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December 19, 2024

Talbot Spy

Nonpartisan Education-based News for Talbot County Community

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Adkins Arboretum Mystery Wednesday: Guess the photo

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Happy Mystery Monday!  Can you guess what is pictured in photo below?

The answer to last week’s mystery is white snakeroot, Ageratina altissima, pictured in photo below:

White snakeroot is a perennial herb that is native to eastern and central North America. All parts of the plant are poisonous to most warm-blooded animals, including humans. When the plant is consumed by cattle, the meat and milk become contaminated with toxins, which, if consumed, can be passed on to humans. The poisoning is called milk sickness and can cause nausea, weakness, abdominal discomfort, and more.
The flowerheads of the wine snakeroot are arranged in loose, terminal, flat-topped clusters in white. Blooms appear from July to October. After blooming, small seeds with fluffy white tails are released in the wind.
White snakeroot is one of the last wild natives to flower, providing nectar late in the season to hungry insects, like bees, butterflies, wasps, moths, and flies.
This plant adapts well to different growing conditions. It is found in woods, brush thickets, and also in
shady areas with open bare ground. It can also be weedy in shady landscapes and hedgerows.
Mystery Monday is sponsored by the Spy Newspapers and Adkins Arboretum.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Adkins Arboretum Mysery Monday: Guess the photo!

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Happy Mystery Monday!  Can you guess what is pictured in photo below:
The answer to last week’s mystery is pokeweed, Phytolacca americana, pictured in photo #2.
Pokeweed is a native herbaceous perennial in the Phytolaccaceae family that grows 3-8′ high. It is found in riparian areas, oak woodlands, forest edges, fence rows, forest openings, pastures, under power lines, disturbed areas, cultivated fields, parks, and ornamental landscapes.
Common Pokeweed is a long-lived perennial and can survive for years. Their seeds can remain viable in the soil for up to 50 years! The plant has a thick fleshy taproot up to 12′ long and 4′ thick, making adult pokeweed difficult to remove.
The pokeweed’s white, clustered blooms first mature in early Summer and continue into early Fall. The flowers are born in a raceme that usually starts out erect and begins drooping as the fruit develops.
Pokeweed berries are green at first, turning glossy, dark purple. They leave a deep purple-red stain when crushed. The berries are poisonous to humans, containing chemicals that can damage red blood cells. The berries are, however, a favored food for migrating songbirds and a source of food for some mammals. These animals help to distribute the seeds far and wide.
Pokeweed is one of many hosts of the Giant Leopard Moth.
Pokeweed has an extensive history of being used as a food, medicine, herb, dye for clothing, ink for writing, colorant for wines, and much more.
Mystery Monday is sponsored by the Spy Newspapers and Adkins Arboretum.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Adkins Arboretum Mystery Monday: Guess the photo!

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Happy Mystery Monday!  Can you guess what is pictured in photo below?
The answer to last week’s mystery is water oak, Quercus nigra, pictured in photo below:
Water oak is native to North America, commonly found in the coastal plains and Piedmont areas in bottomland forests. In Maryland, these trees can typically be found in the lower Eastern Shore. Adkins is at the Northern edge of its range.
Water oak is a member of the red oak group. They have oblong, spatula-shaped leaves with rounded lobes. When young, its leaves are nearly evergreen. They offer yellow color in Autumn which can persist into Winter. The water oak fruit is a 1/2″-1″ nearly black acorn.
This tree is of exceptional value to woodworkers, and is used widely in cabinet and furniture making. Water oak is the host plant for the larvae of the imperial moth (Eacles imperialis), as well as numerous
butterflies.
Water oak is a very sensitive tree that is vulnerable to illness and pests. Their numbers are in decline due to negative human interactions, such as row-cropping or extensive clearing.  Water oak does not compete well with other species for nutrients required to grow. It is also easily injured by fire and susceptible to butt rot.
Mystery Monday is sponsored by the Spy Newspapers and Adkins Arboretum.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Adkins Arboretum Mystery Tuesday: Guess the photo!

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Happy Mystery Tuesday!   Can you guess what is pictured in photo below?
The answer to last week’s mystery is crowded parchment, Stereum complicatum, pictured in photo below:
Crowded parchment is a shelving fungus, characterized by its fan-shaped fruiting body. It can range in color from orange to reddish-brown. It is inedible due to its tough, leathery texture.
This fungus grows in tight clusters along the surface of deciduous trees, dead wood, and fallen logs. It has small ochre effused discs that fuse together to form reflexed caps. Their upper surface has short hairs. Crowded parchment lacks gills or tubes.
Crowded parchment does not bleed when torn or cut. It is a standout species when found fruiting in large sheets of individual fruits on a fallen log. It is especially bright after it rains.
Th native range of this fungus is North America and Eastern Asia.
Mystery Monday is sponsored by the Spy Newspapers and Adkins Arboretum.
#adkinsarboretum #mysterymonday #carolinecountymd

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Adkins Arboretum Mystery Monday: Guess the photo!

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Happy Mystery Monday! Can you guess what is pictured below?

The answer to last week’s mystery is American burnweed or fireweed, Erechtites hieraciifolius, pictured in photo below.

 

American burnweed is a fast-growing, native, annual. While it is a weed, it is generally considered a minor one. Burnweed has an herbaceous stem surrounded by handsome serrated leaves, which release an intense scent when they are crushed. Burnweed grows 5-6′ tall in dappled shade.Burnweed’s flower heads are yellow or pink, borne in Fall. They are pollinated primarily by wasps and honey bees. After pollination, they develop a dandelion-like globe of seeds. Each small brown seed is attached to a cluster of silvery hairs that are easily dispersed by the wind. The seeds are a minor food source for birds.

American burnweed is most commonly found in crops such as lowbush blueberry, cranberry, strawberry, and vegetables. It is commonly spotted in gardens and fields in late August and early September. It grows well in urban areas and around humans.

Native Americans used American burnweed to treat rashes caused by exposure to poison ivy and poison sumac. It has also been used to create a blue dye for wool and cotton.

Mystery Monday is sponsored by the Spy Newspapers and Adkins Arboretum.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Join Adkins Arboretum Dec. 2 at Longwood Gardens

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Seasonal wonders for the senses await at Longwood Gardens! Longwood’s horticultural artists showcase botanical splendor at its best, using plants as their palette to create an extraordinary display of floral designs, festive trees and gardens of bold blooms. Adkins Arboretum will take its annual trip to Longwood on Mon., Dec. 2. All are welcome to join in this exciting day trip.

The Adkins group will be among the first to experience Longwood Reimagined, a three-year project that blends the visionary and the historic and is a collection of amazing new experiences. Stunning new buildings, wondrous indoor and outdoor gardens and surprising new guest experiences await, made all the more wonderful by the splendor of A Longwood Christmas.

This year’s A Longwood Christmas promises sights never seen before. Brand-new spaces decked out for the holidays give way to amazing new ways to celebrate the seasons. Visitors will revel in hundreds of thousands of lights, both indoors and out, marvel at astonishing feats of horticulture, ingenuity and creativity and delight in beauty at every turn. Gaze upon botanically inspired displays, explore enchanting treehouses, savor the sounds of the season and find new imaginative surprises that are sure to delight.

The trip runs from 1 p.m. to 10 p.m. The bus departs Aurora Park Drive in Easton at 1 p.m. and will stop at the Route 50 westbound/Route 404 Park and Ride at 1:20 p.m. and the Route 301/291 Park and Ride in Millington at 1:45 p.m. It will depart for home at 8 p.m. The fee is $140 members, $175 non-members. Advance registration is required at adkinsarboretum.org or by calling 410-634-2847.

Adkins Arboretum is a 400-acre native garden and preserve at the headwaters of the Tuckahoe Creek in Caroline County. For more information, visit adkinsarboretum.org or call 410-634-2847, ext. 100.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Plein Air voices of the natural landscape on view at Adkins Arboretum

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Light, shadow and color are the language of the seven artists whose exhibit, Plein Air Voices of the Natural Landscape, is on view at Adkins Arboretum’s Visitor’s Center through December 21. Celebrating the natural beauty of the Eastern Shore with joy and playfulness, they capture moments of changing light throughout the seasons. There will be a reception to meet the artists and view their work on Saturday, November 23 from 2 to 4 p.m.

There are few art forms as fresh and energetic as plein air painting. Deriving its name from the French for “in the open air,” it’s a particularly challenging art form requiring the artist to work outdoors, painting quickly to catch the light and atmosphere of a scene before it changes and is lost. Cambridge artist Jose Ramirez’s watercolor, “Autumn by the River,” captures a fleeting moment of orange and green leaves swirling in an exuberant dance, while a forested path is suffused with hushed radiance in Easton artist Maggii Safarty’s “Cathedral.” In “Last Light,” an oil painting by Seaford, Del., artist Jim Rehak, you can practically feel night’s darkness creeping across the water and a shadowy marsh under a huge cloud brushed in shades of purple.

The artists in this show were chosen both for their skill in plein air painting and for the variety of their mediums and approaches. While Ramirez’s watercolors describe the details of autumn trees in gently luminous shades of color, startlingly vibrant colors radiate from Easton artist Richard Fritz’s oil paintings. With its simplified forms, “Morning Haze,” is hardly more than a patchwork of colored shapes, yet there’s no question that you’re looking at a tree-lined marshy creek reflecting a misty sun.

Sheryl Southwick, also of Easton, shares Fritz’s love of unexpected colors but with a more descriptive, almost cartoonlike energy hinting at fantastical stories behind each of her oil paintings. In contrast, both Diane DuBois Mullaly, another Easton artist, and Chestertown artist Kate Quinn have a talent for creating a sense of place by blending just enough realism into their quick impressions of mood, lighting and color to identify specific landscapes, yet their work is very different. Mullaly paints in oils with a palette knife, creating highly textured works that shimmer with color. She often scratches back into the wet paint to reveal the color hidden underneath. In “Radiant,” spidery red lines flash through the myriad colors of marsh plants and the dark boughs of an evergreen like glimpses of a vital life force.

Like Mullaly, Quinn has a knack for bringing a scene alive with light and color but she paints with pastels. Rendered with quick, light strokes of luscious color, “Morning Walk” shows a forest path striped with sunbeams and purple shadows. More sunlight glances off the edges of tree trunks and dances high in the branches above. Enticing and mysterious, it’s an invitation to explore the beauty and mysteries of nature.

These artists are all inspired by a deep love of nature and art and have won awards for their work in plein air competitions or exhibits. Several teach classes or workshops in their respective mediums, and all are members of the Plein Air Painters of the Chesapeake Bay, a group of over 70 artists whose members gather regularly to paint outdoors in a variety of Eastern Shore locations.

Because of plein air’s focus on studying nature firsthand to discover what is present in the landscape at a particular moment in time, it often reveals deep beauty and a sense of awe. In Safarty’s “Cathedral,” the path running between the trees is indeed like an aisle in a cathedral, and the scene is infused with a magical feeling of stillness that speaks of nature’s ever-present potential for rejuvenation and healing. It’s an image of a moment so brief that you might miss it if you weren’t paying attention.

As Rehak noted in his artist’s statement about plein air painting, “What better situation to practice moment to moment awareness?”

This show is part of Adkins Arboretum’s ongoing exhibition series of work on natural themes by regional artists. It is on view through December 21 at the Arboretum Visitor’s Center located at 12610 Eveland Road near Tuckahoe State Park in Ridgely. Contact the Arboretum at 410-634-2847, ext. 100 or [email protected] for gallery hours.

 

A 400 acre native garden and preserve, Adkins Arboretum provides exceptional experiences in nature to promote environmental stewardship.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Adkins Arboretum Mystery Tuesday: Guess the photo!

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Happy Mystery Tuesday! Can you guess what is pictured in photo below?

 

The answer to last week’s mystery is boogie woogie (or beech blight) aphids, Grylloprociphilus imbricator, pictured below:

 

The boogie woogie aphid is a bluish-gray, small to medium sized aphid. The rear half of the aphid’s abdomen may be obscured with a dense, white, fluffy secretion interspersed with long, white, waxy filaments.

The wax is essentially a shield for the aphid. Should a predator bite into the woolly floss it will come away with nothing but wax.

Aphids usually specialize in one kind of plant, and the boogie woogie aphid primarily feasts on the sap of American beech trees. Brilliant white wax produced by thousands of boogie woogie aphids can turn beech branches snowy white.

When disturbed, the aphids break into a massive swaying, wriggling dance with abdomens and wax held high. This group reaction is thought to confuse or distract predators.

Many aphid species can reproduce rapidly by parthenogenesis, where females give live birth to daughters without mating. They can build up great numbers quickly, which is why aphids are often pests of crops in late-Summer or early-Autumn.

Soon, a generation of both male and female winged aphids are produced. They will disperse and mate before Winter comes. The winged females will lay eggs that last over Winter to start the cycle again in the Spring.

Because beech sap has far more sugar than nutrients, aphids get rid of some sugar by excreting it in the form of honeydew. Under a mass of aphids (as pictured) the honeydew will accumulate on the branches or the ground below the aphid colony and will attract flies, bees, wasps, and other insects.

Mystery Monday is sponsored by the Spy Newspapers and Adkins Arboretum.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Adkins Arboretum Mystery Monday! Guess the photo!

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Happy Mystery Monday! Can you guess what is pictured in photo below?

The answer to last week’s mystery is devil’s walking stick, Aurelia spinosa, pictured in photo below.

Devil’s walking stick is a deciduous tree/shrub with a viciously spiny trunk. It is native primarily to the eastern half of the US. A member of the ginseng family, it is sometimes called Hercules club, prickly ash, or angelica tree.

Devil’s walking sticks spread by rhizomes underground, creating clonal thickets. They are found in upland and lowland woods and prefer moist soils. They’re commonly found at edges of streams and are classified as shade intolerant. Devil’s walking sticks are used as a unique ornamental in landscape plantings thanks to its decorative foliage and large flower clusters, and distinctive Fall color.

They are monoecious, meaning the tree has both male and female flowers in large clusters. The adult flowers and fruit provide nectar and food for a variety of insects and wildlife. The flowers are panicles (about 12-18 inches) occurring at the end of the branches. They are aromatic with a lemony scent. Devil’s walking stick flowers have insane pollinator action!

Mystery Monday is sponsored by the Spy Newspapers and Adkins Arboretum.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Adkins Arboretum Mystery Monday: Guess the photo

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Happy Mystery Monday!  Can you guess what is pictured in photo below?

 

The answer to last week’s mystery is wild senna, Senna marilandica, pictured in photo below:

 

Wild senna is a native perennial, and a legume. As with many other legumes, senna plants initially send their energy into their root system, therefore the top of the plant will be slow to develop.

This plant is found most often on riverbanks, in moist meadows, pastures, and roadsides, in open to partially-sunny areas of woodlands and sheltered areas. Established senna plants are drought tolerant.

Senna blooms with a profusion of buttery yellow flower clusters atop lush green foliage in mid-Summer. Senna will grow fuller and more numerous flowers in full-sun than senna grown in the shade. The flower provides nutrient rich pollen that feeds growing larvae and provides provision for the long winters.

Wild senna does not produce nectar in their flowers, instead, the nectar is found in little bulbous growths at the base of each stem called extrafloral nectaries. These nectar-producing glands are physically apart from the flower at the base of the leaf petioles, near the flower buds.

Wild senna is a larval host plant of silver-spotted skipper and several sulphurs, including sleepy orange.

Senna seeds develop in pea-like pods. The pods are covered with tiny hairs, trichomes, that protect the seeds from insects and other herbivores. The seed pods eventually turn black and remain on senna’s erect stems for months.

Mystery Monday is sponsored by the Spy Newspapers and Adkins Arboretum.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.