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Brown Leaves All Winter
A Miniature American Chestnut? While hiking in Shenandoah National Park last weekend, I became baffled by a couple small trees that caught my eye. I was baffled because they looked very much like an American Chestnut tree, just scaled down to a child-size. The scallop of the leaf edges intrigued me, being so reminiscent of…
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Witch Hazel – Peak
Floral Display Not much is blooming now. About the only thing left putting on a show is the last of the late summer asters, with their lovely, soft lavender, diminutive petals. Tiny petals adding a comforting accent to the brilliant fall colors. Lemon Zest The last floral display of the year is the one I’ve…
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The Museum Of Autumnal Color
The Flatlands Over the weekend I was down in the flatlands. The truely flat lands of Maryland and Delaware, way out on the coast. The flatlands where there is not much going on tree-wise, autumn-wise. Just occasional farm stands filled with lovely orange pumpkins and garden mums. That’s autumn for the flatlands. While away,…
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Found Chestnuts!
Hiking Again After two weeks with only one hike, I was finally out hitting the trail! Yesterday the sun was out in a beautiful, brilliant way, cheering all the mountains and me! Today, mostly clouds blued the atmosphere but not my mood. Hiking two days in a row. So much like things should be! American…
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Mystery At The Pumpkin Patch
Sincerity Calls This is the second year in a row that the sincerity of a pumpkin patch in the Shenandoah Valley has drawn me to its brilliant orange-yellow fruit of the gourd family. Childhood All Over Again What fun to be greeted by piles and loads of pumpkins and other gourds, of every size, shape…
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Berries – For The Birds
Open Season For Dogwood Berries Flowering Dogwood, Cornus florida, is perhaps at its high point in popularity at this time of year. As I watch out my kitchen window this rainy afternoon, in just a matter of perhaps five minutes, I see three tufted titmice, a pair of cardinals and a sprightly squirrel all gobbling down their…
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Silverrod
Excitement I love to come home from one of my hikes, filled with the thrill of finding a flower that I’ve never seen before. What a cool feeling! And then to actually find it in one of my wildflower guides! Nothing better! Brilliant, Chrome Yellow Most of us know of the Goldenrod, with its brilliant,…
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Thinking About Maples And Syrup
Sweet Memories Vermont and a telescope making conference, Stellafane, used to draw me to the land of black and white cows, Ben and Jerry’s, Sugar Maples, and maple syrup. I went up there for Stellafane for nearly 20 years straight. It was an education. An education in telescope making and astronomy in general, an education in…
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The Scarlet Berries Of Jack
True Red At my back porch, I have a wonderful cluster of berries, a color that would be perfect for a Christmas display — a true red. These are the berries of a Jack-In-The-Pulpit, Arisaema triphyllum, a plant that is native to the moist woods of eastern North America. The plant gets its name from the odd…
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Jack-O-Lantern Mushroom
Watching For The Jack-O-Lantern I’ve been watching, not for the Great Pumpkin, but for a large cluster of Jack-O-Lantern Pumpkins, Omphalotus illudens. Day before yesterday, they popped up. I think if I had been sitting there watching and waiting for them, I would have seen them spring up from the dark, dry soil, since I have been…