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Category Archives: edible
Dandelion: Easy to Grow
All winter and spring I try and try to get plants to grow. I pamper cranky houseplants, sprinkle seeds into pots and encourage them to grow into seedlings. I cheer for each crocus that pokes up through the snow, celebrate each brave hint of green, the first … Continue reading
Posted in adaptations, edible, flowers, leaves, plant parts, seeds, spring
Tagged dandelion greens, dandelions
6 Comments
Garlic Mustard: The Time is Ripe
Time to get rid of it. Garlic mustard. Sounds tasty, doesn’t it? It’s a pretty little wildflower with lovely white blossoms. The leaves have an attractively scalloped edge, and a savory garlic taste, a fantastic addition to salads, quiche, and … Continue reading
Posted in edible, environment, leaves, plant parts, seeds, spring, Uncategorized
Tagged garlic mustard, non-native plants. invasive plants
4 Comments
All Roads Lead to Dandelions
No matter where you go these days, it seems there’s a dandelion at your feet–or under your feet. The beginning of May is when dandelions run riot. This is a cobbled pathway in Central Park, New York City. The dandelions don’t … Continue reading
Posted in adaptations, edible, flowers, leaves, plant parts, spring
Tagged dandelion roots
2 Comments
Violet: A Spark of the Divine
The cathedral of St. John the Divine. This is the chapter house, a smaller building next to the immense cathedral, one of the largest in the world. It’s a magnificent building, like a medieval fortress. But nature manages to sneak … Continue reading
Ramps: Spring Vegetable
Ramps. A strange name for a plant. It’s a pretty spring wildflower, with flat green leaves. I’ve seen them sprouting in earliest spring, popping out of the dried leaves on the forest floor along with trout lilies, anemones, and hepatica. Wild leeks … Continue reading
Red Osier Dogwood: Winter Fire
This time of year, all the color seems to have drained from the world. No flowers yet, no butterflies. Even the birds are hiding till the warm weather comes. In the early spring drabness, this shrub stands out like flame … Continue reading
Posted in edible, native American, plant parts, spring, Uncategorized, wildlife, winter
Tagged plants for basket weaving, red osier, red osier dogwood
2 Comments
Burdock: Hooked Like Velcro
One day in 1941, a Swiss scientist was walking his dog, and noticed with annoyance, like so many other dog-walkers before and since, that his pet had blundered into the tall prickly plant called burdock. And as he was picking the … Continue reading
Posted in adaptations, birds, edible, great ideas, plant parts, seeds, Uncategorized, wildlife
Tagged burdock, invention of velcro, velcro
3 Comments
Tropical Color
Tropical fruit. It appears in grocery stores like magic. Bright sparks from the tropics to brighten an upstate New York winter. With a more homely fruit like, say, apples, I grasp the idea that someone picked them, packed them, shipped them … Continue reading
Queen Anne’s Lace: Carrots and Butterflies
No, the train isn’t barrelling down the track here. The weeds growing up through the railroad tracks and under the wheels show how many months or even years it’s been since this train went anywhere. Railroad tracks are interesting little habitats. … Continue reading
Touch of Spring: Guest Photographer Frank Knight
Thanks to Frank Knight for this stunning photograph. Frank specializes in close-up photographs of flowers. I love this beautiful shot of a delicate cluster of poison ivy flowers. Yes. Poison ivy has flowers. Dainty and delicate, lovely flowers that, yes, … Continue reading
Posted in adaptations, birds, edible, photos, plant parts, seeds, Uncategorized, wildlife
Tagged drupes, poison ivy, poison ivy berries, wildlife food
5 Comments
Unmowed 