Holiday trees - to cut or not to cut?

Ten years ago, even two years ago I would never have considered cutting down a tree to use as a decoration in my home. Lately there have been the "carbon footprint" debates about what to do if you want a tree to decorate for the holidays. After much deliberation, I have come to the decision that a live tree is right for me. I definitely do not want a plastic tree or even to support that industry. So I've realized, just as I promote supporting local farmers for fruits and veggies, I want to support local farmers that are growing a renewable source - trees. These folks are sustainably growing different types of conifers and replanting three saplings for every one that is harvested. More importantly, we need to be mindful of what we do with our cut tree after the holidays. Last year our family used some of the wood for burning in our outdoor stove and the rest we have in a far back corner of our yard providing a home for small critters while it slowly decomposes. So, what's next? Next year, I want to take this all a bit further and buy a living tree that we can plant when the holidays are over.

The bounty of fall - bur oak acorns

Have you ever seen, or more importantly held, a bur oak acorn? They are huge and look like they have a little sweater on. I was out this afternoon collecting as many as I could find.

Face to face with a green heron

As I crept up to the pond to get a good look at the last of the lotus seed pods, I see an eye looking at me. It is a green heron and the first I've seen at the Garden. I've seen a few larger blue heron but this smaller one can hide much easier. I was able to get quite a few beautiful pictures without scaring it away.

Monarchs emerging

For the last few weeks we have been watching the monarch caterpillars munch away on jewel weed leaves and seed pods in the Children's Garden. This last week we have watched many of them transform into a chrysalis and then emerge into a butterfly. The new chrysalis is a bright, lime green and it slowly changes to a dark green and then a deep black. The day it turns black you are sure to know it will emerge. I finally witnessed this with my son Arrow on Saturday and it truly is a beautiful thing that happens within about two minutes. Many people have never seen this happen and we do feel fortunate to experience this.

Snapping turtles and monarch caterpillars

Today we discovered a snapping turtle in the garden. Funny thing is that just last week some visiting kids asked if we had snapping turtles to which I replied, "oh, no, we just have red-eared sliders. No need to worry."
One of the great hort staff Neal was brave enough to pick up this guy and take him over to the irrigation pond.

The monarchs are all over and around the butterfly weed. Two weeks ago we watched a monarch butterfly lay eggs, this past week we've watched the caterpillars doubling in size, Friday we noted four chrysalis and over the weekend one butterfly emerged (undetected unfortunately). If you've ever seen a butterfly emerge then you know about the meconium. If you haven't ever seen it you would not believe the amount of liquid that comes out with the butterfly. It does look similar to blood but dries more of a brown color. I would absolutely recommend ordering larva of butterfly local to your area and watching the metamorphosis at home.

Swallowtail caterpillar

Caterpillars are just amazing in their defense mechanisms. We've discovered that a gentle squeeze on the tail end of a Swallowtail causes an antannae looking orange protrusion to come out for about 3 to 5 seconds.