I did not know until recently how awesome wild geranium (Geranium maculatum) fruits are. This geranium is from April 5th, 2012. Geranium started flowering a couple weeks later this year (you’ll recall last year was freakish). This guy’s ready to pop! The developed fruit photos are from June 19th, 2013. And whoosh. The seeds have …
These photos were taken on May 23rd, 2013 at the Morton Arboretum’s Schulenberg Prairie, a hand-planted prairie restoration dating back to the 1960s, marking it as one of the earliest attempts at recreating a native plant community assemblage from scratch. Baptisia alba, white wild indigo nearly blooming. Maianthemum (Smilacina) stellatum, starry false Solomon’s seal, is …
Shabbona County Park is a [publicly accessible] postage stamp spring woodland in a sea of corn and soy. Tiptoeing through the robust carpet of spring ephemerals. Cutleaf toothworts, woodland phlox, rue anemone, wild leeks, spring beauties, Dutchman’s breeches, trout lilies, mayapples, trilliums. Dutchman’s breeches (Dicentra cucullaria) flowers with a pinkish tinge my camera failed to …
phenology (n): study of the influence of climate on recurring natural phenomena 1881, from German (phänologisch, Karl Fritsch, 1853) from Latin phaeno-, from Greek phaino-, from phainein “to show” Show yourselves, little plants of Maramech Forest Preserve! It’s early April, time for some of you to wake up. Hello skunk cabbage & marsh marigold. Laying …
This morning my boss brought this gem into work. Seed Bombs by DuneCraft. They’re little balls of clay and who knows what else mixed with what this (American) company has deemed a “native perennial mix” of seeds. At first I thought, awesome! But no, in reality, it’s a mishmash of primarily weedy European wildflowers, at …
Though this post takes place mostly indoors, it began outdoors. Last…wow, October? Last October, while doing some tree surveys in Missouri, our crew came across a real rank smell. Real rank, like oh dear lord what could possibly smell so foul as that, even a dog would run away with its tail between its legs, …
Chester Creek, Duluth, MN Chester Creek, Duluth, MN After the great flood of 2012, the pond in front of the chalet, the shores of which had reached nearly to the ski lift, filled with a substantial amount of sediment and boulders. Raccoon & dog tracks Tanacetum vulgare, common tansy, in winter (identification questionable..?) Quercus rubra, …
A 4:23PM sunset really sneaks up on you. You’re enjoying the golden brown prairie hues and suddenly it’s nearly pitch black. The middle photo above is a naturalized stormwater detention basin burned this fall. The following prairie plant silhouettes are from Blackberry Trail Forest Preserve in Kendall County, IL. Silphium perfoliatum (cup plant) Sorghastrum nutans …
I saw some bits of fur inside of the split trunk of a mulberry tree. I poked those bits of fur. A possum came out! Ahhhhhh!