Moss: City Green
I’ve lived within spitting distance of Albany NY for most of my life—and yet it’s a place I never go. Oh, I might go to the outskirts, the mall or the movie theater, but I rarely venture into the city itself. So the other day I decided to be a tourist and explore a bit. There are some beautiful old brownstones, and interesting shops and restaurants (a terrific Jamaican restaurant well named the Hot Spot). But as usual, I was on the lookout for plants. However, the prospects were dim for greenery—we’ve had over a foot of snow and the day I picked for my stroll was about 10 degrees with a wind...
Read MoreThistle: A Visit From a Poet
For those of you who celebrate Christmas, a certain poem was probably part of your upbringing, along with Frosty and Rudolph and all that sort of thing. You know the one I mean. You heard it, I heard it, we all heard it a zillion times in school, at home, on TV. “Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house not a creature was stirring not even a mouse…” But although I heard the words enough times that they embedded themselves in my memory, I really had only a hazy idea of what it all meant. I mean, I got the general drift of Santa bringing the good stuff, but what, exactly, were...
Read MoreThistle: Waiting for the Train
The Beacon train station. Waiting around for the train to New York City on a chilly damp day. It’s a long wait, and the train is running late, and the commuters are starting to grumble. Nothing to do but scout around for some interesting plant life. Over here in the rocks (which were carefully placed to keep weeds from growing) is a nice healthy cluster of thistle leaves. Not unlike commuters, thistles are aggressive and prickly. You have to be a bit prickly, to survive in a train station. Thistles have survival down to a science. They’re dandelion relatives, members of the Asteraceae,...
Read MoreMoss: True North
I took a picture of this tree at high noon. Twelve o’clock. Why? To test an old piece of wilderness lore: the belief that moss grows on the north side of trees. Does it? Or not? If you’re lost in the woods, should you look for moss on a tree trunk and set your path accordingly? Is this truth, or an old wives’ tale? Every time I walk in the woods, I conduct a highly scientific survey on this topic–I glance at tree trunks from time to time. And I have conclusively proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that moss grows on trees. But. Does it grow on one side more than on...
Read MoreWitch Hazel: Frozen Sweetness
A little cabin in the woods. Very, very Thoreau. A nice place to hide out and write. Last week I revelled in a writers’ retreat at the Highlights Foundation in Boyds Mills, PA. Anyway, outside my cabin was a gorgeous bush in full bloom. Covered with flowers. What, you don’t see it? Right here. A witch hazel bush. A native species–the best kind for landscaping. In full bloom. Now if witch hazel bloomed in May, it would be totally overlooked by every person walking past, and more to the point, overlooked by any and all pollinators. But the fact that it blooms so ridiculously late in the...
Read MoreAmerican Beech: Don’t Know When to Quit
Honesdale, PA. A day of bright sun at the Highlights Foundation at Boyds Mills, a wonderful writers’ retreat. Sunny and clear, but cold. Almost winter now. The leaves are all off the trees. The winter is coming, the branches are stark and bare. Or not. The leaves of these elegant gray trees just don’t know when it’s time to quit. American Beech, Fagus grandifolia. Why? Like most nature questions,this one has as many answers as there are websites. The trait of keeping leaves after they’re dead is called marcescence. (A word that is surely in the finals of all spelling-bees.)...
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