-
Red Admiral
A beauty, though small, stirs my curiosity as he flutters by, giving me very little time to capture his image with my camera. A Red Admiral, Vanessa atalanta. A butterfly that you just might see if you put overripe fruit out on your back porch, since this is a favorite food. Also at the top of the culinary…
-
Poison Ivy
Poison Ivy, Toxicodendron radicans I’m feeling itchy already just anticipating writing this blog. It was not until I was well into my adult life that I first got a Poison Ivy rash, complete with huge blisters. OH! How very painful it was. Fast forward 30 years or so and I’ve grown to love, or at least…
-
Trilliums
Late April and early May is Trillium time in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. Seeing Trillium along the trails in the mountains close to my cabin has inspired me to include them in my gardens. Little by little, as the saying goes. Yes, little by little, I am getting Trillium incorporated into my cabin…
-
Fruit at the Cabin
In front of my cabin right now, there is a constant buzz . There are loads of trees and bushes involved in the sound, three good sized trees, planted soon after our cabin was built, many years ago – pear, MacIntosh apple, and Monmorency cherry, and a good number of blueberry bushes planted at about the same…
-
A Walk to Westover
Sunday morning found me walking to the Westover Farmer’s Market, through Mother Nature’s slant on things in an urban environment. An environment a bit different than I have become accustomed to. Some of the trees, shrubs, flowers, familiar – from my childhood. The Japanese Red Maple brought back memories of a tree that my parents…
-
Ants That Are Farmers
Every now and then, when I am doing research on a plant, I will discover that the plant has an unusual quality. The plants with this unusual quality are said to be myrmecochorous. They use a method of seed dispersal that is facilitated by ants. The seeds of myrmecochorous plants have fleshy appendages called…
