Welcome to the Natural Coalescence Blog

Oak Life Lesson: Coordination helps you breed with your neighbors & overload your hungry enemies. Bigger nuts are cool, but not best.

Why does New Zealand seem to have a dense and stark forest strip, with the trees ending sharply compared to other global regions?

Making and testing natural inks & dyes from fruits and flowers in PNW.

Differences between WA Erysimum species- Erysimum capitatum vs arenicola.

Edible or lethal plants. Comparing and admiring common camas with death-camas, and a few native plant relatives in the PNW.

Oak apples aren't a fruit, they're a gall from a wasp and they may not be edible but you can use them for home-made ink.

Buds buds everywhere and not a bulb to eat.  Spring is popping up, literally, as represented by bulbs popping up their plump flower heads from still cold damp soil to catch the first pollinators of the year (maybe) and reward us visual creatures for surviving the depths of winter’s chill. But, um... can you eat those? Basically, I wouldn’t. Many species of our beloved spring flowering bulbs are quite toxic Not just because they’re better off finishing their bloom, fe

Ever seen blue balls on a bee? Possibly not what you think, but they do get them. Blue bee-balls, and a bee in a 'bad way'. Bee...

The chill is in the air, the winds are kicking up, and sky has it's blanket of leaky grey all ready to tuck us in for the winter. Fall...

There are many cool trees all over the world and possibly more than our 'fair share' in the Pacific northwest due to the variety of...

Blue flowers are the RAREST color. I’ve noticed this for a long time. And it makes sense. But it is also confusing and weird and...

*(sweaty, even while standing still because… heat domes & such) It’s a berry Pacific Northwest kind of life in summer time here. The sun...

Hydrangea season approaches! Blue is coming. The special and huge draw of these shrubs for many gardeners is the unusual color of certain...

As the summer solstice passes, a very 'spring to summer' plant comes to mind- oso berry. They are pretty much the very first native plant...

Plant obsessions go through trends, just like the huge tulip obsession and flash trade market that was huge for a short time, then...

The iris is more than a lovely (ok absolutely gorgeous) flower. Of ancient Greek mythology, she is the goddess who personified the rainbow and the messenger of the gods where her rainbow trail could be seen left on her message runs between the Earth and the heavens. True, she was a lower tier deity in that mythology, but served a useful role, and how much “use” do we get from rainbows today, really? Definitely some joy and inspiration, and a nice clue to the presence of iso

What's the best way to get rid of weeds? Eat them, of course! And we are hitting prime dandelion season, so it's time to get digging. ...

I would bet this plant is among those that most people, even the botanically interested, would pass right by. Rosy twisted-stalks, and...

Begonia flowers are cooler than most people realize. I painted their corkscrew pistils as an oil painting, honoring them as I eat them.

Mistletoes get an interesting and sort of bad rep. They are only really thought about during the holidays (unless by botanists) and many...