Presenting: a fresh American toadlet.
Yesterday it still had a tail.
A few days ago it breathed through gills and was a vegetarian.
Today it has lungs and a carnivorous gut.
What a cutie. Continue reading “Toadlet”
Toadlet
Author: Joanna Brichetto
Writer, Naturalist
Naked Ladies and Cicadas
Hippocampus Magazine has published my short essay, “Naked Ladies and Cicadas” in the May issue, and I am thrilled.
Do visit. I hope you enjoy reading it.
Links to my other essays in literary journals and magazines are at JoannaBrichetto.com.
Red-shouldered bugs and a fresh assassin
I knew they weren’t box-elder bugs, but what? Hundreds and hundreds were mating and scurrying about on a (stupid) bush honeysuckle covered with (stupid) English ivy. So I type “red shoulder bug,” into BugGuide and guess what they are?
“Red-shouldered Bugs.” Continue reading “Red-shouldered bugs and a fresh assassin”
What a butterfly looks like
My “What a Butterfly Means” was published last week. I wrote it after watching a newly eclosed gulf fritillary butterfly on a passionvine at Warner Park Nature Center’s organic garden. Continue reading “What a butterfly looks like”
Sycamore currency
On American sycamore trees, buds are breaking. Under American sycamore trees, balls are breaking. Continue reading “Sycamore currency”
Star of Bethlehem: Thug of my Yard
Once upon a time, a new grass appeared in the yard. At first, I thought the narrow leaves were wild onion, but they didn’t taste oniony. They didn’t look oniony, either, not on closer inspection: each wore a silvery line down the middle of the green.
Later, when these mystery leaves began to yellow, a flower stalk emerged. It was staggered with green and white striped buds. Exquisite! Then, the buds bloomed into white, six-petaled flowers even more exquisite.
It was Ornithogalum umbellatum L.: Star of Bethlehem.
I hate it.
Continue reading “Star of Bethlehem: Thug of my Yard”Nashville’s Mustard
[This is a post from 2017. For the newest Nashville Mustard post, see “Meet the Mustard” (link)]
There are swaths of yellow right now in Elmington Park: small yellow blooms massed in the lawn. I hope the city doesn’t mow soon, because the yellow is Nashville mustard—our mustard—and it needs to go to seed and spread. I saw it on the way to Hebrew School, and as soon as I could, I went back and parked the car in the lot, then parked my body flat on the grass.
Cedar Apple
To me, this particular “spring ephemeral” is as welcome as a wildflower. It is a sign of the season: a “cedar apple,” doing its wacky thing in wet spring weather. This one is on our volunteer red-cedar tree in the front yard, and I’ve been waiting for the rusty, dry galls to wake from winter. Continue reading “Cedar Apple”
Hackberry Jam
Our dog loves hackberry trees. If there is a hackberry seedling within range of her face, she finds it. Under the neighbor’s boxwood, up the U-channel of the stop sign, poking from a storm drain, or wherever. She plucks the leaves with her teeth. She will chew as many as her leash lets her have time for. The seedling may be flanked by baby elm or privet or althea or bush honeysuckle of a similar size, but she only goes for hackberry leaves. Continue reading “Hackberry Jam”
Frostflowers
Frostflowers are neither frost nor flower, but are “blooming” right now.
Continue reading “Frostflowers”
SIDEWALK NATURE 