Sneaky Star-of-Bethlehem

When I first saw the spiky six petals of this little white flower, it was surprisingly hard to track down what it was. There seems to be a lot more information about its big cousin, the lily. When I finally identified it as Star-of-Bethlehem, I was a little worried, as words like “invasive” and “aggressive” […]

What grows on trees

In all the wet weather, I haven’t seen many bees. A few bumblebees, the occasional miner bee, and not even all that many honeybees. But little by little, they got the job done.

Blueberries, uncovered

The sun came out, I cut down and dug up some grass, and uncovered my blueberry plants. It looks like they’re even setting fruit, but there’s still some clusters of bell-like, white flowers. So, as promised, here they are.

Snail weather

This weather is snail weather, and its pace from day to day is snail slow. My garden is snail fodder, despite how the rain makes it grow. Why must snails have such pretty shells? Is that spiral a bulls-eye to send them to hell? I may pluck them and fling them and drug them with […]

Planting a tomato is like keeping faith with the sun

I don’t care how persistently nasty the weather is; I went out and bought my annual tomato plant today. Don’t laugh. One plant is plenty. I just need a pound of ripe tomatoes at a time to add to meals over the summer. And I always look for a bush tomato so I don’t have […]

Still wet, still white

On plus side, irises — covered with pearls of rain — are about to open. Every now and then, you remember that rain is good for something.

White flowers under grey skies

We just hit the beginning of a week of rain and cloudy days. On days like that, white flowers are especially nice. The towers of ajuga glimmer and beckon when I look outside. When I climb up the hill to do a little weeding, these arches of Solomon’s Seal light up under the leaves. And […]

What happens when you let herbs go to seed

They come up next year! Or some do, anyway. Last summer the dill and cilantro plants bolted, flowered, went to seed. I let them pick the best spots to come up again. And here they are.

Re: Packing For Mars

From poop jokes to warnings of bone loss, in Packing For Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void, Mary Roach does an amusing job of showing just how ridiculous it is to send living organisms into lifeless space. The shower never worked, the toilet barely works, and space food in the 60s was […]

Triskadekanemia

That’s when a blog has no thirteenth floor because it’s too tired.