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Crispy Fried Water Gardens
Yesterday my sister and I visited the beautiful Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens in northeast DC for a photo class. Even though we got there at 6:45am to get the best light, the air still felt like a wet...
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Tomato Hornworms Provide Bigger Pay-Off Than Actual Tomatoes
At least for my six-year old son. When he first spied one of the chubby 3-inch long hornworms among the tomato foliage, he recoiled in horror. Horror gradually turned to cautious fascination as he...
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“Now Entering the Xeric Hardpan Forest”
Recently I purchased and read Wildflowers and Plant Communities of the Southern Appalachians and Piedmont. Now, before you go labeling me as a mega-dweeb, you should know that plant communities are...
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The Heart and Soul of America
If you had to choose one place in the United States that you felt all Americans should visit, one landscape or landmark representative of the “American ethos”, what would it be? I started pondering...
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Conservation vs. Protection
What’s the difference? I ask because I came across this quote from Teddy Roosevelt when I visited Roosevelt Island this weekend: “Conservation Means Development as Much as it Does Protection.” Coming...
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My Trip to Mount Cuba Center
Mount Cuba Center, in Hockessin, Delaware (near Wilmington), has long been on my garden visit bucket list. It is a paradise of native Piedmont plants, and an inspiration for all of us living in...
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Butterflies in Maryland
First a few species that are native to the DC area, including the larval host plant(s) for the species. Denaus plexippus – Monarch. Milkweed spp. Battus philenor – Pipevine Swallowtail. Aristolochia...
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Annie Dillard — Suburban Pilgrim
For years I have worshipped Annie Dillard’s book Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, her Pulitzer-prize winning meditation on nature written back in the 1970’s. I keep a copy of it on my Kindle, and whenever the...
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Winter Outing
Testing out a new camera phone and trying to take pictures of nature with a companion who wanted to be featured in every shot. At Green Spring Gardens. Alexandria, VA.
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Today: a Surprise in the Carex
Look what I found sunbathing out in my Carex pensylvanica today: He seemed to realize that he would be well camouflaged among the dried out Carex rather than among the autumn ferns or sarcococca...
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