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Bonfires and Wood-Piles
It doesn't seem like rainy season has started across east central Florida, yet, this year. Its been miserably hot and sometimes overcast as debris clouds from the west coast stream overhead, but very...
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Summer Solstice
Largeflower Rose Gentian (Sabatia grandiflora)spreading in our dry lakeThe summer solstice is upon us in the northern hemisphere. For many of us who live in the subtropics or tropics of Florida this...
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The Seasons of Zion National Park
If you go up one step from the Grand Canyon on the geological “Grand Staircase” of the western United States, you will reach Zion National Park. Zion is the middle step on this tilted, eroded,...
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Sunflower Trees
I'm often asked where I got my Sunflower Trees and how one can grow some of their own. I've sent cuttings to people around the world, but with a warning, they are not for the lazy gardener. In the...
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15 Native Plants Important to Florida's History
Buttonbush (Cephalantus occidentalis)Scrubby shrub found in moist wetlands. Was a favorite among American Indian tribes, practically all parts had medicinal applications. The inner bark was said to...
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Searing Florida Heat and Laurel Wilt Disease
Canaveral National Seashore, deserted on a mid-summer afternoonlooking north toward New Smyrna BeachFlorida's brutal heat wave is forecast to continue at least through another week. Daytime...
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Massive Algae Bloom in South Florida
Where is the Best Spot to SeeLake Okeechobee?So you want to see Lake Okeechobee, Florida's largest lake and the 7th largest lake in the United States? But you can't find the lake? Don't feel bad,...
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Florida's Important Native Plants (16 - 29)
Native Plants Important to Florida's HistoryNative Plants Important to Florida's History 1-15at this linkEthnobotany of Florida16. Pickerelweed (Pontideria cordata) - This emergent aquatic, with its...
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Flash Drought
A massive upper-level high will envelop most of the lower 48 in the last half of July, setting up what could be a prolonged bout of extreme heat for millions of Americans. If the scorching weather...
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Muscadine Grape Harvest
We're having our best Muscadine Grape harvest in 20 years, which is pretty amazing considering it has barely rained in July and temperatures and sun have been at their maximum. Presumably these...
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Microbeads and the Great Pacific Garbage Patch
Light bulbs, bottle caps, toothbrushes, Popsicle sticks and tiny pieces of plastic, each the size of a grain of rice, inhabit the Pacific garbage patch, an area of widely dispersed trash that doubles...
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Top 50 Twitter Climate Accounts to Follow
From ministers' tweets inside climate talks and cameraphone photos of climate activism as it happens, to tips on how to live a greener life and 140-character global warming news updates: who are the...
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Why do Sunflowers Always Face the Sun?
At dawn, whole fields of sunflowers stand at attention, all facing east, and begin their romance with the rising sun. As that special star appears to move across the sky, young flowers follow its...
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Oppressive Sultry, Heat and Humidity Across Much of USA
A Green Lynx Spider (Peucetia viridans) lies in wait on a zinnia. The Lynx can squirt venom from her chelicerae (mouth part), sometimes for a distance of about a foot (300 mm).A passing Gulf...
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Hike Florida: Slugs, Mussels, Clams, Herons, Egrets, and more
Florida's east coast wetlands are historically low (or dry) due to the summer-long dry period we've been experiencing. That means there's a lot more open area to explore and plenty of interesting...
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Florida Butterfly Colony Evolution
Where do butterflies spend the night?These 10 (or more) Zebra Longwing Butterflies (Heliconius charitonius) congregate every night on a dead branch of a large live oak tree in something resembling a...
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Hurricane Hermine: Undergoing Complex Transformation
Hurricane Hermine was pretty much a non-event for us on the east side of the Florida peninsula even though this image would suggest that it was wicked weather across Florida. The west coast from...
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Return of the Love Bugs
Like clockwork the Love Bugs have returned to menace drivers across Central Florida this September. Scientifically they are Plecia nearctica, small black flies with red thoraxes. Males are about 1/4...
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Half-Earth: Can the Earth's Biodiversity be Saved?
Can the Earth's Biodiversity be Saved?The biologist E. O. Wilson, professor emeritus at Harvard University and recipient of two Pulitzer Prizes recently published his 32nd book, a personal exhortation...
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