For Wildflower Wednesday, I try to feature a native plant growing wild on our property. I took a walk on Monday to see what was blooming, and found only one plant blooming, a shrub which looked to me like a pussy willow. I looked through my books and discovered that's exactly what it was: Salix [...]
native-plants
Native Enthusiasm
October 18, 2010 – Posted in: Native/InvasiveAt last. Finally. Why chicory, Cichorium intybus, the blue flower of August roadsides, should have avoided our rural road for so long, is a mystery to me. So forlorn have I been made by its absence, when all neighbouring roads were bright with its sky-blue gaiety, that I have from time to time been tempted [...]
Bur Cucumber: Wildflower Wednesday
September 22, 2010 – Posted in: Native/InvasiveWhat better way to celebrate autumn than with a native wildflower more noted for its fruit than its flower. Bur cucumber (Echinocystis lobata), also known as wild cucumber, balsam-apple, or Concombre sauvage, grows on my property in a hedgerow surrounding a ditch. The leaves of this vine are often described as maple-like, but remind me [...]
Mystery Wild Flower Needs Has A Name
June 30, 2010
– Posted in:
Native/Invasive
This past Sunday I enjoyed a family reunion at Chenango Valley State Park. But, like the gardening geek I am, while other family members were taking pictures of cousins in swimming suits or Grandma eating sweet corn, I took a walk around Lily Lake and started taking pictures of wild flowers with my HTC Incredible [...]
Allegheny Vine
August 3, 2009 – Posted in: Native/Invasive, Plant info, What's up/bloomingI mentioned that Allegheny vine (Adlumia fungosa) was blooming for me in July's Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day post, and Leslie asked me what that was. Thank you, Leslie. I was dying for someone to ask. A Biennial, Native Vine I had never even heard of a biennial vine until Allegheny vine showed up in my [...]
Designing with Native Plants: Creating Sustainable Landscapes for the Finger Lakes & Upstate New York
January 19, 2009 – Posted in: Design, Events, Habitat gardening, Native/InvasiveJust learned of a fabulous workshop on designing with native plants for the Finger Lakes and upstate New York. Here's a brief synopsis of the offerings: Creating Habitats for Birds on Properties Large and Small Stephen W. Kress, National Audubon Society and Lab of Ornithology Learn how to attract birds using the native plants they [...]
Native Plant Resources for Central and Upstate NY
March 4, 2008 – Posted in: Book reviews, Habitat gardening, Native/InvasiveIn 1878, Sherman Stowell sold to Elizabeth Brockett 30 acres of land which he had earlier purchased from George Jennings. I now live and garden with my family on some of that land, which Jennings or Stowell, or perhaps Ms. Brockett, had cleared of trees to make pasture. The forest is growing back, but it’s [...]
A Virginia bluebell with a funny blossom
May 26, 2007 – Posted in: Native/Invasive, Plant infoI'm not sure what's going on here, whether it's some kind of mutation or a result of weather or other kind of damage. On the right is a typical Virginia bluebell (Mertensia virginica). It has the typical salverform blossom, and 5 sepals in its calyx (the part that is circled). On the left, the blossom [...]
May Blooms: Garden Bloggers Bloom Day
May 17, 2007 – Posted in: Narcissus, Native/InvasiveYes, I know the Garden Bloggers Bloom Day was yesterday the day before yesterday. I didn't get finished in time. So just pretend this is May 15th, okay? (As always, hover your mouse over any thumbnail for a caption, and click on any photo for a larger image.) Narcissus Let's start off with the narcissus. [...]
Juneberries, the northern garden’s answer to flowering dogwood
May 11, 2007 – Posted in: Plant infoI spent my childhood in climates where the flowering dogwood (Cornus florida) flourished, and I loved its elegant simplicity. When we moved here, I was dismayed but not surprised when my new neighbor told me that she had twice planted a flowering dogwood in a protected corner of her house, and twice it had died. [...]
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