Sep
24
2016
In 2016 I’m doing a 365 Nature project. Learn more about the project and see all the 365 Nature posts.
My two wetland in a bottles are doing really well. The original one struggled for awhile with only the plants I added during the workshop when I learned how to make them. But I added more plants collected from our shorelines and the water is now clear and snails, hydra and water boatmen are doing well inside. The original plants are now growing well with the cleaner water. As I mentioned on Day 260, some of the plants in the other...
Sep
23
2016
In 2016 I’m doing a 365 Nature project. Learn more about the project and see all the 365 Nature posts.
The season for mushrooms has begun. Perhaps is the cooler weather or the shorter days, but today I found a few mushrooms around the arboretum on my walk. Not many, but several areas with either the same kind poking up or several different types. I haven't learned enough yet to identify them even though I took a day-long fungi class last autumn. The first step to identification is to find out the spore color and to do that they have...
Sep
22
2016
In 2016 I’m doing a 365 Nature project. Learn more about the project and see all the 365 Nature posts.
This morning I found yet another aspect of the changing seasons, the lower sun in the autumn mornings. Although my daughter went to school at the arboretum last autumn, I often drove home and didn't stay in the early part of the year. So this autumn, watching the seasonal changes is a under-explored activity for me. As the sun rises later now, the west side of the arboretum gets sun filtering through the trees as I start my daily walk....
Sep
21
2016
In 2016 I’m doing a 365 Nature project. Learn more about the project and see all the 365 Nature posts.
Today I visited the recently opened Yesler Swamp in Seattle. The boardwalks were just completed this summer by volunteers, opening the trails to the public. The swamp lies on the north end of Union Bay in Seattle, next to the Center for Urban Horticulture. On the other side of The Center for Urban Horticulture is 'the fill', more properly known as Union Bay Natural Area. Yesler Swamp was historically used a a lumber hub and has sat mostly abandoned for many years....
Sep
20
2016
In 2016 I’m doing a 365 Nature project. Learn more about the project and see all the 365 Nature posts.
Yesterday, on Day 263 I looked at the leaves starting to change colors. Today I noticed more signs of autumn as I walked around the arboretum. The first seems like it should be more a sign of spring, because we associate new greenery with that season and not autumn. However, like the moss I saw yesterday, a return to green is common with a return of the rain and today I noticed Licorice Ferns sprouting from trees. They nearly always...
Sep
19
2016
In 2016 I’m doing a 365 Nature project. Learn more about the project and see all the 365 Nature posts.
One of my favorite places to experience autumn in Seattle is at Washington Park Arboretum. The reason is because there are so many different species of trees there, it's a continuous cacophony of colors. The leaves are already turning colors and a walk from one end of the arboretum to the other produces yellows, oranges, reds and every shade in-between. The first leaves to change are my favorites as the green gives way in patterns on each individual leaf. Yellow may...
