I sure hope y'all like cup plants.

I've been working on clearing a variety of the lesser pests around Beechwood: Queen Anne's Lace and a few thistles still, as well as armloads of crown vetch. Where did all that crown vetch come from?! Things sneak up on you if you're not watchful. I've also found a bit more purple loosestrife to deal with, and I see that the burdock I cut back earlier has re-sprouted great quantities of burrs. I'm planning a trimming day to deal with those and to tame some of the Japanese knotweed that's looming large.

The Canada anemone has formed seedheads too:

When I was clearing garlic mustard from Marnie's Point in the spring I kept finding what seemed to be tiny spruce trees. This one's coming along nicely:

Legend tells of a secret patch of Great Blue Lobelia hidden somewhere in the heart of the Beechwood wetland:

Joe Pye Weed (pink) and boneset (white) beside the pond:

Across the pond I saw a mama raccoon with three (or more?) little ones, dabbling in the water:

I've seen squashed snakes on the path before, but I think this is my first live snake sighting at Beechwood:




I have no quarrel with small, well-mannered, harmless snakes like this little garter snake. (The frogs may disagree about the "harmless" part.) I didn't expect to find one two feet off the ground in a dogwood, but what do I know?

Oh no, Mr. Bill!