Woodburn Hall, June 8, 2012

This was taken nearly 11 months ago,but I wanted to apply some Adobe Camera Raw techniques that I've been honing.

But wait... there's less!  There also used to be a lawn sprinkler going in the bottom of this picture, but thanks to PhotoShop's Clone-Stamp tool, the water stream is gone.  As is a bit of linear distortion resulting from the use of a wide-angle lens.

It might be interesting to see what this looked like straight out of the camera:

Don't Crush that Dwarf

On April 27, nestled among the Bluebells that were growing below the Earl L. Core Arboretum were some Dwarf Larkspurs (Delphinium tricorne).  These are native perennials that prefer dappled shade. This seems to be a good year for them, because I saw them pretty much everywhere along my bike ride.

In this first shot, you can see the leaves of the Bluebells growing among the Larkspurs.

Here's a closeup shot taken further down along the river trail.

According to a writeup I found at Midwest Native Plants, Gardens, and Wildlife, these plants are pretty toxic.  Another name for the plant is staggerweed, given for its effect on cattle.

The title of this blog post?  It comes from this relic of the past.

Wild Blue "Bill"

Wild Blue Phlox (Phlox divaricata), aka "Sweet William." A card-carrying native to forests in eastern North America.  These are a bit later than last year, when I shot some on April 2.

Some Moss

There are approximately 12,000 moss species in the naked Bryophyta. Here is one of them, but your guess is as good as (or better than) mine as to which this one is.

Those tall stalks growing out of the moss are called the sporophyte body, which comprises a long stalk, called a seta, and a capsule capped by a cap called the operculum.  This is where the spores are formed.

Those sporophyte bodies have a strange, bird-like appearance when you look at them close up.  They look like long-necked birds.  See the cool little macro bokeh in the middle of this picture?

Bellisimo Bells

The Bluebells that I posted a couple of days ago came with a challenge.  They were nice, but I thought that I could do better.  I knew where to look:  down below the Earl L. Core Arboretum is where I remember seeing the heaviest growth of Bluebells in past years.

To get there, I parked my car at the Star City portion of the Rail Trail and biked back towards town, past the sewage treatment plant.  It smelled as bad as it sounds.  I didn't even bother to snap a picture of the Fumb Duck that was bobbing for delicacies in the settlement pond.   But there was a reward:  Bluebells  (Mertensia virginica) as far as the eye could see.

 I was able to get a better closeup, too:

Here's the route:

Name:		Track 014
Date:		Apr 27, 2013 9:46 am
Map: (valid until Oct 24, 2013)		View on Map
Distance:		11.0 miles
Elapsed Time:		1:41:44
Avg Speed:		6.5 mph
Max Speed:		16.0 mph
Avg Pace:		9' 14" per mile
Min Altitude:		732 ft
Max Altitude:		1,009 ft
Start Time:		2013-04-27T13:46:31Z
Start Location:
	Latitude:	39º 39' 32" N
	Longitude:	79º 59' 28" W
End Location:
	Latitude:	39º 39' 32" N
	Longitude:	79º 59' 28" W

The Bluebell Challenge

The Virginia Bluebell (Mertensia virginica) remains a challenge for me to shoot.  This one, taken on April 23 is my best effort to date, and my best is none too good.

This subject needs more depth of field, but perhaps I just need to really step back and get lots more of the plants.  To do that, I'll need to go along the river below the WVU Arboretum, where I've seen the Bluebells covering the ground for as far as the eye can see.

Fiddleheads

If you look closely at the picture of the two trilliums that I shot yesterday evening, you'll notice some fiddleheads growing to the left of them.  These are the furled fronds of young ferns.  How's that for alliteration? They're edible, and quite tasty as I recall, but it's been years since I've eaten any.

Here are a couple of additional shots for your visual consumption.  I'm told that these are Christmas ferns (Polystichum acrostichoides).

 With fronds like these, who needs anemones?