Backyard and Beyond

Starting out from Brooklyn, an amateur naturalist explores our world.

As John Burroughs said, “The place to observe nature is where you are.”

flowers

  • More Sumac

    Staghorn Sumac (Rhus typhina) in exuberant fuzziness.

    mthew

    , , ,

  • Some Pollinators

    It’s National Pollinator Week, but we should be thanking the bees — and other pollinators — every day for the work that they do. And fighting like the dickens the exterminationists of the agribusiness/pesticide complex.

    mthew

    , , ,

  • Sumac

    The flowers of sumac (genus Rhus) are astonishingly small.

    mthew

    , ,

  • Roses

    mthew

    ,

  • Plants and other lifeforms

    A few more from Maine. Here’s Low-bush Blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium) in flower. I’m mad for those little Maine blueberries, which I get frozen and eat all winter.Starflower (Trientalis borealis).Bunchberry (Cornus canadensis), a wildflower relation of Dogwood.Jack-in-the-Pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum) needs to be revealed. Hiding its light under a bushel. This is a plant I’ve never run…

    mthew

    , , , ,

  • Blue Flag

    Blue Flag Iris (Iris versicolor) blooming now. These are also known as Wild Iris, Harlequin Blueflag, and Northern Blue Flag. Look for them in swamps, marshes, and wet shorelines from Virginia to Canada. Watch honeybees and native bees land on the large petal, which must look AMAZING in their ultraviolet-shifted vision, and scoot down into…

    mthew

    ,

  • Last Call For Tulipmania 2014

    mthew

  • NYC Wildflowers Continued

    Heart-leaved Groundsel (Packera aurea).Squawroot (Conopholis americana), needs a new common name.Pinxterbloom azalea (Rhododendron periclymenoides).Jacob’s Ladder (Polemonium van-bruntiae).Toadshade (Trillium sessile). Large-flowered Trillium (Trillium grandiflorum), also known as White Trillium and White Wake-Robin. “Wake-robin” is a name for trilliums in general, (as well as Jack-in-the-Pulpits); it was also the title of John Burroughs’s first book. The name…

    mthew

    ,

  • NYC Wildflower Week

    Is well underway. There are events until Sunday in all the boroughs. Some of the things you might see include the following, which are blooming now: Spiderwort (Tradescantia virginiana).Wild Geranium (Geranium maculatum). Celandine Poppy (Stylophorum diphyllum). And, in the hiding the light under the bushel department, the Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum). This lovely white flower grows…

    mthew

    ,

  • Tulipmania

    mthew