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What Season is it Anyway?
Though spring is moving right along, things got very confusing today, as graupel pummeled my mountain, off and on for several hours. But spring is here. Very soon Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida) will be filling the verdant woods with creamy white blossoms. Despite today’s weather, spring is here.
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Ice
This past December fooled me. It was so warm. Not at all the way December is supposed to be in the Blue Ridge Mountains or in the Mid-Atlantic states. The whole month was that way. The warmth had me worried about how the rest of the winter would be. But January came through for me.…
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White and Red Dogwood Berries
Autumn is approaching. The leaves of some Flowering Dogwoods are getting richer, more and more red. Their crimson berries, or drupes, are in abundance. This is the species of Dogwood that most people think of when “Dogwood” is mentioned. Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida) and Gray Dogwood (Cornus racemosa). Two different Dogwood species. One of seventeen…
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Larger Elm Leaf Beetle
Quite a pretty beetle with its colorful iridescence, the Larger Elm Leaf Beetle can be found in the eastern and southeastern US, from Florida west to Kansas and north to Pennsylvania. Elm is a favorite tree that this beetle feeds on, but it also skeletonizes the leaves of Hawthorn, Hazelnut, Flowering Dogwood, River Birch, Pecan…
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Gray Dogwood
Just like the Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida) that we see most often, Gray Dogwood (Cornus racemosa) has opposite leaves and those leaves look quite similar to Flowering Dogwood. The flowers of Gray Dogwood arrive on dome shaped panicles, or branched clusters, in late May and June here in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. The…
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Flowering Dogwood
The Flowering Dogwood trees (Cornus florida) here in my neck of the woods are just beginning to open as the Eastern Redbud blooms (Cercis canadensis) are on their way into decline. That’s the pattern every year. A slight overlapping of their big show. Like homemade vanilla ice cream with home grown strawberries on top. In…
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Tufted Titmouse
A bird that doesn’t migrate. Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor) is a bird that comes to my feeders during all seasons. Well, all seasons that I have those feeders out. Bears think the seeds I put out for the BIRDS are for bears as well. During many months of the year I must consider the pluses…
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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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Yellow-rumped Warblers
An occasional visitor to my bird bath, in Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains. A Yellow-rumped Warbler (Setophaga coronata). Fondly called Butterbutts by birders. If you don’t have a bird bath, I sure recommend one equipped with a water warmer to keep the water from freezing during the coldest that winter can throw at you. These warblers…
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Mother Nature’s Art
When there is a weather forecast that includes freezing rain or snow or simply freezing temperatures, I’m all set, so is my camera. A vernal pool is a wonderful canvas for great artwork. Freezing temperatures and moisture, a magical mix. Mother Nature has created an ear worm! I’m hearing, “earth below us drifting falling” and…