Tag: Sweet Cicely

  • The Seeds of September

    The Seeds of September

    By September, virtually all of the native plants in the Puget Lowlands that spread by seed have gone to seed. In this blog I take a closer look at eight of them arranged by their means of seed dispersal. In recent weeks I took some pictures in the field and under a microscope at home.…

  • Removing or Allowing Plant Siblings

    Removing or Allowing Plant Siblings

    As we weed our backyard forests and their edges, we are constantly making decisions about which plants to remove and which to allow. For some plant species those decisions are complicated by various factors, and different restoration practitioners may have different, legitimate opinions.

  • Marking Future Transplants During the Dry Season

    The dry season is a good time to look for sapling trees, shrubs, and small forbs growing in weedy areas or in spots too close to trails and marking them to transplant later when the wet season returns.

  • Improving the Balance in the Soil Seed Bank

    “Even the weeds look lovely in May.” From Arthur Lee Jacobson in his book Wild Plants of Greater Seattle. April comes and goes. The rainy season begins to wind down, but the soil remains moist. Days grow longer and highs begin to flirt with 60 degrees. Nighttime lows no longer drop into the 30’s. All…

  • What’s Up?

    One of the joys of backyard forest restoration is watching the native flowers come up in the Spring.