Flowers of Late Winter

Many of the earliest flowers are beginning the parade of bloom for 2008 at Powell Gardens. Here Purple Vernal Witchhazel (Hamamelis vernalis 'Purpurea,' a selection of our native Ozark witchhazel) is backlit in the winter sun. Because of last year's Easter freeze we do not have any hybrid witchhazels with full bloom this spring (they spent all year recovering and didn't set flower buds for this spring). Yes, we have to wait until 1:48 a.m. in our sleep on Thursday, March 20, to usher in the Vernal Equinox and thus spring for 2008. The first flowers of spring are actually late winter flowers and are easily two weeks behind "normal" this year.

The tiny purple flowers of the "Tommy" Crocus (Crocus tommasinianus) are one of the early, species type crocus to bloom. We like them because they are our only "squirrel proof" crocus. You need a planting of at least 100 to look like anything! In fact only on the Island Garden can we safely grow other crocuses, otherwise the squirrels are quick to run off with them!

Winter Aconite (Eranthis hyemalis) is also one of our earliest flowers and it has begun to self sow in the Rock & Waterfall Garden. I photographed this one in bud but the flowers do open up to the sunshine and look somewhat like buttercups. We have thousands of winter aconite in the Rock & Waterfall Garden.

It has been a long winter with more clouds and precipitation than normal. So much that our greenhouse plants are even behind schedule! These first blooms outdoors for the 2008 season are especially welcome this year. We are thankful for all the moisture!

I just saw the first hatchling butterfly of the year but it was too quick for me to identify -- a little hairstreak or elfin. The robins are back on the lawns out here and Killdeer back at their stations on the dam of our lake. Eastern Phoebes came back yesterday -- a true insect eating bird so you know spring cannot be far off now. Come out and enjoy the splendors of late winter at Powell Gardens, a sight for sore eyes this season.


Photographs taken by Alan Branhagen in the Rock & Waterfall Garden at Powell Gardens.

Big Trees at Powell Gardens

Richard Heter, Horticulturist - Grounds & Natural Resources, kneels beside one of our fallen big trees of Powell Gardens. Last year, a storm blew down our largest Shagbark Hickory Carya ovata, the same day the patriarch of Powell Gardens, George Powell, Jr. passed away. The tree fell across our nature trail and Richard cut a swath through it so school children and hikers could pass and experience this massive tree. The fallen tree will become the home for many creatures and replenish the woodland soil. We must remember trees are mortal too.


The tree has 92 rings at a height of more than 15 feet. Hickories grow notoriously slow when young, concentrating their energy on an amazing tap root so that they can survive the vagaries of the Midwestern weather (This tree may have been 150 years old). This is why this beautiful tree is never for sale in nurseries -- you can't grow a saleable tree in two years. A hickory takes time, which is also money anymore. No one is willing to pay $25 for an 18-inch tree even though it would be a wise investment in the future.



Because of our fallen hickory we wanted to make sure we knew where all the big trees on our 955 acres are. Powell Gardens was originally more than 60 percent prairie according to the original land surveyor's notes, but there was forest along our creek and in scattered pockets. Powell Gardens has some huge trees in its remnant woodlands. Richard has begun measuring the top three largest of each native species. The inventory will help us make better land management decisions: as the great conservationist Aldo Leopold said, "The first step in intellegent tinkering is to save all the parts."

It is very hard to photograph a huge tree. Here Richard stands beside our largest Northern Red Oak Quercus rubra. Richard is over 6 feet tall and a former football player! The buttressed base of this tree is nearly 6 feet across.


Here Richard inspects our tallest Shagbark Hickory. The characteristic shaggy bark is farther up the trunk which soars up around 50 feet before its first branch. We have not yet taken this tree's measurements -- it's possibly near 100' tall.


There are several massive Sycamores Platanus occidentalis along our creek. At 6 feet in diameter, they have a long way to grow because when the land was settled many were reported so massive and hollow they could be a makeshift shelter for cattle!


I always admire the spectacular crown of sycamore trees in the winter. This is the crown of the sycamore Richard was looking up at. The highest branches are certainly over 100 feet up. Sycamores shed their bark to sluff off any vines that may try to climb up in their crown and compete for sunlight. The fresh new bark is always a chalky white and beautiful against the winter sky. Sycamores remain a strong tree even though they grow fast and naturally hollow out with age. Their hollow trunks were the original home of Chimney Swift birds, which now nest in chimneys.

Sycamores were the largest tree in eastern North America in overall size. Eastern White Pines and Tulip Trees may have been taller but never as massive. They are not a good tree for a small yard but are at home along a river, creek or swale where they are native.


We will have more on Powell Gardens' big and old trees in a future blog. We are thankful for and inspired by Chuck Brasher of Kansas City, MO, for keeping track of Greater Kansas City's big trees (Jackson and Clay Counties in Missouri and Johnson and Wyandotte Counties in Kansas). You can see Chuck's roster of the Greater KC's big trees on our website http://www.powellgardens.org/.

All photographs taken by Alan Branhagen on January 8, 2008 at Powell Gardens.

FIRST BUTTERFLY OF THE SEASON!

I hiked the Byron Shutz Nature Trail here at Powell Gardens on Saturday, January 5. Our official weather station said it was 62F! The trail is sloppy from this thaw over a low of +6F earlier this week, but still a great hike if you wear appropriate footwear.

On the north side of the native prairie remnant just north of the gas line crossing (butterfly hilltopping interpretive sign) I saw my first butterfly of the season. It flushed up from the prairie and flew about 30 feet before landing. It was obviously groggy and began opening and closing its wings and then positioned itself to warm up in sun. It was a female Goatweed Leafwing! I enjoyed watching her with close focusing binoculars and was tempted to pick her up but let her be. Goatweed Leafwings are one of five species of butterflies that overwinter as adult butterflies here. There are no eggs, caterpillars or chrysalises -- just the adult butterflies out there now and they will begin mating and egg laying when the goatweeds (a native annual) germinate in midspring.

Other butterfly species including the Mourning Cloak, Question Mark, Eastern Comma and Gray Comma overwinter here as adult butterflies. Yes, they freeze solid and come back to life! They appreciate brush piles, log piles, loose bark or similar situations to find winter quarters. All these butterflies can be seen flying on warm sunny winter days just like this weekend and the hilltop portion of our nature trail is one of the best places to see them. Most butterflies overwinter here as chrysalises, quite a few as caterpillars and a few species of our hairstreak butterflies overwinter as eggs.

The Goatweed Leafwing is one of my favorite butterflies and Powell Gardens is one of the best places to see them anywhere. We have lots of wild goatweed growing on our prairie ridge and the male butterflies like to go the highest point around to stake out a territory to attract a mate. Many species of butterflies do this; it's called hilltopping. If you are a butterfly and looking for love, fly to the highest point around! The males are brilliant velvety orange above and look just like a dead leaf with their wings closed. Hence their name is a combination of this cryptic leaf-like wing pattern and the butterfly's food (host) plant. Males will fly out and investigate anything orange that passes by. The females are a more modest orange above with a band of yellow-orange on their forewing.

Come out and enjoy a hike on the Byron Shutz Nature Trail here at Powell Gardens and if it is a mild, sunny winter day you just may see some of our winter butterflies.

Alan Branhagen

Winter Birds

Powell Gardens is a fine place to watch winter birds. Feeders have been placed outside the cafe for your entertainment and enjoyment to watch while you have lunch. The feeders have been a flurry of activity during the recent snow and ice as birds have had a tough time finding food with everything encased in ice.

At the cafe feeders watch for many Northern Cardinals (the official name of our cardinal or red bird), Blue Jays, American Goldfinches (in their drab winter garb), Purple Finches (males in raspberry stained attire -- females streaked brown with a white eye-brow), Black-capped Chickadees, Tufted Titmice, and a plethora of unique winter sparrows including: the Dark-eyed (Slate-colored) Junco (often called "snowbirds"), American Tree Sparrow (with a rusty cap and black spot on their tummy), Song Sparrow (streaked with a tummy spot), White-crowned Sparrow (adult birds have a white racing stripe on their head) and the local endemic and largest of all American sparrows: the Harris's Sparrow (with a black bib) which is almost as big as a cardinal. Harris's Sparrows nest near Hudson Bay and winter in the lower Great Plains and are much sought after birds by East and West Coast birders.

Virtually every species of wintering sparrow has shown up feeding on cracked corn sprinkled on the walls outside the cafe (Harris's, White-crowned, White-throated, American Tree, junco, Song, and Swamp Sparrow are regular; while Lincoln's, Vesper, Savannah, and Field Sparrows are rare here in winter). The Missouri Department of Conservation puts out a nice pamphlet on the identification of winter sparrows in Missouri -- they are not all just "little brown birds!" Come out and take a look at their subtle and beautiful plumages.

We have aerators in the lake which keep it unfrozen so Powell Gardens is also a good place to see waterfowl. Take a moment to look at the ubiqutous geese! This time of year our local big races of Canada Geese are joined by northern (truly Canadian) "Lesser" Canada Geese which are much smaller. There are always a few of the smallest geese, now officially considered a separate species named Cackling Goose -- these birds have a squeaky voice and are the same size as a Mallard duck. They simply look like miniature, short-necked, little billed Canada Geese. Occasionally our flock of mixed geese contains a Greater White-fronted Goose, white Snow Goose and its dark form "Blue Goose" and the small Ross's Goose here on occasion (it looks like a miniature Snow Goose).

There are some local free-flying (feral) Greylag Geese (the European goose that is at the opening of the movie "Winged Migration") around too and they have hybridized with the local Canada Geese so you may see some weird unidentifyable hybrid geese here too. I put them on our bird checklist because so many visitors ask what they are: "What's the loud goose with the orange bill and the big white butt?" All our geese are a lot to learn if you are a beginner but join us on February 17 and we will take the time to show you all these nuances (regardless of your level of skill) during our bird hikes for the Great Backyard Bird Count sponsored by the Cornell Labratory of Ornithology.

Employees have reported many other birds on the immediate grounds so keep a keen eye and ear while visiting. A Great Blue Heron likes to hang out on the ice free shore below the west bridge to the island garden and was joined by a Wilson's Snipe last Friday. Mallards, Gadwall, Northern Shoveler and Common Goldeneye are species of ducks that can be seen with our geese lately. The large, crow-sized Pileated Woodpecker has been making appearances and a wintering flock of beautiful Red-headed Woodpeckers can be seen in the woods off the walk to the chapel. Cedar Waxwings continue to be seen along with a few Eastern Bluebirds feeding on what little fruit remains. I shall hike the long Byron Shutz Nature Trail for a future report! Birds add considerable life, sound and color to the winter garden so come out and take a look.
Good birding,
Alan Branhagen

Hungry birds

The wild food crop is the worst I have ever seen in 11 years! The Easter freeze killed the buds and flowers of so many plants that there is a substantial reduction in fruit for migrant and wintering birds. Linda Williams took these shots of Cedar Waxwings feeding in the Powell Gardens parking lot on Nov. 30. Our only locally native evergreen tree, the redcedar (and cedar waxwing namesake) was one plant that still produced “fruit.”

To be botanically correct, we are actually talking about cones that have fused together in berry-like form so birds and wildlife will eat them and pass the seeds along. (Only flowering plants have fruit, all conifers like the redcedar produce cones.) The redcedars will be especially important winter food this year. Linda also captured the waxwings feeding on native Smooth Sumac which we planted around the parking lot. Because sumac blooms in midsummer on new wood its flowering and fruiting was normal this year. Sumac fruit are almost always emergency food for wildlife and little used until late winter or early spring – a point well taken for this year.

--posted by Alan Branhagen, Director of Horticulture

Bird sightings

A rare young female Surf Scoter visited Powell Gardens yesterday! The Surf Scoter is a diving duck that nests in the boreal forest of the North America, Europe and Asia. It is a rare migrant in the Midwest (outside the Great Lakes) and to see a lone first year female like this one is an identification challenge as she is rarely depicted in field guides.

Linda Williams of Liberty, Mo., came out and took this good photograph of our bird. Surf Scoters are in severe decline, probably from acid rain and global warming as they nest under spruce trees near remote, far northern lakeshores. They can be regularly seen in rafts off the East or West Coast in winter where they dive for shellfish. They have been reported to eat good quantities of invasive, exotic zebra mussels in the Great Lakes. Powell Gardens’ bird went on long dives – we have lots of clams in the bottom of our lake. Unfortunately our bird stayed only from dawn to dusk on Friday, November 30, but she will be added to the Powell Gardens bird checklist as a rare migrant.