An Amazing Collection of Azaleas

          A generous family donated their 79-acre property in Hanover County to Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden.  It is called the Lewis Ginter Nature Preserve. The estate features an impressive azalea collection of more than 1,600 varieties. In addition to azaleas, there are huge trees, dogwoods and beautiful rhododendrons.  Recently, I was fortunate to visit the property with the Virginia Landscape Design Consultants Council while the azaleas and dogwoods were in bloom. And thankfully, I had my camera.

          Unlike my spontanious gardening style  (there's a plant sale!), this family worked professionally and methodically for many years.  Not only is every plant labeled, but a database was established to record all the azaleas. Strolling through the garden, you see names such as Prosperity, Kagetsu, Marian Lee and Koromo Shikibu.  When combined with Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden's own azalea database, this puts Richmond near the top among significant azalea gardens in the U.S. 

          Besides a gift of a garden that is beautiful and timeless,  it is also one that is exact and recorded.  What a labor of love. What a gift. Thank you to the family for this gift of a lifetime.

 

 

 

Tulips To Make Your Heart Sing

          Tulips are such a joyful sign of spring.  You don't have to visit Holland to see masses of beautiful tulips, just visit Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden in mid to late April.  The Garden celebrates A Million Blooms, and this is what it looks like:

 

. . . And BEARS! Oh My!

 

My Friend Rebecca, who lives near a state park, spotted this young
bear in her driveway in Powhatan.

Forget movie stars or super models…the absolute coolest woman I ever met is Katie Martin.  Martin is a wildlife biologist who WORKS WITH BEARS!  I grew up at a time when careers for women were in teaching and nursing, so I was in awe of Martin when she spoke, from experience, to James River Master Naturalists about black bears in Virginia.

Martin’s job with the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries goes beyond educating the public to avoid conflicts with bears.  She also traps bears to fit them with GPS collars for research, and finds foster mothers for orphaned cubs. 

 

Biologist Katie Martin shows a GPS bear collar.

 

The Bear Facts

According to Martin, bears are intelligent and inquisitive.  Females, or sows, can grow up to 250 pounds, or more, while males, called boars, average 250 to 350 pounds, but can weight even more.  Bears see in color but have poor vision.  However, their sense of smell is seven times greater than a bloodhound’s. 

Bears are usually shy, solitary creatures that are driven by their stomachs, explained Martin.  Their main focus is food.  As omnivores and opportunistic feeders, a bear’s diet is 75 percent vegetarian, consisting of acorns and nuts, wild grapes, berries such as poke berries, fruit, grasses and plants. The rest of its diet consists of insects and larvae, carrion, small mammals, fish, amphibians and termite grubs.  As opportunistic feeders, a bear will take advantage of bird feeders, pet food, livestock feed and garbage. 

Female bears become sexually mature around three years of age and only give birth every other year.   After mating in summer, she bulks up on food before hibernating around November.   Then, she gives birth to two to four cubs around January and they will emerge from the den in springtime.  The cubs will remain with her for more than a year.

Males do not hibernate but are less active in winter.  They may bed down for a while and roam or forage when temperatures warm up to the sixties.

Foster Cubs

When a sow is killed by a car or hunters, young cubs were once taken to a wildlife facility until they were old enough to be relocated.  As adults they faced a high mortality rate because not only were they suddenly placed in unfamiliar territory, they lacked a mother to teach them the ways of the wild.  Martin is now involved in a new plan for raising orphan cubs.  She places them with another mother bear that already has cubs.  Sometimes this means slipping them into the den of a hibernating sow that will then raise them along with her own cubs.  It may be a lot of extra mouths to feed, but a mother bear is very nurturing and willing to carry the extra load.  This fostering program has been successful thus far.   GPS collars help locate the den sites.

A Fed Bear is a Dead Bear

Martin educates the public and works with landowners or communities to reduce and avoid bear conflicts.  When bears are spotted in a neighborhood she advises homeowners to remove any potential food source.  Bears tend to roam in search of food and do not spend time in one place if food isn’t available.  She advises homeowners to remove bird feeders from April 1 to December 1.  Also, homeowners should avoid feeding pets outdoors or inside near a doggie door.  Remove ripe fruit from trees or the ground.  Make sure your grill is clean and free of leftover food.  Keep trash cans latched. Electric fences are effective ways to keep bears from orchards, gardens or bee hives.  If no food is available in your yard, a hungry bear will move on in search of food elsewhere.

After finding empty feeders scattered and broken, and the metal pole
bent in half, I removed my feeders for a while.

 

Bear Sightings

If you encounter a bear, stay calm and slowly back away.  Do not run and tempt it to give chase.  If hiking with others, stay together and make noise.  Keep your dog leashed at all times.  A bear suddenly approached by a barking dog can become defensive and dangerous.  Carry bear spray in remote areas.

The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, DGIF, has useful information and interesting videos on their website about living with black bears in Virginia.  www.DGIF.virginia.gov.  Learn about the right closure for trash cans, how to deter and prevent bear encounters, and safety tips.  And if you do have bear problems, contact Katie Martin.  She knows EVERYTHING about bears!

 

Although Rebecca's birdfeeder is electrified, "Smokey"
made several attempts to empty it before giving up
and walking away.

 

Bluebird Babies

 

          I didn’t expect this feeling of loss that hit me when I realized the bluebird nesting season was nearing the end.  After a summer of monitoring five nesting boxes in a state park, there is only one active nest left.  I remember the emotions I felt when my kids left for college eons ago, so it seems a bit ridiculous to feel empty nest syndrome now…over a bunch of birds no less.

           Last spring two friends and I committed to spending  the summer monitoring bluebird boxes.  We recorded our findings and compiled a notebook detailing nest activity for each box.  The North American Bluebird Society and Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology track monitoring efforts and bluebird population data.  Back in the 1970s, the bluebird population reached a 70 percent decline, mostly due to habitat loss and competition for nesting cavities from non native species such as house sparrows and starlings.  Today, bluebird boxes, trails and monitoring efforts have contributed to reestablishing the bluebird population. 

           Beginning in the spring, the birds have two to four broods a season.  The female lays four to six blue eggs.  She lays one a day and when the last egg is laid, she then begins to incubate them.  Eggs hatch about 17 days after the first one is laid.  Nestlings occupy the nest from 17 to 21 days before fledging.  We removed  old nests each time a brood fledged.  No matter how many babies we saw this summer, we reacted with awe every single time we opened a box and saw babies.

We used a mirror to look down inside the box.  One friend, a film student, recorded findings for a documentaty project.

Bluebirds lay beautiful blue eggs.

 

 

 

Brand new nestlings.

 

 

New babies are all mouth!

 

 

 

 



Older babies fill up the nest. Blue feathers are evident just before fledging.

Polllinator Palooza

          There is basil and then there is AFRICAN BASIL.  Sweet basil is the best choice for pesto.  African basil is an amazing choice for pollinators.  Planting one small four-inch tall plant in spring will yield a shrubbery sized plant by mid-summer.  Although the spikes of tiny purple flowers seem insignificant, the plant is a magnet for solitary bees, bumble bees, honey bees, wasps,  butterflies, hummingbirds and moths.  In fact, you will likely see a larger variety of native bees on this plant than any other in your garden.  And it isn't invasive -- it is an annual.  I always plant one near a porch or patio so I can enjoy watching all the activity. Plant one in a large pot and you don't need to add any other plants...it will fill the pot.  African basil tolerates heat and dry weather like a champ. Next spring, plant one for the pollinators.

 

 

Up Close at Lewis Ginter

          



           Perhaps because I am nearsighted, or maybe because I love the large scale flower paintings of Georgia O'Keefe, I am compelled to photograph flowers up close.  Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden is a magnificent place, and focusing on all of its splendor can be sensory overload for me.  That's why when I go I have to spend most of the day, savoring the many small fragments instead of the entire place, the single flower instead of the whole plant, sometimes only a leaf.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Name that Bug

Question Mark butterlies can be identified by the tiny white backwards question mark on their hind wing.

 Millipede Apheloria virginiensis -- feeds on rotting vegetation. It should not be handled since it can exude cyanide as a defense mechanism.
 

Eyed Click Beetle Alaus oculatus.  When overturned, it makes a clicking sound as it flips itself over.  The large fake eye spots are a defense. Click beetles are harmless.

 

Crane Fly -- a fly, not a mosquito.  Contrary to popular belief, they do not eat mosquitos.  They only live a few days.

Wolf spider with egg sac. After laying eggs, the female wraps them in silk and carries them with her. Once they hatch, they climb aboard mom's back and she carries them for several days. 

White Tussock Moth Caterpillars feed on a variety of tree leaves.

Fishfly Chauliodes pectinicornis. Females lay eggs on plants over streams and the larvae fall into the water once they hatch. Unlike the adults which only live about a week on land, the larvae live in water for several years, feeding on insects and vegetation before pupating on land.