There are vines everywhere in the woods. Like everything else, there are good vines and bad vines. Poison Ivy would be considered a bad vine. If you touch it, you are likely to get a rash. Wild grape vines are common in the United States. They are pretty easy to identify. Although they are technically […]
I finally got out to do some hiking! I decided to hike the Little Devils Stairs Trail and the Piney Branch Trail. The trailhead is off Route 211 near Sperryville. I hadn’t been there in several years. The last time I hiked it was in the winter. I decided to go on a Thursday, to […]
We are finally getting some rain. After the rain, the fungi and mushrooms emerge. I love forest fungi. They are an amazing part of nature. Certainly I am not an expert on fungi. However, I think I found some Amanita muscaria var. flavivolvata. These are also called a fairy tail toadstool or Fly Agaric. They […]
Most Virginians know that the Flowering Dogwood is the state tree of Virginia. Coincidentally, the flower is the state flower of Virginia. However, Virginia is not the only state that honors this tree. It is the state tree of Missouri and New Jersey. It is also the state flower on North Carolina. And guess what? […]
More natural foliage decimated by another invasive species. There is nothing heavenly about the Tree of Heaven or technically Ailanthus altissima. Earlier this spring, the emergence of the foliage fascinated me. It was so beautiful. At that time, I had not identified the tree. I should have known it is an invasive species. It is […]
It rained and a few fungi came back! These jelly fungi came to life again after a couple of rainy days. The last few summers and falls were dry, and fungi were scarce. I didn’t realize that the first time I wrote about fungi was an unusual year. It was really wet that year, and […]