Comments on: What I Learned on My Summer Vacation

By: Mr. McGregor's Daughter

Mr. McGregor's Daughter — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 19:36:43 +0000

And I had just gotten used to calling Hepatica acutiloba "Hepatica nobilis var. acuta." Must take more notes. I love the idea of design principles from nature. Applying them in my own garden will be the trick. The way things are changing, MMD, I think even the botanists are having a hard time keeping up. If you really want the latest classificiations, you could check out the Flora of North America, then click on Families. -Nan

By: Frances

Frances — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 20:16:23 +0000

Hi Nan, so glad I got caught up reading about this vacation you took. It sounds like time well spent, I don’t even mind not seeing so many of your gorgeous pictures. You even motivated me to apply for the certified wildlife habitat sign. I knew we qualfied, but just never got around to it. Now on to the Audubon one.
Frances

Thanks, Frances. I’m not sure if Tennessee has a similar Audubon habitat program; if not, maybe they will soon. My sign arrived, and it’s awesome (even nicer than the NWF one).
-Nan

By: our friend Ben

our friend Ben — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 12:35:26 +0000

Great report, Nan, but here you are busting up some of my long-held beliefs, such as that taxonomists keep changing names so they’ll continue to have jobs, and that often plants set seed when they’re in bad conditions as a last-ditch effort to preserve themselves. Hepatica is now Anemone? Fascinating. Rudy and Carolyn got a kick out of the Audubon presentation, too. Thanks for all the links!

Hmmm…I’ll have to think about the seed for self-preservation thing. If a plant is reproducing (setting viable seed that germinates and grows in the same area), then maybe the conditions aren’t as bad as they appear?
-Nan

By: Matriarchy

Matriarchy — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 23:30:03 +0000

Wow. I debated about going to that conference – I wish I had! It’s not far from me, and I am certainly going next year.

There seemed to be some question as to whether they’ll actually have the conference next year – something about the building we use for meetings being renovated, I think? I guess we’ll have to keep checking the web site.
-Nan

By: Benjamin

Benjamin — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 23:07:29 +0000

ebird sounds very cool. I’ve been watching the monarch butterfly sites (and hummingbird), seeing reports go past me without my seeing an action. Well, that got off topic. Thanks.

Glad you found eBird of interest, Benjamin. It looks like an awesome resource.
-Nan

By: Helen at Toronto Gardens

Helen at Toronto Gardens — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 20:05:11 +0000

What an incredibly informative report. Remind me what this vacation was from again? Sounds like school to me — but I always liked school. Thank you for all the highlights.

Well, spending one’s day sitting, eating, and plant shopping does make a change from working in gardens all day. And yes, I loved school too, so it was a real treat.
-Nan

By: Gail

Gail — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 14:25:06 +0000

Nan, Delicious is the word that comes to mind as I read your post! When you first mentioned this conference, I so wanted to go, but, couldn’t do Spring Fling and this one…maybe next year! I suspect that I will continue to make errors in labeling until the new names start to be familiar…It’s so darned easy to say aster… everyone knows what you mean! Of course, this means we have to get updated wildflower and garden books. That will be good for the publishing business. As always, your photos are fantastic! gail

Thanks, Gail. We’re going to need *much* bigger labels to have room for “Symphyotrichum”! Just trying to spell it correctly is a challenge.
-Nan

By: James Golden

James Golden — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 14:14:33 +0000

I didn’t get to go to Millersville this year. Thanks for the great report.

If they have it again in the future, James, we’ll have to plan a mini garden-blogger get-together.
-Nan

By: Dave

Dave — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 13:28:57 +0000

Wow, that’s a lot of information for day one! It looks like you have a very interesting conference. I may look into the eBird site, it sounds like fun. It’s kind of odd to be able to look at your own house from satellite imagery. The pictures taken of ours were shot before we bought the house.

You might want to check out several of the online map services, Dave, to see if any have newer maps. Google “aerial maps” to find a variety of sources.
-Nan

By: Lisa at Greenbow

Lisa at Greenbow — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 11:43:36 +0000

Wow, lots of interesting information Nan. I can see how informative this conference is and inspirational.

Thanks for reading, Lisa. I wasn’t sure that anyone else would find it as interesting as I did!
-Nan