Fabric Flowers
Okay, this is sort of cheating for a blog that’s supposed to be about nature, but I’m an absolute sucker for quilts. Real old-time, traditional quilts like these ones, I mean, made from honest-to-god scraps. I once met an elderly quilter, who wanted to bang her head against the wall at the very idea of buying brand new fabric and then cutting it up into little tiny pieces and sewing it all back together again…Of course, I do it myself, but it does seem absurd when you think about it. Anyway, the Quilt Bug in Esperance, New York, is a great little shop with gorgeous fabric,...
Read MoreRed Osier Dogwood: Winter Fire
This time of year, all the color seems to have drained from the world. No flowers yet, no butterflies. Even the birds are hiding till the warm weather comes. In the early spring drabness, this shrub stands out like flame against the dried brown grasses. Red Osier Dogwood–one of many species of dogwoods, with juicy berries much beloved by fall birds. The berries are long gone, but the twigs still glow like embers. It’s a native plant, a cold-weather-lover. It grows all over the US, but can even tough it out way up north in Alaska and the Yukon, where it does its best to warm the...
Read MoreCrocus or Croak
An early April snowstorm, to make fools of us all. But see that little yellow dot in the snowbank? That’s a crocus. Last spring, I had one lonely crocus in my long-neglected garden. Just one. And on the first warm spring day, the tiny yellow flower all but disappeared under a mob of hungry bees. Startled at their ferocity, I looked around and realized that nothing else was blooming. Nothing. Not even my beloved dandelions dared show a petal yet. And the bees were desperate for food. They had to find nectar or starve. And one crocus won’t feed a whole hive. So last fall, I went to...
Read MoreFlocks: Guest Photographer Diane Hale Smith
Thanks to Diane Hale Smith for these beautiful photographs! It’s spring. Really it is, in spite of the weather. The birds know. They can tell because there’s more light in the world. The days are longer, the nights are shrinking, and they know it’s time to move. Huge groups of starlings, red-winged blackbirds, and grackles are swooping around, back from their winter spent in warmer climates. They’re complaining loudly about the frigid weather up here. They’re waiting impatiently, like the rest of us, for the weather to warm up. And my favorites, the crows, are still hanging out in their...
Read MoreSpring on Wheels
Spring is on its way! Being trucked in specially at the Carrot Barn in Schoharie, NY. I went there for a welcome breath of spring in this month of endless cold. In their vast greenhouse, the air is moist and warm, and there’s a promise of flowers to come. It has to warm up sooner or later! By the way, if you’re looking for a holiday plant as a gift or whatever, think about daffodils. Don’t buy tulips unless you enjoy battling mice and chipmunks–tulip bulbs apparently are very sweet (people used to eat them, sugared.) Daffodils may be the one species of plant on the...
Read MoreLawn Sushi
A local plant nursery—just a quick stop for a look…No. No, no. I do not need to buy any more plants. But it’s like a candy store…just have to check it out. I’m looking for native perennials for my optimistically planned butterfly garden next summer. Anyway, I notice this truck in the parking lot. Odd. A lot of rugs rolled up and piled in the back. Someone must be moving. Only when I looked closer, of course they weren’t rugs at all. They were lawns, rolled up as neatly as a California tuna roll. Ready to truck to a new site, a housing development somewhere. All you have to do is unroll it...
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