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A Swallowtail Odyssey: Life among the Spicebushes
Spicebush Swallowtail caterpillar parked in its garage It’s Spicebush Swallowtail (Papilio troilus) time in our backyard, which is good for us curious yard-watchers, but a bit hard on our spicebushes...
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A Miracle of Monarchs
We have seen very few Monarch butterflies in our backyard for the last two years, but that doesn’t mean they are not there. Caterpillars are showing up on our milkweeds, so it seems that they must be...
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Looking Ahead: Plant Your Peas
Partridge Pea (Chamaecrista fasciculata) I know it’s unseasonal, but it’s way past time to start catching up on our Native Plants pages. The latest entry is here. It’s in our yard. It should be in...
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Pawpaws, Mastodons and Zebras
Pawpaw leaves turn yellow in fall Snowed in today and dreaming of warmer times. A good time, it seems to me, to play more catch-up on the backlog of articles on the native plants we have in our yard....
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Backyard Food of the Gods
Still catching up on backyard native plants articles, and the latest is this unseasonal look at the American Persimmon (Diospyros virginiana), whose Latin name is often said to mean “Food of the Gods”....
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Butterflies and Beer: Get Ready for Spicebush Season
Spicebush is leafing out! Normally it would be blooming by now, like this: Spring blooms of Spicebush (Lindera benzoin) But it seems that the hard winter and long spring have slowed it down like...
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Columbine Time (Aquilegia canadensis)
Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis) When the spring columbines began popping up and blossoming in our backyard, we know it’s time to keep our eyes open for the arrival of the hummingbirds. Sure enough,...
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Spring Rerun: Kimchi from your backyard to you
Spring is sprung and we have cup plant and lamb’s quarters in our backyard, with goldenglow within an easy hike (soon to join our other natives around the house). In honor of this wealth of native...
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Backyard Gooseberries are Saucy Little Things
The gooseberries in our backyard try to get our attention with their tart little green offerings every year in the mid- to waning days of spring, but mostly they end up being overlooked as contributors...
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Going Native
A view from the front (with purple coneflowers and more). Our yard—front and back—is a curious place, located at a cultural and environmental crossroads. Depending on one’s point of view, our yard is...
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