The native wild azalea, Rhododendron Canescens, keeps blooming on more bushes.
![[Native wild azaleas and dogwood 2022-03-09]](http://www.okraparadisefarms.com/pictures/2023-03-09--azaleas-dogwoods/many.jpg)
Native wild azaleas and dogwood 2022-03-09
And we have a few blooms of dogwood, Cornus florida. Not as many as usual; we don’t know why. Continue reading
Weeding season is here.
After the recent rains, more potatoes coming up and growing seems like and inch a day. Followed closely by nutgrass.
-jsq
An early spring sight, and something more unusual.
![[Wood Storks and Wild Azalea, OPF 2023-01-31]](http://www.okraparadisefarms.com/pictures/2023-01-31--wild-azalea-wood-storks/many.jpg)
Wood Storks and Wild Azalea, OPF 2023-01-31
We’re used to wild azaleas, Rhododendron canescens, blooming around now. Plenty of buds promise more flowers after this first one.
But the other sight was more unusual. Continue reading
Maybe I should have trimmed some more vines before backing in there.
I had sawed off that privet. It was supposed to push to the side when I backed the tractor with mower in.
Instead, the grapevines and Smilax decided that invasive exotic Chinese privet would go up on top of the tractor canopy.
Probably I would have noticed earlier, but I was concentrating on not backing into a tree and not getting caught around the throat by catbriars. You know those Smilax with the stout sharp thorns and thick stems: Smilax bona-nox.
Note to self: next time take a machete. Cutting each vine with clippers took a while.
-jsq
Ah, fall flowers, dogs frolicking in the dog fennel, and mysterious molds, all on a morning walk.
And chiggers. Most likely Trombicula alfreddugesi, aka Eutrombicula alfreddugesi, in the genus Trombicula, family Trombiculidae.
Whichever species of arachnids, cousins of ticks and spiders, these ones will make you itch for days. They can raise red welts and send you to the doctor seeking steroids. You don’t want to see pictures of that.
![[Common sneezeweed, Helenium autumnale]](http://www.okraparadisefarms.com/pictures/2022-09-18--dirt-dogs-plants-fire-pit/20220918_084342.jpg)
Common sneezeweed, Helenium autumnale
A walk in the woods one summer day.
![[Grapes, sycamore, banana, cypress swamp]](http://www.okraparadisefarms.com/pictures/2022-08-10--grapes-beaver-pond-sycamore-beggarticks-bananas-cypress-swamp/many.jpg)
Grapes, sycamore, banana, cypress swamp
Those grapes were ripe and tasty. Muscadine, Vitis rotundifolia. This is down by a beaver pond. Continue reading
Purple stems and big purple berries: don’t eat it.
![[Pokeberry with longleaf and chinaberry]](http://www.okraparadisefarms.com/pictures/2022-08-14--pokeberry/20220814_082804.jpg)
Pokeberry with longleaf and chinaberry
Sure, people make poke salad when it’s young, but once the stems turn purple, it’s poisonous. Continue reading
Never saw them bloom before.
“It takes at least 4 years to go from a just-pollinated flower to a mature, blooming plant.” Growing Sarracenia from Seed, International Carnivorous Plant Society (ICPS).
These pitcher plants grew naturally in our woods.
We do have bumblebees, so maybe they will pollinate. Then maybe seeds in August or September.
Dug out of its winter cocoon, with tractor blade and hoe. Then planted by hand in rows made by the planter, later covered with dirt by tractor cultivator. Later this year: more cane syrup.
Continue reading![[Potatoes]](http://www.okraparadisefarms.com/pictures/2023-03-13--potatoes/20230313_140911.jpg)
![[Vines and privet]](http://www.okraparadisefarms.com/pictures/2023-01-16--vines/20230116_173737.jpg)
![[Sarracenia minor]](http://www.okraparadisefarms.com/pictures/2022-04-08--pitcher-plant/20220408_083112.jpg)
![[Side view]](http://www.okraparadisefarms.com/pictures/2022-04-08--pitcher-plant/20220408_083139.jpg)
![[Dug up and planted]](http://www.okraparadisefarms.com/pictures/2022-04-03--sugar-cane/many.jpg)
![[Blooming wild black cherry]](http://www.okraparadisefarms.com/pictures/2022-03-17--wild-cherry-blooms/20220317_081930.jpg)