[Assam] Photos

[Chan Mahanta]

Thanks Alpana.

Yes, the pictures were from our prairie. Last year I took up 
membership in The Wild Ones (I must be a natural for them wild ones, 
wouldn't you think?) - a national group that promotes prairie 
environments and restoration of native plant habitats. Saw in their 
web-site that they had a photo-contest. So I entered in a couple of 
categories. Nice to see they liked them. I was surprised by the first 
place in the prairie landscaping category, because the photograph was 
of a poor quality. They must have been swayed by the subject, rather 
than the quality of the photo. We have been pleasantly surprised by 
the acceptance and appreciation of our prairie building effort by our 
St. Louis community. There was a large tour by prairie and native 
plants enthusiasts last summer--over a hundred, and another one is 
scheduled for this summer again. It had local TV coverage in 2004 and 
again last month, with vignettes of the prairie in the winter.

No Alpana it is not twenty five acres. Just about two actually. But I 
realize, even that is a big patch of prairie in a suburban 
environment. In fact I was told by the director of the Missouri 
Botanical Garden's Prairie Project that our
driveway flanked by prairie tall-grass is second only to a large 
estate in Wisconsin, in extent and quality, that he is aware of in a 
private residential setting. I had no idea what I was taking up when 
I started with the undertaking.

Yes, it does require some maintenance, but not as bad as one might 
think. The work is mostly in controlling unwanted but invasive native 
plants. We had to work hard controlling four types of weeds. Only one 
remains a challenge--a variety of goldenrod. Until last year, Queen 
Anne's Lace was a problem. But I think it is behind us now. As pretty 
as QA Lace is, it can take over the place. But in moderation it is a 
beauty.

Pollinators are fascinating and are abundant in the blooming prairie. 
We have so many butterflies you will need to see to believe. But most 
are not nearly as spectacular as those tropical ones we grew up 
seeing at Namti. And swarms of gold-finch as well as blue-buntings. 
They are all very hard to photograph as you can imagine. But I have 
succeeded in capturing a few butterflies. Last summer, while fixated 
behind a camera's view-finder, stalking a butterfly like the one you 
saw in the web-site, I witnessed its death from a tiny wolf-spider, 
hardly 1/2" long, jet-black, wooly one, that jumped out from behind a 
branch, latched on to the spider's throat and struggled with it until 
the poor butterfly died from its venom. I have pictures of it, and 
hope to share it sometime with netters.

You ought not to ask me about these things. I don't know when to stop.

Take care.

c-da :-)






At 11:57 AM -0600 3/6/06, Alpana B. Sarangapani wrote:
>Ditto, C'da. They are just fantastic. Congratulations!
>
>Is that the same prairie that you have raised yourself and that you 
>talked about before? And it's the drive to your house? Gosh! do you 
>have about 25 acres of land there? It is very nice but how do you 
>maintain it? Well! I can see how creative you are.
>
>I also liked the ones in the "Pollinators, Insects or Bugs". I liked 
>the one named "Drink" (which got the 3rd place) the best, not much 
>color there, but I think catching the butterfly in the drinking 
>position is just rare and beautiful.
>
>Thanks for sending them to us.
>
>From: Ganesh C Bora <gcbora at rocketmail.com>
>To: Chan Mahanta <cmahanta at charter.net>, assam at assamnet.org
>Subject: Re: [Assam] Photos
>Date: Mon, 6 Mar 2006 06:23:14 -0800 (PST)
>>C'da:
>>These are excellent photos with well deserved
>>positions.
>>Ganesh
>>
>>--- Chan Mahanta <cmahanta at charter.net> wrote:
>>
>>  > http://www.geostar.com/photo2005/d.htm
>>  >
>>  > and
>>  >
>>  > http://www.geostar.com/photo2005/e.htm
>>  >
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