Spring is a Comfort!

Like everyone else, I am hunkered down at home per governor's orders. I get out perhaps once a week to pick up groceries and to hunt for the elusive toilet paper package.  I am thankful though I live in a beautiful part of Virginia. Most of the hiking trails have closed around here but our old logging roads and pastures provide plenty of hiking in nature.  Also, I am thankful this lock down happened in spring, my favorite time of year.  It's as if spring decided we are having such a difficult time that she decided to be especially beautiful this year or perhaps I am just noticing this season's beautiful.

March 27 Appalachian or Tiger Swallowtail

This butterfly was smaller than the swallowtails I see in April. I tried to identify but needed to see more of it and the back side to see if it was one of the Appalachians.

March 27 Cut-Leaf Toothwort 

March 27 Falcate Orangetip Butterfly on periwinkle flower

The butterfly is the male because it has the orange tip. The female Falcate Orangetip butterfly lacks the orange so many people mistake it for the cabbage white which comes along later and is a larger butterfly.   

April 3 View of neighbor's barn and Walker Mountain from top of our big pasture. 

April 3 Red Maple

The red maple trees have already gone to seed so that is not what is bothering my allergies. I have been wearing an allergy mask I bought in January when I go out. A cough or sneeze can get you dirty looks in the age of COVID-19.

April 3 Pear Tree

I haven't seen the pear tree in bloom for years. This tree is a part of an old orchard on the back part of our land. Years ago, our land and most of our neighbors' land was part of a huge farm.I talked to a man who remembers going to this farm when he was a boy because his grandmother lived in an old house on our neighbor's house. The house is gone but daffodils and irises indicate its location on my neighbor's land. He said our land where our house is was a potato patch. That was before the land grew up in forest as many of the trees are 60 years or older around our house.

April 3 Virginia Pine

This Virginia Pine tree had thousands of pine cones. The last time I saw that on big Virginia Pine, the tree died the following year. But lots of saplings grew in later years. But this one is at the fence line of the big pasture so I doubt the little trees will be able to grow. 

April 3 Spring Beauties with purple Wood Violets

Spring Beauties are carpeting the woods and the wood violets are especially pretty this year.  The spring beauty plants each grow from a small bulb. I guess if I were starving I would dig some up.

 April 4 Virginia Bluebells 

 April 4 Waterfall

This waterfall is from a spring that follows the road and then pours into Walker Creek. The blue bells are on both sides. 

April 4 Walker Creek

April 4 Redbuds

Everyone is talking about how beautiful the redbud blossoms are this year. These were along Walker Creek.

Planting Chestnuts

Earlier this fall, I helped middle school students plant Chestnut and other trees in a local park.  

I was lucky to get a small group of enthusiastic tree planters. 

Landscape fabric was put in place.  

Afterwards, we went on a short hike thru Herritage Park.  This was a very rewarding experience as a master naturalist.  The students were very excited--mostly to get outside.  I hope they come back to see the trees as they grow up. 

Terrific Trees!

Last week, I helped teach the "Terrific Trees" 4-H summer camp. The workshop was based on the book Remarkable Trees of Virginia by Nancy Hugo and Jeff Kirwan. We wanted participants to appreciate great trees--big ones, old ones, historical trees, and just truly remarkable trees in Montgomery County.


Black Willow Virginia Tech Duck Pond July 21, 2009

The first tree we visited was in the book under campus trees since it is on the Virginia Tech campus. The Black Willow, unlike the Weeping Willow, is native to Virginia. The kids couldn't resist climbing up into the Black Willow. We learned that an extract from the bark is used to make aspirin.


Green Heron Virginia Tech Duck Pond July 21, 2009

While the children were doing measurements, I spotted this Green Heron ---only about 50 feet from where the tree was.


Bur Oak, Virginia Tech campus July 21, 2009

Not far away was another tree---a bur oak that grew near the Virginia Tech Massacre memorial on the Drill Field. This tree is remarkable for its huge crown spread. You can get an idea of the size of this tree by the cars that are parked next to it--they look like toys!


White Oak, Blacksburg, Virginia

The homeowner was happy to talk about the large white oak she has taken care of since she moved here in 1962. She said that the tree was her house's air conditioner. Both the Black Willow and this White Oak are in the Remarkable Trees book.


Red Maple Pilot, Virginia July 22, 2009

This red maple tree grew in a large rock on a farmer's land. His daughter nominated the tree for the Remarkable Tree database. I first demonstrated how to sketch the tree and the children followed suit. Their sketches were quite good.


American Chestnut Selu Preserve, Riner, Virginia

The final tree is remarkable for just being alive--it's a 15 feet tall American Chestnut. Researchers are trying to restore the American Chestnut which vanished as the major tree in American forests due to chestnut blight. This is the only tree that survived of the dozen or so seedlings that were planted.

I didn't post some of the photos of the other trees we visited but all were truly terrific! I hope the children will go on to appreciate how valuable trees are.

Surprise Tree

A mysterious tree grew up at the edge of the driveway. We had cut down two oak trees in the area because they were interfering with the satellite service. Also, we worry about trees falling on the house, guess that's what we get for living in the woods. Anyway, I planted a couple of rhododendrons and let blackberries and whatever wanted to grow up there. Last year, I noticed an unusual tree among the blackberry briars. The leaves were very long, lanceolate and the flowers were pink.

It was a peach tree, probably planted accidentally by my husband who likes to throw peach pits off the front porch and into the woods. The lovely blossoms froze unfortunately so there was no crop last year. Nevertheless, I watered the tree during the drought last summer, fertilized with compost periodically, and cleared the briars from the base.


This spring, the tree grew by leaps and bounds and was covered with beautiful pink blossoms. Twelve fruits grew slowly but eventually ripened. Today I picked them all!


I got out a bigger ladder to get the ones at the top.


I had to admire my free peaches, perfectly shaped and colored. Now, I understand why the artist Paul Cezanne painted them so much.


The texture and colors are almost like a watercolor (hope Chris is reading this).

I promised my husband I would bake a peach custard pie in exchange for his excellent horticultural skills so I better close and get to work!

Naked Woods 2

Yesterday was the last warm day (50s) so I took another walk in the woods to identify trees. My dog, Kookie, and cat, Sophie, usually accompany me on these walks. I could see more birds and other wildlife without them but they are good company.



Sophie doesn't miss a chance to walk on a pile of rocks. These rock piles are scattered throughout the woods. I marvel at the amount of work it took the farmer to make them. From talking to neighbors, I know this part of our land was a potato field in the 1920s and 30s. I have probably hauled a ton of rocks back to our house for use in gardening but this pile is so far from a road that I can't get to it easily.



The shagbark hickory is probably the easiest to identify by its bark. Little brown bats are supposed to use the hickory to roost by day. But, the the baats around here may prefer to use our wood siding or a large bat house we installed years ago.


We have quite a few small American Beech trees which are noticeable because they retain their leaves all winter. We have only a couple of large ones which only retain their leaves on their lower branches.



The bark is very smooth, light gray and tempted a Henry Turner to write his initials on this tree in 1953. I wonder if he was the son of the farmer that piled up all those rocks.


This tree, over four feet in diameter, grows just a few feet from our fence line, making me covet my neighbor's land. Oh well, I will admire the beautiful colors of the gray and light brown leaves from afar.

Naked Woods

Yesterday, the temperature reached a record 71 degrees at 3:00 p.m while it was 65 degrees earlier this afternoon. The warm temperatures prompted me to walk in the woods the last couple of days.

I can see and hear more woodpeckers after the leaves have fallen like this downy woodpecker.

Identifying trees by the bark is a skill I have been acquiring over several years. The trees have to be mature because the bark of young trees of most species vary greatly in pattern and sometimes color.


The easiest one for me is Black Cherry because it is dark grey and has a distinctive pattern.



Sourwood is also easy to identify because the deeply-furrowed bark is light grey. The bark is very hard as well just like the wood which was used by the pioneers for sleds to bring supplies up into the mountains.

This morning, an Evening Grosbeak came to our feeder. I first noticed him during the cold spell last week but I did not expect him to stay. I don't remember ever seeing one before here even though we have had Rose-Breasted Grosbeaks during migration.

Another unusual bird at the feeder is the Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker. So far, I haven't been able to catch a photo of him. So that makes 4 woodpeckers (Red-Bellied, Downy, Hairy, and Yellow Bellied Sapsucker) coming to the suet feeder.