Novel Melon Time
Summer time means melons. All sorts of melons these days, not just the classic "water" so many of us ate and spat from the patio on a...
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Welcome to the Natural Coalescence Blog
Here you will find botanical tales and planty fun of all kinds with botany nerding and ecology through a entertaining lens.
- 8 min
Oaks Don’t Make Apples
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.
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- 5 min
Spring Bulbs: Eat-Me-Nots
Buds buds everywhere and not a bulb to eat. Spring is popping up, literally, as represented by bulbs popping up their plump flower heads...
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- 3 min
Red Belted Conk: Cool PNW Medicinal Mushroom
medical traits and ID of wild shelf mushroom red belted conk (Fomitopsis pinicola)
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- 5 min
PNW Tree of Life: WRCedar
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...
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- 6 min
Blue thou art… whence came thy dazzling hue?
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...
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- 13 min
Wet* Hot Wild Berry Summer in the PNW:
*(sweaty, even while standing still because… heat domes & such) It’s a berry Pacific Northwest kind of life in summer time here. The sun...
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- 3 min
Avalanche Bros: Erythronium grandiflorum
There’s a disturbance in the woods. The snow has melted in most places, the skiers have slipped away with the entrance of spring. And...
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- 4 min
Hydrangea Blues- don't be a basic pink
Hydrangea season approaches! Blue is coming. The special and huge draw of these shrubs for many gardeners is the unusual color of certain...
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- 6 min
Iris Pride
The iris is more than a lovely (ok absolutely gorgeous) flower. Of ancient Greek mythology, she is the goddess who personified the...
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- 6 min
My 'Currant' Vodka Infusion
There are dozens of flavors for vodkas on the liquor shelves, some fruity, some floral. As delightful as a toasted marshmallow vodka can...
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- 5 min
Rosy Twisted-Stalk- tasty mountain stream treat
I would bet this plant is among those that most people, even the botanically interested, would pass right by. Rosy twisted-stalks, and...
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- 4 min
Begonia's Spirals
Begonia flowers are cooler than most people realize. I painted their corkscrew pistils as an oil painting, honoring them as I eat them.
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- 4 min
Crinkly Crocus
Hey ya doll. Don’t you mind me, or should I say “us”. We certainly don’t mind this snow that can’t resist showing up again after a long...
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- 1 min
When there's plants in your sock drawer
You know that 'adult thing' where you like slipping on a fresh new pair of socks? It's like a cozy snuggle for each foot. It's a thing....
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- 9 min
Cottonwood: Cuddly, But Sticky
Cottonwood trees (Populus balsamifera ssp. trichocarpa, P. deltoides and B. fremontii) have a love-hate relationship with people. Some...
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- 4 min
Why I can’t stop smelling this bush
On a trip to southern California, I was so pleasantly surprised to find myself among the silvery scent-sational low shrubs I recall from...
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- 7 min
The Marvelous Ms. Malus: She's no bad apple.
At the edge of a forest, near a centennial remnant of crumbling cedar fence, there’s a gnarled struggling tree of knotted branch tangles...
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- 1 min
When there are pine cones in your toaster
This use probably won't make it onto a toaster oven box or manual, but it was only too obvious for me. How else can you encourage some...
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- 9 min
Mystical Mistletoes
Mistletoes get an interesting and sort of bad rep. They are only really thought about during the holidays (unless by botanists) and many...
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