Exploring the Rain Garden

A few years ago I ran an elective class that helped maintain a garden across the field from the school. It has likely been as long since anyone really looked over it. The garden was designed to act as a rain garden and a learning garden. As a rain garden the plants are native to the region and everything grows without much maintenance. When I ran the elective I tried to have a section or two of the garden for a vegetable garden for the kids to maintain. With no one maintaining it over summer between school years the vegetable garden patches are lost among the rest of the plants. What brought me to the garden this time was that it was the end of the school year and I wanted to add my class's compost collection to the compost pile.

The path I usually take to walk through the garden was over grown when I arrived the other day. The alternated path took me over the water that runs through the garden. If you look carefully in the first picture you can see the bit of purple flowers that caught my eye.  You can see it the little dip in the garden that is where the water collects when it rains. I wouldn't say it is big enough to be called a creek, but it is enough that you have to hop over it to get the back main part of the garden. 

The plants may not seem like much from the distance, many are about waist height on me. I don't think I would let the younger kids I work with run through it now since most of the plants would be taller than them and I would lose sight of them. 

Along the edges of the garden, especially near the dip in the ground, I could see some interesting flowers of different colors. The one I could identify was that purple flower, you can see my attempt to take close ups of the flower with my phone on the left. The flower is a type of iris. I like the colorfulness of it. It is days like that one when I walk through the garden when I miss having one.  Right now all of my attempts to plant things from seeds has only given me sprouts but no plants from that. My geranium is the only plant that I have had for a few years that is still growing nicely, hopefully it will flower again soon.  While I may not have my own garden it is nice to be able to see other ones near by. Hope you also get to see what your neighborhood gardens have to offer this spring, Meet Me Outdoors.

Looking Forward to Spring

I decided it was time to do some repotting of plants for spring.  In the blue pot is my geranium plant that needed a bigger container. On the right in the green pot are some acorn squash sprouts my second grade class planted. The put too many seeds in the seed starter cup and when I put in a plastic bag too keep moist 7 of them grew. I put them all in the pot and hope that at least one makes it to a big plant and maybe even to flowering stage, but there are many more weeks until that happens. Until then... waiting for spring, Meet Me Outdoors.

Blue Angels

I was on my walk through Federal Hill in Baltimore MD and saw the Blue Angels fly over. They are practicing for this weekend. Look for 4 bird like spots in the picture to see the planes. Enjoying the weather, Meet Me Outdoors.

Great River Road - Freedom Park in Prescott, Wisconsin

My road trip started in Minneapolis, MN, the first town after crossing the border into Wisconsin is Prescott.  As the friendly sign says it is the gateway to the Great River Road, or series of state and local roads that follow the Mississippi River.  The welcome center in Prescott was full of maps and brochures of places along the Great River Road and of the road's path itself.  I also picked up a few post cards there

This was the real beginning of the road trip.  All along the Great River Road you find the green shield sign like in the second picture. The state name appears at the bottom of the shield, this one is in Wisconsin. 

With a long way to go and only one day to get to the next big city on the trip we didn't spend too much time in Prescott.  Following the signs for the Great River Road we came across the Great River Road Visitor & Learning Center at Freedom Park in Prescott, Wisconsin. Inside the visitor center there were some great hands on exhibits about the wildlife, art exhibits, and a balcony with views of the river and binoculars for bird watching. It is a National Park Service Partner site so kids can take part in the Junior Ranger program. There is even a playground and some picnic tables around as well.

We spent enough time to explore the nature center and take in views.  It was interesting to learn about the history of the area.  Seeing the blue water of the St. Croix River blend into the muddy Mississippi River. 

There were different gardens that feature what habitats can be found in the region. I liked the butterfly garden in particular.  Even found a few butterflies flitting about.  Of course I couldn't get any to stay still for a picture, so all I have are the butterflies on the accent mosaic tiles on the pathway around the garden. 

It was nice to get a chance to stretch our legs from driving before picking up the trail again.  It was going to be a few hours drive to our lunch break town. 

Before getting back in the car I walked around the park area and heard a woodpecker.  I tried to get a good picture.  When I spotted it, it was up a dead tree pecking away looking for food. The tree didn't have any leaves which made it easy to spot the bird.  I didn't have any binoculars with me so the bird was a little moving blob along the trunk of the tree near the top. When I went back through the pictures forgot why I took the picture of the tree until I looked carefully and saw the blob that is a woodpecker.  Points to anyone who can find the woodpecker in the picture on the left.  The adventure continues,  Meet Me Outdoors

Lake of the Isles Park - Minneapolis, MN

Beginning of this year's summer road trip traveling along the Mississippi River starts in Minneapolis, MN. Minnesota is known as the land of 10,000 lakes so I walked around Lake of the Isles Park which is part of Minneapolis Chain of Lakes Regional Park. 

It was a really nice walk even as it reached midday summer heat. I made sure to bring hat, sunglasses, sunscreen, and took water, which is important.

Between the walking path and the lake was perimeter of wild flowers where I saw some butterflies fluttering from flower to flower and other pollinators like bees. I saw some monarch butterflies and an Eastern tiger swallowtail butterfly. Only the one that I was able to take a picture of was a monarch. Look for the triangular shaped thing in the center of the picture.

As I walked around the lake there were some rent a canoe spots and we watched as one group prepared themselves to start their canoeing experience.  There are two paths around the lake, one for those on foot and the other for those who are on bikes. The lake I walked had a very funny shape to it unlike another in the chain of lakes that is more circular.  The shape of Lake of the Isles when I mapped my waking was more like a duck head shape.  

The road trip continues following the river Southwards. I am looking forward the adventure. Go see what you can find at your local parkes, Meet Me Outdoors.