Tag Archive | Nature
The Fragrant Berry
When I grew up on Long Island and visited the sea shore, I always enjoyed the fragrance of the native northern bayberry. Breaking off a leaf and crushing it in your fingers releases the bayberry scent often used in candles today. Later in the summer, the flowers turn into fruit that are green at first, […]
Not Your Garden Azalea
When gardeners think of azaleas, there are thoughts of going to a nursery to purchase these shrubs to plant around the house. But in our native woodlands there are wild azaleas that thrive in acidic wetlands. One such azalea is the swamp azalea. It has showy, fragrant white flowers that bloom in the early summer. […]
Candelabras of the Meadow
From Georgia to Labrador in wet meadows and fens, fuzzy white flowers clustered together grow among rushes and sedges and other wildflowers. These candle-like blossoms with compound leaves are from a plant named Canadian Burnet. These flowers, laden with pollen attract bees and other pollinators. Since it grows in acidic environments, it absorbs tannins making […]
The Plant Sowed by Ants
In dry, sandy clearings from Florida to Canada on the east coast trailing arbutus, an evergreen plant, blooms in the spring. It is visited by bumblebees, a major pollinator for this plant, Once the flowers are pollinated, seed capsules with a fleshy parts develops. Ants find these grains and carry it to their underground bunker. […]
The Clever Wildflower
This wildflower deceives tiny gnats into thinking it is a fungus to trick the insects to pollinate it. Fungus gnats seek mushrooms to lay eggs so the larvae have a food source. Jack-in-the-pulpit gives off a faint mushroom-like odor that attracts the gnats. These insects land in the spathe shaped male blossom where they become […]
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