Sunday, November 8, 2015
Fall Flowers
Caught a whiff of something just like spring, and found these flowers blooming in October.
Wednesday, April 15, 2015
Equisetum Forest
A mini-forest of horsetail (Equisetum) sprouts on the floor of the Connor trail drainage this spring.
 |
| Adiantum (maidenhair fern) expanding |
Monday, April 6, 2015
How Spring Happens Here, Part Two: Canopy closure
If we were to rename the local months in the style of Native Americans, April might be Moon of Bigleaf Expansion. Now the year's crop of giant leaves of Bigleaf maple (Acer macrophyllum) is small but rapidly expanding; now the leafy curtain partitioning interior urban forest from exterior is unfolding.
Saturday, April 4, 2015
Phylogeny of the Boxes
Sometimes the human world seems like just a series of nested containers.
What exactly are we containing?
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
Sensing with soles
walking barefoot
each step is a new page
in an unfolding book
compared to wearing shoes and the constant
smooth smooth sameness
each step is a new page
in an unfolding book
compared to wearing shoes and the constant
smooth smooth sameness
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
Potholes as street planters
What do you see? A street in need of repair, or an opportunity to plant flowers? A crack in the facade of impermeable surfaces? An invitation for life to take root?
In the environmental fantasy Ecotopia (1975, Ernest Callenbach), a reporter from the east coast has finally been allowed into Cascadia, long seceded from the United States. He writes about his first impressions of the transformed streets of San Francisco:
"Since practically the whole street area is "sidewalk," nobody worries about obstructions - or about the potholes which, as they develop in the pavement, are planted with flowers."
One of my dearest dreams for Portland also shows up in Ecotopia:
"The bucolic atmosphere of the new San Francisco can perhaps best be seen in the fact that, down Market Street and some other streets, creeks now run. These had earlier, at great expense, been put into huge culverts underground, as is usual in cities. The Ecotopians spent even more to bring them up to ground level again. So now on this major boulevard you may see a charming series of little falls, with water gurgling and splashing, and channels lined with rocks, trees, bamboos, ferns. There even seem to be minnows in the water - though how they are kept safe from marauding children and cats, I cannot guess."
In the environmental fantasy Ecotopia (1975, Ernest Callenbach), a reporter from the east coast has finally been allowed into Cascadia, long seceded from the United States. He writes about his first impressions of the transformed streets of San Francisco:
"Since practically the whole street area is "sidewalk," nobody worries about obstructions - or about the potholes which, as they develop in the pavement, are planted with flowers."
One of my dearest dreams for Portland also shows up in Ecotopia:
"The bucolic atmosphere of the new San Francisco can perhaps best be seen in the fact that, down Market Street and some other streets, creeks now run. These had earlier, at great expense, been put into huge culverts underground, as is usual in cities. The Ecotopians spent even more to bring them up to ground level again. So now on this major boulevard you may see a charming series of little falls, with water gurgling and splashing, and channels lined with rocks, trees, bamboos, ferns. There even seem to be minnows in the water - though how they are kept safe from marauding children and cats, I cannot guess."
Saturday, March 7, 2015
Tuesday, March 3, 2015
How Spring Happens Here, Part One: Old leaves, new leaves
In our mild Pacific Northwest winters, some plants keep a portion of their leaves all through that rainy season. It's as if, in the fall, environmental signals aren't quite harsh enough to push plants into total dormancy. In spring, bursting buds push out fresh growth to contrast with the leaves still left from last year.
(Questions: how much energy is gained from wintered-over leaves? seems introduced plants from harsher climates are most likely to display this pattern, true? is there a pattern (location?) as to which leaves are kept? and, when are these kept leaves finally lost?)
(Questions: how much energy is gained from wintered-over leaves? seems introduced plants from harsher climates are most likely to display this pattern, true? is there a pattern (location?) as to which leaves are kept? and, when are these kept leaves finally lost?)
Tuesday, January 27, 2015
it's happening!
There is a certain small evergreen bush I spend most of my time overlooking, but every year at the very earliest part of spring it snags me by the nose. Sweet and promising, unexpected perfume of its freshly opened, hidden flowers sits in clouds along city streets.
Other spring precursors:
Other spring precursors:
Stellaria media happy and green, growing as a mini-forest on urban mulch unmolested.
An arrangement of green-headed matches, suggesting buds yet unburst.
Tuesday, January 6, 2015
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