March 10, 2014 by C.Condello

A Plant A Day Till Spring – Day 81 – Honeysuckle

“Lonicera maackii – Amur Honeysuckle” – Summer 2013 – Hamnett Way – Wilkinsburg, PA

A Plant a Day till Spring” will highlight one plant a day, starting on the winter solstice (December 21, 2013)… And ending on the vernal equinox (March 20, 2014)… If all goes to plan I will be starting with old Snowdrop photos from 2013… And ending with new photos of Snowdrops in 2014…

9 Days to Go

Lonicera maackii… A shrub variety of Honeysuckle… Known by the common names “Amur Honeysuckle” and “Bush Honeysuckle”… Is an endangered species in its native habitat of Asia.. But it is a noxious exotic-invasive here in the eastern United States… So invasive that it has been banned in 5 states…

Lonicera japonica… Better known as “Japanese Honeysuckle”… Is another highly invasive plant native to Asia… The big difference between “maackii” and “japonica” is the latter is a scrambling vine that can grow 30′ into the canopy of a tree… Japanese Honeysuckle forms a dense mat of tangled vine that regularly reaches 2′ deep… Any plants but the fastest growing species are choked out…

I have yet to get into a fight with Honeysuckle that I would consider myself to have won… Although I can eliminate it… It takes a great deal of effort… The bush variety (Lonicera maackii) must be dug out… This can be nearly impossible given the dense fibrous root system… Honestly… I typically call a friend with a truck… 100′ of chord and a choke-chain… Once they are popped out of the ground the issue of disposal will pop up… The last group of these I pulled probably weighed around 300 – 400 pounds a piece… In the end they required a front loader to load onto the dump truck…

I must admit… Being surrounded in Honeysuckle is not all bad… In the early Summer months when the air is warm and still… The sweet scent of Honeysuckle permeates the humid air… I swear… There is nothing like it… When the breeze blows the scent seems to travel with the morning fog… I tend to write about the scent a lot… To me… Nothing inspires like the sweet scent of Honeysuckle… After drinking my morning coffee for the past ten years among the smell of Honeysuckle… I look forward to it every year…

Another fun quality of Honeysuckle is the nectar contained within the flower is edible and sweet tasting… After picking the flower the base is torn off… The flower is now like a small straw… The taste of the nectar is sweet and minimal… Children love this… I have had the neighborhood children pick this plant clean… And not only were they helping me eliminate the chance of seeds forming… They were staying out of trouble… Even if just for a few moments…

plant petunias and question everything – chriscondello

If you want some science I recommend the following links

Honeysuckle – A general Wikipedia article

Lonicera maackii – The bush variety

Lonicera japonica – the Vining variety

These “Plant a Day Till Spring” posts are simply intended to kill time until spring when I start writing more… My source (where applicable) is Wikipedia.org… The photography is all my own… And I am adding my own information…

This website and all of the information presented within is provided free by the author… Me… It is my sole opinion and is not representative of anyone other than myself… You can contact me directly with questions at – c.condello@hotmail.com

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March 9, 2014 by C.Condello

A Plant A Day Till Spring – Day 80 – Clover

“Clover Sunset” – Summer 2013 – Hamnett Place Community Garden – Wilkinsburg, PA

10 Days to Go – Daylight Savings Begins

Trifolium pratense… Better known as “Red Clover”… Is a plant I regularly find growing among the fescue of America… Some people… Including myself… Are aware of the Nitrogen accumulating properties of this plant and therefore welcome the white pom-pom’s… Others… Like my neighbor Miss Lorna… And many other lawn aficionados the world over… Hate seeing clover interrupting their clean expanse of green…

I am not exactly sure of the numbers… But most of the chemicals applied to greenery in the world are applied to our lawns… More than all of the factory farms in the world… Golf courses alone consume a massive… And I mean a MASSIVE amount of chemicals in the form of fertilizers and full-spectrum broad-leaf herbicides… I grew up within walking distance of a public golf course… I remember a pond on the course that was always lifeless and an odd shade of greenish-blue… Never a good sign…

Clover is really a special plant… In fact… It deserves more than I can possibly give it… I am including a few links I have found useful in the past…

– Trifolium pratense – The general Wikipedia article

– Trifolium pratense – USDA

– Trifolium pratense – PFAF – Plants for a Future Database for the uninitiated

– Trifolium pratense – Kew.org

So I am off to Frick Park to collect seeds… Wish me luck… If all goes to plan I will have my own urban-meadow in a few short months…

plant petunias and question everything – chriscondello

If you want some science – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trifolium_pratense

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March 8, 2014 by C.Condello

A Plant A Day Till Spring – Day 79 – Japanese Knotweed

“Bleeding Knotweed” – Early Summer 2013 – Hamnett Way – Wilkinsburg, PA – Knotweed and food coloring after a summer thunderstorm… Part of a series I shot last year…

Fallopia japonica… Better known as “Japanese Knotweed”… Is one of my mortal enemies… I have spent more time than I would like to admit painstakingly removing this plant from both occupied and abandoned land… I have spent an equally embarrassing amount of time experimenting with everything from salt injections to M80s… Unsuccessfully…

Other English names for Japanese knotweed include fleeceflower, Himalayan fleece vine, monkeyweed, monkey fungus, Hancock’s curse, elephant ears, pea shooters, donkey rhubarb (although it is not a rhubarb), sally rhubarb, Japanese bamboo, American bamboo, and Mexican bamboo (though it is not a bamboo). – Copy and Paste from Wikipedia…

Knotweed is a seriously scary plant… It grows fast… It spreads by seed… And I mean it spreads… Here in Pittsburgh I see it everywhere… One of the most alarming places I find it is next to waterways… Specifically the three rivers here in Pittsburgh… The issue is the seeds float and are carried all over the place… There are now places along the rivers that although they were accessible a few years ago… Have now become so overgrown with Knotweed that they are completely inaccessible…

I should mention Knotweed is edible… The young shoots are relatively tender and resemble Asparagus… It can be eaten raw or cooked…

“Knotweed in Primary” – Early Summer 2013 – Hamnett Way – Wilkinsburg, PA – I have spent so much time removing Knotweed that it felt abnormal to work with it in a positive way… I think that is what struck me as interesting from this series… Instead of destroying the Knotweed… I was decorating it… I was starting to like it…

As far as removal is concerned I have yet to find what I would consider a trick or secret… It has to be dug up… Likewise… The roots send out runners that will grow new plants… These also have to be removed… The above ground part of the plant is waxy and because of this it does not absorb herbicides…

The only way around this is to damage the plant in some way… I often recommend cutting Knotweed down to 12″ stalks and applying an organic herbicide… Or chemical herbicide… I have to admit that while I am largely against the use of chemicals in the garden… I understand the use of them in a few select scenarios… Knotweed happens to be one of those scenarios… I swear it could be on the list of organisms that can survive nuclear fallout… You know… Right up there with Cockroaches, Rats, and Twinkies…

“Reptile” – Early Summer 2013 – Hamnett Way – Wilkinsburg, PA – This year I intend to film this process… The waxy leaves don’t allow the dye to absorb… Instead it flows along the veins like little rivers… I was just as entranced by the process as I was with the results…

These photographs were part of a series I did last Summer – Art After A Storm – I am particularly proud of that series… A rare stroke of genius from yours truly… I can’t wait to play with the idea some more this year…

My #plantaday posts have brought me a surprising amount of joy… I can hardly believe I am coming up on the final ten… It went surprisingly fast… Anyway… I think I am going to try to make this a thing next winter… I may even try to get other people to get involved… The database of plants we could create… I just think it could be incredible…

As a side note… I went looking for Skunk Cabbage blooms yesterday without any success… I also went looking for Snowdrops… Also without any success… If we can get a few warm days I will be able to finish out this series as intended… Fingers crossed…

Now off to play with my new camera… As always…

plant petunias and question everything – chriscondello

If you want some science – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_knotweed

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March 7, 2014 by C.Condello

A Plant A Day Till Spring – Day 78 – Mock Orange

“Philadelphus” – Summer 2013 – North Avenue – Wilkinsburg, PA

Philadelphus… Better known as “Mock Orange”… Named so because the blossoms somewhat resemble those of citrus trees… I can tell you a few things about this plant simply from neighborhood observation… At some time in history… My guess is around the turn of the 20th century… Mock Orange was a very popular shrub… I regularly find it in the yards of hundred year old homes… It is not uncommon for the base to be 3′ or even 4′ around… The wood is very hard… I have broken several sets of cheap pruners working with Mock Orange…

OK… Got that out of the way…

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Big news everyone… If you follow my blog you know photography is a big part of what I do… I think many people would be surprised to know that all of the photographs on my blog so far have been shot on a $90 point-and-shoot camera… To be more specific… I used a Samsung ST150F… And I have to admit it is a great camera… In fact… I will continue to use it… It has become a tool that I don’t see myself giving up anytime soon…

So… I have to admit that I am not the most financially stable person… While my friends were building lives and credit… I was using heroin… As a result… I am pretty much starting at square one… In order for me to be able to buy “big-ticket” items… The stars must perfectly align… Hell has to freeze over and pigs must fly… If all of these things happen during a total eclipse… I can buy something cool…

Well guess what… Thanks to my girlfriend… And a very special blogger – Alexandria Sage – Who I can’t possibly thank enough… I was able to get my hands on a brand new camera… I got a Canon EOS Rebel T3… Brand new… With two lenses… And thanks to my girlfriends incredible ability to save money… I was able to get it $200 cheaper than retail…

I am not sure if I would call it a miracle… But it is interesting how my entire life to this point is somewhat of an anomaly… I think most people would be insane… In jail… Or in a psychiatric hospital… Although I have been all three of these at one time or another… I am not now… I am stronger now than I have been in my entire life…

So there it is… I got a new camera… A camera that I honestly thought was way up above me… A camera that I thought I would never get…

Now the sun is up… And I have to go… I will do a much more formal introduction in the next few days… But for now… Now I have to go familiarize myself with my new friend…

plant petunias and question everything – chriscondello

If you want some science – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philadelphus

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March 6, 2014 by C.Condello

A Plant A Day Till Spring – Day 77 – Spring Beauty

“Claytonia caroliniana” – Spring 2013 – Frick Park – Pittsburgh, PA

Claytonia… Better known by its common name “Spring Beauty”…One of the first wildflowers to bloom in the spring… It is a very small plant growing to around 5” tall… Typically when you find one you will find a thousand more growing close…

My package should be arriving today… I am so excited I can barely type… Concentration eludes me… I had planned to do another plant today… But I had to give up… I just can’t stop watching the window for the mailman…

Why fight it…

plant petunias and question everything – chriscondello

If you want some science – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spring_beauty

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March 5, 2014 by C.Condello

A Plant A Day Till Spring – Day 76 – Kerria japonica

“Kerria japonica” – Spring 2013 – Frick Park – Pittsburgh, PA – Taken as the sun was rising over the houses on Braddock Avenue… The shrubs are located right at the entrance to the park…

“A Plant a Day till Spring” will highlight one plant a day, starting on the winter solstice (December 21, 2013)… And ending on the vernal equinox (March 20, 2014)… If all goes to plan I will be starting with old Snowdrop photos from 2013… And ending with new photos of Snowdrops in 2014…

I needed an easy plant today… So I chose a shrub… We are creeping closer to the final ten-day countdown and I need to organize… It’s looking like my hopes of ending on the same plant I started with are not looking good… I will start searching later this week/weekend… I may also go and check the Skunk Cabbage in Frick Park… I might just get lucky…

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Kerria… A genus consisting of a single species… Kerria japonica… My first contact with this deciduous shrub was last summer in Frick Park… I had walked past them before… But this was the first time I had noticed it in bloom… Truly a stunning shrub… An early spring bloomer… If I remember right it blooms right after the Forsythia… I will take note this year…

When I am out looking for wildflowers to photograph… I look for color… The forest trends toward a single color depending on the time of year… Its kind of like if you squint your eyes everything becomes one shade… Well the forest is just like that… Slight changes in color are what I look for… My girlfriend will be the first to tell you I can pick out the smallest flowers from what she considers a “ridiculous” distance… I guess that would be one of my superpowers if I was a comic book character… Yeah… Take that Superman…

Also interesting… Early spring wildflowers are typically found on the South and East facing slopes in the forest… Summer and Late Summer are typically found on the North and South slopes… Just something I noticed last year…

plant petunias and question everything – chriscondello

If you want some science – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerria_(plant)

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Please excuse my notes…

PawPaw – Strat start-10/31/2013-End-3/1/2014-Plant-3/3/2014X60-3/5/2014X60

Chestnut – Start strat-10/31/2013-End-3/1/2013-Plant-3/5/2014X60

March 4, 2014 by C.Condello

A Plant A Day Till Spring – Day 75 – Siberian Squill

“Squill on Nine Mile Run” – Spring 2013 – Frick Park – Pittsburgh, PA

Scilla… Also known as “Squill”… Squill is one of those words that sounds like it should be followed with a “MWOMP, MWOMP, mwoooomp” anytime the word is spoken…

Squill are tiny plants… Rarely taller than 4″… They are a member of the Asparagacea family… And despite the inclusion of the word “Siberian” in the common name… This plant is not native to Siberia… But is in fact is native to Southwestern Russia and Turkey…

Scilla bulbs can get expensive… Almost shockingly expensive when you consider the fact that this perennial really only blooms for a handful of days per year…

Scilla is most common in the color blue… Whit is the next most common… Then there is what I consider to the “Holy Grail” of Squill… Pink to light-pink…

Scilla is considered an invasive plant in much of the world… The bulb reproduces via offsets… But it also reproduces with highly viable seeds… This reproductive duo can apparently create a shit-storm of plants… So many that they can thickly colonize when planted in perfect soil and conditions…

I recommend naturalizing Squill in your lawn… It will finish blooming and die long before the first lawn cutting…

Sometimes you feel like a Squill… Sometimes you don’t…

plant petunias and question everything – chriscondello

If you want some science – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scilla_siberica

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March 3, 2014 by C.Condello

A Plant A Day Till Spring – Day 74 – Calibrachoa

“Calibrachoa” – Summer 2013 – Whitney Avenue – Wilkinsburg, PA

I don’t often say I hate a plant… But I can honestly say I am not a fan of calibrachoa… I swear when you see it at the nursery in the spring… It is in full bloom… A lot of money has been spent breeding this plant into the multitude of colors currently available… I guess that money has to be made back somehow…

I would be willing to bet a lot of people believe these to be dwarf petunias… After all they are commonly labeled “Mini Petunia” or “Mini-Tunia”… This couldn’t be further from the truth… In my own personal experiences this plant shares none of the same characteristics as Petunias… Where a Petunia is pretty bug resistant… Calibrachoa is one of the first plants eaten… Petunias bloom year-round… While Calibrachoa has a small window at the end of the season…

That is sort of the kick in the ass about this plant… It is really an autumn-bloomer… But when you buy it in the store it is often in full bloom regardless of the season… This is just one trick nurseries often use to get us to buy plants that we would not even notice…

Plants that bloom during a specific time of the year are triggered to do so by the sun… Throughout the course of the year the hours of sunlight we experience is constantly changing,,, For many Autumn blooming flowers this is triggered by the shortening hours of daylight… This trait is called photosensitivity and is a trait shared by many plants… All the nurseryman needs to do to get late-blooming flowers to open is modify the hours of available light in the greenhouse… For many temperate climate plants the magic number is 12 hours on and 12 hours off…

“First Snowfall on Lilac” – Fall 2013 – Whitney Avenue – Wilkinsburg, PA

The one redeeming quality of Calibrachoa is the little fact that it blooms well beyond the first snowfall… In fact… It takes a relatively hard freeze to kill it… In its native range of South America it is a tender perennial… Some might even consider it a tender evergreen… Either way… If you do decide to plant it… Which I won’t be doing again… You will at least have something to photograph well after the first snowfall…

plant petunias and question everything – chriscondello

If you want some science – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calibrachoa

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March 2, 2014 by C.Condello

A Plant A Day Till Spring – Day 73 – Goldenrod

“Goldenrod Pornography” – Summer 2013 – Frick Park – Pittsburgh, PA – The rural Goldenrod…

Solidago… Common name “Goldenrod”… Did you know there are around 200 varieties… I had no clue… In fact… When I woke up this morning and started putting this post together… I realized I knew very little about this plant… In fact… I really only noticed it was because I saw it growing alongside Blue Asters in a ditch next to a road… It was seeing this combination of colors that made me take note… Last year I brought some Solidago Canadensis into my front yard garden… It is now alongside my New England Blue Aster…

“Solidago Canadensis” – Summer 2013 – Center Street – Wilkinsburg, PA – The urban Goldenrod…

Given the fact that I don’t know much about this plant… I have spent the majority of this morning digging through websites… And honestly… I will probably spend the rest of the day doing this… So I am going to provide a few links I would recommend… After the links I will provide some personal experience with transplant and first year cultivation…

– Solidago – A general Wiki on Goldenrods (Solidago)

– Solidago Canadensis – Specific to my photographs

– Solidago Canadensis – USDA

– Solidago Canadensis – USDA Forest Service – Extremely Detailed!

– Solidago Canadensis – Bucknell University – A Must Read!

So here is what I can tell you… When you pop a goldenrod out of the ground it will wilt almost immediately… The goal is to get it in the ground and watered as fast as possible… Once it is planted it will appear to die… Especially if you planted it in full sunlight… Don’t worry… The plant recovers in a week… This can be facilitated by cutting the plant down to 6″ stubs immediately after planting… This stops the plants desire to grow tall and focuses energy back into root production…

If your Goldenrod manages to recover in time to bloom the first year… Don’t expect much… Transplanting seems to set the flowering back a few weeks later than the plants that have not been disturbed… Again… This is not a big deal and the plant will recover and resume normal timing the following year…

plant petunias and question everything – chriscondello

If you want some science – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solidago_canadensis

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March 1, 2014 by C.Condello

A Plant A Day Till Spring – Day 72 – Jewelweed

“Jewelweed” – Summer 2013 – Frick Park – Pittsburgh, PA

Impatiens capensis… But much more commonly called “Orange Jewelweed”… Also less commonly known as “Common Jewelweed”, “Spotted Jewelweed”, “Spotted Touch-me-not”,or “Orange Balsam”… Is an annual native to North America… The common name “Touch-Me-Not” is a result of the seed pods which explode when touched…

Jewelweed was one of the first plants I attempted to use medicinally… I grew up in a small community called South Park, PA… For those wondering… It is directly South of North Park… The community is largely wooded and as a result I spent a large amount of time among the trees… We were a motley crew that lived a high impact lifestyle of building forts and tree-houses… As a result we got hurt a lot… A friend had learned of this plants use as a rash treatment in Boy Scouts… Because of this we applied Jewelweed to every wound and burn we got…

So imagine my disappointment a few years ago when I returned to this plant… As is typical I can spend a large amount of time digging for info… Sadly… One thing is pretty clear to me… The medicinal qualities of this plant can not be confirmed… In fact… Most professionals agree that the effects are most likely placebo… But as far as I am concerned… If a plant works for you… Then who cares what modern medicine says…

Last summer I noticed massive patches of Jewelweed dying in Frick Park… This makes me question whether or not this plant is affected by the “Impatiens Downy Mildew” that is currently ravaging my region… Making growing Impatiens all but impossible the last two years…

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So… I have a huge announcement coming next week… Literally… It is coming in the mail and should be here early next week… Made possible by a donation from a fellow blogger who will be thanked properly in the near future… Either way… I have a game changer on the way… Stay tuned…

plant petunias and question everything – chriscondello

If you want some science – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impatiens_capensis

Remember to tip… My Bitcoin digital wallet address is… 1JsKwa3vYgy4LZjNk4YmPEHFJNjPt2wDJj

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