Showing posts with label Plants. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Plants. Show all posts

Sunday, March 24, 2024

Hedges

 


In colonial times, and in many gardens today, hedges were used to outline a garden. These were used often as natural fences as well as used for their beauty. In Virginia, boxwoods were a very popular shrub used. A popular use, if one had the money, was to cultivate a maze or labyrinth. 


Well-tended shrubbery presented a place for private conversations and good hiding places for children's games. One could relax in the shade, or follow a trail to the rest of the garden. 


However, because plants like these tended to grow copiously, it was important to keep them in check. Every place a person went, these plants could be seen and recognized." -- National Park Service

Saturday, December 30, 2023

Poinsettias


So when did poinsettias become a "thing" at Christmas? I looked it up on National Geographic's website. Here's what I found:

"Franciscan missionaries arrived in Mexico in the 16th century and eventually began setting up elaborate manger scenes at Christmastime. Holly, Europe’s holiday flora of choice, was nowhere to be found for the dioramas, but when the missionaries saw the red and green colors of this local plant—that happened to burst into color every December—they knew they had the perfect stand-in."

Sunday, October 22, 2023

Pallettes

 


Each season brings its own pallette to Greensprings Interpretive Trail.

Thursday, September 28, 2023

Lepiota

 


There are a dizzying variety of mushrooms; so much so, in fact, that I'm hard pressed even with a field guide to identify most. This one is no exception. Looks to me like Lepiota procure. Can anyone confirm that?

Lepiota is a genus of gilled mushrooms in the family Agaricaceae. All Lepiota species are ground-dwelling saprotrophs with a preference for rich, calcareous soils. Basidiocarps (fruit bodies) are agaricoid with whitish spores, typically with scaly caps and a ring on the stipe. Around 400 species of Lepiota are currently recognized worldwide. Many species are poisonous, some lethally so." -- Wikipedia


Tuesday, September 26, 2023

Beaver Trail

 


Beaver Trail, York River State Park


Smallanthus uvedalia (aka Bear's Foot)


Beaver Trail

Saturday, September 16, 2023

Plume Thistle


I returned this past week to York River State Park where I discovered a new kind of thistle blooming.


A certain variety of the plume thistle, I understand, is actually native to this region and is much prized for its ability to attract pollinators.

Tuesday, September 5, 2023

Sweet Autumn Clematis


Funny name for a plant that blooms in 90+ degrees, I think. Still, we know autumn has to be just around the corner, right???

Saturday, September 2, 2023

Gourds

I'm thinking of making a birdhouse out of a gourd for this upcoming cold season.

"Gourds continued to be used throughout history in almost every culture throughout the world. European contact in North America found extensive gourd use, including the use of bottle gourds as birdhouses to attract purple martins, which provided bug control for agriculture. Almost every culture had musical instruments made of gourds, including drums, stringed instruments common to Africa and wind instruments, including the nose flutes [GROSS!!!] of the Pacific." -- Wikipedia

Wednesday, August 30, 2023

Soybeans


Over on Governor's Land, farmers have once again planted soybeans.

One of these days, maybe I will be lucky enough to find out how these soybeans will be used. 

Wednesday, August 16, 2023

Canna Indica

 


"Canna indica, commonly known as Indian shot, African arrowroot, edible canna, purple arrowroot, Sierra Leone arrowroot, is a plant species in the family Cannaceae. It is native to much of South America, Central America, the West Indies, and Mexico. It is also naturalized in the southeastern United States (Florida, Texas, Louisiana, and South Carolina), and much of Europe, sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, and Oceania." -- Wikipedia

Wednesday, July 19, 2023

Trail's End


 
Clubmoss above and Golden Trumpet mushrooms below as seen on the Buffam Falls Trail near Pelham, Massachusetts
 

Wednesday, July 12, 2023

Sorrel

 

It may be known as Common Yellow Wood Sorrel to some, but it appeared quite uncommon to me as I ambled along the Norwottuck Rail Trail last week. I thought at first that it must be a kind of shamrock. Then I read this on thespruce.com:

"Wood sorrel is also often confused with shamrocks—another plant in the clover family. Sorrel is sometimes called 'false shamrock,' and during St. Patrick's Day season, it's common to find yellow wood sorrel misbranded and sold as shamrock." 

Tuesday, June 27, 2023

Chaste Tree



The chaste tree  "is a plant native of the Mediterranean region. It is one of the few temperate-zone species of Vitex, which is on the whole a genus of tropical and subtropical flowering plants.Theophrastus mentioned the shrub several times, as agnos (άγνος) in Enquiry into Plants. It has been long believed to be an anaphrodisiac – leading to its name as 'chaste tree' – but its effectiveness for such action remains unproven." - Wikipedia


Thursday, June 22, 2023

Jack-in-the-pulpit

 

Spotted this specimen on a trail near my home. Not too difficult to figure out how it got its name:

"The small, inconspicuous flowers of Jack-in-the-pulpit are borne on a fleshy, spike-like inflorescence called a spadix ('Jack'), which is enclosed (or nearly enclosed) by a large, sometimes colorful bract called a spathe ('pulpit'). The flowers are clustered around the base of the spadix inside the spathe. A sterile spadix appendix protrudes from the mouth of the spathe tube. The appendix is covered by the leafy tip of the spathe, referred to as the spathe hood (or spathe lamina). The lip along the mouth of the spathe tube, used as a landing platform for winged insects, is called the spathe flange." -- Wikipedia

Sunday, June 18, 2023

Bottlebrush Buckeye

 

"The naturalist, explorer and plant collector William Bartram first noted this . . . shrub on his travels through Carolina, Georgia and Florida in 1773–78. An old example was still to be found in Bartram's Garden, Philadelphia, in 1930." -- Wikipedia