Plants Archives - Page 4 of 5

Close-up cluster of 7 shiny black berries hanging from a single stem. American Black Nightshade.

Double-Edged Sword: American Black Nightshade

Updated October 5, 2023

There’s a square cutout in my sidewalk intended to be used as an herb garden. In past years it has yielded lush basil plants and a tomato plant that took over the world. This past spring, between travel schedules, I planted a few marigolds in there and left it to its own devices. Conducting a […]

Plants

Karen is dwarfed by a forest giant ragweed, towering overhead in the ditch across from Owl Acres.

Ambrosia, really?: Ragweed

Updated September 28, 2023

When I was growing up, we took our vacations in August. And we usually went north. Minnesota, Wisconsin, Canada, Michigan. Dad would load up the car top carriers with tents, sleeping bags and camping gear. Then he’d load up Mom and all seven of us kids into the station wagon and off we’d go. The […]

Plants

Milkweed

Updated September 21, 2023

There’s a clump of common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) in the ditch on Owl Acres. This is a happy place for those beautiful and amazing monarch butterflies. The milkweed has hosted their larvae and now they’re getting ready to undertake that long and convoluted migration of theirs. But the milkweed they leave behind has its own […]

Plants

Whole lot o’ growing going on here. Karen stands on a riotous green hillside, surrounded by all three varieties of foxtails found on Owl Acres. Panicles of giant foxtail nod over her head, while green and yellow foxtails carpet the ground at her feet. Cornfield in the background, and an astonishingly productive Jonathan apple tree stands at the top of the hill. Karen is actually inspecting a velvetleaf, aka buttonweed, a broadleaf weed that will be featured in an upcoming post.

Weed or grain: Foxtail

Updated September 18, 2023

It’s late summer now and the world is turning tan. Grasses are tired. Crops are drying, and three species of foxtails are waving their bottlebrush heads and dropping their seeds. The smallest are the green foxtails (Setaria viridis), also known as green bristle grass, bottle grass, pigeon grass and wild millet. They stand about two […]

Plants

Soybean pods covered with fine hairs hang in clusters from central plant stem

Farmer’s Fixation: Soybeans

Updated September 7, 2023

The little field across the road from Owl Acres is planted in soybeans this year. Last year it was corn. It’s late summer now, and the soybeans (Glycine max) are beginning to dry and change color. Green leaves and stems are turning yellow, and the pods hanging from the plants are darkening to brown. When […]

Plants

Green field of corn and distant valley against a bright morning sky, viewed from the open doorway of the hay mow of the author’s 1915 timber frame barn. A couple of bales of hay lie in the foreground.

Magnificent Monoculture: Corn

Updated August 28, 2023

The air is full of that sweet, fresh scent of ripening corn. You can almost hear it growing. It’s been a staple on and around Owl Acres for 170 years. Today the fields across the fence are lush, with ten-foot-tall stalks in neat rows. Broad green leaves ripple in the breeze, sending waves undulating across […]

Karen is dwarfed by a tall field thistle, which was allowed to grow in the prairie garden this year because the flowers are gorgeous and it’s a heavy nectar producer.

Ouch!: Thistles

Updated August 8, 2023

Throughout the winter, we kept the bird feeder full of seed. We had a seed mix for the larger birds and another for the finch feeder. The finch mix was said to be niger thistle seed. So when thistly plants promising yellow flowers popped up at the base of the bird feeder, our first guess […]

Plants

Lamb’s Quarters by the house, after mowing and growing and mowing and growing all season .

Greens, Anyone? Lamb’s Quarters

Updated November 23, 2025

There’s a space on Owl Acres shaped like a piece of pie between the garage and the study. Years ago I planted it in a wildly disorganized garden. It had day lilies, iris, tall individual lilies, yellow coneflowers, black-eyed susans, purple coneflowers, some hostas and anything anybody gave me to plant. This garden has been […]

Plants

A rural mailbox surrounded by flower stalks topped with lacy umbels of tiny, white flowers. Queen Anne's Lace.

Queen or Killer: Queen Anne’s Lace

Updated July 6, 2023

One summer day, I took some letters down to the mailbox to be mailed. The mailbox sits on the edge of the ditch on the far side of the road. Around it grasses and weeds had grown up thick and healthy. I put the flag up to alert the rural mail carrier that there was […]

Plants

Clusters of 6-10 Black Raspberries spaced along the cane, amid dense, green foliage on the face of the fencerow thicket

Summer Sunshine: Berries

Updated June 29, 2023

When I first bought Owl Acres, raspberries and blackberries were growing in wild, unfettered profusion. They dominated the fence rows, covered over the old storm cellar, and edged the woods with brambles that reminded me of Sleeping Beauty’s bramble-covered castle. I thought I’d try harvesting some of the raspberries at the edge of the woods, […]

Plants