I’m back with another #SixonSaturday to show off a weird thing I began collecting a year ago: fallen branches. For the details on this hashtag, visit The Propagator’s Six on Saturday – A Participant Guide. Many of the old oaks in the neighborhood drop limbs that break apart on the streets and are hauled away […]
It’s International Mountain Day! Okay, this was announced in my planner, but I connected to it and this scene came to mind immediately: We’ve hiked to Lake Isabelle in the Indian Peaks Wilderness our last two visits to Colorado. I’m sorry I don’t know the exact mountain names here on the Continental Divide. They certainly […]
I follow a number of ‘green’ accounts on twitter. This morning: Little Green Space is a UK-based person/group, but their messages can be applied anywhere: Do what you can. Yes, that’s gardening AND household changes AND voting. I’ve done a little of each this November, the latest being planting a few shrubs. I’m by no […]
I’m on a trip out west and am so caught up in different activities and what is happening with the climate summit that I actually forgot yesterday was the Autumnal Equinox! I may have missed the date–as one does when away from home–but thankfully, I have been outside! Here in Wyoming, the aspen are starting […]
Yes, pollinator week is a thing, and more popular than ever! Pollinator Partnership has more on activities and the critical need to promote the health of our pollinators. I’m in Colorado and have been seeing these really cool bumblebees with orange bands on our flowers. I finally got photos! I searched online and discovered the […]
We took a family trip south through the rural Virginia countryside last weekend and passed yard after yard with Southern Magnolia, Magnolia grandiflora, trees towering over the ranch houses. This is not a tree for the faint-of-heart. But it is one for bees and other pollinators. Southern Magnolia blossoms have the largest nectaries–pools of nectar–and […]
What’s going on with planet Earth is so out of reach of my control, that I’m left feeling helpless most days. I grew up playing in the national parks my dad worked in. I made my own career in environmental education for decades. I raised my kids to care for nature. I write novels about […]
In the metro Washington, D.C. area, cherry blossom season is just about over, and I can’t let it pass without noting them! Cherry trees are pollinated strictly by bees and are an important spring nectar source. Folks plant a whole variety of ornamental species that are beautiful. The simpler flowers are best for bees. We […]
If you live in the mid-atlantic region, Redbud, Cercis canadensis, is hitting its peak bloom. And just in time, because the red maple blooms are done and the bees are looking for their next big source of nectar and pollen to build up their colonies again. This native tree does well in partial shade, growing to 30 feet high and […]
Have you got a lot of room? The catalpa trees–there are both a Northern and a Southern Catalpa–are native to North America and grow 40 to 60 feet tall. Not as big as some trees, but the large heart-shaped leaves and the clumps of large and showy flowers make the tree seem huge. The inch-wide […]