It's a peak time for birds in the Garden

The chorus of bird songs that welcome me each morning as I walk up the hill to my office is amazing. 

Many are familiar, but they're punctuated with new birds as migrants come home or move through.

I heard a Louisiana Waterthrush yesterday with Patrick McMillan (the director of the Garden) along the streamside trail beyond the Woodland Wildflower Garden  -- it's full of different species of ferns, Jack-in-the-Pulpit, and a few trilliums.

I heard the song again today on a lunchtime walk with a good friend.  

Males sing profusely when they're establishing their territories, and I heard the song at the same spot as yesterday.  Hopefully, he'll attract a mate and establish a nest in the eroded bank at that spot -- it seems like the right habitat.

Garden volunteers visiting from JC Raulston Arboretum

It's always great to have gardeners visiting the Garden, and this was a special group.

I hosted a group of volunteers from the JC Raulston Arboretum at NC State in Raleigh this morning, showing them as many highlights as I could fit in -- in a couple of hours --a challenge more than ever. 

The Upstate visit, orchestrated by Marian St. Clair (Garden columnist at the Greenville News and SC Master Gardener) and Beth Jimenez (of the JC Raulston volunteers) included visits to private gardens in Greenville, nursery visits in Greenville and Seneca, the visit to SCBG, and a special tour of Chuck and Betty Cruickshank's personal garden in Clemson  (Chuck shared the story of the SCBG Hosta Garden with us on site).

The Garden is alive with colors of green in spring - this has been a wonderful spring for natives and ornamentals alike. 

More trilliums than I've ever seen before were in flower, and later today, SCBG Director Patrick McMillan showed me a Silene polypetala in full flower that's just appeared in the Woodland Wildflower Garden. 

Silene polypetala flower (P. McMillan)

None of us has ever seen this plant in flower there before -- nor do we know its origin -- but some combination of good conditions has supported the flowering of this rare Georgia native in our Garden!

Pond sliders and frogs

This evening I heard frogs calling from the Cherokee World View Garden pond coming down the hill from a brief office visit.

I don't know all of their identities,  but there were multiple different calls -- probably including a tree frog in the mix, too.  What a great reminder of spring being here. The crickets have started to sing, too.  Summer is on the way.

red-eared slider

young pond slider (very small!

These pond sliders were hanging out on the Duck Pond dam -- I was looking for the Northern Water Snakes that like to bask there on rocks.  But the red-eared pond sliders were fun to see, too.

Second Chance Plant Sale

If you've missed our Plant Sales so far, there's a Second Chance Sale coming up this weekend.  I'm keen on the Sprouting Wings pots, bird's nests, and decorated eggs.

These blown eggs from our Sprouting Wings program are beautiful (I snapped them up yesterday at our Earth Day event).

There's still space in the Psanky egg-decorating class, too, rescheduled from last week to this coming Tuesday.

Sprouting Wings decorated eggs

First monarchs

I didn't see them at the Garden, but in our front meadow at home (less than a mile away).

monarch on young milkweed shoot

I saw two monarchs flitting around, and one ovipositing (apparently) on our common milkweed plants (emerged and growing nicely).

Milkweed shoot (Asclepias syriaca)

Calycanthus fruits and a morel

Calycanthus fruits (seeds eaten by Golden Mice)

Along the Heusel Nature Trail last Saturday, we took a look at some Calycanthus fruits  -- the seeds totally absent, and the large openings (and chew marks) indicating the cause: Golden mice! Patrick mentioned that he recently did a video piece of a golden mouse eating the seeds for an upcoming Expeditions program.  Something not to miss.

My friend and former colleague at the Garden (Jennifer Bausman) was also part of the Saturday group. She was able to pass on this 'ecological story' to a group of OLLI (Osher Lifelong Learning Institute) folks in a hiking group this week. It's a nice reflection of how learning about the natural world works.

We even saw a morel (a prized edible mushroom) along one of the woodland trails.

Northern Water Snake

Patrick McMillan took us on a great Garden walk this morning (more sightings -birds, and plants- to come), but I was glad to see the family group of Northern Water Snakes that enjoy the sun on the rocks supporting the Duck Pond Dam.

I'd seen them yesterday, all curled up together.  But today, I had my camera along.  They moved around a bit, but finally one was photogenic!

Northern Water Snake (Nerodia spidedon)

Folks often think these snakes are water moccasins or cottonmouths (they don't live above the fall line of South Carolina, so aren't here in the Upstate).