Sunrise at Spring Park

I went to Spring Park in Green Cove Springs this morning for the sunrise to see the partial solar eclipse. We have too many trees in our neighborhood for a good eastern horizon. What a beautiful morning! The outlet of the spring into the St. Johns Rive in Green Cove Springs.Looking back toward the...

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You can never have too many leaves!

I enjoyed sharing some thoughts about creating a native woodland garden with a class this morning;  this was one of the "slides" that was part of my presentation, showing leaf collections from years past.I love the leaf depot image -- bagged leaves on the old coal road, ready for spreading! Here...

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Bee habitats

I've been thinking about doing some interpretive work around native bees and other pollinators.I was reminded of this wonderful "bee habitat" exhibit that I saw last year in the University of Osnabruck Botanical Garden just over a year ago.  I was a post-doc there (three decades ago) and it was...

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Biltmore walled garden (2)

I've loved seeing how the Biltmore Estate has expanded and experimented with their horticulture over the last few years.  Hooray!It's always been a great place to enjoy the expansive grounds, the wonderful landscape, and preserved viewscapes of the surrounding mountains, thanks to the stewardship...

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A sedum wall planting

A lovely display outside the Biltmore Garden Shop -- I love sedums and it's always great to see how they can be used.Although, they can get around -- they can get established very easily in mulch from fragments -- I just scooped up some last weekend in that category.  H...

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Biltmore walled garden

I never would have thought I'd be blown away by mums, but Biltmore's horticultural staff created an over-the-top design for their walled garden fall display.This photo doesn't really do justice to the extraordinary colors and textures that they've created, and the color patterns, too. (Click to get...

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Vase with dried flowers

I had refreshed this arrangement recently -- it looked so pleasing in this light, I couldn't pass on a photo.  (The flash version washed out the color, so this is the hand-held, non-flash, blurry on...

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