Author: Joanna Brichetto

Writer, Naturalist

Stealing Christmas Trees

stealing xmas trees
for the birds

Once you start stealing Christmas trees, you may not want to stop. I’ve got three right now. The best was the dried-up cedar by the curb a block over. My kid hauled it home for me, dragging it behind like a giant peacock tail.

From Dec. 26 through February, hundreds of used Christmas trees get tossed to the curbs at Metro’s 12 tree-cycling locations. Ideally, they all get chipped for mulch—mountains of free mulch—but the truth is, not all tree tossers read the rules. Trees that are stuck in stands, strung with lights, draped with tinsel, or flocked with whatever “flocking” is made of can NOT be recycled. They go to the landfill. So, these are rejects I steal first.   Continue reading “Stealing Christmas Trees” →

See, Know Weevil

Acorn nurseries
Acorn nurseries

Shumard oak acorns, caps and a former resident.

I don’t have the patience to confirm these acorn cap scales are arranged in a Fibonacci sequence, but there is another marvel in the photo, and it is quicker to spot. See the pinhole in two of the shells? The hole tells squirrels and foragers we need not gather these acorns, because what remains inside is not a meal but a mealy powder. It’s the exit hole of an acorn weevil larva.  Continue reading “See, Know Weevil” →

Twig Mimic

inchworm inching
inching

“Inchworm, inchworm, measuring the marigolds . . . ”
Ever since Middle School chorus the Inchworm song has helped me double eights and sixteens. (Danny Kaye sang it first, in his weird but mesmerizing film Hans Christian Anderson.) It’s also the song that loops in my head—nearly a literal earworm—when I see inchworms. Continue reading “Twig Mimic” →

Hackberry sapwood

Celtis occidentalis
Hackberry sapwood

Last week’s wind took our neighbor’s big tree down just after midnight. The neighbor is absentee, unreachable and still doesn’t know his tree ended up in Next Door’s kitchen.
Oh, the many, many tree cookies I could have cut with a power saw and a powerful arm (I have neither). I did sneak over and haul back anything I could carry, like this curved strip of shreddy fibers, clean, white, strong. Continue reading “Hackberry sapwood” →

Osage Orange as Bug Repellant and Mammoth Snack

Wooly and Osage Orange.jpg
Osage Orange and Extinct Megafauna

Osage orange fruit. Hedge apples. Monkey brains. Maclura pomifera. Yellow-green, squiggly, hairy spheres the size of grapefruits. If these are underfoot on a fall hike, I guarantee someone will mention the purported insect and/or spider repellent properties of an Osage orange. Rumor has it that a few of these bowling balls under one’s bed or kitchen sink will convince critters to stay outside. If this were true, I’d superglue a row of fruit along every baseboard of my house. Continue reading “Osage Orange as Bug Repellant and Mammoth Snack” →

Ginkgo Leaf Surrender

medical gym sidewalk
medical gym sidewalk

Last night’s freeze made the ginkgo trees give it up, give it ALL up. I woke to bare branches and eddies of golden fans. Did it happen all at once? Did the tree heave a sneeze when the thermometer hit below 30 and then FFHOOOOM! eject every leaf?

Apparently, ginkgos are known for sudden synchronized leaf drop. I sure would love to see it happen. I need to compare it to the Pixar version that lives in my head. Continue reading “Ginkgo Leaf Surrender” →