Book Review: Guide to Growing Organic Food
Karen Meyers Tanya Denckla Cobb’s book, Guide to Growing Organic Food, is a comprehensive guide to growing food crops by sustainable, organic methods. Cobb covers a wide range of science-backed practices with…
Edible Mushrooms: March Wax Cap (Hygrophorus marzuolus)
Karen The March wax cap grows singly, scattered or in clusters in the siliceous soil of mixed forests in the mountains of North America, Europe and Asia. It appears in the…
Book Review: How NOT to KILL Your Houseplant
Veronica Peerless’ book, How NOT to KILL Your Houseplant, is a guide to successfully growing houseplants. With a unique format, the book offers basic information on growing plants indoors, profiles…
Plant Profile: Prostrate Sand Verbena (Abronia umbellata)
Also known as beach sand verbena and purple sand verbena, this tender perennial is often grown as an annual and is a member of the four o’clock family, Nyctaginaceae, that…
Plants for a Mary Garden: Quaking Grass ( Briza media) Our Lady’s Tresses
At the time of Christ, women’s hair fashions were determined by both cultural practices and religious laws. Covering the hair with a scarf, veil or other fabric was considered a…
Plant Profile: Wild Geranium (Geranium maculatum)
This clump-forming herbaceous perennial is native to woodlands of eastern US from Maine to Georgia and west to the Dakotas and Oklahoma. It is a member of the Geraniaceae plant…
Book Review: A Guide to Wild Food Foraging
David Squire’s book, A Guide to Wild Food Foraging, introduces readers to the possibilities and benefits of foraging and provides detailed information on over 100 wild edibles from meadowsweet, cowberry…
Edible Mushrooms: Common Morel (Morchella esculenta aka M. esculentoides)
Also known as sponge morel, haystack, may mushroom, yellow morel and Molly Moocher, this distinctive mushroom is found in Europe and North America where it grows singly or in groups…
Plant Profile: Old Man’s Beard (Clematis vitalba)
Also known as white Virgin’s bower and Traveler’s joy, this deciduous perennial vine is native to forests and woodlands of Eurasia and North Africa. It is a member of the…
Plant Profile: Hollow Root (Corydalis cava) Our Lady’s Hens
The link between Corydalis cava and the Virgin Mary rests on two features of the plant, its rootstock and its cluster of flowers. The rootstock consists of a hollow tuber…