declutterring

I stripped the leaves from yesterday’s milkweed so we could all focus uninterruptedly on the fireworks of their quietly spectacular flowers.

common milkweed flowers

you say tomāto, i say tomäto

Seeing milkweed in full bloom makes me happy. As all of us nature lovers know by now…milkweed is a critical food source for monarch butterflies. And one of the reasons monarch butterflies are being threatened, is the loss of habitat for milkweed. It is among the single most important food sources for monarch butterfly caterpillars (Danaus plexippus) in the northeastern and midwestern United States. Wiki informs me that another name for milkweed is silkweed. Both names make complete sense: “milk” comes from the sticky white latex substance the stem bleed when cut, and “silk” comes from silken threads of the seeds that fill the seedpods and are released as fluff every autumn. Milkweed. Silkweed. Tomāto. Tomäto.

common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca)

still unfurling!

My lady ferns are still unfurling! This feels a little late to me. It’s possible it is because of all the rain–the ferns are significantly taller and fuller than the previous few summers. Perhaps it takes longer for a fern to fully unfurl when it is growing 50% taller than usual. Speaking of rapid growth, the sandhill crane colt living in our back yard, appears to grow almost an inch a day. Image what it it feels like to grow at that rate? I hope he doesn’t have growing pains. I hope evolution has provided him with everything he needs to accommodate such rapid development. This is the season of growth.

lady ferns

in my top 5

I have been doing a lot of podcast interviews lately as part of my book launch. One of them was with a personal hero of mine, Jennifer Jewell, of the Cultivating Place podcast. At the end of the interview, Jennifer asked me if I had to pick my top 5 plants to photograph, what would they be? I don’t recall exactly how I answered, but I am quite sure staghorn sumac was in the list. Pulling from memory, I think I answered: fiddlehead ferns, common milkweed, staghorn sumac, cattails, and crabapple trees. It’s a quirky list, and I’d love to add smokebush as an honorary member. If I had just those six plants, I think I could make STILL interesting in every season of our northern year. What would your top five be?

staghorn sumac in late June (Rhus typhina)

dreamy summer afternoons

Today is the first day I have completely free in two months. I celebrated by spending the better part of the day in a comfortable chair reading Amor Towle’s new book Table for Two. Towles is one of of my favorite contemporary writers. If you have never read his work, I recommend it. Start with A Gentleman in Moscow. I took a little break mid-afternoon to make this still life composition which, upon reflection, feels a little whimsical and dreamy. Not unlike my day.

still life composition of dried botanicals