Blog
Goldenwave of July – Coreopsis tinctoria
1. Is it a coincidence that July is full of yellow flowers? The golden sun is hot and high, saturating the days with radiance. Wildflowers and garden blooms respond in kind, echoing the open-hearted hue. Sticky-budded blooms of tarweed and gumweed open this month in the wild fields. Their resin reminds … more
Garden the Rainbow – All Belong
When my mom tells me that my favorite thing to draw as a little girl was rainbows, it sounds right. I do love color. All of it. Still. Looking at photos of past Junes to choose a plant of the month, I was confronted with an array of rainbow colors. This … more
May Queens – PNW Iris
I never thought of irises as a plant that pollinators would like. They don’t have brushy wands of pollen like a checkermallow or radiant disks of the stuff like a fleabane. Iris keeps her treasures secret, hidden behind rainbow-colored flags. The bees know how to find her secret nectar, though. They’re … more
Douglas Meadowfoam and the Flower Fly
After night-long rains, a day of sun and increasing heat coaxes a new adult flower fly to emerge from her pupal slumber transformed, winged! Ready to fly. Her large compound eyes see in 360 degrees. Her vibrating wings carry her where she knows nectar and pollen will energize her for the … more
Wake Trillium! Wake Robin! Wake All You Small Creatures, Too!
There are small creatures to thank for the flourishing of March’s plant of the month. Just like there are small creatures to thank for all flourishing, including your own. For western trillium (Trillium ovatum), blooming now in bold white on dark forest ground, we have ants to thank. Specifically the American winter … more
Year of the Gardener Snake
To look into the face of an other—a small face, smaller than your own, eyes clear and soulful, two nose holes through which oxygen passes just like through your two nose holes, and the line of a mouth that could be said to smile, covered in a skin so different than … more
Rise and Shine From Winter Wet Ground – Willamette Valley Ponderosa Pine
“Rise and shine!” I call to my teenage son, and Willamette Valley Ponderosa Pines comes to mind, rising taller than their near companions, shining in the rare January sunlight—just like my child coming into his own. Young and robust, a beacon of vigor in the winter landscape, the Pines planted … more
Rosehips and Snowberries—Partners Initiate Community
Down the road from the new housing development—with its astroturf, young trees planted too deeply, staked with girdling ties, straight rows of nandina, pennisetum grasses sheared prematurely, shaped into pert little cones like straw Christmas trees—lies a remnant of wild beauty. There, I walked companionably with my brother on my birthday, the … more
Smoldering Heart of Grace Smokebush
I cried at the credit union. It was the day after the election and the teller asked how my day was going. “Honestly, I’m feeling pretty sad.” Acknowledging it opened a small flood that I saw mirrored in her face. Breathing deeply on the drive home, I continued to grieve. Stepping out … more
Habitat Hedges – the Friendliest Screening
Imagine stepping from the walled-in experience indoors, out your back door, to a view of multi-textured green, a foreground green that blends into the far view of hazier green. Your neighbor’s trees, the distant hills, appear as they are—connected to the land where you now stand. Read my latest contribution … more