The Return of the Stinker
Hard to believe but stuff’s coming up! Not just the ubiquitous daffodils that pop up just in time to tease us about a yet-distant spring, but other stuff. Like Wild Leeks. Yeah, smelly old Allium...
View ArticleA 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...
View ArticleA 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...
View ArticleLooking 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...
View ArticlePawpaws, 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....
View ArticleBackyard 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”....
View ArticleButterflies 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...
View ArticleColumbine 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,...
View ArticleSpring 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...
View ArticleBackyard 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...
View ArticleGoing 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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