Blog
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
Honey-Rose Colored October with Habitat-Rich Chokecherry
Waiting out front for Aaron to grab his down vest, I noticed geese flying overhead in a V. The smell of fermenting figs swirled with the first fallen leaves. Both scampered down the street to chase an orange tomcat. The sky was clear blue. It hadn’t rained for days, maybe … more
The Gentleness of Yarrow
I need softness: tiny feathers curved to catch my eye atop garden stone, and another, elongated but tiny still, on a broad elk clover leaf; a cat whisker left to grant my small wish for magic, for ease; real rain dampening all sound but its own patter and ping on patio … more
August Day by Cascara
alias: Frangula purshiana, Rhamnus purshiana, Cascara sagrada, Sacred bark Before Morning extends her fingers to warm my lowest trunk, down where grasses tickle, I’ve already lifted my summer-leathered leaves to the song of her. The song of Morning spoken by all the winged ones: Robins, Wrens, Sparrows, and eager Bees. … more
Checkermallow Love–for Beauty, Conservation, and Pollinators
Living, gardening, and hiking in western Oregon, I was bound to meet up with this wildflower sooner or later. Rose checkermallow has a range that extends through the Willamette Valley and southward to the California border. It took a sleeping bee to draw me in and I haven’t stopped looking since. … more