Bird of Paradise – Strelitzia reginae Edward Donovan, a collector of natural history specimens, wrote about the Bird of Paradise in his short-lived series, The Botanical Review, or the Beauties of Flora (1789-90). His account of the rare plant from South Africa was one of […]

Native serviceberry trees (Amelanchier) abound throughout North America. During their trek across the continent in the early 1800s, Meriweather Lewis, William Clark and other members of their expedition feasted on serviceberry and other native berries, often as guests of indigenous peoples, and recorded these encounters […]

Serviceberry (Amelanchier arborea) I was ten years old and moving into the seventh home I would have lived in. A house on the corner for my family of five to fill; a house that would signify the end of our constant departures as my dad […]

Life was easy as a second grader. School wasn’t hard. A normal day consisted of arts and crafts projects alternating with short lessons in Mathematics and English. Friends weren’t hard to meet. Anyone could play sports if they had enough determination to organize a game. […]

Several of us here on the Herbaria 3.0 team have had passionate interest in carnivorous plants and the people who study them. Maura Flannery’s post “What’s in a Name?” tells us about the carnivorous Darlingtonia californica. Tina Gianquitto and Dawn Sanders have both obsessed over […]

As I trekked on the muddy trail above Dulong River, China, along with other members of the expedition team, mist started to enshroud the lush rainforest. The goal of the day was to find the endangered Nomocharis meleagrina, commonly known in this area as “the […]

The Little Girl Under Lilacs (Syringa Vulgaris) Running around on the famous Zhongyang Street of Harbin, China, with the well-known vanilla cream popsicle in hand, this four years old girl in a not-so-stylish purple dress could tell you all about her favorite season of the […]

Small-Leaved Lime – Tilia cordata As a child, I was sent away to a boarding school deep in the folded valleys of the Welsh Marches. It was not an experience that I look back on through a fog of nostalgia, for the harsh brutalities of […]

Our garden through our six-year-old daughter’s eyes. Her story is: “These flowers caught my mind because I love pink. Baby Fluffy loves the flowers and I love seeing the flowers in my garden too!!!” Baby Fluffy is an orphan baby bird we rescued from the […]

I have been a gardener all of my adult life, so I am no stranger to the messages plants send. However, this message was hard to miss as I am now far removed from my gardens, living in an apartment in Colorado. Feeling terribly lonely […]