Early Maple Color
Sugar Maple, Acer saccharum Walked the woods at the Prairie Garden Trust yesterday. Most trees are still green; the maples have started to turn – gold with some orange. Color … Continued
Creek Walk
Hiller’s Creek This afternoon I walked Toad Trail at the Prairie Garden Trust. It runs along Hiller’s Creek, with a rocky bluff along the water’s edge. The trail sits on … Continued
Garden Spider
Spotted this on a walk by our barn at the Prairie Garden Trust – an adult female garden spider. Big and boldly patterned. The web was at eye level and … Continued
Dogwood Fruit
Fall is coming on. Wild fruits are showing up, including the bright red fruit of flowering dogwood. They are inedible for us, but birds get to them fast.
Hiller’s Creek
Hiller’s Creek Parts of Hillers Creek are dry right now; we haven’t had much late-summer rain. Even so, there are spring-fed pools like this. Along the edge you can still … Continued
Dogwood Fall Color
Flowering Dogwood, Cornus florida Color is slow this year. Even the dogwoods aren’t doing much yet. This picture is from the Prairie Garden Trust. More to come – fall often … Continued
White-throated Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow, Zonotrichia albicollis First of the season yesterday at PGT – heard that thin, whistled “oh sweet Canada, Canada, Canada” from a thicket by Potter’s Lake. They summer up … Continued
Wild Persimmon
Wild Persimmon, Diospyros virginiana Our wild persimmons are ripe. Katy (our dog) knows every tree and will pause under a few favorites on our daily walk. Flavor seems to vary … Continued
Early hints of fall at PGT
Bald Cypress, Taxodium distichum Early fall color at the Prairie Garden Trust. Not much yet – a few trees are starting, like this bald cypress by the water, but most … Continued
Cloud of Monarchs
Monarch Butterfly, Danaus plexippus The migration is mostly past, but yesterday Lorna and I came across a small stand of asters with a cloud of monarchs. It was a wet … Continued