In the middle of the 19th century, the tallgrass prairie covered 170 million square miles. It stretched from Canada to Texas, and from the middle of Nebraska to an outpost in northern Ohio. The vast ocean of gigantic grasses was the first thing people coming west saw, as the mountains and forests of the east […]
Saved by stone: the tallgrass prairie of the Flint Hills Read More »
Smoky Valley Ranch was the place I didn’t go to see. I went to Oakley, Kansas to see Monument Rocks and Lake Scott State Park, both recommended by a man named Mike Haddock, who runs a wonderful Kansas wildflower website. Oakley is not a destination site, but there are some interesting things to see there,
Smoky Valley Ranch: preserving a prairie Read More »
I first saw a paintbrush, a member of the Castilleja genus, in Idaho. Then again in Southern California, and then Northern. Then Colorado and Utah, British Columbia and Alberta, and then Alaska. I haven’t yet seen them in Wyoming, but it’s the state flower, so I know they’re there. If you’re west of the Mississippi,
Beautiful vampires: the castilleja genus Read More »
The Pawnee National Grasslands were born out of grief. After years of drought, farmers of northeastern Colorado, already suffering through the Great Depression, watched as their soil literally blew away. Clouds of dirt rose 20,000 feet in the air and blew so far east that they eventually settled on boats crossing the Atlantic Ocean. Left
Parcels of prairie: the Pawnee National Grasslands Read More »
I’m still wandering the Utah desert with Moses. He’d be very used to this, but, though I love it, I’m positive I’d find forty years a few decades too many. “Well, of course,” he would say, with the air of a man who has come to grips with doing what his god says. No matter
A land of stone tablets Read More »
Looking to answer my title’s question about the Tiburon mariposa lily, I was surprised to learn that rarity in the animal and plant world is quite common. Conservation scientists estimate that 75% of the species on earth are rare. The US Forest Service guesses that a third of the native plants in the U.S. can be
What is so rare as a Tiburon mariposa lily? Read More »
This is a story about a difficult and fascinating terrain, a beautiful, adaptable flower, and a maddening claim. Bitterroot is far from rare in the western states of the U.S. and Canada. It’s Montana’s state flower and has bequeathed its name to the Bitterroot River and Valley there. Also to the Bitterroot Mountains and the Bitterroot
Living on the ledge: ingenious bitterroot Read More »
When we use the expression “genius loci” today, we are usually referring to the spirit — or, in more secular terms, the essence — of a place. For an ecologically-minded gardener, this concept is deeply intertwined with native plants, which embody the characteristics of their environment. The classical Romans, from whom we inherited the term,
Native plants: the genius of their place Read More »
Celebrating my wild backyard in the last post got me thinking about the multiplicity of backyards I’ve had since heading out on our journey in 2011. Some of them have been spectacular: the Atlantic Ocean in Nova Scotia, the Pacific in Malibu, the Anza Borrego Desert in southern California, the red rock bluffs of Utah.
Ring Mountain and saving the world Read More »
I lived for many years with a great deal of wild beauty outside my windows. I was looking at acre upon acre of wetlands, salt marsh, patches of meadow, shrubs, and trees. Beyond that was the estuary the land bordered. Except for flowering serviceberries in the spring, and vivid autumn color from native blueberry, there
The call of wild beauty Read More »