This was totally unexpected: The little rue anemones are the first spring bloomers in my woodland garden. The wild bleeding heart (Dicentra eximia) and wild columbine (Aquilegia canadensis) are just days away from showing color themselves, but this year they got suprised at the finish line by these little upstarts. Mind you, the flowers look […]
Archive for the ‘Flora’ Category
Thalictrum thalictroides (rue anemone)
Posted in Flora, Plant bio on April 18, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Groundbreaking
Posted in Fauna, Flora, Interesting on April 2, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Spring keeps pushing ahead despite winter trying to keep a desperate and unwanted foothold. The ospreys have been back for a few days now, with birds arriving around March 23 on the Cape, and a nesting pair also returning to the museum of natural history platform in Brewster on March 29. I’m sure they would […]
Here we go!
Posted in Flora, Interesting on March 13, 2011 | 1 Comment »
Things are stirring in the natural world. Every day we add two or three more minutes of light. The birds are gettting more than a little excited, and plants are pushing their way up through the soil to the sun. Other yards are way ahead of mine – purple and yellow crocuses are flowering on […]
Soil amending
Posted in Flora, Interesting, Tips on February 4, 2011 | 1 Comment »
It’s good to know what your soil is made of. If I was a gambling man I’d bet that it is sandy around here. As a matter of fact, most soil on Cape Cod is about 85 percent sand, with some silt and clay mixed in. That is, if you exclude the rocks and boulders, […]
Pioneers
Posted in Flora, Interesting on January 10, 2011 | 8 Comments »
Most people don’t realize that a tree covered Cape Cod, as we know it now, is a fairly new phenomenon that has roots in the early part of the last century. Of course, there were dense woods before the European settlers arrrived, but once those folks decided to make a home in the New World, it meant […]
Jeffersonia diphylla (twinleaf)
Posted in Flora, Interesting on December 25, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
I have had twinleaf in my yard for two years now, and they seem to be doing well except for one thing – they have not yet flowered. The soil composition may be to blame for this – after all, the specimens were grown on a native plants farm in Western Massachusetts. They normally thrive […]
Tiarella cordifolia (foamflower)
Posted in Flora, Plant bio, Tips on December 21, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
This member of the Saxifragaceae family is an excellent shade plant for the woodland garden. I have planted seven of these over the last two years, and they are already starting to form clumps. The species prefers moist and rich soils, but it seems to tolerate the poor and dry Cape Cod soil very well. […]
Bearberry
Posted in Edible, Flora, Recipe on December 17, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
I will have to see whether the common bearberry(Arctostaphylos uva-ursi) will thrive this time around. Last season, I had a couple of these plants tucked away in a no-sun part of the yard, and although they flowered and sprouted new leaves, they quickly died in the fall. I suspect too much moisture (rain run-off and […]
Holly Jolly Xmas
Posted in Flora, Plant bio on December 9, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Ilex opaca (holly shrub or tree) is fairly prevalent on Cape Cod. I have two cultivated specimens and a few that have propagated naturally. Long Pasture, which is not too far from where I live, has some very nice mature (ok, old) examples of this plant. The most striking features are the obvious evergreen foliage […]
Cimaphila maculata (spotted wintergreen)
Posted in Flora, Interesting on December 6, 2010 | 2 Comments »
As mentioned before, I have a cluster of spotted wintergreen (sometimes called striped wintergreen or pipsissewa) in the yard. Although it is widely distributed on the East coast it is considered rare in New England. It propagates by runners and by seed, although the latter method seems to be more effective after wildfires, something I […]