I thought this scene was rather pretty. The pink fringe bushes alternating with the evergreen trees and bushes, lining a pond half covered with pine pollen. This is spring in North Carolina.
Category: Plants
Quiet Nature- December 21, 2025
Enjoy some quiet nature on this first day of winter with the feathery seeds of hemp dogbane.
Quiet Nature- February 22, 2025
Enjoy some quiet nature today with the golden glow from Common Little Bluestem grass (Schizachyrium scoparium).
Quiet Nature- January 28, 2026
Enjoy some quiet nature today with this bushy beard lichen (Usnea strigosa).
Quiet Nature- March 19, 2025
Have you ever seen a three-petaled bluet or tiny bluet? How about one with five petals? Take some time to sit quietly and observe a patch of flowers. You never know what you might find.
Quiet Nature- November 23, 2025
I love how these muscadine grape leaves made a golden arch around some red possumhaw berries. Enjoy some quiet nature today.
Quiet Nature- October 8, 2024
Golden asters and blazing stars on the Shiloh Greenway.
Seeds of Invasive Vines
Some of our most invasive vines are producing seed right now: oriental bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus), Chinese privet (Ligustrum sinense), and Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica). If you see these vines on your property, it’s time to pull them out. The birds eat the seeds and help spread the vines to new locations.
Small White Asters
Have you seen the small white asters this fall? If you walk by them quickly, you’d think that they were all the same plant. But look carefully, and you’ll notice that there are several different white asters out there. Here are some of the more common asters in our area: Long-stalked aster (Symphyotrichum dumosum)- the… Continue reading Small White Asters
Some Plants Depend on Fungus for Nutrients
We ventured into the woods today to look at the seed heads of the cranefly orchids, and came across these dried up plants. They look pretty similar to striped wintergreen, but striped wintergreen doesn’t have so many flowers on one stem. With some research at home, we determined that this is pinesap (Monotropa hypopitys). Pinesap… Continue reading Some Plants Depend on Fungus for Nutrients