Images

Trust In Me…

Lynn was singing Kaa's song from The Jungle Book while reviewing this picture, even though this guy is much less dangerous and hypnotic.  We'd been planting shrubs and cleaning flowerbeds all morning, certain we'd eventually find a snake, and we did!  This little Eastern Wormsnake is a burrower, spending most of its life underground or under…Read more Trust In Me…

June Flowers

I've been really busy, and have missed a couple days!  Apologies! This one isn't really a wild flower - it's a cultivated petunia - but who am I to say that one plant is any better than another?  It's pretty, regardless...  Petunias are native to South America, and are in the nightshade family - the…Read more June Flowers

Ruby

Happy Memorial Day everyone!  Back when I was trying to spot these guys during their spring migration, I came up empty - but having them find a feeder that hasn't been there a while is counting on a lot of luck.  Fortunately, I know somebody who's got a feeder with regular customers, and Lynn was able…Read more Ruby

Mountain Laurel

One of my favorite flowering shrubs, whether it's in clusters along roadsides, or forming dense tunnels over a mountainside trail.  This time of year, it's putting on an extra show!  

Red Clover

Looks tasty, doesn't it?  Red Clover (trifolium pratense) is actually a member of the bean family, and aside from being a common fodder for livestock, it's edible for humans too.  It has a wide range of natural medicinal uses as well.  The leaves (look for the distinct light chevron in the middle) are good for…Read more Red Clover

Honeysuckle

Ending the week with one more flower associated with an edible plant.  I grew up just calling this "Honeysuckle", not knowing that it is actually "Japanese Honeysuckle" and invasive (how long does an organism have to be around a given ecosystem before it's just "successful" and not "invasive"?)  Anyway, these are a summer habit for…Read more Honeysuckle

Tulip Poplar

I've been surprised to learn how many people don't know what these are.  They are the big showy flowers of the Tulip Tree, aka Tulip Poplar, or Yellow Poplar. The trees are blooming now, but the flowers only tend to show up on parts of the tree with access to direct sunlight.  So unless you…Read more Tulip Poplar

Blackberries

Following the berry theme - the blackberries are blooming too!  Blackberries are a bramble, a thorny, weedy plant that loves waste ground - sunny overgrown fields, fence rows, roadsides.  Right now you can see splashes of color - little white to pink, five-petaled flowers with a mess of spots and pink stamens in the middle.…Read more Blackberries

Huckleberries

It's May and the wild berries are blooming.  I like to take note NOW, so that when things ripen up later in the year, I can beat the birds and other animals to at least some of them.  "Huckleberry" means different things in different regions, but basically refers to a set of wild blueberry species…Read more Huckleberries

Blue Jay

One last bird picture this week - often heard before their seen, these noisy birds are actually corvids, meaning they're in the same family as crows and ravens, a group considered to be among the more intelligent birds, with complex vocalizations and social relationships.  Blue jays can also be aggressive, both against other birds and any…Read more Blue Jay

Mourning Dove

Another addition to the local menagerie, a Mourning Dove, so-called because their plaintive cooing sounds like they're crying.  So much like pigeons, but so very different as well. Photo Credit - Lynn Abbott