This bird was photographed in California in March. Can you name it? I will post the uncropped photo on Saturday, giving you one more chance to identify the bird. The answer will appear at the end of next Monday’s post.
Buying Boxed Perennials
The calendar says it’s spring, and who is a gardener to disagree? Walk down the aisle of any Lowe’s, Home Depot, or Walmart, and you’ll find a colorful display of boxed bare root perennials, ready to pop into your warm spring soil. Cannas, lilies, bleeding heart, and clematis. Peonies, six dormant plants. Gladiolus and hostas. Caladium, phlox, and kniphofia. The photos on the packaging are so enticing to our flower-starved souls (especially after experiencing our recent “bomb cyclone,” a blizzard of apocalyptic proportions, which dumped 4-foot drifts in our yard)!
A Return to Merritt Island NWR
When I consider birding in Florida, Merritt Island NWR immediately comes to mind. While the state is filled with outstanding birding hotspots, this refuge, directly adjacent to Canaveral National Seashore and the Kennedy Space Center, is one of my favorites. The birds are accessible, the wildlife drive offers excellent views for a photographer, and there is plenty of variety.
Plants Have Noses!
While plants don’t have lungs, they do need to exchange gases with the atmosphere in order to live, just as we do. To accomplish this, they have various sorts of openings.
Spring’s Dandy Lions
In spite of this week’s blizzard, spring is almost here, and soon we’ll be seeing bright yellow flowers filling the lawn or growing in a crack in the sidewalk. Dandelions—you either love them or you hate them, but it’s hard to ignore them.
Thank You, Fellow Birders
There’s something about a bunch of birders (or do birders come in a flock?) all fixated on the same rare bird. The smiles, the lifer dances, the high fives and slaps on the back. We may be perfect strangers, but the shared excitement overcomes all barriers.
March Bird Quiz, Uncropped Photo
If you were stymied last Monday, now can you name this bird? This photo, showing the other side of the same bird, was taken in Florida. The answer, along with an even more helpful photo of the bird, will appear at the end of next Monday’s post.
Starting Seeds: Containers
I first posted this about ten years ago. Since my husband had unexpected bypass surgery today, I don’t have the time (or the concentration!) to write a new post. I hope you find this flashback to be a helpful reminder as we start our seeds for the upcoming growing season.
Raise your hand if you remember starting seeds in elementary school. Perhaps they sprouted in the cells of a cardboard egg carton. Sound familiar? Now, did your seedlings grow and thrive? Hmm, thought so. Granted, you probably forgot to water them, or you dropped the whole shebang on the way home from school. But it wasn’t all your fault. Egg cartons make awful seed starting containers.
What should you use to start those little seedlings? There are a number of excellent choices. Suitable containers share several attributes.
March Bird Quiz
Often, all we get to see is the underside of the bird. This bird was photographed in Florida last month. Can you name it? I will post another photo on Saturday, giving you one more chance. The answer will appear at the end of next Monday’s post.
Meet the Apiaceae
What do carrots, cilantro, celery, and poison hemlock have in common? Think like a botanist. How do the leaves look? What shape is the root? What about the flowers? Yes, they’re all members of the Apiaceae (aka Umbelliferae) family of plants. So are caraway, anise, parsley, parsnips, and a whole host of other familiar species.
Members of this family are relatively easy to distinguish. The most obvious feature is in the way their flowers are arranged—like an umbrella, with a stalk and a cluster of flowers on stems all springing from a central point.
Mountain Plover 