WILDER SIDE OF OAKLAND COUNTY The sultry days of summer are here. Goldfinches flutter over meadows. Dragonflies patrol the sky. Bullfrogs sound off from ponds. Tomatoes ripen on vines.Crickets sing to the night. Rabbits are everywhere. Thunder rumbles. But it’s chicory (Cichorium intybus) that really proclaims that the heat of summer is on. Chicory is one … Continue reading Chicory: Queen of the Roadside!
THE WILDER SIDE OF OAKLAND COUNTY For the chicory plant, any part of Oakland County that does not come under the mower’s blade or is not bathed in herbicides becomes the “Wilder Side of Oakland County”. Chicory (Cichorium intybus) is one of our most common, easily recognizable and delicately beautiful roadside weeds of mid-summer. But … Continue reading Chicory: More Than a Roadside Weed
WILDER SIDE OF OAKLAND COUNTY “The ordinary citizen today assumes that science knows what makes the community clock tick; the scientist is equally sure that he does not. He knows that the biotic mechanism is so complex that its workings may never be fully understood.” –Aldo Leopold I take great pleasure in observing common place “little … Continue reading As Summer Sizzles On
WILDER SIDE OF OAKLAND COUNTY As the month of May faded, frisky fawns frolicking in meadows drew attention away from emerging spring wildflowers. But by the middle of June, the fawns will retreat into the protective shelter of woodlands where they will continue to learn the ways of the wild under the watchful eyes of … Continue reading Who’s Doing the Tall Bloomin’ of June?
WILDER SIDE OF OAKLAND COUNTY Three weeks have raced by since the position of Planet Earth in relation to the sun signaled the autumn equinox; except during much of this week, we have been bathed in sultry summer-style heat with the mercury soaring into the 80s. Some of nature’s creatures became briefly “confused” and were … Continue reading Our Wilderness of Little Things
