A hot ride

There is no way getting around it: it is hot. After spending four hours being transported to the trailhead in Clinton, MO, we are ready to hit the road. And after a quick lunch we do just that. We face a stiff breeze as we start our 38 mile ride to Sedalia. The crushed stone […]

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Following Lewis & Clark

Time for another episode of Erik & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (on bikes). Yesterday we landed in St. Louis and caught a quick cab to St. Charles, the first capital of Missouri, located along the Missouri River. We are hoping the day’s 90 degree heat will not follow us for the next week. We are biking […]

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First woodchuck

A woodchuck is perched on the woodpile underneath the Fringetree surveying the possibilities. The hostas look yummy as does the excess of clover and plantains in my yard and the day lilies in my garden. This could be a long summer.

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A lone lupine

I love lupines but they don’t love me (or more accurately my soil). I was reminded of my troubles upon reading a recent post by @matt_mattus on his lupines (and success). I became enchanted by this flower during a bike trip on Prince Edward Island, which was carpeted with this plant in every conceivable color. […]

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A fringe tree

The native fringetree sitting in my back yard is one of my favorites. Between its lacy, ephemeral flowers and the intoxicating lilac/honeysuckle-like fragrances, it is hard to beat as a showcase specimen tree. It is finally coming into its own in size as I planted it over a dozen years ago as a thin, delicate […]

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Christmas in May

Christmas in May! Or that’s what you can think with amaryllis bulbs blooming in our yard. Every Christmas we buy a few to help decorate. But many folks don’t realize that this tropical bulb can bloom whenever you want (provided you take the right measures for rest periods). So we usually have a dozen or […]

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A day at the beach

Everything is flowering in Sunken Forest. This microclimate hosts many native trees and shrubs that the wind keeps attenuated and gnarled in form. Beach plums, blueberries, raspberries, and chokeberries sport tiny blossoms. Clumps of beach heath with their distinctive yellow flowers are thick between patches of beach grass and Virginia creeper. Many vines of poison […]

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Flowers galore

This appears to be the year of the rhododendron as all of ours are spectacularly full of flowers. This one, adjacent to the driveway, has hundreds of blossoms hosting a similar number of pollinators that leap from flower to flower.

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Bear buffet

Black bear buffet! Well that is what my compost heap became last night as one was spotted in the neighborhood, an increasingly common event. The prospect of egg shells, melon rinds, banana peels and a few rotting vegetables screams Chez Midnight Snack to these meandering omnivores. Every trace of fresh vegetable was gone leaving only […]

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Waning wildflowers

This pocket guide of “common” Connecticut wildflowers published over 55 years ago is a good indication of how “uncommon” many plants have become. In skimming through its pages, over half of its entries I have never seen. Some like coltsfoot, fleabane, daisies, mullein, pokeweed, skunk cabbage and wild strawberries are plentiful and in plain sight. […]

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