The tutor shares another neighborhood discovery. Walking downtown last night, I noticed a large tree with star-shaped leaves. They looked too simple to be maple; each lobe had only one point. The lowest leaves were about four feet above my …
The tutor shares a discovery he made on a walk to the grocery store. With my 10-year-old, out for some groceries my wife needed for tonight’s supper, I passed a rather large tree in a front yard. At a glance, …
The tutor shares another interesting field find. I’d say that where I live, we don’t have any native oaks. The garry oak occurs naturally on Vancouver Island, but just south of here. It’s a white oak; its leaves are rounded. …
The tutor reports another of his tree finds. Back in my June 21 post, I reminisced about the black locust trees of the Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia. I have some news in that direction. On August 3, returning from Courtenay …
The tutor shares a definition he stumbled upon. I’ve never thought about it much, but always believed I knew the difference between a lake and a pond. However, the guessing is over for any who may be in doubt; I …
The tutor reveals a long-anticipated find. I’d heard cascara is abundant here on the west coast, yet, until the other day, had not positively identified any. That evening, right after supper, I headed into some nearby woods with the purpose …
The tutor brings up a shrub perhaps noticeable now. Around here nowadays, one often sees small trees (shrubs) abundant with red berries. They have compound leaves. My guide suggests they are mountain-ash. One I examined closely has sharp-pointed leaflets; I …
Tree identification from a field guide: mountain-ash Read more »
The tutor shares another of his field finds. Out in the woods a few days ago with the field guide, my simple plan was to identify a new plant. I didn’t know what or where it would be, but expected …
Plant identification from a field guide: foamflower Read more »
The tutor shares a backyard find that is somewhat coincidental. For an unknown reason, I decided to listen to Elton John’s song “Elderberry Wine” on YouTube the other day. It’s a great song; I’ve just never felt moved to look …
The tutor shares another field find. Two posts ago I discussed my discovery of a Pacific crab apple. A couple of other discoveries happened in parallel. While thumbing through the guide to find the match for the tree, I sat …
Plant identification from a field guide: St. John’s-Wort Read more »