It was another beautiful morning, especially since thunderstorms had been predicted but never showed up. Twenty-three Ramblers met at the Arbor and
heard Rosemary read a selection from Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods. Rosemary' s 74th birthday is tomorrow and she
is celebrating by taking her own solo "walk in the woods." We hope she
fares better than the Bryson quotation she read:
New Ramble time for June, July and August: Rambles will begin at
8:00AM for all of June, July and August. (This is to avoid the heat that begins
to build up later in the morning.) We will return to the 8:30AM start time in
September.
It was a beautiful morning with a nice breeze.Twenty-four Ramblers met at the Arbor to hear
a reading on horsetails provided by Dale from An Almanac for Moderns by Donald Culross Peattie:
Nature Rambler regulars know that the wisteria arbor rafters have become dangerously rotted. The Garden has to do something about it. I suggested that if they are going to fix the arbor we would like to see them take out the invasive, non-native Wisteria sinensis and replace it with a non-invasive native species, like Wisteria frutescens. Another position is that the W. sinensis came from Berckman's Orchard, now the site of the Augusta National Golf Club, and should be preserved. I suggested that it was an historical mistake to introduce this plant to the south and that we should not perpetuate it. The Garden is about conservation and this Wisteria is against all those principles.
We need to know what the Nature Ramblers think about this issue. Any letter we write to Dr. Nicholls needs
to show how much our group cares about this issue. Please respond so that we
will have the data to support our position.
To actually vote you must not only select one of the options, you must press the "Vote" button. When you do that your vote is counted and you get to see the cumulative votes so far. If you don't press the Vote button you haven't voted.
This poll will close in one week (midnight, May 29).
Twenty three Ramblers turned out today,
including Silvio's parents, one of whom turned out to have been a student in
one of my classes 30+ years ago. We were delighted that they could come and
enjoy a walk in the woods with us!
Hugh contributed today's reading today, an excerpt from John
Burroughs' essay, Nature Near Home:
After long experience I am convinced that the
best place to study nature is at one's home, on the farm, in the mountains, on
the plains, by the sea, no matter where that may be. One has it all about him
then. The seasons bring to his door the great revolving cycle of wild life,
floral and faunal, and he need miss no part of the show.
Today 23 ramblers met at the Arbor at
8:30AM, where Rosemary read a discussion of the colors yellow and green.
Today's
reading: Rosemary contributed a poem called Yellow; you can
hear the author, Ken Nordine, reading it himself here
Today's
route:
Our route today was through the International Garden to the Purple Trail.Down the Purple Trail to the Orange
Trail.Left on the Orange Trail to the
Heath Bluff.The return was up the
Orange Trail to the bridge to the Flower Garden, and through the Gardens to the
Visitor Center.
On Earth Day 2015 (April 22, 2015) volunteers gathered to
plant seedlings of more than a dozen different prairie plant species on the
power line right of way at the State Botanical Garden of Georgia. As many
Nature Ramblers know, this part of the power line right of way is to become a
restored Piedmont Prairie honoring Elaine Nash. These 740 "plugs",
each containing one or more seedlings, were grown from seed that was first
stratified for 11 weeks before sowing. This enormous effort was the work of and
overseen by Heather Alley, the Garden's Conservation Horticulturalist. Heather kindly
provided to me the following information about the species planted and/or seed
mixtures that were sown. Thank you Heather!
PRAIRIE 740 plugs TOTAL
Scientific name
No.
plugs
Anemone virginiana
72
Coreopsis lanceolata
36
Helianthus atrorubens
72
Monarda fistulosa
108
Pycnanthemum pycnanthemoides
108
Ratibida pinnata
216
Salvia azurea
36
Salvia urticifolia
8
Silphium compositum
2
Symphyotrichum georgianum
10
Tradescantia virginiana
72
Floodplain 118 plugs TOTAL
Juncus sp.
50
Carex sp.
50
Senna marilandica
18
PRAIRIE SEEDS BROADCAST MIX
"A"
MIX SCATTERED THINLY ALONG UPPER EASTSIDE ABOVE DOGWOOD
Today's
report was written by Dale Hoyt. The photos are, as always, selected from Don
Hunter's album of this ramble which can be found here.
Events of Interest to Ramblers:
1.Terry Stewart told us there is an exhibit
on the Dust Bowl currently at the ACC Library. Our library is one of only a few in
the country to be selected for this travelling exhibit.
2.Bob Ambrose will be the featured
reader at Athens Word of Mouth
next Wednesday night (May 6). Here is a link to the text of his reading: To Go To Patagonia - poems from the far lands. Bob tells
me, "The Athens Word of Mouth is a diverse open poetry community, meeting
upstairs at the Globe the first Wednesday evening of each month. Open mike
readings begin at 8:00 p.m. The featured reading is around 9:15. Visitors are
always welcome."
3.Weds. morning, May 6, there will be a
guided nature walk at Sandy Creek Nature Center. Meet at the Education and
Visitor's Center at 9:00AM
Twenty three
Ramblers showed up on this beautiful spring morning, including three
first-timers, two of whom were just looking at Athens as a possible retirement
location.
