By Wendy Langhans Milk Thistle has built-in protection. After 27 years of marriage, my husband has learned it is dangerous to set me loose in a bookstore without supervision.  You never know what I’m going to come home with.   This week I splurged and spent $40 on just one book, “Weeds of the West”.  (Yeah, I know what you’re ...

By Wendy Langhans     This cactus flower has anthers covered with white pollen. One evening this week as I was watering my plants, I noticed a few cactus buds that were almost ready to bloom.  I made a note to check back early the next morning, because most cactus blossoms don’t last very long after they open.  And sure ...

By Wendy Langhans   Elegant Clarkia blossom from April

By Wendy Langhans Canadian geese are fiercely protective of their young. I saw them as I pulled into the driveway of our complex:  a pair of Canadian Geese standing guard over a half dozen goslings.  So I ran upstairs and grabbed my camera, pausing only for a moment to make sure the telephoto lens was in place.  Geese have a ...

By Wendy Langhans Two Canadian Geese are involved in a territorial dispute while two others cheer them on. One of the downsides of reaching “a certain age” is that I don’t sleep as well as I used to.  So when I awoke at o’dark hundred on Monday morning, rather than toss and turn in a futile attempt to catch a ...

-Wendy LanghansAnytime I begin a story with “Back in the 70’s”, my twenty-something daughter rolls her eyes in way that only a child thoroughly embarrassed by her mother can do.   But honestly, how can you quote the lyrics, “Lost in the Ozone Again” without a flashback to the 70’s and at least mentioning that infamous band “Commander Cody and ...

By Wendy Langhans The blossoms of grape soda lupine change color to a monochrome purple after pollination. Did you know that some flowers color-code their blossoms to indicate freshness?     Earlier this week I walked to the narrows in Towsley Canyon and during the walk I spotted the grape soda lupine I had seen the week before.  But this ...

By Wendy Langhans Grape soda lupine actually smells like grape soda. I could smell long them before I saw them.  An on-shore wind was blowing from the southwest, so I knew there were Bush lupines somewhere upwind, probably around the next curve in the trail.   In the field I can easily identify lupines by their spiky flower stalk and ...

By Wendy Langhans   “Geosmin” is produced by the blue-green algae that live infreshwater marshes. This week I planted a few herbs in my kitchen garden, which consists of a few mismatched pots on our back porch.  The moist potting soil was crumbly and marvelously odiferous, overwhelming the more subtle scents of sage and marjoram. That earthy smell reminded me ...

By Wendy Langhans   Wild Cucumber flowers are small, less than 1 / 2 inch in diameter. Earlier this week, a few people asked me about a “green spiky funny-looking oblong thingy” they saw along the trail.  I didn’t need a photograph to know exactly what they were talking about – the seed pod of a wild cucumber.  Even though ...