thanks for taking us along on your walk, Bert.

Jim

Warm and sunny this morning in midtown, Iris season is way to short so I looked for peonies also.

Pretty blooms, Roberta!

I should have taken a drive with my camera, or better let someone else drive while I take pictures, as the Pear trees are in full bloom everywhere now. The Magnolias are done and the Dogwoods are starting up. After this long and cold winter everything now blooms with a vengeance, no complaints here.

We came back from our place in Pennsy! Our main purpose this time was to track our three major stands of Cypripedium acaule and we were not disappointed. I took some pictures today with my Nikon, yesterday's pictures will come straight from my IPad.
Here now the pics from my Camera -
the Cyp acaule in this particular stand, we call this one ML 2 ( Motherlode 2) are very pale and the Cyp acaule forma alba, which we caged many years ago, came back up again in that cage. It is in the budding stage now, hopefully next week I will catch it fully open.
And, walking about one sees of course lots of pretty companion Wildflowers.
Painted Trillium/Trillium undulatum and Starflower/Trientalis borealis

Tall Ferns

And here are the Cyp acaule

Maianthemum canadense, they are usually present in bloom, right along with the Starflower as companion bloomers to the Cyps

Gaywings/Polygala paucifolia, we saw several good batches

A young Newt

The fearless Orchid spotter

Red Trillium/Trillium erectum, they are plentiful


Ok off to see what I have on my IPad

Ok here is the " IPad grouping", this stand of Cyp acaules called ML 3 has some very dark pink blooms, almost red in color.

And there are lots of small Violets and plenty of Mayapple/Podophyllum peltatum in bloom. They always remind me of beautiful umbrellas for some woodland creatures.


And there are more Trilliums and the neighbor's Cows

Hope you enjoy the tour!

I have to drive an hour just to see cows!

Oh those Cows are our neighbors, but then we are really out in the boonies at our Pennsy place, which we love. We see about three cars per day driving by.....

I enjoyed it!

Thanks Carol!

Thanks for taking us along on your nice walk. Very enjoyable!

Jim

I am happy you liked it.
It was threatening to rain this morning, so I took my umbrella and the Nikon along, since that way picture taking is easier. It drizzled ever so lightly at first, then stopped and we had another lovely day.
Regarding the pretty Painted Trillium, that one was fairly elusive. Through the years we found a single plant here and there, but they usually were then not in bloom the next year. We discovered this patch about two years ago and we are happy to really have it taken off with many plants. The dark red Trilliums are numerous and found in many places in fairly large colonies.
Regarding the pretty Gay Wings, there is also a story - years ago I saw 3 little plants in bloom next to a Platanthera lacera. We tracked them every Spring, thought we lost them a couple of times. We caged that grouping together with the Platanthera then. Well, the Gay Wings spread away from the caged area and multiplied very nicely to the point that they are not rare any longer for us.

We had a good time at our place in Pennsy, our son and almost 5 year old grandson came Friday evening and stayed to today. Temperatures dipped into the thirties overnight, but today was a beautiful, crisp and sunny day, perfect for exploring the place and go Fossil hunting.
Klaus and I took a good walk on Friday to check on the Cyp acaule stand, where we saw the Cyp acaule forma albiflorum in bud last week. ( We had caged the original white flowering plant in 2005!! and we had checked this spot every year.)
It did open completely white and we were thrilled. I didn't get a great picture, the flower was facing away from us and I would have had to really get down into that stand of beautiful plants in bloom. And I would have surely crushed a lot of juvenile plants also.


Our neighbor harvests stones for his own use and that small quarry of sorts is a fun place to go Fossil hunting!
Three generations of Fossil hunters and Jake was named the Fossil Tornado, he had a great time!

Ursula, such a fun day you must have had! For me, it was Patty's birthday and the in-laws were here. Lord have mercy.

Jim

What fun! Jake is a charmer!

Oh dear, Jim!!
This was the first time Jake slept over at Pennsy and he handled himself with grace as expected. Oh and he wants to be a Paleontologist when he grows up! Which he pronounces perfectly.

We spent some time in Pennsy, we enjoyed the balmy weather very much. We are looking forwards to see this Gazebo finished by the end of the week. It will be lovely to have shelter when it rains and also protection from Mosquitos.

Here is a mix of pictures taken during different walks.

While Klaus busied himself with the Sicklebar mower to clear the meadow from encroaching bushes, I took a look at the slope behind the pond. These pics include two panoramas.



Some Mushrooms are popping up here and there and I saw Epipactis helleborine making their appearance, they will be blooming in July.




and in closing some car wrecks, deep in the woods, they came with the property some thirty years ago. They are slowly rusting away and surely shelter some critters. To us they serve as road markers - go past the cars and make a right towards the ant hill... Etc etc.

Thanks for taking us along on that wonderful walk! That's a beautiful place you have there.

Jim

Thanks Jim. Looking at the slope behind the pond, my pictures never capture what I see. There are rocky shale cliffs, overgrown with mosses and the trees are kinda crooked. One could imagine someone trying to create a Bonsai scene, this place could serve as a model. We refer to it as the "Japanese section"! and I would not be too surprised if some of these caves serve as den for the numerous Black Bears living in our area.

When we drove down our dirt road to our place, we spotted a flock of Turkeys and a Deer at the edge of the field ca 100 yards away and I had only my IPhone handy at this point. (I actually forgot to take my Nikon along.....) I gave it a couple of shots and cropped the pictures. And some Wildflowers picked by Klaus.

Ursula, still nothing going on with the sunroom. The contractor said he would begin the concrete work about two weeks before the arrival of the Florian glass structure, so that looks to be the end of June or the first week of July. I think Florian plans to get that glass to me mid-July. I am anxious to have it up and completed and see how much the glass reduces the sun's intensity. I still don't know whether I will have to use something like Aluminet shading.