Earth Day 2010

To celebrate Earth Day Lori and I took a walk in the woods, armed with trash bags and a camera. We were in search of this villain, a nasty little invasive plant called garlic mustard. This one is tiny, but it can do a great deal of damage to a forest. Growing as tall as four feet, one plant can spread tens of thousands of seeds. If not controlled it can crowd out native species in a number of years.






So every spring we go out to a very special place in the woods near our home and pull garlic mustard. This is a place where there is something worth saving, like Jack-in-the-pulpit,



blue violets,

bellwort,

and miterwort.

Marsh marigold,

scouring rush,

and the queen of the forest, large-flowered trillium.

Then there's wood anemone,

round-lobed hepatica,

maidenhair and

interrupted ferns.

We also do it for little frogs who peep in the spring.

For everyone who works to save what matters, Happy Earth Day.