Got Plants?

My husband and I were given a copy of Bringing Nature Home by Douglas W. Tallamy a few years ago by his Uncles Chris and Bob. It truly changed our outlook on gardening and put us soundly on the side to plant native. Native plants have so many advantages; they are suited for the climate of your area, able to better defend against local pests, and gobble up less resources like water or fertilizer. We have never had to water a native past its first season while it is getting established, even during dry spells. How's that for xeriscaping?

We ran into one problem, though. Our local garden centers (even the non-big-box store varieties) didn't carry New Jersey natives. Apparently, the Asian varietals (miserable invasives like Japanese honeysuckle, for example) are far more popular. I was told that no one wanted the native hydrangea, which makes white blooms instead of the pink/blue of the Asian ones.

The white blooms of Hydrangea arborescens can get as big as my head!


My parents have one of these, Hydrangea macrophylla. It is a glutton for water and needs to be soaked daily during the heat of the summer.

Enter Forest Farm, a spectacular business all the way out in Oregon. It was so exciting to receive an enormous catalog chock-full of NJ natives (plus tons of other things) from all the way out west. So, we placed an order to give them a try. Four orders and four garden plots later, we are very satisfied customers.

I can honestly say that the quality of plant matter that they sell is superior to anything else I have been able to purchase, whether locally or through mail order. Ray, one of the owners, has been really helpful over e-mail when I need assistance selecting a plant. Everything is delivered on time, in excellent condition, with detailed instructions on how to care for the plant.

If you are looking for a plant you can't get in your area, please try Forest Farm - you will be glad you did.

Meet the Neighbors

I love our backyard birds, and I can't believe that I didn't know enough to appreciate them earlier. My husband got me a birdfeeder for Christmas 5 years ago, and that was it. I am now a Sibley-ite (devotee of all things David Sibley, especially his superior field guide) and proud birder. It just adds to my geek chic.

I'd like to introduce you, over a few posts, to our local avifauna. You will recognize many of them, and might think they are nothing special. However, I have never learned so much about birds than by watching their behavior day in and day out. I greet them as friends.

European starling, Sturnus vulgaris. Vulgar indeed. They knock each other off perches, Hoover edibles with a speed and abandon to rival the Nathan's hot dog eating contest, and resemble a marauding swarm of locusts. There's something to be said for the uncivilized, however; they make our next neighbor look positively genteel.
American goldfinch, Carduelis tristis. This male is just getting into this year's breeding plumage, but wait. The combination of their cheery yellow feathers, looping flight, and sweetly talkative feeder chatter is winsome and adorable. Our goldfinches are all personality and light up the yard.

Black-capped chickadee, Poecile atricapilla. I read a lot about people feeding chickadees from their hands, and I think I'd die of cuteness if that happened to me. Ours are drive-by artists; they flit in, grab a seed, and flit out. And then another one comes, and then another one...or was that the first one again? Who knows - we can't tell them apart. But a bird that announces itself by calling "chickadee-dee-dee" when it gets to the feeder must have a healthy ego.

Northern cardinal, Cardinalis cardinalis. He (sometimes accompanied by his ladyfriend) is always the last one at the feeder each night, and you can hear him approaching because he chips and chips. In fact, he chips while his mouth is full, too. He also chips while feeding said ladyfriend during mating season. Then, he chips while hanging out in the tree. You get the idea; he has a lot to say.

Blue jay, Cyanocitta cristata. He is the first at the trough in the morning, but spooks so easily that his meals are short-lived. Isn't he kind of big to be run off by sparrows? I used to think he was a tough guy like the mockingbird, but he's just a gentle giant...compared to the sparrows, anyway, who are like gossipy and pushy 6th grade girls. More about them later!

I Tempted Fate...And Lost

Winter is not going quickly or quietly.  Even though, as a meteorologist, I know better,
I swear I should have NEVER said a word about a Noreaster in my previous post.

Here's the latest from the National Weather Service...yes, that says
WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE.  Uuuugggghhhh.

000
WWUS41 KOKX 302023
WSWOKX

URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW YORK NY
423 PM EDT WED MAR 30 2011

CTZ005-006-NJZ002-004-103-105-107-NYZ067>070-310430-
/O.EXT.KOKX.WS.A.0006.110401T0400Z-110401T1600Z/
NORTHERN FAIRFIELD-NORTHERN NEW HAVEN-WESTERN PASSAIC-
EASTERN PASSAIC-WESTERN BERGEN-WESTERN ESSEX-WESTERN UNION-ORANGE-
PUTNAM-ROCKLAND-NORTHERN WESTCHESTER-
423 PM EDT WED MAR 30 2011

...WINTER STORM WATCH NOW IN EFFECT FROM LATE THURSDAY NIGHT
THROUGH FRIDAY MORNING...

THE WINTER STORM WATCH IS NOW IN EFFECT FROM LATE THURSDAY NIGHT
THROUGH FRIDAY MORNING.

* LOCATIONS...PORTIONS OF NORTHEAST NEW JERSEY...SOUTHWEST
CONNECTICUT AND THE LOWER HUDSON VALLEY.

* HAZARD TYPES...HEAVY SNOW.

* ACCUMULATIONS...4 TO 8 INCHES OF SNOW.

* WINDS...NORTH 10 TO 15 MPH WITH GUSTS UP TO 30 MPH.

* TIMING...THURSDAY NIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY MORNING.

* IMPACTS...HEAVY SNOW COULD LEAD TO TRAVEL ISSUES FOR THE FRIDAY
MORNING COMMUTE AS UNTREATED SURFACES WILL BE SLIPPERY AND
VISIBILITY WILL BE POOR AT TIMES. THE SNOW COULD ALSO BE WET AND
HEAVY...PRESENTING PROBLEMS FOR TREE BRANCHES AND POWER
LINES...AS WELL AS FOR SNOW REMOVAL.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

A WINTER STORM WATCH MEANS THERE IS A POTENTIAL FOR SIGNIFICANT
SNOW...SLEET...OR ICE ACCUMULATIONS THAT MAY IMPACT TRAVEL.
CONTINUE TO MONITOR THE LATEST FORECASTS.

Happy Spring!

It's the first day of astronomical spring today (not to be confused with meteorological spring, which comes later), and I could totally do a dance. However, being a meteorologist, I know that we aren't out of the woods yet in terms of cold weather and the possibility of...gasp!...a winter storm. After all, the Superstorm was 12-13 March 1993!

I will, in the meantime, concentrate on the wee little sprouts that are promising spring, come hell or a Noreaster.

This is a peony that was in my great-grandfather's garden when he came to this country. They were in my grandfather's garden after that, and we moved them to my dad's garden when Gramps died. I received this priceless piece of my family's heritage two autumns ago.

Last year's berries on the northern bayberry are still hanging on.

One small flower pokes its head out on the forsythia.

The phlox is waking up in small, green whorls of baby leaves.

Of course, the quintessential harbinger of spring is flowering...the crocus.

It's Alive!

It was in the low 60s yesterday, so I wandered outside to see what was up in the garden. Yes, I know that it's only early March, and I also know that another large snowfall is not out of the question for this month. Hope, however, springs eternal for those of us who crave the smell of soil and the sight of baby green things poking their heads up out of the ground. So, it was a big score to see...

...daffodils beneath the still-dormant hydrangea (Hydrangea arborescens, the NJ native, of course!)....a not-totally-crushed mount of coral bells, which was so recently under many feet of snow; unfortunately, the lamb's ear behind it didn't fare so well.

...tons and tons of swelling buds on the forsythia. It's almost time to cut a branch off, bring it inside, and watch it bloom.

If this wasn't enough of garden goodness for one day, the Cooper's hawk flew low overhead on its way to go bother a flock of starlings in a tree. Insert contented sigh here.

Taking Notice...of The Weather Channel

I just read a great post on the website 10,000 Birds, which discussed the question "Are birders more perceptive than non-birders?" You can read the post here:
http://10000birds.com/are-birders-more-perceptive-than-non-birders.htm

Ask yourself of what you are perceptive in your surroundings. Are they things of which you must be perceptive, such as marauding SUVs in traffic, in order to maintain your well-being (as well as your pulse)? Are they things of which you choose to be perceptive, such as everyone's hairstyle when you are thinking of making a change to your own? Or, are they things to which you are inexplicably drawn, such as an affinity for artwork in all its forms?

I strongly feel, as a teacher, that exposing people to new things may cause them to choose to be perceptive of them in the future. I also feel that is the way to help someone discover an affinity, which may develop into a passion and then a life's vocation. Here's my case.


The Weather Channel, that bastion of all things death-and-destruction coupled with something of the "happy news" ethos of the 1970s, debuted in my hometown in January 1987. My dad called me into the TV room from my bedroom to check out the new channel. I was instantly smitten, so much so that I wrote about it in my diary. I spent hours and hours watching John Hope (above) doing the tropical update, and spent reams of paper copying it all down. That one experience opened my eyes to the science of meteorology, which led me to load up on science courses in high school, which led me to apply to BS programs in atmospheric science for college, which led me to pursue a graduate degree...you get the idea. I've often wondered how many other meteorologists of my generation were first inspired by TWC.

So, my public service announcement is this: share. It seems that the more we (tree-hugging folks like me) encourage others to be perceptive of the wonders of nature, we (people in general) have a better chance at preserving this gorgeous, complex, and singularly unique planet.

Sun Dog Days

There is always something to look at in the sky. Clouds are so variable that you don't really ever see the same configuration twice; rather, one altocumulus is reminiscent of another (i.e., "I saw a deck of altocu like that down the shore once in the 80s!"). Optical phenomena like rainbows, however, are always singularly unique; however, that might be a function of their relative rarity. The least rare of these around here are parhelia, or sun dogs, and they seem to pop up a lot on my drive home this time of year.

Sun dogs look like little patches of rainbows directly to the right and to the left of the sun. Red is on the sun-side of the sun dog, and blue is on the outside. They form in ice clouds, where hexagonally shaped ice crystals refract (bend) and diffract (separate white light into spectral colors) sunlight. All this science creates true beauty.

We were lucky enough to witness this incredible sight while on Mt. Rainier this past summer. Instead of the patchy sun dog we are used to seeing in New Jersey, this one was so elongated that each color of the spectrum was clearly visible. I smiled to myself as other tourists around us wondered aloud about what caused this to happen. Score one for atmospheric science, whether they knew it or not!