Dead pines throughout our community are easy to spot. Isolated single specimens or groups of two or three pines lend a copper-brown color to the green tree canopy.
Category: Flora
Elegant dog fennel
Beautiful, elegant Eupatorium capillifolium. Now that sounds a lot nicer than “beautiful, elegant dog fennel,†doesn’t it?
A Flora reader’s pipevine story
Recently, I received the following account from Flora reader Nancy Walker . . .
Remembering ice flowers
Thankfully, that near-100 degree first day of fall has been followed by needed rain and cooler temperatures. I’m relishing thinking of those dreadful freezing mornings in January.
A waif of a plant
Several weeks ago, Raleigh friend Margaret Schucker emailed to me a plant image with this inquiry: “What is this? I found it growing out of a crack in the sidewalk and came home and threw it into the ground. It looks sort of like a poinsettia, but obviously not on steroids. If it’s not some kind of horrible, invasive thing, I will leave it there. It’s great to have anything that blooms in this heat. Plus I didn’t have to do anything to help it along. Good quality in a plant!â€
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Looking down on the ground
Looking down on the ground last week along trails in Umstead State Park between Raleigh and Durham, I spotted numerous patches of partridge berry, Mitchella repens.
After Joe-Pye
“After Joe-Pye weed comes Pluchea.†That was the declaration from gardening friend Sally several weeks ago when Joe-Pye weed flowering heads of purple gave way to seed heads of shades of brown.
Discover Occoneechee’s fern glade on Labor Day
By Ken Moore, Columnist Those of you who remain home-based during the Labor Day weekend can enjoy a half-day mountain adventure finding the fern glade at the base of Occoneechee Mountain just west of Hillsborough. I visited the mountain on Sunday to see if the fern glade is surviving the heat and drought. That glade…
A wildflower to know and grow
Driving through the center of campus on Cameron Avenue last week, I noticed hundreds of flowers of seashore mallow, Kosteletzkya virginica, stretching up over the stone wall next to Coker Arboretum’s arbor. The vivid pink of those flowers caused me to slow down for a brief closer look.
Flora readers have influence
For weeks now, I’ve wanted to describe the lovely fern glade at the base of the mountain at Occoneechee Mountain State Natural Area. The 2-mile trail encircling that mountain is one of the premier hikes in our area.
More butterfly magnets
Four weeks ago (Flora, 7/8), I featured swamp milkweed, Asclepias incarnata, because of the pair of milkweed leaf beetles that hung around for weeks and weeks. My milkweeds have completed flowering for this year, and those two beetles, who did finally get together, are now gone.
Sunflowers all about
I’ve enjoyed a couple dozen varieties of giant sunflowers, Helianthus annuus, scattered about my fenced-in veggie garden for the past month. The sunflower heads of various sizes and colors looking down from six-to-eight-foot stems are a colorful and exciting addition.
More reflection on exotic invasives
I’ve targeted chaste tree, Vitex agnus-castus, (above) and crape myrtle, Lagerstroemia indica, (back page) to be chopped out of my landscape. You’ll not be happy to read on for the reasoning.
Butterfly magnet and more
My plan to follow up on exotic invasives this week will have to wait. It’s been side-tracked by Joe-Pye.
See who’s coming to dinner!
“Look what’s in my garden!†That email last week from friend Pete accompanied an image of a beautiful milkweed leaf beetle.