Digging RI

I spent a few hours at the Cape and Islands Orchid Society annual orchid show in Hyannis, on Cape Cod, MA. This was by far the biggest show I had ever attended, and I was blown away by the beauty and the diversity of the orchids on display and for sale. The theme of this year’s show was “Orchid Vessels.” The plants were shown in and with various containers.

This is THE orchid show in New England, and it was crowded. We even had to wait for someone to vacate a parking spot before we could park and go inside.

The Ocean State Orchid Society exhibit

The display in the photo above was designed by the orchid club I belong to – the Ocean State Orchid Society. It was beautifully executed and elicited many oohs and ahs. I did not contribute any of my own plants to this effort because I do not have anything in show-worthy bloom these days.

This is a masdevallia – one of my favorites.

The display pictured below was designed by J &L orchids, a Connecticut grower. It was very thoughtfully put together and showcased many unusual species. I am particularly fond of strong red and orange blooms, especially when they are contrasted with vibrant green moss and weathered driftwood.

The J&L display

If you must know, yes, I did purchase a few plants. I have a penchant for miniatures, and there was a great selection for sale. Miniatures are great, because they will usually fit comfortably on a windowsill. They’re also so darned cute.

I will conclude with a shot of a spectacular cymbidium. Wow.

The two fly traps before installation

At least I think they did…

I’m talking about the “Cluster Buster” traps I bought to combat an infestation of cluster flies. I bought two – at a hefty $25  each – (but I was desperate!) and put one in the kitchen window and the other in the living room window.

Before you stick it on the window, you have to shake the powder inside so it levels out. The flies enter the opening in the top of the trap and suffocate in the finely-ground eggshells inside.

A trap, installed

I stuck each one in the window and waited. I was kind of hoping to see the flies jumping in, one after another, but it didn’t work that way. The next day, I still had several of the loathsome creatures buzzing around, and try as I might, I couldn’t see inside the traps to determine whether some had gone in.

Fast forward to three days later, and the flies were gone. I still don’t know whether they met their demises in the traps or whether they just went away or died (although I haven’t found any of their bodies on the floor.) The traps will work for up to two years, so I’ll see if I get more flies next year and if so, if the traps do their jobs.

So there you have it: another daring experiment comes to a close – this one a success, I hope.

That snow I showed you in my last post? Gone. All of it. It didn’t stand a chance when the temperatures rose to about 50F.The only remaining sign we even had snow is a sheen of moisture lingering on the flagstones.

I miss how it brightened up the landscape, and I’m sick of this weird unseasonal weather, even if it permits the survival of sage and thyme in the vegetable garden. Unheard of! (at least for me)

I realize that this post is a self indulgent rant, but I can’t help it. Sorry.

Our first snow arrived early this morning and it kept snowing until mid-afternoon. We probably got about eight inches. Not much, I know, but enough to blanket the gardens and brighten the view.

I took a walk to look at how a simple event such as a snowfall can transform things – even sleeping perennials.

Here’s a salvia perovskia looking rather pretty.

And check out this coreopsis in my neighbor’s garden. It’s zagreb, I believe.

This is a scotch broom, looking very pine-ish.

Clematis Viticella “Polish Spirit” is contrasting well with its white arbor trellis.

And this perennial aster is enjoying its new snow blanket.

They say we’ll get rain in a couple of days that will wash all this away. I wish it would stick around for a while.

The Newport Bridge in all its glory

We crossed the “Pell Bridge” to Newport this afternoon. Actually, nobody in RI ever calls it the Pell bridge. It’s the Newport Bridge to everyone but the map makers – and some poor, confused tourists, I suppose.

It was a clear and beautiful day here on the coast – but cold. Definitely hat,  glove and warmest coat weather. We have been hearing about a snowy owl that’s been hanging out on the rocks at the Sachuest Wildlife Refuge since the holidays.

This is not an unheard of occurrence. When competition for prey in their Arctic home  gets too tough , they’ll “irrupt” or come down to new habitats in search of food. They’ll spend most of the winter here, then fly back way, way up north (think Arctic Circle) to breed.

Birders checking out the owl

We bundled up and hit the trail that winds along the ocean. There were some interesting ducks, including eiders, common goldeneyes and harlequins. Here’s a shot of a male eider on a rock where he is trying to pry off mussels. These are very large ducks that spend winters here every year.

Eider drake and hens foraging on a rock. The drake is black and white.

We finally located the spot where everyone was watching the owl. There was spotting scope there for our viewing pleasure, and it’s a good thing, because the owl was hunkered down among the rocks quite a distance from the shore. I tried my best, but all I could get was a pathetic, little white dot which cannot possibly reflect the total coolness of this bird. Sorry.

On the way back to the car, we noticed that we were being watched by a herd of deer. They were spending a lazy afternoon lying in the grass, catching what was left of the afternoon sun.

Check out these beautiful rocks. People fish from them and sometimes they fall off and drown. They do make wonderful picnic spots, though.

The big pile of catalogs in the photo consists of those received in 2011. I do love getting them, but there are so many, and often two or more of each! We live in a small house and the only way to keep from being buried alive by “stuff” is to stay on top of things.

I decided it was time to recycle the old catalogs and put this year’s editions in the magazine holder that I keep for that purpose. Some of the 2011s are awfully pretty (the Baker catalog is an example) but I just can’t think of a reason to keep them with the 2012 versions ready to take their place.

This is the roster for 2012, neatly stored in the magazine holder.  Now all I have to do is make the time to peruse and order. My recycling bin is going to be very heavy this week.

It started with one, and now they are everywhere. They are cluster flies, or pollenia rudis. They are members of the blowfly family – those really gross flies that lay their eggs on food – but cluster flies don’t do that. They’re just here, in our house, spending  a cozy winter.

I’m not saying we are inundated with these things, but there are enough of them that I see them on the windows and hear them as they rather slowly buzz around. They first entered our lives about a month and a half ago. Being the laissez-faire kind of person I am, I tried to ignore them for a while, until my baser instincts suddenly kicked in, and I chased them around the house with a rolled up newspaper, flailing wildly and knocking things off the windowsills. I did manage to kill some, and then one day, there weren’t any. I figured their unwelcome visit had ended. But last week, I heard that familiar buzzing, and there they were. Several of the loathsome creatures were taking up residence again.

My research tells me that these flies should be controlled outdoors BEFORE they come inside. They apparently lay they eggs on earthworms, and the flies hatch and try to come in through even the tiniest of crevices before the weather turns cold.

I looked up control measures and almost all of them involve chemicals – either applied outside where you think they might be entering or inside where they are making their  little fly-homes. But there’s also a trap called “Cluster Buster” which is filled with very finely ground eggshell particles that the flies sink into like quicksand. Each trap can apparently hold up to 1,000 flies and work for two to four years.

Gonna git me one of them fly traps!!!!!…even if they are nearly $25 each. Actually, I bought two, one for the living room and another for the kitchen where they seem to like hanging out on the sliding patio doors.  I will let you know if they solve my disgusting little problem.

A macaw at the Foster Parrots bird sanctuary in Hopkinton, RI

Here’s Elderberry with some thoughts on Bird Day:

Did you know…January 5 was National Bird Day! Why do we need a national Day for birds? Well, if you are a bird fancier it is a no brainer and doesn’t need an explanation, but you can read the reasons on the website at: http://www.nationalbirdday.com/index.php

This is more than a celebration of birds.  It is your opportunity to get involved with educating the public about the many things that affect birds and are harmful to them.  You can find out about issues that affect captive birds. Learn about things you can do to make your bird happy which is so very important to these non-domesticated residents of our homes.  And, one of the best things you can learn is how to make your windows more bird friendly – as many as 1 billion birds are killed annually by colliding into windows!

So check it out…participate…and love your feathered friends!

Please look carefully at the above photo and tell me if you see any flowers. No? That’s because THERE AREN’T ANY! I know that you get what you pay for, but I still balk at paying $30 for a top quality amaryllis bulb. And no one ever buys me one as a gift either…..but that’s another post.

So last year I trotted off to our local discount store (Ocean State Job Lot – we Rhode Islanders love that place) and thinking I was being so darned smart, I bought three bulbs for $5 each and planted them together thinking they would produce a lovely holiday display. They were a huge disappointment, bearing no flowers at all. I should have known by the sizes of the bulbs. They were the lowest quality available – so small and with few roots.

This year, conveniently forgetting my experience of Christmas past, I went back and  did the same thing all over again – 3 bulbs, one planter etc. They’re doing a bit better than last year’s but come on – one bulb (the one on the left)  has not produced a flower stalk at all and the others are puny-looking.

I think I have finally learned my lesson.

What  a New Year’s day we had here on the RI coast! Blue sky, warm temperatures and a soft breeze with no edge to it whatsoever – in January! After taking down the Christmas tree and making some turkey soup, I took myself down to the beach again, figuring quite a few people would have the same idea.

I was right. There were a few people walking on the sand, and there were some cute dogs, like this 3-month-old puppy named “Hugo.” He wasn’t too sure about going in the water, but he was definitely into his stick.

Someone had left these Christmas decorations on the sand.

The sea was calm and the waves just sort of slipped in gently without a lot of commotion.

It was so balmy that people were sitting outside at the local seafood restaurant eating oysters from the salt pond next door. Yum.

This is kind of how I felt today. Happy New Year, everybody.