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Ebony Spleenwort
May 12, 2025 Ebony Spleenwort (Asplenium platyneuron), native to eastern North America, as well as southern Africa. It is a small evergreen fern that grows to between 6 and 10 inches tall. A fern that I have the pleasure of seeing occasionally as I hike the trails up here in these beautiful mountains. It not…
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Always On Duty!
May 10, 2025 I’ve got an Eastern Phoebe (Sayornis phoebe) that seems to be always hanging around the yard, flying from its perch to catch an insect mid-flight and then coming back to that same perch. They’re solitary birds, not sociable. If there was any uncertainty of what this species of bird this is, I…
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A Native Orchid
May 9, 2025 Putty Root (Aplectrum hyemale), an Orchid native to eastern North America. A raceme comes up out of the soil mid-spring with no leaves. It blooms with multiple flowers, each perhaps a bit less than 1/2 inch across. The flowers last perhaps 2 or 3 weeks slowly fading away. In autumn a single…
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Deep Red Blooms
May 8, 2025 A deciduous shrub, native to eastern United States, Carolina Allspice (Calycanthus floridus), showing off its dark red blooms right now. This, a young flower. And this a more mature flower. The fragrant blooms will last for nearly a month. The leaves and stems are also scented if rubbed or scratched. The aroma…
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Butterfly Of The Day
May 7, 2025 Seen out on the lane today. A Red-spotted Purple (Limenitis arethemis) sitting in the gravel, in the ventral, or wings up position. And in the image below it’s in the dorsal, or wings open position. Native to eastern United States, in the southeastern states in particular. Host plants are a wide variety…
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Spiderworts In Bloom
May 5, 2025 These photos are Spiderwort (Tradescantia), blooming in my gardens right now. Tradescantia are native to the Americas from southern Canada to the West Indies to northern Argentina, with somewhere between 70 and 86 species. In the United States there are about 17 native species, many of these are close relatives to Tradescantia…
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Sweet Sweet Rain!
May 4, 2025 Rain puddled on Coral Honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens). What a pure delight to see how much rain has fallen, yesterday evening and early this morning. The past couple months there has been very little rain and all the plants up here in the mountains are celebrating. Coral Honeysuckle leaves are waxy, water repelling,…
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A Big Skink!
May 3, 2025 A Broadhead Skink (Plestiodon laticeps), trying to blend in with the ledge it is resting on. You might notice that it is shedding its skin, which happens routinely from time to time. These skinks eat a wide variety of insects, spiders, snails, small rodents and smaller reptiles including young skinks, hunting for…