Samambaia on the Severn: May 2010

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Mystery Solved: Magnolia macrophylla

Good thing I planted 2 paw paws last year. Perhaps, someday they can pollinate each other; neither is going to work on this one.

We have this wild tropical looking tree out back, thriving in a dense understory of mature oaks and tulip trees. It grows huge leaves in an umbrella-like formation near the end of each branch. The leaves are about 2' in length and 10" wide. They are slightly ovoid in shape with the widest section falling closer to the end than to the stem. Last year, I thought we had successfully identified it as a pawpaw even though we had never seen a flower or a fruit. Most paw paws are not capable of self-pollination within an individual tree or a variety, so the lack of fruit was not surprising. I put 2 additional paw paws in the vicinity and hoped for better results this year. All three trees survived our winter of nonstop blizzards although we lost the top of the large tree. Much earlier this Spring, I was excited to find a flower on one of my new little pawpaw trees. It looked exactly it was supposed to brownish-red, bell-shaped about 1.5" in diameter and length and formed on the main stem of the tree. Now, a couple months later, I have this spectacular white beauty on the large old tree, which has never flowered before. This thing is creamy white with a splash of red in the center surrounded by 5 petals. It is at least the size of a dinner plate and has a large bulbous stile. It is similar in size and color to the flower of a southern magnolia, which its leaves also superficially resemble. However, the magnolia flower is more complex with an interior and exterior array of petals. The leaves of the 2 trees are superficially similar but very different; they are much large, soft, and pliable, not at all waxy, leathery, and firm like those of the magnolia. The tree is also deciduous, as are the two newly planted ones. The leaves are quite similar to the 2 new paw paws, except they are about twice the size and grow in a whirl toward the end of each branch rather than alternately along the branches. It occurred to me that these could be legitimate examples of male and female paw paw flowers, but the timing of the inflorescence remains confounding. Cross pollination among these trees will be impossible if blooms continue to occur months apart. So this one remains a mystery for now.

Monday, May 24, 2010

One Month Later

On Earth Day (just a few days over 1 month ago), we posted the photo of our avocado shoot emerging. Now look at it--16 inches tall, that's about 1/2 inch every day.

Luna Legacy

Out of our 3 Luna moth cocoons, 2 mature moths successfully emerged and were released. Our first moth suffered wing damage during the first release attempt after tumbling off the vegetation and onto the ground, but still successfully flew off 3 nights later when we released the last, largest, and most beautiful moth. The second moth to emerge was never able to fill its wings properly and died after a few short hours perched on the side of the habitat. We believe all three were females, but it is difficult to be sure. Females have relatively larger abdomens and relatively smaller antennae than males. It is clear that the second was a female. She laid these eggs on the side of the habitat just before she died. We are guessing than they are unfertilized, but there is always the chance that we mistakenly identified the first, who was still in the habitat, as a female. If No. 1 was actually male, it is possible they mated before No. 2 expired, but I do not know what that means for the genetic strength of their offspring.

Power Play Over the Weekend

The engines are running (Knock! Knock!)

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Our "Kitchen" Garden

The idea is that you plant the bulbs of your store bought green onions and continue to harvest the greens. Ours showed about 1/2 inch of growth after 1 1/2 days.

Exploring the Oyster Display at the Annapolis Maritime Museum

Where we saw the Governor announce the location of the new oyster sanctuaries and ran into some good friends (including the oysters).

Visiting the Amish Market: A Quest for "Local" Food

They have very little. Almost all of the produce, deli products, and dairy are purchased and resold. We found a tiny section of cheese from PA, some milk, eggs, and butter. The cheese was actually made by the Amish, and the eggs were labeled free-range, but none of the other products provided any indication that they were not produced by standard factory farm methods. Bakery items are cooked on site from mixes or frozen items made in an "Amish" factory. Dry grocery items are simply purchased in bulk, repackaged, and resold. We did not specifically investigate the butcher area, but it was advertising "We make our own sausage," which leads me to assume (based on the other sections) that the meat to make the sausages is probably purchased by rather than produced by the Amish.