Tuesday, June 7, 2011

fern entanglement & the garden state parkway

I am coming to believe that I am fueled not just by food, but by sunshine. The lengthening days are doing wonders for my energy. Yesterday, I started my day with a 4.5 mile run. And then Best Beloved and I drove out to my dad’s house to mow the lawn. (Long story. I’ll spare you.) I burned some serious calories. And then we ran some errands. And then it was off to rehearsal #4 of 5 for a performance of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony (the “Ode to Joy” symphony). Busy, busy, busy! So: no blog post yesterday, obviously.

And then today, we hopped in the car and headed down to New Jersey to visit family. The sun giveth me energy…sitting in a car all day taketh it away.

The game plan for tomorrow: a run! surprise, surprise! and a trip to the beach. I will now plunder pictures from yesterday and earlier.

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Lust.

 

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This jack-in-the-pulpit seems to have given up the ghost.

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Will there be berries? Dunno.

I am now officially confused about the ferns. These are possibly ostrich ferns, maybe cinnamon ferns, not sure. They’re tall – at least four feet; they grow in a circle.Originally, I thought might be infested with some kind of gall-forming insect. (Just a wild guess.) Then I noticed the weird behavior starting up on new fronds, with no big buggies in sight, so I’m now onto theory #2: infestation of smaller entity, perhaps fungus? virus? mites?

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That’s one frond, running left to right, and two leaves from either side are bending in towards the central rib. There’s also a rust color along the central rib and the main vein of the affected leaves. (Leaves? Is that what they’re called in a fern?)

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Here’s another shot of this process in its early stages. More discoloration.

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That rusty stuff, and the little white dots…mites? fungus?

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Hm.

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This is the underside of a different frond.

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I wonder if the damage will be limited to the four to six leaves per frond, or will it spread?

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Very strange.

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