Archive for MOTHER NATURE’S GARDEN

ferns

Lifestyles

Ferns: Old friends and new ones

I went to art class last week obsessing about woodcocks and how to draw their intricately mottled feathers. ... Read more

Praying to the plants

Lifestyles

Mother Nature’s Garden: Praying to the plants

Every spring I make the rounds of local state parks so that I can photograph both ephemerals and ... Read more

mother nature's garden

Lifestyles

Mother Nature’s Garden: Identifying and documenting plants

One of the joys of living in the country is roaming about looking for interesting plants and then ... Read more

Mother Nature's Garden

Lifestyles

Mother Nature’s Garden: February is an in-between month

February is an in-between month for wildflower enthusiasts. It’s still winter, but there are glimmerings of life in ... Read more

Mother Nature's Garden

Lifestyles

Mother Nature’s Column: Stillness and quiet

For my family, the period from Halloween until the end of the year can be a wild, crazy, ... Read more

importance of trees

Lifestyles

Mother Nature’s Garden: The importance of trees

When we moved into our current home 35 years ago, our street was lined with dogwoods, and nearly ... Read more

Hardy Citrus

Lifestyles

Mother Nature’s Garden: The Hardy Citrus

Several times this past summer, strangers stopped me to ask about an odd plant they’d seen off Milnwood ... Read more

chinese yam

Lifestyles

Mother Nature’s Garden: The Chinese Yam: Friend or Foe?

There are two kinds of alleys in my hometown: The neat, tidy ones with pavement and carefully trimmed ... Read more

Honeyvine

Lifestyles

Mother Nature’s Garden: Honeyvine: Friend or Foe

Several days ago, I took a very early morning walk through my neighborhood because I was hoping to ... Read more

Mother Nature's Garden

Lifestyles

Mother Nature’s Garden: Who was Bouncing Bet

Who was Bouncing Bet and what was she doing? And how did black-eyed Susan get her name? The ... Read more

wildflowers

Lifestyles

Mother Nature’s Garden: Talking about some ‘unloved’ wildflowers

Every year people get super excited when the first Virginia bluebells appear. And when the pink lady’s slippers ... Read more

cream violet

Lifestyles

Mother Nature’s Garden: Let’s talk about serendipity & cream violet

There’s a certain amount of serendipity involved in taking people to see wildflowers. You just never know whether ... Read more

Mother Nature's Garden

Lifestyles

Mother Nature’s Garden: The amazing things that plants do

While plants don’t move around like animals, that doesn’t mean they’re incapable of reacting to their environment. For ... Read more

Mother Nature's Garden

Lifestyles

Mother’s Nature Garden: In search of Twinleaf

The earliest spring ephemerals have finished blooming, but there’s still time to see twinleaf (Jeffersonia diphylla.) Several years ... Read more

Mother Nature's Garden

Lifestyles

Mother Nature’s Garden: A much needed hike and old friends

It’s Boxing Day, and life has mostly returned to normal here at Mother Nature’s Garden. The dogs are ... Read more

Lifestyles

Mother Nature’s Garden — Japanese Knotweed: A seriously tough plant

Since the late 15th century, we humans have moved around 13,000 species of plants from their native habitats ... Read more

Lifestyles

Wildflower Symposium celebrates spring

Spring is definitely here. The days are longer, the temperatures are warmer, and there are blooms appearing everywhere. ... Read more

Lifestyles

Rainbow pools in the Cypress Swamp

No matter when you visit, bald cypress swamps are magical places. In late spring and summer, there’s green ... Read more

Lifestyles

The fanciful turkey tail fungus: nature’s recycler

“Nature doth thus kindly heal every wound. By the mediation of a thousand little mosses and fungi, the ... Read more

Lifestyles

There’s magic in the woods

The desire to foresee the future, improve one’s strength against enemies, expel evil spirits that may have caused ... Read more

Lifestyles

Remembering Anne Mason Field and yellowroot

For many years, I hiked local trails with my friend Ann Mason Field. We followed the cycle of ... Read more

Lifestyles

Groundnut: The plant with a crumpled red velvety blossom

I confess that I’m often overcome by the sheer number of yellow flowers that appear in late summer. ... Read more

Lifestyles

The oxeye daisy is a weed, but an interesting one

Wander around the edge of the woods near the office at Holliday Lake State Park, and you’ll likely ... Read more

Lifestyles

Mountain Laurel is putting on an exuberant display

“…but the typical mountain laurel overshadows all, dominates the scene, defies descriptive effort, lays a hush on the ... Read more

Lifestyles

Discovering the harbinger-of-spring

While there are plenty of interesting plants in our area, sometimes I like to go hiking in an ... Read more

Lifestyles

In search of the southern grape fern

I’ve always been fascinated by ferns. They’re old. So old that ancestors of modern ferns were here long ... Read more

Lifestyles

Nature provides its own valentines

According to the calendar, it’s the shortest month, but, in reality, it never seems to end. February is ... Read more

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