Black Elderberry, always bountiful. Myriad blossoms and pre-ripe fruits currently. Frost obviously no threat to midsummer blooms.

This giant leopard moth was presumably hiding from many songbirds behind a tub of water on the wall of the garage. “Seems to be uncommon everywhere in its range” per Birds & Blooms: “This strikingly patterned creature is a giant leopard moth (Hypercompe scribonia). A member of the tiger moth group, it’s widespread from the… Continue reading Giant Leopard Moth

In-ground figs, pawpaw, persimmon, citrus, plum, cherry, elderberry. A few fig trunks survived the mild winter, though most died back to ground level, unprotected. Robust Mt Etna type fig leaves: Flying Dragon hardy lemon citrus – a cold hardy marvel to zone 5: Persimmon with a few blossoms, Nanking cherry holding fruit through the first… Continue reading Of Leaves and Fruit

For anyone interested in a revolutionary thriller novel, I’m serializing at my substack my novel Most Revolutionary, starring a radical plant nursery grower. The star of the novel gets in too deep to ever get out again. I use photos from this blog to brighten the weekly chapter posts, in fitting with the main character’s… Continue reading Nature and Revolutionary Fiction

Quince & Asian pear: Beach plum: Beach plum & pawpaw below. Not sure why the leftmost pawpaw of the three failed to leaf much this year, allowing the center pawpaw to catch up to it in height. Might be something wrong with its roots, boding ill for the future: Ranch black elderberry, wild black locust,… Continue reading Seasonal Flush

It’s dangerous to be a squirrel hanging upside down in a juneberry tree eating berries. Neither my camera nor this hawk caught the squirrel, but it was a near miss. The hawk sat in the tree afterwards for awhile perhaps to think about it.

Deer pressure this year has been less than in years past. Consequently, the black elderberry has largely been left alone, possibly also because it is more mature, gets tougher quicker. Most plants left unprotected though will get hit. This deer below strolled through and at some point ate persimmon leaves, narrowly missing blossoms, also seedling… Continue reading Early Cherry Time