Everyone loves wildflowers. Several weeks ago, when a wildflower “super bloom” occurred in a small section of southern California desert, tourist volume swelled to gargantuan size and the internet went crazy. It is a reassuring sign that we have not completely lost touch with the natural world. Despite all that love, wildflowers are disappearing in … Read more
If Eastern skunk cabbage—Symplocarpus foetidus—were a person, you would avoid him. Inactive for part of the year, skunk cabbage comes alive in late winter. It never looks terribly attractive and most of the time it smells awful enough to justify one of its nicknames, “polecat weed.” People and even animals tend to avoid the plant … Read more
The winter solstice, now just past, is an annual event that has resonated with people in the Northern Hemisphere for thousands of years. Though the change is almost imperceptible, small fingers of light are beginning to unravel the edges of the fabric of winter darkness. The optimist in me rejoices. We haven’t yet celebrated the … Read more
