By Ken Moore Botanical Garden director Peter White loves trees. Chatting with him over a coffee at Open Eye, I mentioned featuring the Sycamore (Platanus occidentalis) in The Citizen’s “Flora†column. He enthusiastically responded with numerous stories. Its beauty is somewhat obscured by the foliage during the growing season, but in the winter no tree…
Category: Flora
More red berries!
By Ken Moore If you are expert at using your “owl eyes†while driving, you may spot some red berries that are neither holly nor dogwood. Like holiday lights, these red berries are strung up in tangles and thickets. I’m describing the fruit of one of the species of catbrier, Smilax sp., that folks curse…
Hug a tree on New Year’s Day
Rachel and Alex Beck hugging a big tree near the Adams Tract trailhead kiosk in Carrboro’s Wilson Park. Photo by Ken Moore. By Ken Moore Years ago, a tradition was begun by the Eno River Association: Volunteers led New Year’s Day walks along the river that flows through Hillsborough and north through Durham to Falls…
A holiday for your cardinal flower
By Ken Moore Have you checked on your Cardinal Flower lately? You are likely thinking, “Hey, this is the holiday season and Cardinal Flower, Lobelia cardinalis, blooms in the late summer. This is the season for holly and mistletoe and hoping for snow.†But think back to the late-summer brilliant red of Cardinal Flowers and…
Plant a deciduous holly
By Ken Moore Last week I received a call: “Ken, where can I find a deciduous holly for my wife for Christmas?†This small native tree is not commonly found in nurseries, but this time I had a happy answer. Having recently dropped by the Carrboro Southern States to pick up the bow of 25…
Carrboro Community Garden wreath
By Ken Moore For 20 years, the holiday greenery that has adorned the columns of Carrboro’s Town Hall has been the result of the time and creativity of members of the Carrboro Community Garden Club. Now, this group of gardeners is not your typical garden club organization. It does not belong to a Garden Club…
Another wild aster for your garden
By Ken Moore We’ve finally had some killing frosts and winter is beginning to settle in. This is the season we are accustomed to being the hosts of garden mums, Chrysanthemum x morifolium, with their neon-like orange, yellow and red colors, as well as the quieter colors of pink and white of Sasanqua Camellia, Camellia…
Time to harvest a Carolina Bay wreath
Wreath of bay leaf branches woven into grape vine. Photo by Ken Moore By Ken Moore Back in the mid 1970s, UNC botany professor Dr. C. Ritchie Bell got an idea while teaching an Economic Botany class. In addition to teaching, Dr. Bell liked to cook, and he discovered that the leaves of a native…
Are we at ‘peak color’ yet?
By Ken Moore I believe we humans have lost the ability to step back and fully appreciate what we have around us. In the fall, folks look forward to the brilliant display of deciduous trees as the greens give way to an arsenal of other colors before the seasonal falling of leaves. And every year…
Persimmon season
An unusually heavy fruiting Persimmon Tree in the middle of Chapel Hill. Photo by Ken Moore By Ken Moore A desperate call two weeks ago: “Ken, that persimmon tree near my office is already dropping fruit and I’m leaving for a couple of days and don’t want them to go to waste!†I assured him…
Poke salad days
By Ken Moore “My poke’s bigger than your poke!†Believe it or not, that challenging brag has passed between more than two energetic gardeners in this area. While folks may consider the common American Pokeberry, Phytolacca americana, merely a weed, more and more really sophisticated gardeners admire and grow this giant native perennial. Poke is…
Love letter to Frost Asters
By Ken Moore Referring to my annual enthusiastic descriptions of most common flowering weeds, gardening friend Sally recently stated that she was waiting for Ken Moore’s “love letter†to the Frost Aster. Aptly named, Frost Aster, Aster pilosus (Symphyotrichum pilosum), does flower during the frosty days of mid-October.
Get creative with planting this fall
A variety of plants — from flowering annuals and perennials to kitchen herbs, tomatoes, peppers and even a few stalks of corn — are easily grown on a sunny deck or patio. Photo by Ken Moore By Ken Moore Fall is for planting, a time when one can get a spade into the soil and…
A tale of two plants
 Closeup of Bidens flower head showing central tiny disc flowers surrounded by ray flowers hosting a crab spider with captured prey. Photo by Ken Moore By Ken Moore One plant To me, Labor Day means the flowering of Bidens aristosa and Bidens polylepis. Don’t worry about which is which. Their golden-yellow, daisy-like flowers are…
Appreciating sumac from Carolina to Maine
 Maine Island deck-level Sumac. Photo by Ken Moore By Ken Moore I was not looking forward to the long drive to visit cousins in New England, but the tediousness and hazards of highway travels can be pleasantly calmed by viewing roadside vegetation along the way. Like any wild botanist, I’m most content when identifying…