Perfect reading material for cold, dark evening. Pairs well with sandwich of Thanksgiving Leftovers and a can of Sapporo.

Introduce yourself with 5 animals you have seen in the wild. Indian crested porcupine Haitian dwarf boa cuckoo wrasse Japanese macaque snowy owl

Introduce yourself with five concerts you have seen Miles Davis Solas Rollins Band Wailin’ Jennys Soundgarden

Nepenthes veitchii ‘Big Mama’ x ‘Pink Candy Cane’. Young plant with juvenile pitchers, but it is starting to color up nicely. When I started growing Nepenthes in the 1990s, there were only 2 mediocre clones of N. veitchii available. Now, colorful line bred seedlings and clones are everywhere. 🌴🌱

Today we celebrated the lovely warm Fall day with a hike on the Hw River Trail at Glencoe. Glencoe is a lovely preserved mill town and the trails along the river are worth the visit. Up river is Great Bend Park and dam--we had a lovely lunch here 1/n www.hawrivertrail.org/glencoe

Predatory oak tree engulfing an innocent sourwood. 🌱

Saturday morning Nepenthes pics: N. veitchii (m) bario (giant x squat) EP, N. truncata rippled leaves x veitchii red tiger RE 0103, N. x 'song of melancholy' Leilani (B), N. veitchii "Big Mama" x Redonkulas CAR-0152

I wanted to be a scientist (subtype: biology) from about the time I could first walk and talk. Later, Mom tried to talk me into med school, but it didn’t stick.

#Caturday birbwatching.

#Caturday. When your human pillow keeps waking you up, and you are not at your best.

Another week, a little more progress. This Stenorrhynchos speciosum is killing me. Such slow growth. So much time for a slug to attack before it finally opens. 🌴 🌱 #orchids

Latest pitcher on my Nepenthes x Dyeriana. ~40 cm tall. Just an inspired bit of plant breeding by George Tivey. Description was first published in 1900, so he presumably made the cross sometime in the early/mid 1890s. Nepenthes (northiana x maxima) x (rafflesiana x veitchii) 🌴 🌱

Morning walk around the neighborhood. This particular lot seems to home to lots and lots of eastern newts who appear on the road when migrating to and from their breeding pond.

I know I'm spamming you all with the world's largest flower this week but look at THIS! A rare glimpse inside Rafflesia arnoldi!

At a preview performance of Playmakers’ new show. Lots of fun!

THREAD. The definitive list of the absolute best interdimensional portals I have photographed on walks in the British countryside. 1. Gateway To The Land Of Leaping Dogs.

Things that stood out in the first part of Ken Burns’ _The American Revolution_: 1. The Six Nations. I knew about them vaguely, but now I want to know more. 2. The extreme ethnic, religious, and cultural diversity in the colonies. 3. Role of misunderstandings in the initial skirmishes.

#smallpoemsunday @tomsnarsky.bsky.social

Yeah, I put breaded fish sticks in my sushi rolls tonight*. I have no regrets. *fish sticks, cucumber, avocado, pickled daikon.

Latest blog post. Perhaps I should have posted it closer to Halloween. 🌱 🌴

Slooow progress. 🌱 🌴 #orchids

A roseate spoonbill drops gently into the wetlands, its pink wings fanned wide as it prepares to land among the lush greens below. rebeccaherranen.com/featured/spo... #birds #nature #wildlife #buyintoart #naturephotography #photography #fineart #giftideas #birdlovers #waterbirds #art

There are just so many of these little guys in our yard.

First freeze last night. The growing season for subtropicals like Musa velutina is officially finished for the year. 🌱

This is kind of an amazing bit of raconteuring! youtu.be/KW_nwxlwfyo?...

Flowering today: Paphiopedilum Mark Dimmitt. The cross is Paphiopedilum ((philippinense x rothschildianum) x sanderianum) x parishii, registered by Fred Clarke earlier this year. 🌱 🌴 #orchids.

One of the funner moments from my South Africa trip occurred when these two little borbs decided to chase each other on the edge a lagoon. (They're Black Crakes, btw.)

An Armistice Day family history repost. 🧵

Here’s a snail eating a snake. Haplotrema concavum (gray-footed lancetooth) chewing on Carphophis amoenus (eastern worm snake). May 2024.

Even a couple of big leaves will work as an ad hoc cat trap.

There are something like 28,000 orchid species worldwide, but Psychopsis are surely among the most beautiful. Psychopsis versteegiana from northern South America and my greenhouse. #orchids 🌱 🌴

Good morning! 🌱

For a long time, I thought I was allergic to apples, because they made my throat itch and swell up. I now know, it was something on or in the crappy red delicious apples available when I was a kid. My favorite apple is York Imperial, fwiw.

1 of 2. Tonight’s quick, made-it-up-as-I-went-along soup worked out pretty well, I think: Dice big chunk of fresh ginger and half a dozen garlic cloves, chop carrots and celery. Sauté in olive oil. Add pile of curry powder.

Do you think the strangler fig ent preys on other ents, clinging to his victim’s back until he is big enough to overwhelm him?

The milk jug and apple cider jug are approximately the same size, so I just poured cider into my morning tea. You might think it might be good, but it is not.

Indulged in a bit of leaf flipping yesterday W/world class breeder Joe Bruso breeding targets include hardiness zone 4 leaf longevity for densely packed branches AANNDD My personal fav… TOMENTUM Aka a dense mat of hairs on the abaxial leaf surface Details in the alt text! 🌐🌍🍁🧪 #plantbreeding

Eggs of marbled salamander (Ambystoma opacum) under a log in our little neighborhood wetland today. The eggs are laid on land beside a vernal pool, and they’ll hatch when winter rain submerges them. #herps 1 of 3

Vanda falcata, the furan or fukiran (often Samurai orchid in English) has been cultivated in Japan for centuries. IMO, it’s one of the top 10 orchid species for fragrance Flowers are typically white, sometimes with faint pink/purple blush. Brightly colored cultivars are usually hybrids. 🌱

We have germination! Growing Euphorbia platyclada 'Dead Stick plant' from seeds #succulents #plants #gardenfeed #plantsky 🌱

Mysterious woodlot hasn’t sold in a red hot real estate market because a. soil doesn’t perc (boring!). b. carnivorous trees. c. fairy archers. d. hellmouth. e. witches. f. other?

#sixonsaturday 01-11-25 in which you’ll find a mix of autumn leaves. Acer palmatum, cotinus, ginkgo, shrimp willow, euphorbia and sweet potatoes 🌱 fredgardenerblog2.wordpress.com/2025/11/01/s...

Must. Be. Patient. 🌴 🌱 #orchids

Fothergilla ‘Mt. Airy’ doing its best autumn color. 🌱 Also called witch-alder, which seems appropriate tonight.

I love the story of of how this young person got this shot.

Autumn vibes

It’s newts-crossing-the-road season again. Eastern newt, Notophthalmus viridescens. #herps

Can’t decide if I prefer this dogwood in spring or autumn. 🌱

ID requests on Facebook wildlife groups frequently amaze me. How cut off do you need to be, not only from nature, but also from centuries of children’s literature and art, to find a small mammal with pointy snout, no visible eyes, and BIG SHOVEL-LIKE FORELEGS and not have any clue what it might be?