Asters in the Badlands
The Badlands. An incredibly arid, but weirdly beautiful landscape. I often marvel at how plants can shove through cracks in cement or bloom in gravel or sand. But how can any wildflowers blossom in this ash-colored, bone-dry soil? Plants need sun, of course, but here there’s nothing but sun. No trees, no shade at all. Even on a cool day, the constant sun can get to you. After a while you find yourself trying to fit into the three-inch wide shadow cast by a trail marker. Anything to hide from the glare for just a moment. But there’s nowhere for these asters to hide. And apparently, no water....
Read MorePokeweed: Summer Giant
This gangly, strange-looking character is pokeweed. I bought it at a native plant sale a few years ago, but it never sent up more than a few floppy leaves, and I’d almost given up hope.
Read MorePoison Ivy: Even in Central Park
Poison ivy. An amazingly versatile plant, it does indeed grow just about everywhere. Beaches. Forests. Bayous. Even in Manhattan’s Central Park.
Read MoreHoney Locust: Defanged
Honey locust, in Manhattan’s Central Park, has thorns. Big thorns. Not just little prickers, great huge whomping thorns, six inches long and iron hard.
Read MoreHappy Fourth of July!
As John Adams put it, “I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival.”
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