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87 Search Results for "Adam Bigelow"
Notes from a plant nerd: Going to seed
Published: 2023-11-01 14:01:26Want to hear a corny joke about an oak tree? That was it. . Why is it that in modern usage, seeds have mostly negative connotations in sayings and phrases? If something is seedy, as in “That’s a seedy operation,” it is sordid and disreputable, shab...
Read MoreNotes from a plant nerd: I see ghost flowers
Published: 2023-10-18 14:13:17This time of year, as the wind rustles the leaves and the shadows begin to elongate as the sun lingers lower on the horizon, the veil between the worlds seems to grow thinner and thinner. . Spooks, haunts, haints and ghouls begin appearing in the shadows...
Read MoreNotes from a plant nerd: Go, go chasing butterflies
Published: 2023-10-04 15:39:00Every year at the beginning of fall, an amazing thing happens in North America, and the Southern Appalachian Mountains. . One of the most amazing animal migrations just passes through Western North Carolina, and not only can you go witness it, but you ca...
Read MoreNotes from a plant nerd: Mountain-mint, a great pick for a pollinator garden
Published: 2023-09-20 14:16:27No matter where you are in the world, if you encounter a plant that has a square stem and opposite leaf arrangement — when two leaves grow out of the stem at the same place, but on opposing sides — it is most likely a member of the mint family (Lamia...
Read MoreNotes from a plant nerd: A jewel among wildflowers
Published: 2023-08-16 14:02:24Among my favorite plants to teach to children is jewelweed (Impatiens capensis & I. pallida). . There are so many fun and interesting features of this plant that it seems a crime to label it with the negative sounding “weed” designation. Sure, it res...
Read MoreNotes from a plant nerd: A lily so superb
Published: 2023-08-02 14:25:31Right now, throughout Southern Appalachia, and especially along the Blue Ridge Parkway near Balsam Gap in either direction, one of the most beautiful and iconic flowers in all of Appalachia is in bloom. . And it is stunning, lighting up the roadsides and...
Read MoreNotes from a plant nerd: The plant nerds are coming!
Published: 2023-07-19 13:41:46If you find yourself on the campus of Western Carolina University in the summer around the third week of July, you might notice a large and slightly odd group of people walking around. . While there are conferences and events all summer long at WCU, duri...
Read MoreNotes from a plant nerd: Trilliums, Trilliums, Trilliums
Published: 2023-07-14 16:29:21Trilliums are some of the most beautiful and iconic wildflowers in the world, and the Southern Appalachian mountains are filled with many different trillium species. . Wake-robins, toadshades, bashful trilliums, large white trilliums, painted trilliums, ...
Read MoreNotes from a plant nerd: St. John’s wort
Published: 2023-07-04 14:56:59Among the many plants that signify the start of summer, perhaps none is more showy than St. John’s wort (Hypericum spp.) . From its soft, rounded, blueish-green leaves to the vividly striking yellow of the flower petals, to the often numerous and showy...
Read MoreNotes from a plant nerd: World, lose strife
Published: 2023-06-21 12:46:04For the past few years, whenever I encounter the whorled loosestrife growing along a trail or roadside I have been saying its name out loud, and slowly. Like a prayer: “World, lose strife.” . Or so it sounds to my ears when said aloud. “World, lose...
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