Outdoors
Notes from a plant nerd: What a Lark
I wear a few different hats in my world. A big straw hat for working in the garden or walking out in the sun. Wool caps and toboggans for the colder mornings of spring. Party hats for the celebrations. I’ve even been known to wear a tricorne hat when visiting Colonial Williamsburg as a kid.
Notes from a plant nerd: Spring, Sprang, Sprung, Sproing! What is Springtime?
Spring has fully sprung across Southern Appalachia, as we are awakened daily to birdsong and the bustling morning activity of bees and butterflies.
Up Moses Creek: A Siphon Does Not Sip
Ready?” I shout over my shoulder up towards the pond. I am straddling the end of a long, white plastic pipe filled with water, its end taped shut with a wrap of 5-mil plastic.
Notes from a plant nerd: Hope for the Hemlocks
In springtime, all things are possible. Everything around you that is alive is imbued right now with the same hopeful energy.
Notes from a plant nerd: Invasive Plants Part II: Revenge of the Sterile Cultivar
All around Western North Carolina are thousands upon thousands of small to medium trees blooming white, stinky flowers along roadsides, fence lines and driveways.
Notes from a plant nerd: Invasive Plants
I’ve been writing this column for over a year and a half and every plant that I have highlighted and celebrated evolved and co-evolved in the bioregion of Southern Appalachia.
Up Moses Creek: The Window Strike
One day last December, a flock of robins descended on the loaded winterberry hollies in our yard, their red breasts making the clump look like it was hung with big Christmas tree ornaments.
Notes from a plant nerd: Don’t you boil this cabbage down
There are so many different native plants and flowers that I have yet to see growing in the wild. And I really want to.
Up Moses Creek: Coyote Howl
I was hiking in the woods above our house at sunrise when coyotes began to howl behind me, and they howled and howled.
