if you're very observant, the sharp pointy beak. But they park themselves on the feeder and chow down just like their Goldfinch cousins.

You may notice that the feeder is the same in both photos but the food in the tube is different. That's because they emptied the feeder early in the day, which had been filled with a mix of "finch food" and Niger seed. They emptied the feeder, but they didn't eat the "finch food" - just tossed it out on the ground (where the juncos will happily eat it). So I refilled with Niger seed only.

If they stay around, I'm going to need a bigger feeder...like this one (third photo, scroll down).

And while I was on the way out to try for a photo of the Siskins, this Eastern Bluebird stopped by to see what I was doing. He wouldn't turn around to show the pretty blue side until he flew away.

Labels: birds

Monday, December 15, 2008

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day

Nothing to see here; move along. Well, no flowers anyway. It was such an absurdly warm day today I thought some of the more gullible early spring flowers might be open, but no luck. I checked the ones I know to be easily fooled by a few warm days - rosemary and one certain violet - and found rosemary flower buds, but no flowers.

There was one last place to look though - the holly tree outside the bedroom window. Tree Guy pruned it into suburban-standard shape in late summer, and that oftentimes makes it throw off a few more flowers. I knew it was blooming a few weeks ago. So I drew back the curtains, and...

again, flower buds, but no flowers.

Oh but look, the sapsucker has been here again recently. There are fresh wells chiseled out of the bark.

This same holly tree was almost girdled by sapsuckers two or three years ago, but the holes callused over and the tree went right on growing as if nothing happened. I wouldn't be heartbroken if they did eventually kill that tree - it's way too big for where it's planted. The builders planted them at the corners of just about every house in our neighborhood.

The builders didn't plant this, however. The birds did.

Many years ago, this was a chance seedling at the edge of the woods in back of the house. I just let it grow, and have been rewarded with loads of gorgeous berries. Usually the birds have picked it clean by now, but this year they're leaving me some Christmas decorations.

Now I'm off to check the Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day post at May Dreams Gardens. I'll surely find some flowers in bloom there.

Labels: birds, holly, in bloom

Saturday, December 06, 2008

That's a Wrap

I think it's pretty much over until spring.

The vegetable garden, that is. I went out this morning and found that the kale and sorrel had been eaten. The radish foliage has been eaten several times. The carrot foliage is nibbled on. The ground was frozen hard. Wonder if the carrots are still any good? Dunno, because I'm not in the mood to chisel them out of the soil. The weather got so cold so fast this year. I just wasn't prepared.

But, hey, that should be good for the persimmons, right?

Weeellll.....I plucked the one in the lower right hand corner. The pulp was a mushy sticky mess - very sweet, but still had that puckery astringency near the seeds. Maybe I should plant a cultivated variety for myself and leave the wild ones to the wild critters. Speaking of, a rabbit and I startled each other while I was looking at the persimmons, and I blame it and its family for eating the kale and sorrel. The work was too neat and dainty for a deer to have done it.

So, what's left to talk about until spring? Birdwatching, stargazing, garden catalogs, and frosty moss-scapes.

Oh yeah, and complaining about the weather.

Labels: critters, mosses, persimmon, vegetables

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Very Belated Bloom Day

Yikes! It's already November 20. One week to Thanksgiving. Five weeks til Christmas. So I made a little rule for myself this week - no computer entertainment (that includes blogging and blog-reading, but not Twitter) until the real-world work is done. Guess what? The real-world work still isn't done (progress has been made) and I haven't done anything at all with blogs this week. Well, I made my little rule, and I can break my little rule. Blogging first today. But it's going to be a short post - just my Garden Blogger's Bloom Day list.

Tangled Branches North:
Salvia guaranitica 'Black & Blue'
Cyclamen hederifolium (I thought these should be finished by now)

Self-sown Gazania

Petunia 'Balcony'
Calamintha nepetoides
Mentha piperata (Peppermint)
Cuphea laevis 'Twinkle Pink'

Cuphea x 'David Verity'
Some assorted self-sown Cupheas, but the top half was killed by frost and I pulled most of these out last week.

Tangled Branches South:
Calamintha nepeta
Petunia 'Dolce Flambe'
Petunia 'Balcony'
Achillea 'Summer Berries' (rebloom after cutting back)
Lonicera sempervirens 'Leo' (just one flower cluster close to the ground)
Abutilon 'Voodoo'

This is what was blooming on or about November 15. We've had some very cold weather since then and these flowers are now just a memory.

Labels: in bloom

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Botanical Ancestry: Longwood Gardens

Some time ago I learned that I was tangentially connected with the Quaker Gentlemen who began an arboretum at their property which would eventually become Longwood Gardens. Just today, I learned that the house of the ancestor who connects me to these two men is up for sale. I merely need to acquire $12 million dollars to buy it.

If you're not interested in genealogy, you may want to stop reading right here. This is going to get messy.

I'm fortunate to have as my 9th great-grandfather a man named George Smedley. He emigrated to the United States about 1682. Much of my information about him and his descendants comes from a book - The Genealogy of the Smedley Family written by the esteemed Gilbert Cope and commissioned by Samuel Smedley. I normally would be suspicious of the information in a book of this type, but Gilbert Cope was a thorough and tireless researcher of the history of Chester County, Pennsylvania. I trust him. Much of the information in the book has been placed online by Lew Smedley.

George Smedley, the immigrant ancestor, had a grandson named George Smedley. (I told you this would get messy.) This grandson married a woman named Patience Mercer. It is their property that's currently up for sale. Patience Mercer was the daughter of Thomas Mercer Jr. and Hannah Taylor. Patience's aunt (sister of her father) was Ann Mercer, who married Joshua Peirce (yes, that's how they spelled it). Apparently Ann died before 1722, when Joshua Peirce was married to Rachel Gilpin. Joshua Peirce and Rachel Gilpin are the grandparents of Joshua Peirce and Samuel Peirce, the twin brothers who began planting at the future Longwood Gardens. So, sad to say, I'm not directly related to them, but I am distantly related to their half-aunts and half-uncles.

Joshua Peirce, twin brother to Samuel Peirce

The Peirce-du Pont House at Longwood Gardens was built by the elder Joshua Peirce in 1730. Joshua first built a log cabin on the property sometime after 1709, and presumably that was where Ann Mercer and he lived. The brick house replaced the log cabin. I had no idea of my connection to the Peirces the last time I visited Longwood Gardens and have never toured the house. That must be remedied!

According to Tulip Trees and Quaker Gentlemen, a short book on the history of Longwood Gardens, a cousin of Joshua and Samuel Peirce, also named Joshua Peirce, was a nurseryman and collector of camellias at Linnaean Hill in Maryland. A bit of further online research this morning reveals that this was in present-day Washington DC, and that this Joshua Peirce's nursery supplied trees and shrubs to the growing capital. This is how it goes in studying family history - one thing leads to another and hours vanish.

Note 1: A lot of what I've just written here wouldn't pass genealogical scrutiny because I've relied on second-hand sources and haven't documented them except with links. I feel fairly confident that the information here is correct, but can't prove it. One of these days when I have a lot of free time...

Update, Note 2: I ought to have mentioned that Ann Mercer, the first wife of Joshua Peirce, was my 8th great-grandaunt, according to my genealogy database program. Patience Mercer, her niece, is my 7th great-grandmother. Thomas Mercer, their common ancestor and mine, is my 9th great grandfather.

Labels: genealogy, public gardens

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Life is About Maintenance

I once heard Patricia Schroeder say that and the older I get the more I agree with her.

There's my maintenance work for the day. This is the only time of year I don't like living on a wooded lot.

Not all the leaves are on the ground yet, and we still have some good fall color in the backyard. Hope to do a post about that soon, or at least before the snow flies. Speaking of snow, today is the 21st anniversary of the great Veterans Day storm of 1987. I remember watching the snow fall while cross-stitching a Christmas stocking for my niece, but don't remember if the trees still had leaves. It seems to me the leaf drop happens later every year.

Labels: autumn, weather

Sunday, November 02, 2008

Vintage Apples

What with post-pepper depression and pre-election tension, my blog muse fell silent. I needed something new and different for inspiration and found it yesterday at Vintage Virginia Apples. Did you ever go to a wine tasting where there were so many different wines that you left confused instead of educated? This was almost like that. Lots of apples available to taste and buy and not a McIntosh or Red Delicious in sight. I read through their catalog online before I got there and had in mind a few particular varieties that I wanted to try.

Black Twig is a longtime favorite of mine, but I wanted to compare it to Arkansas Black. Do I have a new favorite? Maybe. At this moment in time, Arkansas Black has a brighter, sweeter, almost berry-like flavor. The catalog says, however, that Black Twig must be stored for a while in order to develop its flavor. We'll have to wait for the final comparison, or perhaps there shouldn't be a comparison - Arkansas Black is good to eat now, and Black Twig will be just as good to eat later (fingers crossed because I bought a lot more Black Twig than Arkansas Black).

I was tempted by the appearance of a pink-blushed one, tasted it, liked it, bought it, and forgot her name. Sorry. Should have taken notes.

Thomas Jefferson is said to have grown Pomme Gris at Monticello, and Jefferson had excellent taste. You wouldn't guess how good this apple is from the way it looks. It's not really gris, but more of a dull indistinct yellow-brown. Inside, the yellow flesh is crisp, slightly dry, quite sweet, with a lingering "apple" flavor. This one is definitely on the shortlist for the prospective orchard at Tangled Branches South.

And I can't leave off without saying a good word for the cider - pricy, $10 a gallon, but very very very good. This is the best cider I've tasted in a long time. Right up there with Edwards' and that's saying something.

Labels: apples

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