Tag Archives: nature
Invasive Olives
Some landscaping can just be too adaptable. The genus Eleagnus is a good example. They make beautiful accent shrubs with pleasant fall aroma. The undersides of the leaves have a silvery color that almost dances in the wind. Oblong fruits … Continue reading
Edible Landscaping
Sometimes when your landscaping goes to seed it creates a smelly and unsightly mess. Other times it can just be an added benefit. The flowering crabapple is a good example here. Crabapples, (Malus sp.), make a gorgeous small specimen tree … Continue reading
Wild Passionflower – Friend or Fiend
It’s funny how you can look at some plants in the wild or in the domestic landscape and want to have them in your own backyard. Wild passionflower or Maypop (Passiflora incarnata), is a prime example. The flowers are so … Continue reading
Black Walnut – Tree of Many Uses
Black walnut (Juglans nigra) is one of the most valuable native hardwood trees. It has dark straight grained wood used for furniture and gunstocks. If trunks are straight and no foreign material like nails are inside it likely would command … Continue reading
Elderberries – An Old-Fashioned Treat
Elderberries: An Old-fashioned treat I know you all have seen those saucer shaped clusters (umbels) of white flowers on the roadsides in early summer. Toward the middle of the summer, reddish black berries about a quarter inch in diameter replace … Continue reading
Black Cherry
Discovering Black Cherry Last November I was strolling around in a local hospital lobby when I noticed a chart showing common local poisonous plants. Among them were several of my favorites, notably black cherry (Prunus serotina). The leaves and stems … Continue reading
Alligatorweed
Alligator weed: Kudzu of the Waterways Alligator weed (Alternanthera philixeroides) is an invasive exotic menace. It was first introduced to this country about a hundred years ago from South America in ballast water from ships. Many exotic species have spread … Continue reading
Nature’s Aspirin
Nature’s Aspirin I enjoy harvesting plants from the wild and we have numerous useful plants. Black Willow (Salix nigra) is our most common willow species. Willows are one of the most common trees used in making baskets, because the stems … Continue reading
Sweet Birch
Mountain Medicine Do we have any wintergreen lovers out there? For years nearly all wintergreen flavoring was extracted from sweet birch trees (Betula lenta). Some people call them black birch, spice birch, cherry birch, or mahogany birch. Birch beer soda … Continue reading
Nature’s Rewards Column – Squirrels are no dummies
Squirrels are no dummies My students have been studying wildlife management in my Natural Resources class, and the other day I summoned the kids outside to see who could find a pecan to eat. There is a large tree behind … Continue reading
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