Common Tall Goldenrod at Mason Farm Biological Reserve. Photo by Ken Moore By Ken Moore Goldenrods – particularly the Pineywoods Goldenrod, Solidago pinetorum, a welcome sign of approaching fall – have begun coloring up the roadsides in spite of the drought. It was one of the first plants carried over to England, where it quickly…
Category: Flora
Observing the Common Milkweed: A walk on the wild side
Common Milkweed standing tall in Arcadia Community. Photo by Ken Moore By Ken Moore An early-morning walk through the Chapel Hill Merritt Pasture near the James Taylor Bridge is a real pleasure. The wild part is gaining access to the rolling pasture site. You are well advised to plan your visit during the Sunday morning…
Joe-Pye who?
Joe-Pye-Weed flower heads. Photo by Ken Moore By Ken Moore Common names and the meanings and tales associated with them are the source of endless wisdom, humor and trivia. I’ve always wondered who Joe-Pye really was. The familiar description is of a Native American herb doctor in the Massachusetts Bay Colony region. The Indian’s name…
Opening soon in a woods near you
A hand lens or magnifying glass is helpful for viewing the Crane-fly Orchid flower. Photo by Ken Moore By Ken Moore They’re late this year. The specimens in my parched woodland have not yet shown themselves. Over in the middle of Carrboro – more showers over there – they’re up but not in flower, and…
Can’t say enough about mullein
Yellow flowers spiralling around the tall Mullein stalk. Photo by Ken Moore. By Ken Moore First I offer a sincere apology that Marie Weiden was not properly identified in last week’s column about Ruellia regarding her colorful curb in Chapel Hill. Beginning with Marie’s garden, I’m looking forward to describing more curbsides as folks share…
Ruellia: Now you can say it in Latin
Ruellia standing tall in ditch in lower Bynum. Photo by Ken Moore By Ken Moore I spied it three weeks ago along a roadside ditch in lower Bynum while helping volunteers clear a site for the Haw River Assembly’s new storage building. Then, this past week, some of us were back down there helping move…
Sad about my favorite tree
By Ken Moore One of the childhood memories I hold vividly is the neighbor’s giant mimosa tree, under which I spent many days playing with fragrant silky flowers in summer and twisted little bean pods in the fall. The mimosa, also called silk tree (Albizia julibrissin), remains for me one of the most exotically beautiful…
There’s more than one kind of blackberry
Distinctive white leaf underside of pink-flowered Himalaya-berry. Photo by Ken Moore By Ken Moore The Fourth of July is here, traditional blackberry-picking time. I enjoyed seeing a Dad and two youngsters out on bikes picking berries along one of Carrboro’s inner-city country lanes during the past weekend. The huge briery berry patch in my wild…
The wild white flowers of early summer
Queen Anne’s Lace, a “wild carrot.†Photo by Ken Moore By Ken Moore They began flowering weeks ago and they are still making a show along roadsides and wherever folks allow them to move about freely on their lawns and in their gardens. I learned to recognize the green winter leafy rosettes of Daisy Fleabane…
Trumpet-creeper: Just one of our great native vines
By Ken Moore Our roadsides are so filled with flowering wild plants that it frustrates me to focus on just one or two for description in The Citizen. Right now, I have to celebrate the Trumpet-creeper. Some folks call it Trumpet Vine or Cow-itch Vine. There are likely other names associated with this common native…
Flora: Catalpa country
By Ken Moore Columnist “The other day I saw an ad in the local paper – ‘Catalpa worms for sale, twenty-five cents a dozen.’†No, that’s not from last week’s Citizen. It’s from Paul Green’s Plant Book. I’m wondering if he was referring to a long-ago issue of the paper from our neighboring town. The…
Wow, it’s a drought and we have water to throw away!
By Ken Moore Columnist Walking and driving through the downtown and old neighborhoods of Carrboro is a real treat. There are so many wonderful and colorful gardens that reflect an unbelievable diversity of imagination, horticultural expertise and a dedication to gardening in an environmentally friendly manner. One of my favorite such gardens is Pete Lucey’s…
Native plants show off in spite of drought and heat
A group of local folks stopped in their tracks on the edge of one of Mason Farm’s Penstemon fields. Photo by Ken Moore By Ken Moore Summer has not officially arrived, but the summer heat made its dramatic entry this past Memorial Day weekend. And we are well along into the predicted drought; without ample…
Fire station on the Holly tree site
Holly tree that is located at Carrboro’s future fire station site is estimated to be 200 years old. Photo by Ken Moore By Ken Moore Please Note: In my enthusiasm last week for “hugging†that 200-year-old Persimmon tree on the university campus, I failed to credit Betsy Green Moyer, photographer and co-editor of Paul Green’s…
The Persimmons are flowering
Giant 200-year-old Persimmon tree on UNC campus’ Polk Place By Ken Moore “Wow, how about that Persimmon flower!†“I don’t see any flower!†“There it is, right there in that little angle, where the leaf is attached to the stem.†“All I see is a little green thing!†“Yeah; that’s it! A tiny little green…