habitat plants

Goldfinch Gardening

by

My father used to call them “salad birds”.  Reference guides refer to them as Spinus tristus.  Most of us know the bright, acrobatic birds as goldfinches.  Though they look as colorful as parakeets, guidebook authors sometimes damn these songbirds with faint praise because of their ubiquitous presence among us. All I know is that American … Read more

Saint Vitus Riparia Dance

by

When I am doing battle with the English ivy at home, I am convinced there is nothing worse.  It inveigles its way into the garden beds, climbs the sides of the house and races up and over the perimeter fence.   Some days it scales the trees faster than the squirrels.  If you tear it off … Read more