Accompanying the joy of the gift-giving season is often the stress of determining what to give.
Category: Flora
FLORA: Carrboro’s giant holiday wreath
Carrboro Town Hall’s giant holiday wreath is possibly the largest one hanging in the state.
FLORA: Occoneechee, our biggest little mountain
Among several little mountains scattered about the county, the tallest, at 867 feet, occupies Occoneechee Mountain State Natural Area near Hillsborough.
FLORA: Thankful for a new place to walk
This is the week of big gatherings of family and friends and a time for outdoor excursions together.
FLORA: So many colors
Emerging from the forest interior last week, the afternoon sun was dazzling on the big tree ahead.
FLORA: More than “peakâ€
Exploring my favorite power line right-of-ways last Saturday, still chasing after the elusive “peak†of fall color, I was surprised to find colorful wildflowers following the recent frosts.
FLORA: Chasing the ‘peak’
At this time of year, I poke fun at the craze to travel far and wide to view “peak†fall color.
Flora: Remembering Persimmon Pete
Right here in the middle of persimmon season, I’m realizing that I don’t remember ever seeing such a bountiful crop from our native fruit tree, Diospyros virginiana.
FLORA: Bizarre botanicals
The book Bizarre Botanicals, by Larry Mellichamp and Paula Gross, professors of botany and horticulture at UNC-Charlotte, quietly hit bookstores last year without its deserved fanfare.
FLORA: Keeping up with the fall
Beggar ticks, or hitchhikers, on pants legs are a sure prelude to fall.
FLORA: Lichens, another kind of flora
Lichens are pioneer plants, colonizers on boulders and other bare surfaces, slowly developing layers of soil particles for the establishment of larger plant communities.
FLORA: Dollar leaf
Desmodium is the genus name for beggar lice, beggar tick, tick-trefoil and whatever common name you may prefer for these common plants in the bean (pea) family.
FLORA: Passionate about passion flower
One of my favorite native vines is passion flower, frequently called maypops and officially recognized as Passiflora incarnata.
FLORA: Sometimes native vines seem invasive
When asked by a Flora reader some weeks ago why I did not focus on vines, I didn’t realize that my response would be to become as compulsively focused as I have been lately.
FLORA: Morning glory time
This is the time of year when I let the common morning glories run freely over my yard and garden.