Scenes from my garden - July 2014

I've spent the past few years building up my perennial collection in the front and back gardens. The nice thing about perennials is that you can divide them after a few years to increase the number of flowering plants. This is great for attracting all sorts of insects and the local birds. Every-once-in-awhile I take some time to do some macro photography, or to just photograph the flowers. Here's a sampling from July 1, 2014:

Purple cone flower

Purple cone flower

Purple cone flower

Purple cone flower

Red Rocks penstemon and a cerotina bee

Red Rocks penstemon and cerotina bee

Gooseneck loosestrife

Lucilia spp fly on gooseneck loosestrife

Lucilia spp fly on gooseneck loosestrife

Leaf hopper on the mirror

Last night as I was brushing my teeth in the upstairs bathroom, Steve called me from the bottom of the stairs, "Andi - come look at my bug!" He was brushing his teeth in the downstairs bathroom and found this little critter clinging to the mirror.

It's a species of Gyponana - one of the leaf hoppers found in the garden during the summer months. I've no idea why it came into the house - maybe it was clinging to the fur of one of our dogs, or hitched a ride on a shirt after one of us was working in the garden. After photographing it I took it outside. It had to hop around the kitchen for a bit before I could shoo it out the back door.

Busy, busy, busy....

The past few weeks have been very busy for me. I was in Phoenix for the American Association of Woodturners symposium. I did the photography for the event and have been posting the AAW archive photos to the AAW Facebook page as well as my own. You can find the link to my FB page in the sidebar of this blog.

I'm also working on a lot of research for my presentations next month at the Botany2014 meeting, which will be useful for a grant proposal I'm submitting before I leave for the meeting. Along those lines, I've been processing a lot of photos from my trip to Utah last month for the American Penstemon Society meeting.

One of the more unusual species of Penstemon is P. ambiguus. We saw P. ambiguus var. laevissiumus in eastern Utah, and I have to say that the flower of this species is totally atypical for the genus. Back in 1963 Richard Straw published a paper on the pollination of this species. It had been hypothesized that it was pollinated by butterflies because of its strong resemblance to Phlox. However, Straw reported that it is pollinated by bombylid flies (bee flies).

It's truly one of my favorite species of Penstemon.  The flowers are relatively small and delicate and the habit is a small shrub scattered about desert dunes or among sagebrush.

Beardtongue

I've spent my career studying a very interesting genus of plants that is native to North America. It's the genus Penstemon, which has the common name "Beardtongue."  From this photo of Penstemon palmeri, you should understand why....

Penstemon palmeri ©2014 Andi Wolfe

Penstemon is the largest genus of plants that is found only in North America, having nearly 300 species. The diversity is amazing with some flowers being shorter than half an inch, and others, such as P. palmeri, having flowers a couple of inches long and nearly as wide. Some species form short mats, carpeting a hillside with tiny leaves but very large flowers. Others are brilliant red and pollinated by hummingbirds.

Am I totally smitten by this genus? Why, yes, of course I am.....

A way to honor one's ancestors

One of the interesting things about Bhutan is the way ancestors are remembered. After someone dies, they are usually cremated. Not all of the body is consumed during cremation. The bits and pieces left over are gathered and pulverized, mixed with clay, and molded into these figurines, which are then painted and left in holy places in the mountains. Usually they are placed under rock overhangs to protect them from weathering.

This particular site is along the trail to Tiger's Nest, a monastery clinging to a cliff at 10,500 feet.

Penstemon petiolatus - at last!

Last weekend I was in Utah for the American Penstemon Society meeting. We stayed in Springdale, Utah - the gateway to Zion National Park.  Field trips included hikes in Zion National Park, a road trip to visit unusual and rare species of Penstemon, and a Monday excursion to visit some of the more unique species that occur in Utah.

One of the highlights for me was Penstemon petiolatus - a species that is endemic to limestone outcrops.  Limestone outcrops - the kind that are weathered and razor sharp, that is. One would not want to slip and fall on this substrate - you'd be suffering some dramatic lacerations. Needless-to-say, I was very careful to be balanced and step very carefully.

 My colleague, Mike Stevens, refers to P. petiolatus as "skidmark penstemon" - that's because you slam on the brakes when you spot it from the road. It truly is a stunning species, and I very much wish I had collected it back in the 1990s when I was trying to find it in Nevada. I didn't have success then, which meant that it could not be in my phylogenetic study of the genus. It is the only member of section Peltanthera subsection Petiolati, and that was the only subsection that wasn't represented in the study my lab published in 2006. 



We visited the Beaver Dam Mountains of Utah to see this species.  The plants were easily seen on a limestone outcrop.  On the side facing the road, the plants were scattered over the north face. Climbing over the top and onto the other side, though, revealed an amazing garden of Penstemon petiolatus and some barrel cacti. What a feast for the eyes!

For more information about this interesting species, check out my Penstemon of the day: Penstemon petiolatus blog post at News from Andi Wolfe's Lab.

Civil War Encampment at the Ohio Statehouse

Steve and I got back late on May 8th. The trip to Bhutan was awesome, and I'll post photos in the coming weeks.  However, this post is about an annual event here in Columbus - a Civil War encampment that takes place on the Ohio Statehouse lawn on a Friday and Saturday. This year the weather was pretty miserable - raining all day yesterday. The participants were really good sports about the weather and continued on as if this were normal. I guess if one is going to do this kind of role playing, the weather would not be a factor. I enjoyed talking to the participants, and I learned a bit about the uniforms and costumes - made as authentically as possible.

Here are some photos from the morning. I used the Fuji XE-1 for this shoot, converting raw files into monochrome using Silver Efex Pro 2. I did a custom filter to emulate an antique plate effect. All photos by Andi Wolfe ©2014 - all rights reserved.

Made it to Thimphu today

We left Paro and drove some interesting mountain roads to Thimphu. We'll be here just one night, but we packed a lot of sites into today's schedule. The first place we visited was a giant statue of Buddha that overlooks the city.











Jon Miller brought along a GoPro drone to shoot video of sites we visit. This created quite a stir.








Thimphu is the capital of Bhutan and has about 15% of the country's population of 700,000. It's not as chaotic as Kathmandu, and certainly a lot cleaner, but I think I prefer the more rural setting of Paro. There's a lot of construction going on, which means a lot of noise and dust. We're staying at the Jamolhari hotel, which is adjacent to a building undergoing renovation. Fortunately, the work crews quit before bedtime.

I  had a chance to do a money exchange at a bank in Thimphu. The currency exchange for US dollars is about 60 Bhutanese dollars to one American dollar. I've bought just a few things here - some textiles (we visited a weaving center), prayer flags, postcards, and a birding book. I've been very interested in the birds here, and I brought along my 100-400 lens to help me figure out what birds I've seen. I have a lot of new life birds on this trip so far, including this yellow-billed blue magpie.

I enjoyed photographing the women at the weaving center. I have so many cool photos to process, so this is just a small taste of what I'm seeing while in Bhutan.

Bhutan is beautiful

We left Kathmandu yesterday morning. Drukair was our airline for a flight to Paro, Bhutan. This is an interesting airport in that in order to reach the runway, the pilot navigates several turns within a long valley. This lovely country is in the eastern Himalayas, and much of the country represents the foothills of these majestic mountains. Steve and I were sitting on the wrong side of the plane during this flight. We barely got glimpses of the high peaks, including Mount Everest. The day was sunny, too, which made for some excellent photos by our companions.

We're staying at a very nice hotel in Paro - The Drukhen. The rooms are spacious, the staff is wonderful, and the ambience is peaceful. We have a good view of the valley and airport, plus the Dzong and museum on the other side of the valley.

We visited the museum and the Dzong (monastery/government building) yesterday and then walked around Paro for awhile. Today we hiked up to Tiger's Nest - a monastery built on a cliff. The hike is pretty strenuous - about 3000 feet up from the parking lot and perhaps 4 or 4.5 miles away. The monastery is at 10,000 feet elevation, which makes the climb even more challenging. It's worth every step of the hike to get there. The scenery is breathtaking. Here's a photo from the trail to give you an idea.

There is a restaurant up about halfway to the monastery where we had tea. Jon Miller brought out his small GoPro drone set-up and wowed the locals. I can't wait to see the video recording.

I did a lot of botanizing and some birding along the trail. I also managed to get through this hike without any blisters - a nice change of pace. We had rain, we had hail, and we had some chilling winds in the afternoon, but seeing the monastery and different altars dedicated to the different Buddhas, the monastery grounds, and the views of the valley from the cliff were well worth the hike and the weather issues. We're heading to somewhere new tomorrow.

Return to Kathmandu

In 2009, Steve and I did an adventure trip with The Rest of Everest podcast group - a trek to Everest base camp. I blogged that trip, and have always wanted to return to this area. Well, we're back! We are here in Kathmandu for a couple of nights before heading to Bhutan for a week-long tour - again, with The Rest of Everest team. Jon Miller organized a tour of Bhutan prior to this year's Everest trek. We won't be able to stay for that trek, alas, but we will enjoy visiting Bhutan.

We arrived in Kathmandu last night after two days of travel and five flights (Columbus to Minneapolis, then to Narita, Japan, and to Hong Kong. We spent the night in Hong Kong and then took two more flights - Kuala Lumpur and then to Kathmandu. We arrived at 10:45 pm and then had to go through immigration to get our visas. Spending the night in Hong Kong made a huge difference in how I feel this morning - just being able to get a night's rest before hitting the chaos of Kathmandu was a good strategic plan.

We awoke before dawn this morning with the noise of crows and traffic plus construction. We're at the Marshyangda Hotel again, which, this time, is under construction. The traffic noise brings back memories - constant horn beeps, lots of shouting as drivers are negotiating the tight streets and pedestrians. We'll be venturing out in a bit to wander around Thamel - always an adventure. I think I'll use the Fuji XE-1 while in Thamel - should be easier than carting around my Canon 5DIII.

I have to say that I am so looking forward to this trip to Bhutan. It's even more special given the reunion with our friends from the 2009 trek. John Colemna, John Ferra, and Thilo Schumann are here for the Bhutan trip. We've met Patrick and Christine already. The rest of the team arrives tonight.

I'll post photos after I return, but will try to update the blog as I can.

A Hoover Meadows evening

Springtime in Ohio brings peepers by the thousands. Listening to these tiny frogs in the evening of a sunny April day is a real pleasure. At Hoover Meadows there are several ponds where the peepers are abundant. I've not yet seen an actual frog, but their presence is obvious as soon as you enter the reserve. Wear waterproof boots if you visit - the trails are pretty muddy and have standing water in many places. Also, be aware that tick season has begun...

Campus morning in monochrome

Yesterday was the last day of classes for Spring semester. I gave my undergraduate evolution class students their last midterm. I'm still grading the papers and take-home exams for my graduate course students. But, otherwise, my schedule is a little less busy - so much so that I felt free to take a morning walk around campus on my way to my office. I decided to carry my Fuji XE-1 camera with me to school again, and this was one of the photos I made during this morning walk.

Well, hello there!

Steve and I enjoyed spending time at Pickerington Ponds and Blacklick Metro parks yesterday morning. On the way back to our car at Blacklick, I spotted this starling up in a tree. It was scratching its head, but in the photo I made, it appears to be waving "hello." Very friendly, I thought.

Hurray for nicer weather

We had snow last Monday - an April 15 snow storm? How very strange this year's weather has been - brutally cold for months and then some oscillations of warm, spring-like days with freezing ones. My spring flowers are holding up, despite the weird conditions. The crocuses are pretty much done, though. They were pretty while they lasted.

Let me out?

My sentiments, exactly, Topper! Today is the last day of lecturing for me this semester. I have LOTS of grading to do over the next several days, but then it's a wrap. I'm very much looking forward to getting to the backlog of stuff that has been on hold during spring semester. And, I'm looking forward to some of the fun activities with family and friends over the next few months. I wonder if my lathe still works? I wonder if I can find my carving bench in my messy shop.....