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Winterberry
I am in my element now. It is winter. I like to say, whatever season is happening at the moment – it is my favorite, but truth be told, winter is really my favorite. At least for the next few months! I love the stark landscape, very little color (with the exception of black, gray, white, and browns),…
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Blackberry Lily
I like rich, strong, take no prisoners color. In my garden there is one flower that really fills the bill. It is Blackberry Lily, or Leopard Lily, Iris domestica. Here, a candelabra of spent flowers, having a twisted appearance, and buds ready to burst, on the naked stem of the Blackberry Lily. Once open, the…
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Rose Or Berry?
Late May, and the clusters of white blossoms are everywhere. Brambles covered with cascades of white. Blackberry or Multiflora Rose. For me, a friend and a foe. The two plants are nearly twins to the untrained eye. I think I’ve got it figured out though. In the picture, above, Blackberry, Rubus fruticosus. Notice the center of the bloom —…
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A Bush To Love
I’m in love with a bush that’s growing in my yard. Actually I have 14 of these bushes growing along the edge of my front porch, bordering the vegetable garden, and creating a shrub island by the wood shop. I can’t recommend them highly enough. Here in the mountains of central Virginia, they are a…
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Juniper Berries
A pioneer tree or bush, depending on your thoughts, and its growing conditions, Eastern Red Cedar, Juniperus virginiana, is often one of the first to move into a field that has been cleared. Eastern Red Cedars are actually Junipers. They play an important role in the lives of a long list of insects, birds…
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Poison Ivy Good?
I am highly allergic to Poison Ivy (Toxicodendron radicans). As a youngster, I never got a Poison Ivy rash, though I loved to romp in the unending woods directly behind my house. Vines to swing over the creek, forts my friends and I were out there constantly. In 1985 I had a wakeup call, with…
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American Mistletoe
The leaves in the forest, for the most part, all have fallen, yet every now and then there is a tree that has an odd, large clump of leaves. At first glance it appears to be a squirrel’s nest. Upon further investigation, small, leathery, emerald green leaves are revealed. This is the stuff of many…
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Diamonds Of Ice!
As I snuggled in my bed last night, I was prepared for nothing special in the weather this morning. Yesterday‘s forecast had been for snow, sleet and freezing rain. Mother Nature skipped the snow part, and went straight to sleet, and it kept going, all day long. The temperature remained steady at 27…
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Snow!
I’m easily entertained. Give me a little snowfall and I’ll be elated for hours. I’ll become the little girl from so long ago. The little girl who grew up on the best sledding hill in Prince George’s Co., Maryland. Other things take me back to my childhood. Bicycling does it too. But snow provides the…