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)