Zebra Swallowtail butterfly (Eurytides marcellus) Spring’s acceleration has leveled off as the solstice approaches. Trees are all in full leaf, and it’s looking like a potential bumper crop year for apples and pears. The hay has been cut, dried and baled on nearby farms and the sheep are ready for shearing. Most grazing meadows still […]
Category Archives: flora and fauna
The Week in Bloom
elegant windlass at each pair of posts, framing a gateway The only sounds punctuating my bike ride to the coast along the quiet, eight mile stretch of Valley Ford-Franklin School Road were the sweet song of the meadowlark perched on fence posts and the eerily creaking eucalyptus in the wind. As I climbed the long […]
The Week in Bloom
Red Hot Poker (Kniphofia uvaria) brightens roadside culverts Clusters of California poppy, red hot poker and wild pea brightened roadside culverts and hay barns as we cycled the Bodega Highway to the coast through a light morning fog. The lupin grow yellow around the contours of Bodega Head, a rocky bluff that juts out into […]
The Week in Bloom
Rhododendron are at their peak We beat the heat with a day at the beach on Sunday, very much in need of a rest after a grueling final push to complete our murals in Oakland. My limbs were soothed by a long walk in the surf, a quick dip in the chilly brine and a […]
The Week in Bloom
 Rhododendron at their loveliest stage This Week in Bloom is tempered by my recent, prolonged absence from our natural environs over the past two weeks as I focus on the installation of our public art project in Oakland, where I have been living and working from Sunday nights through Saturday afternoons. It’s been about […]
The Week in Bloom
This week I asked my old friend the ‘sometimes painter’, Ben Llaneta, to report on the Week in Bloom from his home in Crystal Lake, Illinois, near Chicago (if you would like to report on ‘The Week in Bloom’ from your neck of the woods, please fill out the PARTICIPATE form and send a note):Â […]
John’s Elm
The text and images on this post were sent by my friend John Miya, who lives near Chicago, IL. I look forward to posting more tree images and related stories sent by readers as I build an Archive of Old Trees: “This is an old elm in my back yard. Its mentioned on a landscaping […]