Hi River Roaders, This week we’ll continue our flower retrospective, with a focus on the blue flowers on our grounds thru the seasons. Early spring brings the pleasant blooms of Glory of the Snow in our Peace Pole Garden. Soon to follow in mid-Spring our our Virginia Bluebells (Mertensia virginica), a classic spring ephemeral. Late … read more
Hi River Roaders, This week we’ll take a retrospective of some images previously posted over the past 15 months that highlight some of our yellow flowers through the seasons. Out wonderful native Trout Lilies are pollinated by bees and a variety of beetles, and are one of our earliest blooms. Golden Ragwort (Packera aurea) is … read more
Hi River Roaders, This week we’ll continue last week’s theme of summer blooms, as lots of our summer flowers are approaching full bloom. The first goldenrod to bloom on our site is not surprisingly, Early Goldenrod (Solidago juncea). We have several Blackberry Lilies (Iris domestica) behind the sculpture in the Memorial Garden. Last spring we … read more
Hi River Roaders, We’re getting close to the time when we can all be together on site. If you happen to show up this week, here are some of the blooms you will see. We have a wonderful stand of woodland sunflower (Helianthus divarcticus) in the bridge garden. This is a wonderful plant that is … read more
Hi River Roaders, A week or so ago, I ran into Jan, Diana, and Pauline as they were laying out the outline of a mandala in the gravel area behind the memorial garden. Building a mandala is a spiritual practice, originating in eastern religions, that is based on a circular pattern and symbols. Our mandala … read more
Hi River Roaders, Until our first choir practice last week, I didn’t have a need to visit RRUUC in the evening. I was very pleased with the look of the new lights on our front path, enough so that I got up this morning before five AM to take some early morning photos. I think … read more
Hi River Roaders, The summer solstice this year occurs at 11:31 PM on Sunday, June 20. However, from nature’s perspective, it has been summer for the past several weeks. I almost always see a rabbit on our grounds. They average 3 to 4 litters per year, so I guess we can expect more. We have … read more
Hi River Roaders, This week’s blog is inspired from the Grounds Committee input for our 2020-2021 Annual Report. As a Committee, we made significant improvements to our grounds that I hope will make our return to RRUUC so much more enjoyable. Katherine, Kate, and Linda made improvements to the Peace Pole Garden, adding the stones, … read more
Hi River Roaders, It’s the first day of June, and summer is almost here. Let’s see what’s happening this week on our grounds. Our entrance sign with fleabane flowers. I will always associate our grounds with the shadbush (Amelanchier sp.) which once lined our Memorial Garden. They are known by many names, including serviceberry (in … read more
Hi River Roaders, I expect we are all aware by now that the magnificent Brood X cicadas have arrived. This week will focus on these creatures, with some fun facts provided by Deb Peck and some photos from the last week on our Grounds. The Latin name of this cicada is Magicicada septendecim. The fact that … read more
