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Elderberry
Lots of Elderberry Bushes (Sambucus canadensis) are in bloom up here in the mountains. On a trip to Florida in early May, I saw many in bloom down there along the roadways, making me feel at home. Now I’ve got Elderberries blooming at the edge of the woods outside my cabin too thanks to Saint…
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Blueberries
I’m watching both the progress the blueberry blooms are making as well as the calendar. Watching the blossoms grow and mature. Watching the weeks go by on the calendar. Right now in early April there are only tight buds on the many bushes. And it’s hard to say since this is weather related and as…
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Golden Ragwort
Such great fortune to have Mother Nature as my landscape architect up here in the mountains. She provides me with such wondrous plants to enjoy. Like native Golden Ragwort (Packera aurea). I just have to help her out with things such as the removal of exotic species invasives. Which I have to admit is not…
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Tomorrow is SPRING!
Many of you know that I love winter, my totally, over the top, favorite season. But I also delight in the seasons changing. If the seasons stayed the same, day after day after day after day I wouldn’t be content. I think the world of CHANGE. Sometimes even Mother Nature just doesn’t want to let…
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Bloodroot
It’s hard for me to believe since I’ve still got snow on the ground, but spring is nearly here. At least meteorological spring. It arrives on March 1. The weather here is assuredly unpredictable. We’ll see what the month of March brings forth. Spring or more winter? But plants will be sprouting no matter. One…
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Hoarfrost
The cold temperatures of winter can create such works of wonder. Often so delicate they can’t be touched for fear of destruction. Occasionally the beauty makes me forget that what I am looking at, such as these rose hips of Multiflora Rose (Rosa multiflora), is something that I work diligently to rid my woods of.…
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Jeffersonia or Twinleaf
Jeffersonia (Jeffersonia diphylla). In 1792 the botanist Benjamin Smith Barton named this plant after Thomas Jefferson. In 1807 Jefferson had Jeffersonia growing in one of the oval flower beds of Monticello. I’m proud to have something in common with my neighbor Thomas. Within a matter of four weeks I’ll be searching for these little signs…
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Yuccas
I love Yucca flowers. There are 2 different yucca species growing in my yard, each blooming in a different season. Yucca filamentosa, which is native to Virginia, blooms in early summer. And this one, Yucca gloriosa, native to extreme southeastern Virginia, blooms in early autumn. Remarkable that they both are native to this state, since…
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Tulips
I’ve given up on winter. On the kitchen table today — SPRING.
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Purple Deadnettle
This morning finds me at the yoga studio early. Frost covering much of the world down here in the lowlands. I take the opportunity to capture the beautiful dusting on Purple Dead-nettle (Lamium purpureum). A photo from another day, you can see how it becomes a ground cover. Though a native to Europe and Asia…