It poured all day Thursday, Friday and all last night. The temperature stayed in the forties. But the rain angels smiled on us and gave us a window of opportunity from 11 to 12 almost rain free and wind free!! We were looking for fall color and the color on a cloudy day is simply remarkable. We walked to the woods and admired the red colors along the edges from the black cherry, sweet gum, sassafras and dogwood. The shades varied from bright red to orange to a deep maroon. Once we entered the woods we found an abundance of yellow pawpaw leaves and summersweet along the trail. There were lots of yellow leaves from our tulip trees strewn on the path like a welcome mat.
We discussed the reasons for the disappearance of the green chlorophyll in the leaves. A scar tissue forms between the petiole and the stem which prevents water from reaching the leaf and as the raw materials are no longer available the plant does not waste energy making more new chlorophyll. The yellow and brown pigments were in the leaf all along but were masked by the green color and are now visible.
Another wonderful event takes place also. As the scar tissue forms, the sugar is not able to leave the leaf and combines with another compound in the leaf which then becomes the red color. This only happens if there is sugar present, enough sunlight reaching the leaves, and the leaf has the gene that makes this compound called anthocyanidin. So most of the red color is seen in only certain trees or shrubs along the edges of the path and in the woods where the upper canopy is more open.
Along the path we were delighted to see the many berries and capsules of the strawberry bush or hearts-a-bursting. The purple capsules and red berries were a curious combination. We paused to look at the flowing creek by the next bridge, talked about the riparian buffer and marveled over the red berries of the winterberry, also very attractive on this cloudy day.
The fallen tree next to the trail was another opportunity to talk about the changes that this may have on next spring’s wildflowers and the possibility of a path down to the uprooted part of the tree roots. This might be interesting to view monthly for changes. Fungi gave us another opportunity to talk about recycling.
As we left the woods, there was a wonderful view of orange sassafras leaves, maroon and yellow sweetgum, bright red sumac leaves and berries and a golden yellow tulip tree. It was starting to rain again and we hustled back for some soup, salad, bread, and dessert and even some hot refreshments.
There were 22 guests out of the 30 signed up. They did not call to say they were not coming. Mickey and Pat did a great job decorating our banquet room with colorful leaves, tablecloths and had all the food out and ready for us. Lynn helped with the setup and Margie, Norma J, Zaida and I did the tour. Lynn and Margie brought the delicious lemon apple tart bars. Thanks to all the volunteers and to Cathy, Buck and Paul for getting things ready. It could not be done without all this help. A new couple from Wilmington were very excited about their first visit here. They liked the nutrition part also and left with a copy of the cookbook and plans to come back.
The motto of college is Non Dicere, Sed Facere which means ‘don’t talk but act’.
Then we were on the road to Tyler Arboretum which I had walked through many times but never had the tour guide to explain the history. William Penn sold this land Quakers. We ate lunch in air conditioned addition to the 1806 barn. Viewed trees planted by two brothers during the time of 1806-1830. The Cedar of Lebanon was most impressive with its large size. We toured the tree houses for youth to learn about nature. We left at 4pm for the ride home.
A very enjoyable day it was.
On view at Adkins Arboretum through November 27, their joint show, entitled Palimpsest, includes Schumann’s chairs made from salvaged wood and Wilson’s floor cloths patterned with images stenciled from leaves gathered in the Arboretum’s forest. Although they hang on the wall in this show, these paintings are sturdy enough to place on the floor and use as rugs.
In this elegant show of artworks sharing an autumn palette of red-browns and weathered grays, the art is user-friendly and full of allusions to nature, time and the cycles of life. The public is invited to a reception Sat., Oct. 17 from 5 to 7 p.m., as well as an informal gathering with the artists on Sun., Oct. 18 at 3 p.m.
Both artists, who are sisters, have been fixtures in the Chestertown art scene for many years. Schumann teaches ceramics at Washington College. The two directed Radcliffe Mill Gallery and the Museum of Liminal Art in Chestertown, and both exhibit their work frequently.
Explaining the show’s title, Schumann said, “A palimpsest is a document whose texts have been erased and written over. This wood has had earlier uses, which still show in the traces of tools and hardware, of weather and time, in color and surface, where people and plants and insects have made their marks.”
Schumann, who refuses to cut live wood to make her sculptures, salvaged fallen branches and boards from buildings that had been torn down. All of her sculptures in this show double as functional chairs, complete with rusted hardware and holes drilled by carpenter bees. The back of “Twisted Chair” angles up with the curve of a branch still covered with bark, while “Gee’s Chair,” with one board painted bright blue, was inspired by the acclaimed Gee’s Bend Quilt Collective.
Schumann said, “My chairs are made from a patchwork of reassembled discarded materials, where the marks of time and use, and the wearing of nature and decay tell a story while the material continues to serve.”
Wilson gets irritated when people, thinking that art is always too precious to be touched, refuse to walk on her floor cloths. She paints them with many layers of acrylic, waterborne latex, and polyurethane medium to ensure that they are durable.
“These pieces are meant to be underfoot,” she emphasized. “It’s not just because I want to make utilitarian objects, but to point out that instead of always looking ahead, away from ourselves, how often do we take a moment to look down at where we’re standing? Where we are now. Be in the moment, and be a part of it.”
In her floor cloth titled “Oak Leaves,” rectangles of color appear like windows or veils amid a scattering of oak leaves. Some are solid and colorful, like newly fallen leaves, but others are pale, barely noticeable silhouettes, recalling the frail, ghostlike remains of decaying leaves from past seasons.
Wilson said, “You see the layers of leaves, like time that has passed. They’ve left imprints of themselves on each other. In the stillness, we don’t just hear the sounds of the forest, we hear our own breathing and the beating of our hearts.”
This show is part of Adkins Arboretum’s ongoing exhibition series of work on natural themes by regional artists, funded in part by Caroline County Council of Arts. It is on view through November 27 at the Arboretum Visitor’s Center located at 12610 Eveland Road near Tuckahoe State Park in Ridgely. Contact the Arboretum at 410-634-2847, ext. 0 or info@adkinsarboretum.org for gallery hours.
At the transition into the forest, I presented the arboretum’s history and unique role it has to play as a public/private partnership in the development of an appreciation and caring for Delmarva’s native plants.
As this was a large crowd, I found myself walking backward. There are several reasons for doing this; one is I very rarely turn my back on a large group. Another reason is to make sure I don’t leave someone behind. Walking this way also gave me the opportunity to enlist the help of several people in managing the walk. I asked for help in seeing that I didn’t trip or walk off the path. Others I enlisted to help keep me on time.
We stopped at the first bridge and talked about the stream’s water flow, color and how we use nature’s forms to help stop erosion. I pointed out the limbs in the stream which slowed the water flow allowing the heavier material to drop out and how placing angled timber across the trail will do the same.
