I was walking underneath our trellis of the native Wisteria macrostachya last week, and was amazed how artfully Mother Nature had arranged the seed pods on the patio. Wisteria seed are heavy, and would naturally drop in a single pile, but instead, the pods twist, and in doing so, ballistically shoot the seed out at
Nature has so many cool things to observe, if we just take time to do so. On a recent trek through the nursery, I was taken by these photogenic chalices of Bird’s Nest Fungus. This natural work of art grows on mulch and compost, and has no detrimental effect on plants or animals. In reality,
Last week when we were finishing dinner, Anita noticed that the setting sun was wonderfully illuminating a clump of Miscanthus ‘Little Kitten’, so we jumped up from the table, cameras in hand, to capture the moment below. Being mindful allows us to take in so many amazing, but fleeting moments in the garden.
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I don’t know how you can look at a mushroom and not be in awe of the beauty of nature. I was blessed to catch this stunning Hen of the Woods, Grifola frondosa, last week. Unfortunately, they’re as ephemeral as a sand castle in the surf, but if you know how to cook, you can
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Running into our fascinating native green tree frogs, Hyla cinerea, is a regular occurrence at JLBG, and I seem unable to resist taking far too many photos of these amazing creatures. Recently, I was able to capture a ventral view for the first time, when one perched on my office window, doing its spiderman impersonation.
Last weekend, Anita and I watched as one of our indoor cats, Jake, was glued to the glass door as a common box turtle sauntered, seemingly purposely down our 50′ long sidewalk and toward the door. It (he?/she?) finally stopped just a few feet short of the door, where it just sat and stared, with
Greeting me on a recent foggy winter morning garden walk was a specimen of the fascinating Clathus columnatus, better known as column stinkhorn. It lives on dead and decaying organic matter, so is often seen growing in mulched areas. In the US, it’s typically seen East of the Mississippi, but many mycologists theorize it was
Walking through the nursery this week, we spotted a fascinating triangle orbweaver spider (Verrucosa arenata). These cuties are usually seen in late summer and fall in open woodlands. Their diet focuses on small insects such as mosquitoes, but cause no harm to humans, except arachnophobes. We love the color echo with the ground fabric and
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As fall temperatures drop, it’s not unusual to find our native bees asleep in some of the most interesting places. We caught this carpenter bee fast asleep on the job this week, clinging tightly to the spines of an Agave parryi.
We love fall not just because of the weather, the colorful foliage, the fall bloomers, but also for the fall fungus. It seems like some of the most incredible fungus of the year happens in fall. When we go outside to take plant photos, it’s hard to resist the amazing fungi as well. Like sand
