As another blog post declared, it has definitely been a year of firsts for us here at Cape Cod Woodland Garden blog. Much of the nature we have experienced over the past year here on Cape Cod has had me running for the guide books. Chuck here appeared sometime this spring and at first I had no idea what he […]
Archive for the ‘Interesting’ Category
Captured
Posted in Fauna, Guest blogger, Interesting on September 23, 2013 | 2 Comments »
Plan your future woodland now!
Posted in Interesting on June 10, 2013 | 3 Comments »
I am still “building” toward my perfect native woodland garden, and as a result I am still using a majority of the progeny of my native plants for my own use. However, I can already tell that I will have seed, seedlings and even more mature plants available for a wide range of species, over […]
Little guardians
Posted in Fauna, Interesting on June 10, 2013 | Leave a Comment »
The woodland garden is full of spiders and their prey at this time of year. Every day I find new webs of these little orb weavers (I am going to take a guess that these are Mecynogea lemniscata – basilica orbweaver). We’ve had more than our fair share of rain and wind, and these webs […]
Spring highlights – a review
Posted in Flora, Interesting on May 28, 2013 | 2 Comments »
April 2013 is long gone, but only now have I found some time to look back at the pictures I took. Often a flower catches your eye, and off you go taking the shot, or a few. The intention was to write about the plant that very moment, but there is always something else that […]
What a sight for sore eyes
Posted in Flora, Interesting on May 22, 2013 | Leave a Comment »
The strip of land next to the driveway is one of my favorite spots. In what amounts to a 80 square foot area, I’ve managed to grow some 50 native plants, and most of them seem to get along well. Sure, some are more aggressive than others, but I figure with a bit of human […]
Athyrium angustum (northern lady fern)
Posted in Flora, Interesting, Plant bio on May 22, 2013 | Leave a Comment »
I have to admit, I am not quite sure whether this is now truly considered a distinct species, or a sub species from Athyrium filix-femina (lady fern). Whatever the case, I added the “forma rubellum” to my yard. This fern can be grown quite easily on rich woodland soils, although it does not like wet […]
Wild encounter on the beach
Posted in Fauna, Interesting on May 9, 2013 | Leave a Comment »
Last weekend I took a stroll along my favorite fishing beach to see whether the striped bass had come in yet (affirmative, but I did not get any keepers). On the way there I returned to the waves a couple of live male horseshoe crabs, some 20 spider crabs, and a mantis shrimp. This was […]
April 10: Rue anemone blooms
Posted in Interesting on April 11, 2013 | Leave a Comment »
In my last post I wondered which native plant would be the first bloomer. After 3 years of seeing Thalictrum thalictroides present its little white flower heads first each spring, I should know better. Even though the fauna has arrived (or woken up in the case of the peepers) weeks ago, the world of flora […]
It’s lively-ing up around here
Posted in Interesting, Rants & Raves on April 3, 2013 | Leave a Comment »
The spring peepers are back in orchestral mode. They first started some feeble song rehearsals on March 23. Not quite as early as last year, but commendable considering that the nights, and sometimes the days, are below 32 degrees. They had it easy last spring when it was 70 degrees out. They are not the […]
A Close Call for this Cape Cod Eastern Screech Owl
Posted in Fauna, Interesting on February 13, 2013 | Leave a Comment »
On the Monday after the Blizzard of 2013 hit Cape Cod, we got an unusual visitor – an adult Eastern Screech Owl fell into our fireplace. At first I actually didn’t know it was an owl, I just saw a dark grey or black living thing hopping around in the soot. I knew I had to move […]