Bartram’s Garden: The Botanick Fire
In 1728, John Bartram created a garden. It’s now the oldest surviving botanic garden in America.
Read MoreYellowstone Hot Springs: Extremophiles
It’s the weirdest thing I ever saw. A hole in the ground, filled with water. The most beautiful crystal clear water, turquoise and lovely as a swimming pool. It looks cool and inviting—but it’s hot. Incredibly, insanely hot. This clear water is steaming and bubbling with the heat from molten rock surging up from the earth’s core. Yellowstone National Park is dotted with these bizarre holes in the ground. Geysers and hot springs and pools. Old Faithful, of course, the reliably spectacular geyser, but also a host of pools and puddles, some no bigger than a good-sized kitchen sink. And they...
Read MorePoison Ivy: A Good Thing
Poison ivy climbing up trees can be a good thing. PI rarely impacts the host tree severely. But the best thing about poison ivy is this: birds love it.
Read MoreGood Mowing, Part 2
Last November I wrote a blog post about a meadow at the George Landis Arboretum in Esperance, NY. The meadow had just been mowed, and while you might assume from the title of my blog that I would be violently opposed to all mowing, that’s actually not the case. I can be a good sport about mowing. In fact, mowing in the right places, at the right time of year, can be an enormous help for wildlife, and for wildflowers. A mowed meadow looks sad and stubbly, but as with all good things, patience is required. Here’s what the meadow looks like today. A kaleidoscope of purple, gold and white:...
Read MoreChocolate in Bloom
Yes! The chocolate is in bloom! Now on view at the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx, NY. What I can’t figure out is how anyone ever discovered the insanely fabulous taste of this plant. It’s a very easy plant to ignore. It blends in with the other trees in the tropical section of the Botanical Garden’s enormous conservatory. The little cacao tree is dwarfed by palm trees and giant ferns, totally upstaged by orchids and bird-of-paradise flowers. The leaves are nondescript, the flowers pretty but half an inch long. But come and worship at the foot of this homely little...
Read MoreRed Cage Fungus: Smelly Beauty
Pulling weeds. A very educational pursuit. I learn something new every time I do it. I was pulling some invasive bittersweet out of a pile of woodchips at the Pine Hollow Arboretum, when I noticed a hint of a sort of bad smell. Decomposing dead animal? Turned around to look, and the smell grew stronger. No sign of any corpses, though. Hm. Odor getting stronger the more I walk around. Did I step in something unfortunate? Check shoes. No. What is that smell? I search around, and finally notice what’s been under my feet all along–the tiny, fragile, odoriferous beauty of a stinkhorn...
Read MoreConnect with Anita
Recent Comments