Chris Fedderson — MacroFine Musings ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This is the best month to see Life Aquatic in bloom. If you haven’t been to our local Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens – now is the time to go. This is one of the nicest parks we have in the DC metro area – and we have a lot of parks. Kenilworth National Park is our only National Park dedicated to aquatic plant and animal life. The best time of day to go to Kenilworth is in the morning (open 9am to 5pm). I know, I know, I hate mornings too, but this is really worth it! And coming up is the Lotus and Water Lily Festival on July 16th. You can see a spectacular display of lotus and water lilies in full bloom and there are lots of activities at the park. The park is 700 acres and is on the south side of the Anacostia River across from the National Arboretum. Unfortunately, you can’t go from park to park even though it’s just a stone's throw away – well more like a stone’s swim. There is so much to see at Kenilworth Gardens… We’ve found frogs, turtles, fish, snakes, butterflies, dragonflies, praying mantis, beautiful spiders (yes, spiders!), bald eagles, egrets, herons, and more; and that’s all in addition to the beautiful lilies, lotus, hibiscus, clematis, and others! If birds are your thing, you’ll be in good company. There is a marshland and a boardwalk to explore. There are lots of different bird species, so be sure to pack your binoculars, and a lo-o-o-o-o-ong lens for your camera! And bring water… it’s hot this time of year. Don’t like the bugs and heat or you just can’t make it to Kenilworth? I have good news for you. You can still see plenty of great flowers, lily pads, and dragonflies at the Associate Artists' Gallery at the Workhouse Art Center in Lorton, VA. Wait … what? Luckily, I have chosen July to feature Life Aquatic with my current offerings on display in Building 9. Come, take a look at my photo of Giant Lily Pads (Victoria amazonica), up-close Lotus and Lily images, colorful lily pads, and dragonflies.
Thank You for visiting, — Chris P.s. What is your favorite aquatic-themed subject? Is it fishes? flowers? fowl? Where do you go to see your favorites? Let's share... maybe we'll discover a great place we hadn't known about. How fun!
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Chris Fedderson — MacroFine Musings Kathy Lawler — Guest Blogger ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ While watering our flowers, specifically our Hellebores, I noticed that some of the leaves were getting wrinkled, curled, and yellow. Since we don’t use pesticides in the garden area, we do expect that we will, from time to time, have plants that have been munched on, or leaves that aren’t doing well. But this damage looked like it was more than a random act of a few bad leaves. Upon closer look, I found Aphids on our plant. Ugh. I also found aphids on our Habanero Peppers growing on the second floor deck. These were easy to wash off with mild household detergent and water — the plants were small and are in a small pot. I wasn’t sure what to do with the Hellebores and other yard plants though, since they are much larger and in the ground, so I went in search of a solution . . . Turns out the Nursery near our house carries containers of Ladybugs (and Praying Mantids) to help one in combating aphids and mealy bugs and other soft-bodied insects! We thought this would be a great solution and Chris would also be able to shoot a few new images of one of his favorite subjects. Chris took this beautiful image when several of our new ladybugs on landed one of our annuals, an Osteospermum, called Blue-Eyed Beauty. As you can see from the image the flowers are yellow, white, and purple with a blue eye in the center. The contrast with the flower and the color of the ladybugs is a spectacular color-combination to photograph; we touched on this in our blog post, Color Me Confused. But back to our aphid issue! There are a variety of natural solutions you can try when combating Aphids. You will be happy to know that the addition of Ladybugs did the trick in our garden. The Ladybugs won the SmackDown and our garden is back in balance. Thank You for visiting, — Kathy P.s. How do you get rid of garden pests? Share your organic methods with us and our readers. Chris Fedderson — MacroFine Musings Kathy Lawler — Guest Blogger ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sounds like something warm and fuzzy… right? Sundews. Conjures up a happy day with sunshine and light with the promise of morning dew. Not so much! Sundews are part of a family of carnivorous plants and there are over 194 species of them. These plants attract insects to their dewy stems. Sundews are perennial, and we have been growing both Sundews and Venus Flytraps indoors for the last two years. We originally bought our Sundews to photograph and the size of this red part in photo is about only a 1/4 of an inch! Then we discovered another thing they were really great for… Turns out that these plants have been our best defense in trying to combat those natty little files that live in the soil around your indoor plants. We had tried several other solutions, including placing sand around the top of the pot but nothing seems to work as well as having a few Sundews in the room with the plants. Needless to say our problem was solved, and in a way that didn’t involve any chemicals or sprays. Sundews have tentacles that are covered with a sticky secretion that is sweet to attract insects and is gooey to ensnare them. Small insects are attracted to the secretions and upon touching them, become stuck to the plant and are not able to escape. The enzymes in the secretions dissolve the insects. Gross right? Your kids and grandkids will love these! We've found Sundews and Venus flytraps these days everywhere – at our local nursery, hardware store, and even in the gift shop of a local science museum. There are some things you need to do to grow these in your home. Ours are sitting in a tray of water to keep the plants moist and you should never let them dry out. We also use distilled water to eliminate the excess minerals in water. We also have them in a very sunny location with 6 or more hours of light per day. And we keep them happy by supplying the bugs! Thank you for visiting! Kathy P.s. Have you used any natural method to combat pests? Have you ever grown carnivorous plants? Share your stories with us; let's compare notes. Chris Fedderson — MacroFine Musings Kathy Lawler — Guest Blogger ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We have had so much rain in Virginia this year. Saturday was our first day to get outside and finish the yard projects we had been trying to do this year. This was not only our first chance to enjoy the Spring — due to the crazy number of rainy days — it was also our last chance to enjoy a bit of Spring — before we get into a long hot summer! This year, to add to our Artsy Fartsy plant containers we made last year, we decided to build a birdbath (or bird spa as I like to call it) to add to the fun aesthetics and to enhance our variety and number of visitors! I built this using terra cotta pots that I spray-painted and stacked. The finished birdbath stands about 3 1/2 feet and is made up of 5 different sized pots. Two upside down terra cotta saucers make up the birdbath part of the piece. Birds do like a shallow-water bath so these saucers worked out quite well. If you do an internet search for terra cotta birdbaths you will find a surprising number of great ideas and different looks for your pending creation. Be sure to read about how to finish the terra cotta pots before you begin. I also did a bit of reading about what birds like best in a birdbath — unfortunately I read this after I had planned, painted, and constructed my birdbath. So here are the do’s and don’ts for you to consider when you build a birdbath for your yard.
You will need to change the water and clean your birdbath often — apparently birds aren’t opposed to pooping on, or in, art. We are still waiting for our birds to discover their new spa. I’m thinking that they are as tired of all the water falling from the sky as we are. Of course, we’re hoping for some great photo ops coming soon and we will share them with you when they happen! Thank You for visiting,
— Kathy, Guest Blogger P.s. Have you added a birdbath to your yard? How did you get the birds to start using it? Do you have any great suggestions you would like to share? We would love to hear your ideas and compare notes! |
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About Chris
I am a Virginia-based photographer and gather my images while hiking in parks and natural areas here at home and in the locations I travel to. I also love to visit arboretums and botanic gardens to find unusual and exotic subjects. Archives
March 2017
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