Two Shadows at the Matthaei Botanical Gardens

My goal yesterday was to drive to the gardens at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, photograph the dwarf lake iris, and get back to East Lansing before I ran out of steam. The planets must have been aligned because I did it! The sun was out, there was no wind, and I captured the shadows of TWO plants.

The dwarf lake iris (Iris lacustris - threatened) was a bit of a challenge to photograph as it was extremely close to the ground, but because of the angle of the shadow and it being located on slanted ground, I was able to get it. I won't be posting any shadow images until I've transferred them onto the invasive plant paper, but here's a quick snapshot of the plant itself.

The bulrush sedge (Carex scirpoidea - threatened) was also in bloom.

Thank you to Mike Kost (Native Plants Specialist) and Laura Mueller (Great Lakes Garden Field Tech) for helping me locate the endangered and threatened plant species at the gardens!

Thank You Eli Kramer

It turns out garlic mustard makes beautiful paper! I definitely want to make more for the show in January, which means more plants need to be collected. That was my goal for the weekend.

Thank you to my son Eli Kramer for taking on the task of collecting two bags FULL of garlic mustard yesterday at Fenner Nature Center. It wasn't an easy job (especially in his flip flops) but well worth the dollar amount I paid him!

On our walk, we spotted Virginia bluebells with garlic mustard growing right beside it. I was anxious to pick this garlic mustard and as I crouched down, a snake slithered not three feet from where I stood. I screamed in a not-so-delicate manner and quickly headed off in a different direction.