Gary
The Non-Native Beauty
In my daughter’s Maryland spring backyard, I discovered a dainty blue wildflower growing in the shade cast by trees and in the shadow of a wooden fence that borders her property. With scalloped leaves and four petaled flowers, the slender speedwell thrives in the moist soils here. A non-native, this plant traveled from Europe to […]
The Undesirable Wildflower
It is spring in the U.S and millions of acres of manicured lawns are greening up yet much to the disdain of homeowners billions of yellow dandelions litter the green landscape. People spend millions of dollars and countless hours attempting to rid their lawns of these intrusive “weeds”. However, this wildflower was not aways an […]
The Tick Terminator
Looking out my Florida room window into my backyard, I was pleasantly surprised to see North America’s only marsupial in my garden – the opossum. Normally, nocturnal, it must have been hungry to be out during the daylight scavenging for a bite to eat. There is plenty to munch on – frogs, lizards, snakes, large […]
The Noisy Hawk
Stepping out of my Florida home one morning, I hear the scream-like call of the red-shouldered hawk, a species known for its loud raucous cries and sharp whistles that can be heard from a mile away. I watch it fly over our homes and into a laurel oak tree where it rests briefly then flies […]
The Ubiquitous Moss
Mosses are primitive plants that come in many forms and grow in a variety of habitats. These plants produce spores, not seeds and the spores are so light that they are carried into the atmosphere and around the world. The haircap moss grows on nearly every continent on earth. Up close, it looks like a […]
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