Snow Day in Fairmount

Guided Tree Walk in Fairmount Park

Mr. Sibley with Sweet Bay Magnolia Fruit

Bur Oak

Linden

Sawtooth Oak Acorn

Bur Oak Leaves

Fruit Laden Linden Branches

Fringe Tree Fruit

Pin Oak

Swamp White Oak

Sweet Gum Leaves

I was really excited to see that the author of the Sibley Guide to Trees, David Sibley was leading a walk in Fairmount Park as part of the author events for the Philadelphia Free Library. After meeting at the Recreation center at the start of Boathouse Row we walked into the Azalea Garden and he showed us the ways you can look at acorns and other fruit, branch direction, leaf shape, bark texture, overall tree shape and leaf arrangement to determine what tree you're looking at. We stopped at about 10 trees including a Bur Oak, Swamp Bay Magnolia, Red Oak, Linden, Ginko and Kentucky Coffee Tree.

I was amazed to find out he paints every illustration in his books and he still does not consider himself an expert in trees, despite working on this guide for 7 years. His bird guides he painted in gouache, but he found that impossible to use when painting lights and darks in trees, so he had to teach himself how to use acrylics for this book.

There was a big group of people on the walk and I was the youngest member by 30 years until a group of three college aged girls showed up. There were two actresses at the event, maybe they are filming some movie locally? but the rest of the group were birders and nature lovers (why are they all so old?).

Rittenhouse Square Park

If you haven't visited the park lately, now's the time to go. I stopped by on Sunday because I'd noticed the leaves were changing and it was gorgeous out and the colors were fantastic. It's hard to take a bad photograph in the park, because there are so many different sculptures and lanes and features to focus on and beautiful old trees. There are plenty of benches and lots of local coffee shops to pick up a cider, hot chocolate or coffee to keep you warm while you read a book or just people watch. Kids were climbing all over the sculptures and playing tag in the dry fountain and old ladies were being pushed in wheel chairs by their aides, admiring the mini doggies with studded collars. It's nice to take a break and sit down for a while instead of running around like a crazy person all the time!

Chanticleer Gardens in Wayne, PA

This weekend I visited Chanticleer with my family and we took a quick tour in the bright sunshine, but the garden is really wonderful. The gardeners are given the liberty to make changes to the beds and create furniture which includes painted pairs of Adirondack chairs to allow visitors a view down the hills.
View down the stairway into the tennis court garden.

The cutting garden and vegetable garden with two men talking on a bench at the end of the path.


Lilly pads on the pond.


Succulent plantings on the hill.


The ruins in the center offer great framing devices, creating windows onto the woods.


They'll only be open until Oct 31st when the season ends. They are on Church rd. in Wayne, PA.