#this is a purple prairie clover support post

[thebashfulbotanist]

Dalea purpurea, purple prairie clover, is a fun Midwestern native that doesn’t really look like a member of the pea family, much less a clover. While in truth, it’s not really a clover, it IS a member of Fabaceae. It’s a fairly important prairie plant, too! It’s well-adapted to fire, fixes nitrogen in the soil, and is highly nutritious - even humans can eat the leaves. Insect pollinators love it, too!

[asgardian--angels]

My Syracuse Pollinator Garden - Year 2

Hi everyone! I’m sure a lot of us are facing stress during these troubling times and so as I’ve mentioned before, gardening is an excellent way to take your mind off of current events, de-stress, reflect and connect yourself with nature while remaining in the safety of your own property. Last year, when I moved into my Syracuse apartment (technically a room in my landlady’s house; I’m here for grad school), I was granted permission to start a pollinator garden. I am a pollinator ecologist slash conservation biologist so I bring some expertise with me here. I say this because I always encourage anyone who sees this and is curious about doing it yourself to come and ask me questions! I highly recommend you check out last year’s post which thoroughly goes over 1) the principles of gardening for pollinators and wildlife, 2) resources to help you learn more and get started, 3) what plants I have in this garden, and 4) how it progressed over the course of the summer in 2019. Unfortunately, because of fieldwork and coursework I had trouble keeping up with it regularly so I think I missed a fall installment. I intend to be more thorough this year. Quite a lot has already happened, and I will review it the best I can and from this point forward, attempt monthly updates. 

I also want to mention that I’ve learned a lot since last year too - better ways of doing things, since I’m not a landscaper. Such as, you don’t have to break your back digging up turfgrass for hours on end. Instead, you can smother it for three months with old newspapers and get rid of it that way. It’s also important to note that the way I have my garden laid out is not ideal for a pollinator garden, it doesn’t follow every recommended principle. That’s because I had limitations and conditions under which I had to work, given that it’s not my own land and I had limited funds. But any effort is better than nothing, so don’t think that just because it’s not perfect, it’s not worth it. It is! You can always build, change, or improve upon it later. 

In the second year of a new garden with perennials, you can expect a lot more vibrant growth - the plants have established root systems and can put more energy into above-ground growth and flower production. Thus, I was thrilled to see my plants growing more vigorously than before! 

MARCH

Here in central New York, March was still freezing, wet, and snowy. But, by the end of the month, the garden was starting to show signs of life, sending up the first shoots of hardy native perennials.

In particular, the Jacob’s ladder already had quite a lot of new growth, with the nodding onion and yarrow close behind. In my herb garden, the chives had erupted with force from the leaf litter. The yard was still messy, with dead stems and fallen leaves blanketing much of the ground. My landlady insists I clean these, but if it’s your choice, leave the leaf litter around where you can. It’s important habitat for invertebrates and returns nutrients to the soil as it decomposes. 

APRIL

The world was beginning to wake up. I had cold-stratified hundreds of seeds of native plants I’d collected last fall, and it was time to take them out of the fridge. The wild cucumber (Echinocystis lobata) had already sprouted, so I planted them in pots. The rest, I put in a seed starter tray. 

Next, within the first few days of April, male hornfaced bees (Osmia cornifrons) started emerging in multitudes from my bee hotel. These are a non-native, but naturalized, species of mason bee common in suburbia and they are the most frequent users of bee hotels in the northeast. I watched as they dug through the mud cap on their natal nests, peeking out with fresh eyes at the sun for the very first time. I felt like a proud parent. (You can see more pictures here)

At the same time, male Dunning’s mining bees (Andrena dunningi) were patrolling the new nest sites of females, dug in the soil between the stones laid down near the front door.

There wasn’t much for these bees to forage on yet, mainly the wild violets that grow each year on the lawn and my landlady’s invasive vinca. But many more of my perennials had started to come up, and I decided it was time to cut the dead stems. 

It is best to cut dead stems back in April or so if you’re in a northern clime; the purpose of this is to offer nesting places for stem-nesting bees, which will start flying in April and May. Don’t cut them to the ground, give them several inches. Leaving stems through the winter also allows birds to forage on the seedheads.

Towards the end of April, despite several more snowstorms, the barren strawberry began to bloom.

I also saw the emergence of the female hornfaced bees, with males pursuing close behind. It is advised that you discard a bee hotel after the bees have emerged, or else they will try to nest in it again, which can lead to high mortality rates, as an old structure harbors parasites and is generally dirty. 

MAY 

May was a month of excitement. Given that I have been at home almost every day instead of being on campus, I was able to closely monitor the progress of the garden, apart from a week spent at home for my birthday. The dandelions dotted the yard, attracting gynes of common eastern bumblebees (Bombus impatiens) and the first honeybees (not native, need I remind you).

Alongside the dandelions was ground-ivy, which sent up stalks of purple flowers also used by the bumblebees. Almost all my plants had sprouted at this point.

My wild cucumber, which is a vine, had grown so rapidly that I couldn’t give it support fast enough, and eventually it decided to wind itself around my drapes. I brought one home as a gift for the parents, and placed the other two outside and snaked them around the front banister. However, despite my best efforts, only two other seeds from the hundreds I cold-stratified sprouted. A disappointment for sure; I was hoping to have swamp milkweed in the yard. But, there’s a chance for the wild hibiscus! Alas, with new growth comes deer, traipsing through the yard each night intent on nibbling my natives. They hit the columbine heavy this year as they did last year, and that stunted its growth and prevented it from flowering on time. I managed to protect it by putting a recycling bin over it each night. From the 7th to the 17th, I went home and visited a local native nursery.

There, I picked up a new plant for the garden - scarlet bee balm, Monarda didyma. I already have bee balm (M. fistulosa), but this species blooms red and is attractive to hummingbirds. 

When I got back to Syracuse, I was astounded to find how quickly everything had shot up. 

Among new blooms were the Jacob’s Ladder, woodland stonecrop, and finally, the wild columbine. The chives and thyme began to flower as well.

The milkweeds were one of the last to come up, being late to break dormancy. But once they did, they grew like lightning, gaining a foot in a week. 

I planted my row of annuals (cosmos and sunflowers) along the walkway, and added beans to my herb garden. The dill and basil sprouted and once they get a bit bigger I’ll transplant them outside. 

Then, in late May, I visited my advisor’s farm, and he gave me two new plants for the garden, from his own land - Golden Alexanders (Zizia aurea), which is a lovely yellow-flowered member of the carrot family which blooms in spring, and the classic purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea). They transplanted well.

Honestly, everything is doing better than I could have hoped. What were ungainly spaces between the plants last year are starting to fill in as they grow more vigorously - the single-stalked milkweed I put in last May is now 17 stalks, and I see seedlings of the biennial brown-eyed susans coming up all around it in a three foot radius. Even the purple prairie clover which was eaten to the ground by rabbits last summer has miraculously returned. The only thing I am still waiting on is the bottlebrush grass, which remains dormant. It’s a warm-season grass, so I hope as we get sustained high temperatures in June, it will come back! But its seedlings too are popping up all around the beds. 

And this sums up spring! It has become cold again for the week, but that won’t halt the growth once it’s started. The New England aster is almost half as tall as me, and my black raspberry has flowered and hopefully will produce a small handful for me to enjoy! 

Check back in late June for another update on the garden!

[darlingnisi]

Celebration 2019 VIP Day 2

(Though it doesn’t really matter for the price point today as we were all together on this shorter day). Opening Session

JD Steele led us in a sing along of Forever in My Life

Prince’s memoir announcement

Opening screening : Vienna June 7, 2014 with 3rdeyegirl

Guitar

Plectrumelectrum

Crimson and Clover

She’s Always in My Hair

Purple Rain

Play That Funky Music 

Screwdriver

What’s My Name/Sacrifice of Victor/Papa

JD Steele : Asked P what 7 from the [Symbol] album was about. He said it represents 7 record companies that enslave us all “and now we’re down to 2″

Jeff Katz

Moderated by Gilbert Davidson

Did the album covers for Parade, Sign O the Times, Scandalous Sex Suite

Resident photographer for Under the Cherry Moon

Shot first couple of days on set of Under the Cherry Moon. The cover was captured within 5 minutes of the beginning of the photoshoot.

They’d never shoot with a purpose, it was usually shot for the moment and it was applied it later.

The look Prince wanted to achieve for the film was met with resistance by the film company. Jeff had taken a Polaroid. P held up said Polaroid and said “this is what I want my movie to look like”

One year later he was dressed like this.

Paisley Park wasn’t done yet this was shot at a warehouse on Flying Cloud in Eden Prairie. 

The background was from Chanhassen Dinner theatre, the set of “Guys and Dolls”. 

He used a 16 second exposure for this and asked Prince to stay still for as long...P walked away after 8 that’s why he’s transparent.

Didn’t talk much, mostly used non-verbal communication.

Question : How much did his music influence images? Answer : Pics never synced with music, again they were matched to the music after.

After SOTT era, he came back and Prince looked like this. This was shot at Paisley.

P:  “I’m gonna go home and come back in a few hours.” Jeff took a nap at the studio.

And P returned looking like this :

These last two pictures were part of a 36 hour photoshoot.

P : Have you ever seen Barbarella? Jeff : Yes P : That’s what I want this to look like

Processed film to make it look like a cartoon

Looking into the possibility of doing a book “We want him represented in the best ways possible” (Wasn’t a promising option at the time by how they were talking about it despite the loud cheers of encouragement from the crowd)

There was an alternate version of this image of P sitting up looking straight into the camera. It was in black and white. There was an audible gasp from the crowd. (Edited to add said photo)

Jeff : Done in Stockholm in a tiny studio. “Let the intensity come from the person and their eyes”

Prince : “Shoot some details”

Gilbert was prince’s trainer, joked that he’d look like this after one day of working out.

His last shoot with P.

P wanted cityscapes, but didn’t want want to be in the city so Steve found some backdrops to use instead.

Gilbert : Why are you so silent about your work? “I like photo sessions. I like shooting...not so much editing...when the session is done, I move on.

Gilbert : What advice do you have for aspiring photographers?

Jeff : You have to have an image with stopping power...see something differently than how someone else is seeing it.”

Note : There were several unseen images included as part of this presentation that are not on this site. A book would be wonderful to have! 

Graffiti Bridge

Moderated by Steve Parke Ingrid Chavez - Star of GB, May 1992 album on Paisley Park Records TC Ellis - Grew up with P, True Confessions Paisley Park Record Craig Rice - Played in a band with Andre Cymone back in the day, Assistant Director Purple Rain, Co-producer Graffiti Bridge, Managed Mazarati, President of Paisley Park Enterprises, Produced/Directed Paisley Music Videos

Craig

Prince and Craig talked about doing another movie. Wanted to call it “May U Live to See the Dawn” intending it to be a new age musical

Sets built at Paisley

Wanted to bring the original Time back

Intended to be a spiritual journey party/introspective music

“7 corners” west bank...with 7 clubs on each corner

Clubs different flavors and music

TC

TC knew Prince singe age 11

Always bugging Prince about rap and P wasn’t into it

True Confessions was done before Graffiti Bridge

His character in the movie is true to life

Ingrid

Ran into P at a club. Rode out to Paisley. Began friendship.

That winter recorded tracks, collabed with Prince. She’d read her poetry while he played different instruments to go with it on the fly.

Later in a band called Skyfish. She got the tape to Prince. P filled her apartment up with white flowers. Called and played her Heaven Must Be Near. She did a music video for it. Craig shot it and Prince edited it.

Craig 

Prince sent Craig to go meet Ingrid “I want you to meet this women” Craig “Oh yeah okay...🙄”. Was impressed by Ingrid “She’s an artist...a real artist Prince you have to respect her as one.”

Were looking to cast the role of the angel, Craig said Ingrid was it. 

Craig and TC were the only ones to hear Ingrid Justify My Love as a demo before Madonna covered it.

Craig GB was to be connected to Purple Rain, but was not to be grounded in reality.

Steve : Started painting for prospective art directors. Didn't know GB was on the way. Levi shared a version of it it with Prince. Steve was told that it was on Prince’s desk, “and he looks at it every day”. P asked for changes (Put Jill Jones’s face on Cindy Crawford’s body, etc.) he used sandpaper to make the changes.

They built seven corners in the Paisley Park soundstage. There were roads, buildings, streetlamps.. Prince: “Oh my god can we keep it?”

TC

All of the old school cats we grew up with were in this. “I could feel the tension but it was all love”

“Had the feeling of the whole neighborhood together making Graffiti Bridge”

Terry and Jimmy held more weight now with their success, Ingrid was a bit of an outsider as even the extras were from the old neighborhood.

Ingrid hung out by herself a lot or with the members of The Time

P wanted everyone one set even if they weren’t filming.

Q&A Q :Why was the name of the movie changed to Graffiti Bridge? A : There was a bridge in Chanhassen called “Graffiti Bridge”, “May U Live to See the Dawn” was too long and didn’t sound like a film title. 7 Corners was too native to the Twin Cities

Also Prince wrote the script, they brought in a script writer to help him with it later...and he re-wrote it...then proceeded to ignore it.

Q : How was the movie received? A: It made money, but people really just wanted “Purple Rain 2″. They did a screening of the movie in Harlem and it didn’t go well. That was hard on Prince. 

Not about the music, it’s the community and bringing everyone together. 

Ingrid never watched the movie until Mothers’ Day 2018. Felt it wasn’t as bad she remembered.  

Q : Why didn’t you use the real Graffiti Bridge? A : Prince wanted to shoot the movie in winter...in Minnesota. Enough issues when they did Purple Rain during the cold Minnesota months.

Other side note : After the screenings, Prince’s confidence about GB started wavering. He didn’t promote it much.

Q : Why was Question of U cut from the movie? A : Running time. It would be in a special edition, but it didn’t make enough money for WB to support one.

Q : What does “May u live to see the dawn” mean? A : “Sometimes he would just say things and you’re just like ‘okay’”. (Nobody knew)

Q : Can you touch on the Still Would Stand All Time scene? A : It was shot at the club, not Paisley. Their Favorite Parts :  Ingrid : Love Machine scene because it was out of character for her TC Ellis : The rap...and then he rapped about the Paisley associated Minneapolis Black Music scene up until about the GB time (which was amazing by the way I hope he transcribes it and posts it somewhere! It had song and album titles and everything!)

And that was it for today for the sessions at Paisley! Big Screen was also tonight which unfortunately was the same show as last year, but still a good show nonetheless. Last year was slight shock/jam...this year for me was wayment...oh...okay whatever still Prince...and for some reason was way more emotional for me this year? Probably a personal thing though.) Day 3 tomorrow!