Good Lawn
I saw a sight the other day that froze my blood. There was a toddler, a hapless infant, sitting on a lawn. Not even a blanket underneath him, mind you—the poor child was sitting right on the grass. Made my blood run cold. Why? Because it was a lawn made of nothing but blades of grass. Close-cropped and bristly as a Marine’s haircut. Not a weed to be seen, not a leaf of clover, not a dandelion, not a plantain leaf. Nothing but grass. So what? That’s what a lawn is supposed to be, right? I suppose so. But it doesn’t stay that way naturally. Dandelions, clover, plantain: they’re all are highly...
Read MoreDo Dogs Get Poison Ivy?
Do dogs and other species of animals get poison ivy? As far as I’ve discovered, humans are the only species to have such an extreme dermatitis reaction.
Read MoreBuds: Springs Yet To Come
Buds, to use strict botanic terminology, are those little bumps on the ends of twigs that no one ever notices. Until one fine day, when the little bumps burst open and reveal the leaves and blossoms of spring that we’ve all been longing for. As miraculous as a chick hatching out of its shell. It’s been a long hard winter, and everyone’s delighted to see the new green leaves bursting forth on the branches—the leaves of this spring. But when did the buds start incubating those baby leaves? Last spring, a full year ago. At the base of each and every leaf on each and every tree, a tiny speck...
Read MoreA Book About Poison Ivy
Yes. Really. I’m not kidding. An entire book about poison ivy. Leaflets Three, Let It Be!: The Story of Poison Ivy, with gorgeous illustrations by Robin Brickman, published in April 2015 by Boyds Mills Press. And whenever I tell people that I’ve written a book about poison ivy, they stare amazed, then suspicious. Why a book about poison ivy? This is why: Usually a class of fifth-graders bounce and chatter like a flock of starlings on a spring day. But this group shuffled behind me, talking among themselves in low murmurs. The closer we got to the head of the trail, the quieter they...
Read MoreGoldenrod: Bird Seed
It’s been a long tough winter. And even though it feels a bit like spring–Daylight Savings, birds cautiously chirping–this is the worst part of all. The last gasp of winter is a tough time for wildlife. The sun is making efforts to warm us up at noon, but it’s still frigid at night. And there’s practically nothing left in terms of food for hungry birds. Good thing there’s still a bit of goldenrod in the back yard. Goldenrod, a native plant, still has a few seeds left on the winter stalks.
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