The enchanted boy

White iris douglasiana with ferns on the Baltimore Canyon Trail, Larkspur, California by Betsey Crawford

Inside, that’s where I store these moments, accumulated in a cabinet of noticings and happenings, brought out when I need them most, to illuminate. I must go into the world to find new things. They are always there. Always.~ Dara McAnulty ~ Faced with devastating news from every direction, I have been reading an incandescent book. […]

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Tending the wild

Leopard lily (Lilium pardolinum) Sierra Nevada, California by Betsey Crawford

On a clear blue and gold fall day in seventh grade, I stood on the shore of the Hudson River. I was with a group of classmates, contemplating the oyster shell fragments at our feet. That was the year we learned about our town, Croton-on-Hudson, in southern New York. The instructor for the day told

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The mystery of blue flowers

Western hounds tongue (Cynotglossum grande) bright blue along the Hoo Koo E Hoo Trail in Larkspur, California by Betsey Crawford

Blue is light seen through a veil.~ Henry David Thoreau ~ I have tens of thousands of photos in my files, the vast majority flowers. They are often of the same flowers, taken in different years and at different places. So, the numbers don’t reflect the number of species. Even so, of all those thousands,

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Native language

Season of creation 2022: an alpine lake fringed with plants with snowy mountains behind next to the Salmon Glacier in the Tongass National Forest, Alaska by Betsey Crawford

When I started my landscape design business in the 1980s, the staff at plant nurseries nicknamed me ‘the weed lady’. I kept asking for plants that most people were removing. As much as I could, I wanted to plant the grasses and wildflowers, trees and shrubs native to the glacial moraine known as Long Island,

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Plant blindness

A good cure for plant blindness: Blue mist penstemon (Penstemon virens) in Evergreen, Colorado, by Betsey Crawford

One early May day, I was walking with a friend in a preserve near her home. I had discovered the trail the day before and was so delighted with the abundance of wildflowers I wanted to share them with her. She was also delighted. And then, as we finished the trail, said, “I’m so glad

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