lilies

I have been a grass warrior lately. Grass persists in exploring and establishing in areas I don’t want it: under shrubs, twined in flowers, out of the edges of the lawn, under the trees, in the field and so on. As a grass warrior, I have employed various attack strategies from hand-digging, weed-whacking and mowing with three different mowers — a riding mower, a small area electric mower, a rough area mower and finally, a tractor.

We often call many of our spring perennial flowers bulbs. However, botanically speaking, not everything we call a bulb is a true bulb. For example, is an iris a bulb? A corm? Or something else, such as a rhizome or tuber?

Fall is bulb planting time. Most people are familiar with the basic bulbs such as daffodils and tulips, but what about some of the plants commonly called bulbs that are actually corms, rhizomes, tubers or tuberous roots? All of these terms refer to the specialized underground structures that are storage organs for many of our spring blooming plants.

We are getting a new roommate next week — a kitten! We haven’t had a kitten in over 30 years. We have always adopted older cats and lucky for me they didn’t eat my houseplants. However, kittens are like toddlers, always exploring and getting into trouble, so I have to make sure none of our plants can poison a curious kitten.

I received an unusual foliage plant for Christmas. The leaves look like elongated elephant ears about 12 inches long. They are glossy dark green with silvery-white veins and reddish-green undersides.

They are narrow and wavy. After extensive searching online, I found out it is Alocasia sanderiana, commonly called Sander’s Alocasia, elephant ear or Kris (after some kind of foreign dagger). This plant originates in the Philippines. It is a beautiful and unique looking specimen.

Here is this week's fishing report for rivers, lakes and streams in Nevada and Northern California. This report is for the week of Aug. 6-12, 2014.

Here is this week's fishing report for rivers, lakes and streams in Nevada, Northern California and the Sierra. This report is for the week of June 30 through Aug. 5, 2014.

Here is this week's fishing report for rivers, lakes and streams in Nevada, northern California and the Sierra. This report is for the week of July 9-15, 2014.

By the Shasta Cascade Wonderland Association
The Shasta Cascade region comes alive this time of year as vibrant blooming wildflowers show off their stunning colors. Thanks to Mother Nature it should be an excellent year for wildflower viewing due to all of the snow and rain fall the area has received. The best time for wildflower viewing is normally during the months of April through June in the lower elevations, and June through August in the higher elevations.

Courtesy of www.GrandViewOutdoors.com
On a July evening a few years ago, a massive bull moose wallowed belly-deep in a small stream in the canoe country north of Ely. Facing the other direction, he had no idea a canoe was silently slipping up behind him. He kept dipping for the stems of water lilies and chewing them in the rich evening light.

We approached so closely that the 17-year-old in the bow of the canoe began backpaddling. He looked over his shoulder and shot me a silent glance that told me we were too close to that moose.
He probably was right.