Kathy's Oakland Walks blog

Pretty rusty at this, please let me say. This is the rotunda at the National Gallery of Art. In February. It sure was sweet to be surrounded by flowers.

They didn't always look so good!

Here's a pic of the large planters that are outside of the Carnegie Museum Of Art on Forbes Ave. This entrance is at Forbes and Craig. I generally walk by every morning; the fountain is not on when I go by though. As I walked past the planters when there was just dirt in them, I wondered if perhaps the flowers were grown from seed. Nope. As you look at the progression of photos you'll see the process by which the planters got the beautiful look you see above.

Remember May? We were glad to see plain old dirt! The snow had really only been gone for five weeks.

 Okay, I agree they do look good here. But do you see how much smaller the planter on the right is? And that's the planter that someone put the large spiky plant in? I immediately thought the landscaper or whomever hadn't followed directions and switched the center plants. I think the photo below proves my theory...

I call this the Cousin It photo! Things did get better though when the museum barber was called...

Well, it did work. The planters look good again, Cousin It has a whole new outlook on life. Grows rapidly too!

 

Weeds - not the TV show, but....as Ella Wheeler Wilcox put it "a weed is but an unloved flower".

What is a weed?  A plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered.  ~Ralph Waldo Emerson, Fortune of the Republic, 1878

Obviously I've moved from the breathtaking beauty of "actual" flowers to their sad, maligned cousins... the weeds. I've been amazed and moved by their tenacity and chutzpah! Where there's a crack in the sidewalk, there they'll be. What follows are photos of "weeds" - okay, some are so obviously weeds, those things you don't want growing on your property by any stretch of the imagination (for instance, the tall monstrosity in front of the house on Bates) - and some I find are actually lovely to look at. You be the judge!

   

 
 
The lavender weed above is thistle. Tha-weet, ithn't it? I walk by it in the morning on my way to the bus stop. The one below that with the pretty little blue flower is on South Bouquet Street, on the right side going down towards the post office. The yard of the apartment building is at eye level and this weed is right on the edge of the yard. I don't know what it's called. Please let me know if you know! I did learn the thistle's name by going to this website: http://njaes.rutgers.edu/weeds/thumbnail.asp. And while I'm giving credit... the Emerson quote was found on http://www.quotegarden.com/weeds.html. I'm guessing you can imagine how many links I found when I put "purple weed" in as a search. OMG.

Here's a real weed, though:

This tall weed above is on South Bouquet too; it's down near the PO. In looking around for the name of the pretty blue weed up above, I stumbled upon another weed website: http://www.ppws.vt.edu/weedindex.htm. I'm still searching for the name of the giant unfortunate who-could-love-this weed above!

I don't know what this is; I will find out! It's a lovely little pale yellow flower, look a little like an orchid. There is an expanse of this stuff near my bus stop in Forest Hills.

Orange in Oakland (and I ain't talking Dunkin Donuts)

I took a quick jaunt to the Cathedral early this afternoon and was lured into the garden at the Stephen Foster Memorial (adjacent to the Cathedral) by the breathtaking orange irises. Every morning I walk by what I think are begonias in the gardens at Schenley Plaza. They are a striking orange too. My photo below doesn't do them justice...

Anyway, I got going on the orange thing and the photos are below.

These next two are also at the Stephen Foster Memorial: the zinnia is in the bed next to the irises and the dahlia is on the walkway.

The photos that follow are from Schenley Plaza, across Forbes Avenue. Tiger lilies, the lovely portulaca again and what I think is a begonia. Does anyone know for sure? My resident flower expert just told me it's a New Guinea impatiens. Thanks Deb! I knew you'd know.

 
   And now, a little more orange. No flowers or plants though. But I felt compelled to keep with orange.

Butterfly at the library...

I had my camera at the ready because I wondered were the flowers on the oakleaf hydrangea really turning pink? Then I saw the butterfly, took the photo, got my books and headed back to work. Yes the flowers do turn pink... "Flowers age in colour from creamy white, aging to pink and by autumn and winter are a dry, papery rusty-brown" says Wikipedia.

On Sennott Street, which I travel to get to the library, there is a wild attempt at what... I don't know, keeping the soil from floating down the sidewalk in the rain? Anyway, one day there was a border of bales of hay. I took a photo and since then not much has changed, just the same unattractive bales of hay. Until one morning (I don't usually walk by there in the early morning, but I wanted to check out the lamb's ears at Mervis, so I was in the neighborhood) when I noticed the mushrooms growing in the hay. I'm not saying it's attractive, mind you... just interesting. :)

  

Lamb's Ear (Stachys byzantina)

In early March I snapped the photo below of Lamb's Ear welcoming the world, after surviving the big snow and ensuing melt. It was soooo flattened and mushy. I had intended to get back down to see how it progressed long before the end of June... I think I'll blame the rain. The Lamb's Ear is outside of Mervis Hall, on Clemente Drive.

OMG, I just noticed the cigarette butt. How sad, didn't seem to do much harm though: take a look....

Wild Sky just before the Thunderstorm

When I left my house this morning the sky was almost clear. As I got off the bus on Wilkins, a little after 7, I could see some cloud cover forming. As I walked past CMU's Hamburg Hall I began to quicken my steps. The sky looked unmerciful and I knew if the heavens opened, my umbrella would be no match for what ensued. Here's a photo taken from Schenley Plaza. The sky looks like the mixing bowl when the recipe says to fold in the egg whites! I made it into my building before the rain; as I turned the corner into my cube the rain was pounding on the window. Phew!

Another "Now and Then" Set of Photos...

This morning I stopped at CMU, in front of the Jonathan Borofsky sculpture Walking to the Sky. I had taken a photo last March and wanted a shot from the same spot, minus the mud and snow! Here are the photos.... now who doesn't really mind the heat and occasional giant thunderstorm!

The Very Fragrant Littleleaf Linden

Wowza.... as I turned onto Forbes Avenue from Beeler yesterday I was immersed in a fragrance that was impossible to miss. It was big. And pleasant. I walked up to one of the many trees that run alongside the CMU parking garage and broke off a small piece. Some googling at work (lunch hour, ha-ha) and I discovered it's the Littleleaf Linden. Later I stopped over to chat with Cait and Rachel and they had taken a walk at lunch and they too were overwhelmed by the beauty of the trees. Lots of bees was one of Rachel's  comments. There were a lot of bees this morning. Big bumblebees!

Here are two photos taken this morning...

 

Oakleaf Hydrangea and beautiful blue Salvia...

Here's another beautiful shrub that's caught my eye frequently these last few weeks. I learned yesterday, to my surprise, (thank you Michelle!) that it's a variety of hydrangea (learning a lot about them lately!). It's called Oakleaf Hydrangea, and here's one that's outside the Carnegie Museum in Oakland-
This afternoon as I walked back from the library I took the photo below. It's Salvia (thanks again to Linda's friend and also to Deb) and it's along the walkway between Hillman Library and Posvar Hall. Isn't it beautiful?