Hostas in the Garden, a little History

Golden Tiara Hosta

Hostas are natives of the East and of Japan in particular, and when they were first discovered by Westerners their correct placing in the plant kingdom was not at all clear. Englebert Kaempfer (1651-1715), a doctor and botanist with the Dutch East India Company, was the first Westerner ever to see a hosta and certainly the first to draw and describe one. He gave them names in the discursive, pre-Linnaean style. One he called Joksan, vulgo gibbooshi Gladiolus Plantagenis folio (meaning 'the common hosta with the plantain-like leaves'); the other he named simply Gibbooshi altera (meaning 'the other hosta'). The next doctor and botanist to work at the Dutch East India Company's trading post in Japan, Carl Thunberg (1743-1828), renamed them in the then new Linnaean binomial style, calling one of them Aletris japonica, transferring it to the genus Hemerocallis in 1784.

The generic name Hosta was first proposed by the Austrian botanist Leopold Trattinick (1761-1848) in 1812. It honors an Austrian, Nicholas Thomas Host (1761-1834), who was not only a botanist, the author of Flora Austriaca and a work on grasses, but also physician to the Emperor Frances II. A further generic name, Funkia, was then proposed by Kurt Sprengel in 1817, but this name was eventually to be rejected as illegitimate. However, it passed into many European languages as the common name for hostas.

Meanwhile, the hostas themselves had started reaching the West. The first species to arrive was H. plantaginea, seed of which was sent by the French consul in Macao to the Jardin des Plantes in Paris somewhere between 1784 and 1789. Originally called Hemerocallis plantaginea, this hosta was soon grown by the thousand in public gardens in France. Another Chinese species, H. ventricosa, followed soon after.

The main influx of hostas to the West was started about 40 years later by Philipp von Siebold (1791-1866), another of the several doctor and botanists who worked in Japan, his first shipment of Japanese hostas reaching Europe in 1829. He was subsequently followed by other famous plant collectors such as Robert Fortune (1813 -1880) and the American Thomas Hogg Jr (1819 -1892).

The practice of introducing hostas from their native countries to the West still continues to this day. In 1985 an expedition mounted by the US National Arboretum brought back two new species of hosta from Korea, H. yingeri and H. jonesii.

Are there dangers in being 'spiritual but not religious'?

By John Blake, CNN




"I'm spiritual but not religious."


It's a trendy phrase people often use to describe their belief that they don't need organized religion to live a life of faith.


But for Jesuit priest James Martin, the phrase also hints at something else: egotism.


"Being spiritual but not religious can lead to complacency and self-centeredness," says Martin, an editor at America, a national Catholic magazine based in New York City. "If it's just you and God in your room, and a religious community makes no demands on you, why help the poor?"


Religious debates erupt over everything from doctrine to fashion. Martin has jumped into a running debate over the "I'm spiritual but not religious" phrase.


The "I'm spiritual but not religious" community is growing so much that one pastor compared it to a movement. In a 2009 survey by the research firm LifeWay Christian Resources, 72 percent of millennials (18- to 29-year-olds) said they're "more spiritual than religious." The phrase is now so commonplace that it's spawned its own acronym ("I'm SBNR") and Facebook page: SBNR.org.


But what exactly does being "spiritual but not religious" mean, and could there be hidden dangers in living such a life?


Did you choose "Burger King Spirituality"?


Heather Cariou, a New York City-based author who calls herself spiritual instead of religious, doesn't think so. She's adopted a spirituality that blends Buddhism, Judaism and other beliefs.


"I don't need to define myself to any community by putting myself in a box labeled Baptist, or Catholic, or Muslim," she says. "When I die, I believe all my accounting will be done to God, and that when I enter the eternal realm, I will not walk though a door with a label on it."

People seem not to have the time nor the energy or interest to delve deeply into any one faith or religious tradition.

--June-Ann Greeley, theology professor



BJ Gallagher, a Huffington Post blogger who writes about spirituality, says she's SBNR because organized religion inevitably degenerates into tussles over power, ego and money.


Gallagher tells a parable to illustrate her point:


"God and the devil were walking down a path one day when God spotted something sparkling by the side of the path. He picked it up and held it in the palm of his hand.


"Ah, Truth," he said.


"Here, give it to me," the devil said. "I'll organize it."


Gallagher says there's nothing wrong with people blending insights from different faith traditions to create what she calls a "Burger King Spirituality -- have it your way."


She disputes the notion that spiritual people shun being accountable to a community.


"Twelve-step people have a brilliant spiritual community that avoids all the pitfalls of organized religion," says Gallagher, author of "The Best Way Out is Always Through."


"Each recovering addict has a 'god of our own understanding,' and there are no priests or intermediaries between you and your god. It's a spiritual community that works.''


Nazli Ekim, who works in public relations in New York City, says calling herself spiritual instead of religious is her way of taking responsibility for herself.


Ekim was born in a Muslim family and raised in Istanbul, Turkey. She prayed to Allah every night, until she was 13 and had to take religion classes in high school.Then one day, she says she had to take charge of her own beliefs.


"I had this revelation that I bow to no one, and I've been spiritually a much happier person," says Ekim, who describers herself now as a Taoist, a religious practice from ancient China that emphasizes the unity of humanity and the universe.


"I make my own mistakes and take responsibility for them. I've lied, cheated, hurt people -- sometimes on purpose. Did I ever think I will burn in hell for all eternity? I didn't. Did I feel bad and made up for my mistakes? I certainly did, but not out of fear of God."


Going on a spiritual walkabout


The debate over being spiritual rather than religious is not just about semantics. It's about survival.


Numerous surveys show the number of Americans who do not identify themselves as religious has been increasing and likely will continue to grow.


A 2008 survey conducted by Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, dubbed these Americans who don't identify with any religion as "Nones."

"I don't need to define myself in a box labeled Baptist, or Catholic, or Muslim."

--Heather Cariou, a spiritual but not religious seeker


Seminaries, churches, mosques and other institutions will struggle for survival if they don't somehow convince future generations that being religious isn't so bad after all, religion scholars warn.


Jennifer Walters, dean of religious life at Smith College in Massachusetts, says there's a lot of good in old-time religion.


Religious communities excel at caring for members in difficult times, encouraging members to serve others and teaching religious practices that have been tested and wrestled with for centuries, Walters says.


"Hymn-singing, forms of prayer and worship, teachings about social justice and forgiveness -- all these things are valuable elements of religious wisdom," Walters says. "Piecing it together by yourself can be done, but with great difficulty."


Being a spiritual Lone Ranger fits the tenor of our times, says June-Ann Greeley, a theology and philosophy professor.


"Religion demands that we accord to human existence some absolutes and eternal truths, and in a post-modern culture, that becomes all but impossible," says Greeley, who teaches at Sacred Heart University in Connecticut.


It's much easier for "spiritual" people to go on "spiritual walkabouts," Greeley says.


"People seem not to have the time nor the energy or interest to delve deeply into any one faith or religious tradition," Greeley says. "So they move through, collecting ideas and practices and tenets that most appeal to the self, but making no connections to groups or communities."


Being spiritual instead of religious may sound sophisticated, but the choice may ultimately come down to pettiness, says Martin, the Jesuit priest, who writes about the phrase in his book, "The Jesuit Guide to (Almost Everything)."


"Religion is hard," he says. "Sometimes it's just too much work. People don't feel like it. I have better things to do with my time. It's plain old laziness."

DuMOR® Sheep Mineral from Tractor Supply

It's rebuilding time for ewes and rams and a time of rapid growth for lambs. Don't forget to feed salt and mineral mix it helps your sheep make better use of summer pastures and grain rations. Be sure not to feed any minerals that are designed for cattle, goats, horses or pigs. They all contain way too much copper for sheep. I use DuMOR® Sheep Mineral. It is designed to provide the needed minerals and vitamins, including salt, to sheep grazing pasture, rangeland, or drylot forages, but may also be used in a variety of feeding programs. Provides properly balanced amounts of critical vitamins and minerals needed to support optimal health, reproduction and growth, providing what is often lacking or unbalanced in native pastures, forages, or unfortified concentrates.
Contains no added copper and is appropriate for all classes and ages of sheep
May be fed free-choice, as a top dress or mixed into the ration


Guaranteed Analysis:
Calcium (Ca) (min.) 10.00%, Calcium (Ca) (max.) 12.00%, Phosphorus (P) (min.) 6.00%, Salt (NaCl) (min.) 16.00%, Salt (NaCl) (max.) 19.00%, Sodium (Na) (min.) 7.10%, Sodium (Na) (max.) 8.50%, Magnesium (Mg) (min.) .75%, Potassium (K) (min.) 1.00%, Iodine (I) (min.) 100.00ppm, Selenium (Se) (min.) 20.00ppm, Selenium (Se) (max.) 21.00ppm, Zinc (Zn) (min.) 1200.00ppm, Vitamin A (min.) 40,000IU/lb, Vitamin D3 (min.) 15,000IU/lb, Vitamin E (min.) 100IU/lb, Ruminant meat and bone meal free.

Feeding instructions:
Feed free-choice from a sheltered feeder at the rate of up to 1.15 oz. per head per day to sheep. Alternatively, mix in or top dress an appropriate amount for the ration based on the number of animals consuming a given amount of feed. Always supply fresh, clean water.

Caution: Follow label directions. Feeding added selenium at levels in excess of 0.3 ppm in the total diet is prohibited.

In Fountain Court

The fountain murmuring of sleep,
A drowsy tune;
The flickering green of leaves that keep
The light of June;
Peace, through a slumbering afternoon,
The peace of June.

A waiting ghost, in the blue sky,
The white curved moon;
June, hushed and breathless, waits, and I
Wait too, with June;
Come, through the lingering afternoon,
Soon, love, come soon.

Arthur Symons

One of my favorite Steeleye Span Songs!

Rosebud in June

It's a rosebud in June and the violets in full bloom,
And the small birds are singing love songs on each spray.

(chorus)
We'll pipe and we'll sing love,
We'll dance in a ring love,
When each lad takes his lass
All on the green grass,
And it's oh to plough where the fat oxen graze low,
And the lads and the lasses do sheep shearing go.

(chorus)

When we have all sheared our jolly, jolly sheep,
What joy can be greater than to talk of their increase.

(chorus)

Their flesh it is good, it's the best of all food,
And their wool it will cloth us and keep our backs from the cold.

(chorus)

Here's the ewes and the lambs, here's the hogs and the rams,
And the fat wethers too they will make a fine show.

(chorus

Northern Mocking Bird not Wren

I thought we had a Carolina Wren and was perplexed why it sang in the middle of the night then I looked up what bird would sing its heart out at night and I am 90% sure this is my little late night vocalist. I know the wrens song and I would think the voice I heard so loud in my grove sounded like a wren but then it didn't some how. This brilliant little guy is who was fooling me I do believe. You can listen to him sing at the Cornell site:

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_Mockingbird/id


The Northern Mockingbird, Mimus polyglottos, is the only mockingbird commonly found in North America. This species was first described by Linnaeus in his Systema naturae in 1758 as Turdus polyglottos.

The Northern Mockingbird breeds in southeastern Canada, the United States, northern Mexico, the Bahamas, the Cayman Islands and the Greater Antilles. It is replaced further south by its closest living relative, the Tropical Mockingbird. The Socorro Mockingbird, an endangered species, is also closely related, contrary to previous opinion.The bird is the state bird of Arkansas, Florida, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas.

This bird is mainly a permanent resident, but northern birds may move south during harsh weather. This species has occurred in Europe as an extreme rarity.


Northern Mockingbirds eat mainly insects in summer but switch to eating mostly fruit in fall and winter. These birds forage on the ground or in vegetation; they also fly down from a perch to capture food. They mainly eat insects, berries and seeds. They’ve been seen drinking sap from the cuts on recently pruned trees. While foraging they frequently spread their wings in a peculiar two-step motion to display the white patches. There lacks consensus among ornithologists over whether this behavior is purely a territorial display, or whether the flashing white patches startles insects into giving up their cover.

Mockingbirds' willingness to nest near houses, their loud and frequent songs, and their territorial defense often annoy people. John van der Linden, author of the Eastern Birding Central FAQ, reported 25 to 50 percent of the e-mail questions he received were concerned with how to deal with annoying mockingbirds.

Habitat

Mockingbirds have a strong preference for certain trees such as maple, sweetgum, and sycamore. They generally avoid pine trees after the other trees have grown their leaves. Also, they have a particular preference for high places, such as the topmost branches of trees. Mockingbirds are often found in urban and suburban areas, where they perch on telephone poles, streetlights, or high points on buildings. While singing on a high perch they will often bolt several feet into the air in a looping motion, with wings outstretched to display their white underside, then land back on the perch without breaking a note. This has been studied and thought to be a courtship display.

Mating and nesting



Northern Mockingbird males establish a nesting territory in early February. If a female enters his territory, the male will pursue the female with initial aggressive calls and, if she becomes uninterested, with softer calls. Once the pair is established, their song becomes more gentle. Northern Mockingbirds tend to be monogamous, and the female may return to the same male from the previous season.

Both the male and female Northern Mockingbird are involved in the nest building. The male does most of the work while the female perches on the shrub or tree where the nest is being built to watch for predators. The nest is built approximately 3 to 10 feet above the ground. The outer part of the nest is composed of twigs while the inner part is lined with grasses, dead leaves, moss or artificial fibers. The eggs are a light blue or greenish color and speckled with dots. Approximately three to five eggs are laid by the female, and she incubates them for nearly two weeks. Once the eggs are hatched, both the male and female feed the chicks.

The birds aggressively defend their nest and surrounding area against other birds and animals. When a predator is persistent, mockingbirds from neighboring territories, summoned by a distinct call, may join the attack. Other birds may gather to watch as the mockingbirds harass the intruder. In addition to harassing domestic cats and dogs they consider a threat, it is not unheard of for mockingbirds to target humans. They are absolutely unafraid and will attack much larger birds, even hawks (see image on right). One famous incident in Tulsa, Oklahoma involving a postal carrier resulted in the distribution of a warning letter to residents.

Song and calls

Although many species of bird imitate other birds, the Northern Mockingbird is the best known in North America for doing so. It imitates not only birds but also other animals and mechanical sounds such as car alarms. As convincing as these imitations may be to humans, they often fail to fool other birds, such as the Florida Scrub-Jay.

The Northern Mockingbird's mimicry is likely to serve as a tool for increasing the size of its repertoire and thus its ability to attract females. The mockingbird is limited to imitating short units of sound, which it repeats several times before moving on to a new sound. As a result, the mockingbird sounds much better (to a human ear) imitating some species than others. Species with repetitive songs, such as the Carolina Wren, are effectively copied, but species with long, complex songs, such as the Song Sparrow, cannot be effectively imitated by the mockingbird.

The Northern Mockingbird, in addition to being a good mimic, is also one of the loudest and most constantly vocal of birds. It often sings through the night, especially unmated males, or when the moon is full. It sings year-round except sometimes for the late-summer molting season. Individual males have repertoires of 50 to 200 songs; females sing as well, but more quietly and less often than males. Mockingbirds usually sing the loudest in the twilight of the early morning when the sun is on the horizon.

In addition to its well-known song, the Northern Mockingbird uses a variety of calls to communicate specific information. As with its song, these calls are among some of the louder sounds produced by birds of its size. Mockingbirds make a harsh, raspy noise when chasing other birds out of their territory. A similar but distinct call is used when defending against predators like a hawk or falcon. Other calls include a wheezing noise, a "chuck" note, and a very piercing series of notes "high low" repeated twice.

Intelligence

In 2009 it was reported that mockingbirds could pick out a threatening person from a crowd. Researchers had one person stand near a mockingbird nest and touch it, while other people avoided the nest. Later on, the mockingbirds recognized the intruder and attacked him, while ignoring the other people.

Forget-Me-Nots

By Lee Bain

Forget-me-nots I’d press on your mind’s eye;
Bright silent messengers of sky’s wild blue…
That from your thoughts my name would never die,
I’d bid them haunt you with their heavenly hue.
Bold blooms would border every path you bent
In blue profusion, like a blossomed lea;
My fragrance would enhance their subtle scent
To blend their perfume with the breath of me.
And when, at end of day, you’d sip and sup
Or finely dine in stately pomp and grace,
You’d find forget-me-nots twined ‘round your cup
Or gaily patterned in the table’s lace.
Through such sweet sorcerers’ spell would I secure
Some memory of me that may endure.