Category Archives: Plants

Wild Azalea and Wood Storks 2023-01-31

An early spring sight, and something more unusual.

[Wood Storks and Wild Azalea, OPF 2023-01-31]
Wood Storks and Wild Azalea, OPF 2023-01-31

We’re used to wild azaleas, Rhododendron canescens, blooming around now. Plenty of buds promise more flowers after this first one.

But the other sight was more unusual. Continue reading →

Vines 2023-01-16

Maybe I should have trimmed some more vines before backing in there.

[Vines and privet]
Vines and privet

I had sawed off that privet. It was supposed to push to the side when I backed the tractor with mower in.

Instead, the grapevines and Smilax decided that invasive exotic Chinese privet would go up on top of the tractor canopy.

Probably I would have noticed earlier, but I was concentrating on not backing into a tree and not getting caught around the throat by catbriars. You know those Smilax with the stout sharp thorns and thick stems: Smilax bona-nox.

Note to self: next time take a machete. Cutting each vine with clippers took a while.

-jsq

Dogs, dog fennel, longleaf, beggarticks, chiggers 2022-09-18

Ah, fall flowers, dogs frolicking in the dog fennel, and mysterious molds, all on a morning walk.

And chiggers. Most likely Trombicula alfreddugesi, aka Eutrombicula alfreddugesi, in the genus Trombicula, family Trombiculidae.

Whichever species of arachnids, cousins of ticks and spiders, these ones will make you itch for days. They can raise red welts and send you to the doctor seeking steroids. You don’t want to see pictures of that.

[Common sneezeweed, Helenium autumnale]
Common sneezeweed, Helenium autumnale

Continue reading →

Grapes, beaver pond, sycamore, beggarticks, bananas, cypress swamp, dogs 2022-08-10

A walk in the woods one summer day.

[Grapes, sycamore, banana, cypress swamp]
Grapes, sycamore, banana, cypress swamp

Those grapes were ripe and tasty. Muscadine, Vitis rotundifolia. This is down by a beaver pond. Continue reading →

Maypop, ground cherry, blueberry, fig, beautyberry 2022-05-29

Spring is in bloom or fruit.

[Beautyberry (Callicarpa americana)]
Beautyberry (Callicarpa americana)

Continue reading →

Pitcher plants blooming 2022-04-08

Never saw them bloom before.

[Sarracenia minor]
Sarracenia minor

“It takes at least 4 years to go from a just-pollinated flower to a mature, blooming plant.” Growing Sarracenia from Seed, International Carnivorous Plant Society (ICPS).

[Side view]
Side view

These pitcher plants grew naturally in our woods.

We do have bumblebees, so maybe they will pollinate. Then maybe seeds in August or September.