Turtle Nests, Sweet Potatoes, and Spanish Moss

This is turtle nesting season, so for us, it means no outdoor lights from dusk till dawn, and for our local university students, it means constant vigilance as they count, mark, and protect the nests proliferating on the beaches. This is always such a great sight to see on a morning beach walk!

In the Throw-It-And-Grow-It Department, the sweet potatoes are doing very well, guarded by my own little Plant Spirit sculptures.

My only regret about living beachside is that Spanish Moss, (Tillie usneoides) can't grow outside here. But my indoor Tilliescape has many square feet of Spanish Moss, busily cleaning our air (it's one of the best air cleaners on the planet), and I go hiking inland to see lovely old oak trees full of Tillies.

Most of my orchids are blooming. Catasetum is a little late this year but coming along (we had a really cold and dark spring), and so is Paphiopedilum, so pictures will be arriving. Here's a no-longer-dyed big box Phal....

I'll be doing a proper Tillie Post tomorrow- in the meantime, I wish everyone a wonderful and wacky Weekend Walkabout!

Palms, More Palms, and a Palm Poem!

Guest Poet Andrew Adar wrote this to go with today's post about palms. And it's true, palms are close relatives of corn and turf grass, and cousin of the bamboo. Their stems are fibrous, not woody. They aren't really trees at all, but don't tell the nesting birds!

Palms After Storm, MRobb, 2015

clear blue sky
two cabbage palms lean
towards each other

-Andrew Adar

Black Coconut, MRobb, 2009

Palm Tree People, MRobb, 2011

Have a wonderful weekend walkabout!

My Herbalism Motto

I've been training in herbalism for a while now (I'm an RN and I go by "Nurse Mary") and I really love it. I prefer to go slow and really learn all I can about a plant, and grow it if I am able, before using it in herbal formulas. A few of my favorites are the Leaf of Life, Gynura procumbens, catnip, St. John's Wort, and good old thyme, oregano, and rosemary. Sitting around with friends is a great way to come up with a motto, so here's mine, came up with it yesterday on the beach:

Nurse Mary Says:

Nature Sows the Seed

So We Can Feed

On the Weeds

We Need.

Drink Herb Tea Every Day!

Catching Up, and a River Report

Life is coming back to our river- Gaia wants life and creativity, despite political shenanigans and human ignorance....I'll get some photos soon. But some species, including the adorable pufferfish, have disappeared, and other species I've never seen before in the river have shown up in abundance. Buddhism 101- Lesson 1- Impermanence....

Incense Buddha of Impermanence, MRobb, 2015

I'm still working on my hundreds-strong cache of photos from Lago di Garda, Italy, and it's been more than half a year already! Plus, more photos from my sand dune. Here's a lovely dawn from my sand dune, and a suitable weekend photo of Rodin's Muse from the Heller Garden. Have a lovely gardening weekend!

Rodin Muse Bridge, MRobb, 2015, Lago di Garda, Italy

The Amazing Wellesley Ravens

I just love corvids. I used to live in the Far North, where the ravens are the size of small aircraft. Now I live in the tropics, and we have Fish Crows, the smaller, cuter cousin of the American Crow.

Fish Crows, MRobb, 20014

I love them, but I do miss the ravens. So I was delighted to find a happy raven family on a webcam at Wellesley College. It's nesting season, and the happy pair (ravens are monogamous) are raising 4 lovely ravinettes...let's check it out!

http://www.wellesley.edu/ravencam

The latest research shows that some crows, particularly the New Caledonian Crow, are as smart as chimpanzees! If you want to learn some amazing facts about just how much more intelligent corvids are than a lot of humans you know, read this right now:

http://www.cracked.com/article_19042_6-terrifying-ways-crows-are-way-smarter-than-you-think.html

Have a great weekend and Happy Gardening!

Oh No, More Age of Lonely....

I truly don't like being a Debbie Downer. I'm generally described as "perky" or "bubbly". Heck, I'm even a blonde! Still, I manage to maintain my five senses, and I don't like what I'm sensing some days.....
I used to go free diving, SCUBA diving, and snorkeling in South Florida and the Florida Keys. This was back in the Jurassic, when there were reefs, and fish. It was amazing! It was mindblowing! Now we are heading toward the Neo-Eemian perhaps, and the ocean I loved so much is acidifying, more quickly than predicted. Here is the Then (when I was a snorkeling kid in these waters) and Now, in the Age of Lonely:

Photos courtesy of Chris Langdon, Climate Central

Acidification from too much carbon dioxide, higher temperatures, and possibly, too many nutrients in the water from too many people and agricultural corporations not cleaning up their *S&% before it hits the ocean. A magical environment dead and gone. I've heard the same thing is happening in Australia with that miraculous place, the Great Barrier Reef. I grieve for that amazing place that I've never seen, and maybe never will.
Will we learn how to care for our world in time to save what's left???
Link:
http://www.climatecentral.org/news/florida-reefs-dissolve-much-sooner-than-expected-20309

Frostweed and Jamaican Leaf of Life

I grow a number of medicinal herbs in my outdoor garden. The two I'll show today are Frostweed (Verbesina virginica) and Jamaican Leaf of Life (Bryophyllum calycinum and pinnatum):

Frostweed is thusly named because it sends out water vapor when temperatures plummet, and creates some amazing natural frost sculptures along its stalk:

In traditional medicine, the leaves are smoked for a variety of ailments, including bereavement and grief in general. I have not tried this, so I have no comment! The Jamaican Leaf of Life is used for respiratory conditions, particularly asthma. I make a tincture or tea out of the leaves. The flavor is astringent and salty, and rather pleasant. Some people around here just chew the leaves, but I find that makes me pucker, like I do when I eat a persimmon.

The Leaf of Life propagates the way the Mother of Millions does- from nodes in the leaves themselves. Just throw a leaf on the ground and watch roots sprout and tiny plantlets grow. In tropical zones, the Leaf of Life is lively indeed! My herbalism teacher gave me one leaf a few years ago, and now I have over 20 plants!