American Spikenard Buds/Flowers

The American Spikenard I planted my first summer in Missouri (2023) might be my favorite plant in the whole yard. I see it from my office window. It is thriving with violets as its understory. When I planted it, the violets were mostly between the new plant and the house; once I stopped mowing they have filled half the side yard. I thought that the spikenard had been killed that first winter, but it came back the next spring and has been bigger every yearsince. References say that the plants get 3-5 feet tall but this one is taller!

And it is full of buds/flowers right now. They are not showy as individual flowers, but the cluster is noticeable because of the change in texture from the large compound leaves. The fruits will be even more noticeable this fall because they will be reddish purple.

The American spikenard is not as common as many of the other native plants, but it certainly has worked well in my garden. It should contribute to the lushness of my shade garden as it spreads via it roots or seeds. I planted a second plant this year at the northern end of the shade garden and wonder if the two plants will eventually expand to meet in the middle!

Rattlesnake Master

One of my favorite native plants is rattlesnake master. All three of the plants I bought and planted in my front yard garden have bloomed this year. The downside is that their flower stalks fall over if there is not a lot of vegetation growing around them to help hold them upright. I did notice that there were tiny insects all over the flowers even when they on the ground! They are touted as great plants for pollinators and some swallowtail butterflies lay their eggs on them! As the season has progressed, I’ve noticed that they are continuing to grow more stalks. By next year maybe each clump with be substantial enough to support the stalks. They are the most interesting plants in the native plant garden structurally!

I saw a clump of rattlesnake master at the St. Louis Zoo which has become my and am wondering how long it will be before my plants are as dense. Maybe next year? Maybe the year after that?

Butterfly House - July

My shifts in the Roston Native Butterfly House in July were hotter; maybe not as pleasant for people but the butterflies and caterpillars were very active. I’ve learned to take more water – and wear a neck fan! The caterpillars included  large cecropia moth caterpillars (that can get as big as a hotdog) as well as tussock moths and red spotted purple caterpillars that look like bird poop. There were still plenty of spicebush swallowtail caterpillars around too, but I somehow didn’t take any pictures of them; I was too busy trying to get them into the cage as they opted to leave the plant to find a good place to make their chrysalis.

The giant swallowtail is laying eggs on the wafer ash and there are all stages from egg to varying sizes of caterpillars on the tree. Based on the number of eggs, some of the caterpillars will have to be moved to another tree (i.e. outside the house) so that the tree will keep at least a few leaves!

The pawpaws are still green. It will be a month or more before they ripen. The thistles that were the big nectar source in June have been replaced with other plants that are smaller but must have plenty of nectar.

The butterflies and big moths are still the big show!

Plastic Crisis – Dryer Lint

A few weeks ago, I laundered the polyester table clothes that were used for our tables at the Butterfly Festival. I don’t usually put synthetic fabrics in the dryer (heat causes them to wear faster) but the table clothes were too big to hang dry without a long clothesline – which I don’t have. It was an opportunity to look at the lint from synthetic fabric.

I used my phone and a hand lens too look at the tangle of thin fibers. It is easy to imagine them breaking up into small segments. They are already microscopic in diameter. This is fabric that does not look fuzzy at all – but is still shedding fibers. It also provides an inkling of what is shed during washing as well (and is mostly leaving in the water).

Years ago, there was a suggestion to put dryer lint out for birds to use as nest material. DON’T DO THAT unless you are sure that what was dried is 100% natural fibers – which is very rare these days.

Cat Sitting

My family is traveling…I am the only one at home – which means that I am taking care of cats in 2 locations! Food, water, litter scooping….the occasional clean-up of throw up. Treats occasionally but they don’t seem to be as crazy for them as previous cats.

My daughter and husband left for an amateur astronomy event in Nebraska in the early morning. I took a picture of the sunrise at my house since I was up and ready for the day already.

They sent a picture of their camp later in the day…and then sunset.

Evidently the sky was clear, but it was windy which made photography more challenging. They did send one picture from the first night.

There are evidently some tiny prickly pears in the field where they are set up…they stick to everything – including tires.

My son-in-law left for a conference early the next day. I checked on their cat in the afternoon…refilled a water bowl and refreshed the food supply. My son-in-law had already put the trash/recycle bins out at the edge of the driveway; I put them away when I went the next day.

I am enjoying the quiet of home…even with the little bit of extra work cat sitting!

Lake Springfield Boathouse Garden

I’ve been volunteering for the weekly maintenance sessions at the Lake Springfield Boathouse Garden this year. It’s been a learning experience. Recently the ‘taskmaster’ sent some pictures from 3 years ago – around the time I first visited the place.

The next time I volunteered, I took some similar pictures to document the way it looks in 2026. The plants are much more established now.

Of course I couldn’t resist taking some closer photos – cone flowers, button bush, cup plant, and some mushrooms that reminded me of roasted marshmallows.

Tabling at the Butterfly Festival

The annual Butterfly Festival at the Springfield Botanical Garden was held last weekend. It had rained a lot before the event and was still sprinkling as I was setting up; everyone was relieved when the day was dry after that! The local Missouri Master Naturalist chapter had two tables with several activities/topics: Highway 13 Butterfly trail, trees needed by butterfly/moth caterpillars, a butterfly symmetry craft, bugs, and rotten logs to explore. My collection of bookends worked to keep the items on the table from blowing off the table.

Over the course of the day, we had over 900 people visit our tables! I brought most of the materials in my car and was relieved that I had three helpers for each of the two shifts (9-12 and 12-3). One came early and helped me wrangle the table clothes onto the tables (with the corners tied at the ends to keep them securely on the tables and out of the mud). The pictures above are of the tables before the crowds arrived.

The mosaic below is from the butterfly symmetry craft. We often had a line waiting to make their butterfly and it was a challenge to get a picture of most of the creation before they moved on to the next activity.

The rotten log activity looked more like mulch than logs by the end of the day. We were allowed to leave it under a nearby cedar which made cleanup a simple matter of folding up the tarps.

By the end of the day, I was exhausted…but exhilarated that we had such a great turnout for the Butterfly Festival. I didn’t have time to look at other activities/tables – but they must have been great since everyone that we encountered at our tables seemed to be enjoying the day.

Lake Springfield Boathouse Garden – June 2026

I am learning to recognize weeds more easily as I’ve volunteered to help maintain the Lake Springfield Boathouse garden….and it is also a great way to observe the garden plants as they develop through the weeks. I walked around and took pictures last week before I started work.

The sloped garden has a wild look – but not as wild as a prairie. It becomes a background for special event pictures, and the Boathouse terrace looks over it to the lake. It needs to look good from every direction! There are rock paths through the slope to allow for easier maintenance.

It is a great place for some macro photography of native wildflowers.

Gleanings of the Week Ending June 13, 2026

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

06/1/2026 Science Daily Your kitchen sponge is releasing microplastics every time you wash dishes – Use sponges with lower plastic (or no plastic) content! Using less water for dishes has and even greater environmental impact.

05/30/2026 Clean Technica Illinois First Great Lakes State to Enact Plastic Pellet Pollution Law - Just days before the end of the 2026 legislative session, the Illinois state legislature passed HB4418, which defines pre-production plastic pellets as a pollutant and gives the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency the authority to establish policies to prevent them from being released into the environment. eople complain about government overreach and faceless bureaucrats, but the truth is that without legislation such as this and governmental organizations like the Illinois EPA to enforce it, the world would be a much more toxic and dangerous place. It is long past time to stop giving polluters a free pass so they can maximize their profits.

05/11/2026 RNZ Is it really possible to live a plastic-free life? - Our lives are riddled with plastic, and growing evidence suggests it is affecting our health in myriad ways. (New Zealand)

04/27/2026 Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology Endocrine-disrupting chemicals in breast milk and early life exposure for infants in the United States – Melamine, cyanuric acid, BPA, BPS, and triclosan were detected with high frequency in breast milk samples in the study, and our study suggests that breast milk is an important exposure pathway for these chemicals among nursing infants. Given the importance of breastfeeding for infant health, our study highlights the need to investigate potential health effects of these chronic exposures.

04/26/2026 Earth.com Plastics are entering food crops and stunting their growth - Farmers, waste managers, and regulators now face a harder truth: plastic in soil can slow crops, gather around roots, and enter plants. The next step is tracing whether weathered nanoplastics reach edible tissues at harvest and deciding which plastic inputs should be cut first.

04/02/2026 Medical Xpress Seven days without plastic contact slashes phthalates and bisphenols in body – A clinical trial investigating levels of plastic chemicals in the human body has found that a low-plastic diet could be a fast and effective way to reduce exposure. (Australia)

05/31/2026 The Conversation Trees and greenery can cool cities by as much as 18°C – but only if it’s the right type - Field measurements from Melbourne, Munich and Hong Kong were compared to test how different kinds of urban planting changed the heat people experience outdoors. Layered vegetation – where trees are combined with shrubs and ground cover – often cooled cities more effectively than trees alone. We also found local climate and street design strongly shaped whether greening worked well. Cities need planting strategies tailored to local conditions rather than universal greening formulas. In parks and open green spaces, layered vegetation can provide strong cooling while also supporting biodiversity. In dense streets, planners may need to balance shade with ventilation.

05/28/2026 My Modern Met Hand-Colored Photos From 19th-Century Japan Offer a Glimpse of Traditional Life - Photography arrived in Japan very early—a little less than a decade after it was invented in Europe. Throughout the 1850s, as Japan opened up to foreigners, the images from this time capture not only a nearly forgotten moment in history but also a rare transitional time in which traditional Japanese life was being affected by rapid modernization.

05/20/2026 BBC Chile's Atacama Desert is one of the darkest places on Earth. But now the light is intruding - The battle against encroaching artificial light in the Atacama is a microcosm of a global problem. As electric bulbs have proliferated, around 80% of Earth's population now lives under light-polluted skies. A recent study of star visibility found that, on average globally, the sky brightened due to light pollution by almost 10% a year between 2011-2022. If a person could see 250 stars at the start of the period, the researchers found, they would only spot 100 by the end.

5/28/2026 Smithsonian Magazine Giant, Destructive Hail Is Becoming More Common with Climate Change - A new study finds that these giant hailstones will become more common as the climate warms from human-caused carbon emissions. In models of predicted future warming, the researchers found that the frequency of hail larger than a marble will increase 47 percent by 2100 in a worst-case scenario. Even in a more optimistic model of future climate change, the potential for storms producing giant hail will rise 38 percent.

Butterfly House Trees

I decided to document the trees in the Roston Native Butterfly House during one of my recent shifts. All of them are there to provide food for certain caterpillars. So here is a tree tour of the house…starting on the right side as you enter the trees are

Wafer ash for Giant Swallowtail caterpillars

Hackberry for Hackberry Emperor caterpillars

Spicebush for Spicebush Swallowtail caterpillars

Pawpaw for Zebra Swallowtail caterpillars

False Indigo for Silver Spotted Skipper caterpillars

Black Walnut for Luna Moth, Polyphemus Moth, and Red Banded Hairstreak caterpillars

(turning back toward the front of the house…looking at the trees on your right)

Tulip poplar for Tiger Swallowtail caterpillars

Black Willow for Red Spotted Purple caterpillars

Of course, there were lots of butterflies and a just-emerged Cecropia Moth that I couldn’t resist photographing too!

Our Missouri Yard – June 2026

There are a lot of things looking good in our yard right now…the time of year and the rains in late May resulted in a lot of growth since last month. The Missouri Evening Primrose near the mailbox is blooming profusely – will probably crowd out the non-native plant in the small bed with it.

Two of the three rattlesnake master plants in the native plant garden started this year have stalks getting ready to bloom!

Daylilies are blooming in the corner garden (along with some natives that will bloom in the fall) and in the native plant garden (they came up through the mulch and I am leaving them for now until the natives cover the area completely).

There is an oak seedling that sprouted in the native plant bed that I will simply leave where it is for now while the little blue stem and elderberries are still very small. The elderberries might crowd it out eventually…or is could become the big tree of the front yard.

On the east side of the driveway the white heath aster has come up again. I am leaving the plants since the area has a lot of mole activity and I want something there to hold the soil. They are prolific late summer/fall bloomers.

There is a small oak in the bed near the gate to the back yard. I will cut it soon since it is not in a good place for a big tree.

On the east side of the house there are at least 7 young pawpaw plants: 2 from seeds I planted after eating a pawpaw from the butterfly house last fall, 1 purchased from Ozark Soul, and 4 from MDC (there could be one more from MDC but I didn’t see that it had leafed out…maybe it didn’t survive).

In the garden where we had a pine taken out, there are lambs ear (blooming…not abundant because the bed is crowded with irises and goldenrod), two elderberries (from MDC), beautyberry (the garden is exposed so the plants appear to be dying back each winter and then coming up from the roots…there might be 2 of them), and a healthy looking oak seedling which I am leaving.

Some of the plants I have been mowing around are blooming!  I think most of them are annual fleabane.

There is common evening primrose in the garden by the patio…it seems to be everywhere…this is its year to bloom!

I have lots of maple seedlings…successfully pulled several of them after a recent rain and enough roots came out that they should survive in water for tree tabling later this month.

The Rudbekia laciniata (sochan) is thriving. I haven’t tried eating any of it yet…want to make sure it is well established before I do.

The shortleaf pine is full of new cones.

The Ozark Witch Hazel is becoming more established. Its new leaves have a reddish tinge.

There is a hackberry that is growing in the yew which I will be cutting down…it’s not in a good place for a tree. It is already colonized by gall-producing insects genus Pachypsylla (note the two whitish circles on one of the lower leaves…the galls are underneath the leaf).

Overall, I am pleased with the way the yard is shaping up for this season….but there is a lot of work to do too.

Gleanings of the Week Ending June 06, 2026

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

05/18/2026 The Scientist How Extreme Heat May Be Raising the Risk of Gestational Diabetes - A growing body of research shows that climate change-driven extreme heat may be increasing the risk of GDM. Studies from around the world are also pointing to critical windows of vulnerability, suggesting that rising temperatures may be shaping maternal health in overlooked ways.

05/19/2026 BBC Japan is gripped by mass allergies. A 1950s project is to blame - Large-scale afforestation after World War II was carried out by public works, funded by tax revenues, to prevent soil erosion. Aiming for rapid reforestation, the government chose to plant reams of only two different native, fast-growing evergreen species that could quickly reforest landscapes and provide wood for future use in construction: the Japanese cedar, sugi, and the Japanese cypress, hinoki.

05/26/2026 Planetizen Two years after California reintroduced beavers, they are transforming the landscape into a 'climate-resilient powerhouse' – Collaboration between California Native American tribes and California Department of Fish and Wildlife….a  beaver created wetland complex created since 2023.

5/26/2026 Yale Environment 360 Warming Is Raising the Risk of Encounters with Venomous Snakes – When I went through Master Naturalist training in Maryland more than a decade ago – we were told that cottonmouth moccasins were not found in Maryland….that they were found as far north as Viriginia. I wondered at the time how long it would take for temperatures to warm enough for them to move northward. The post says that “Cottonmouth moccasins in the US are forecast to head as far north as New York” although it does not say how soon.

05/14/2026 The Scientist Bioelectric Contact Lenses Alleviate Depression in Mice - This wearable, drug-free approach holds promise for transforming how depression and other brain conditions are treated, including anxiety, drug addiction, and cognitive decline. The problem is, sugi and hinoki trees also produce large amounts of lightweight pollen which can easily drift into cities. It's this pollen, often released all at once from the monoculture plantations, that is responsible for most seasonal allergies in Japan.

05/26/2026 Science Daily Scientists say they’ve reversed brain aging with a simple nasal spray - The therapy relies on microscopic biological particles called extracellular vesicles (EVs). These tiny structures naturally transport genetic material between cells. In this case, they were loaded with microRNAs, molecules that help regulate important biological processes in the brain. Once inside the brain, the treatment targeted immune cells involved in chronic inflammation. Scientists also found that it restored activity in mitochondria, the tiny structures inside cells responsible for producing energy. Aging and inflammation can damage mitochondria, leaving brain cells less efficient and more vulnerable to decline. (More work required before the treatment can be testing in humans).

5/26/2026 BBC The hidden dead zones spreading across the Baltic Sea floor - Cod fishing has collapsed. It may take more than 400 years for the maritime environment to recover from factors such as overfishing, oxygen depletion and rising sea temperatures. Some believe it may not happen at all.Areas of the sea floor with little or no oxygen, known as "dead zones", appear to be creeping closer to Bornholm's beaches. This is due to human pollution from fertilizers and sewage creating huge algal blooms, which, when they die, sink to the sea floor and cover it. Their decomposition uses up the available oxygen, kills the living organisms that depend on it, and – as a result – creates dead zones.

5/25/2026 Our World in Data Five million children die every year — what do they die from? – Worldwide 44% die from infectious diseases and 42% die from birth disorders….but there is a huge difference between low and high income countries.

5/21/2026 My Modern Met Amazing Winners of This Scientific Microscopic Imaging Contest Capture the Unseen Beauty of Life – I always enjoy magnified photography of life…the world we cannot see without our technology that often is quite beautiful.

5/22/2026 Artnet A 4,500-Year-Old Building Near Stonehenge Has Been Brought Back to Life - More than 100 volunteers have built a 20-foot high structure using the tools and techniques of Neolithic England - ecreating stone tools, using a woodland management technique known as coppicing, and creating a cement-like mixture of chalk, water, and straw called chalk daub.

eBotanical Prints – May 2026

Twenty more books were added to my botanical print eBook collection in May – all are available for browsing on Internet Archive.   19 of the books are a continuation of the Carnivorous Plant Newsletters; there are 4 volumes per year so this month includes 2008 to 2012; I’ll continue browsing this periodical in June.

My list of eBotanical Prints books now totals 3,363 eBooks I’ve browsed over the years. The whole list can be accessed here.

Click on any sample image from May’s 20 books to get an enlarged version…and the title hyperlink in the list below the image mosaic to view the entire volume where there are a lot more botanical illustrations to browse.

Enjoy the May 2026 eBotanical Prints!

Carnivorous plant newsletter v.37:no.2 (2008)  * California State University, Fullerton. Arboretum * sample image * 2008

Carnivorous plant newsletter v.37:no.3 (2008)  * California State University, Fullerton. Arboretum * sample image * 2008

Carnivorous plant newsletter v.37:no.4 (2008)  * California State University, Fullerton. Arboretum * sample image * 2008

Carnivorous plant newsletter v.38:no.1 (2009)  * California State University, Fullerton. Arboretum * sample image * 2009

Carnivorous plant newsletter v.38:no.2 (2009)  * California State University, Fullerton. Arboretum * sample image * 2009

Carnivorous plant newsletter v.38:no.3 (2009)  * California State University, Fullerton. Arboretum * sample image * 2009

Carnivorous plant newsletter v.38:no.4 (2009)  * California State University, Fullerton. Arboretum * sample image * 2009

Carnivorous plant newsletter v.39:no.1 (2010)  * California State University, Fullerton. Arboretum * sample image * 2010

Carnivorous plant newsletter v.39:no.2 (2010)  * California State University, Fullerton. Arboretum * sample image * 2010

Carnivorous plant newsletter v.39:no.3 (2010)  * California State University, Fullerton. Arboretum * sample image * 2010

Carnivorous plant newsletter v.39:no.4 (2010)  * California State University, Fullerton. Arboretum * sample image * 2010

COLLECTIO PLANTARUM QUAE IN DIVERSIS EUROPAE, ASIAE, AFRICAE, ET AMERICAE * Morandi, Giambattistia * sample image * 1737

Carnivorous plant newsletter v.40:no.1 (2011)  * California State University, Fullerton. Arboretum * sample image * 2011

Carnivorous plant newsletter v.40:no.2 (2011)  * California State University, Fullerton. Arboretum * sample image * 2011

Carnivorous plant newsletter v.40:no.3 (2011)  * California State University, Fullerton. Arboretum * sample image * 2011

Carnivorous plant newsletter v.40:no.4 (2011)  * California State University, Fullerton. Arboretum * sample image * 2011

Carnivorous plant newsletter v.41:no.1 (2012)  * California State University, Fullerton. Arboretum * sample image * 2012

Carnivorous plant newsletter v.41:no.2 (2012)  * California State University, Fullerton. Arboretum * sample image * 2012

Carnivorous plant newsletter v.41:no.3 (2012)  * California State University, Fullerton. Arboretum * sample image * 2012

Carnivorous plant newsletter v.41:no.4 (2012)  * California State University, Fullerton. Arboretum * sample image * 2012

Office Views

My computer is on a corner table with two monitors and my keyboard….windows on both sides of the corner. The views while I am working make the place my favorite in this house.

From the east window, the view is full of violets and an American Spikenard…in the background are the neighbor’s River Birch and Red Oak. On breezy days, the large leaves of the spikenard make graceful arcs through the air.

From the south window, the view includes a hummingbird feeder with an eastern white pine in the background…violets and hostas growing through the pine needles. In the early spring there are crocus in the area.

The near views are all in the shade in the summer…which is very appealing during hot weather. In the winter there is morning sun into the eastern window when the river birch has no leaves. The only negative to the situation is that the shade makes the hummingbirds look drab – no iridescence! I still enjoy their acrobatics on their frequent visits to the feeder.

And a few days later…..

I am dry…and comfortable

Contemplating the joy of a rainy day in the late spring….between showers

The most horizontal leaves of the spikenard and irises have large blobs of water that glisten in the increasing light

The pine needles have water drops at their tips

The hummingbird just made a stop at the feeder on my window…the moat overflowing from rain

Children have come out in the lull between rain showers to play in the puddles - it is warm enough to go without shoes

A little breeze moving the big spikenard leaves

The violets are dark green…and too low to the ground to be moving

I hear water in the gutters

There are so many shades of green

The birds are quiet

Sophie M. Sachs Butterfly House

The Sophie M. Sachs Butterfly House is a division of Missouri Botanical Garden located in Chesterfield MO. Our membership in the Springfield Botanical Gardens Friends group got us free admission to the Missouri Botanical Garden on our first day in St. Louis and then, the next morning, to the butterfly house! There is a large butterfly sculpture near the entrance. We arrived shortly after they opened because we were concerned that it might be a day when school groups would be there for a field trip later in the morning.

The conservatory was less crowded that my first visit over a year ago. It was warm enough that the butterflies were very active. Most of them are exotics (i.e. not native to North America) and I remembered most of them from visits to previous butterfly houses. Owls have one spot on their wing…blue morphs have lots of spots. The malachite is my favorite! I also liked seeing pitcher plants in the lush vegetation….and the insect themed benches.

The enclosed garden just outside the butterfly house, features a statue of a young girl with butterflies and lots of native plants…including some larger pitcher plants….more insect themed benches.

I recognized a plant in the garden that I have at home…and it had a sign: Virginia Sweetspire. My phone had identified it as Virginia Willow and I had thought it was wrong since it didn’t seem to be willow-like….but that is another common name for Virigina Sweetspire. I am thrilled that it is native to North American since I have two of them that came with my house! I also noticed stands of Missouri Evening Primrose – another great native in my gardens too.

On the way back to the car, I took pictures of the giant caterpillar and butterfly sculptures…along with milkweed in various stages of blooming.

Since my husband was driving, I took a few roadcut pictures on the way home.

At my daughter’s house, I noticed that her miniature roses were blooming next to her driveway….an opportunity for some last photos…savoring the day.  

Gleanings of the Week Ending May 30, 2026

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

05/18/2026 Washington Post EPA wants to repeal limits on ‘forever chemicals’ in drinking water - The Environmental Protection Agency on Monday proposed repealing limits on four types of “forever chemicals” in drinking water, while delaying regulations on two others. Beyond the six compounds in question, there are hundreds of PFAS being used in manufacturing today that are also toxic and demand to be regulated together as a chemical class, an idea the EPA has so far resisted.

5/16/2026 Science Daily Scientists warn that the world’s rivers are running out of oxygen - Rivers around the world are quietly running out of oxygen — and climate change is emerging as the main culprit. A sweeping global analysis of more than 21,000 river systems found that nearly 80% have been steadily losing dissolved oxygen over the past four decades, threatening fish, biodiversity, and the overall health of freshwater ecosystems. Surprisingly, tropical rivers are being hit the hardest, even more than rivers in rapidly warming polar regions.

5/11/2026 Planetizen New Orleans sea level rise is at 'point of no return' - Since the 1930s, Louisiana has lost 2,000 sq miles of land to coastal erosion, equivalent to the size of Delaware, with a further 3,000 sq miles set to vanish over the next 50 years. The rate of land loss is so rapid that a football pitch-sized area is wiped out every 100 minutes.

5/4/2026 BBC Food labels have far-reaching effects on our health - Many leading experts say the food environment – such as the way food is produced, marketed and sold – itself is "obesogenic" (creating the conditions for weight gain) and this influences consumers to make unhealthy choices. To combat the growing levels of obesity, we need to change what we eat – and emerging research shows that behavioural interventions as well as policy change could make a meaningful difference.

5/14/2026 NPR The MAHA movement is coming to school cafeterias. Here's what that means for kids - Exactly how the government's new dietary guidelines will impact schools is unclear. The Department of Agriculture (USDA) said it is still working to update the nutrition standards it requires of institutions taking part in the National School Lunch Program, which fed 30 million children last year, and the School Breakfast Program.

5/13/2026 Modern Met Haunting and Hopeful Images Win the 2026 Environmental Photography Award - Selected from roughly 10,000 submissions, this year’s winning images span five categories—Changemakers, Forests, Humanity vs Nature, Ocean, and Polar Regions. Together, they document everything from wildlife trafficking and climate disasters to moments of breathtaking beauty in the natural world.

5/15/2026 Archaeology Magazine Mysterious Ancient Tunnel Discovered Beneath Jerusalem Streets – “Usually we have explanations for the discoveries we uncover, but sometimes, as in this case, we stand astonished and amazed.”

5/14/2026 Yale Environment 360 Restoring the Flow: A Milestone in the Revival of the Everglades - In Picayune Strand State Forest, the state and federal governments have been working for more than two decades to undo the damage wrought by that failed development. It’s been a huge undertaking across 55,000 acres. Recently, though, the state and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers put the finishing touches on the most critical part of the work: restoring the natural flow of water across the land. How well this hydrological restoration leads to wider ecological recovery remains to be seen. But the transformation is already underway.

5/11/2026 NASA Color Off the Mid-Atlantic Coast - Starting in early April, NASA satellites began to detect a patch of brownish, blue-green water lingering off the coasts of New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia. The colors and patterns were most intense in the shallow coastal zone where the waters of Raritan Bay, Delaware Bay, and Chesapeake Bay merged with the Atlantic Ocean—an area known as the Mid-Atlantic Bight. 

5/14/2026 National Parks Traveler What to Expect on The Grand Canyon's North Rim This Summer -Visitors need to be self-sufficient as they encounter burned landscapes, limited services, no potable water, portable toilets and ongoing construction tied to rebuilding facilities, utilities and infrastructure destroyed by the wildfire that started last July 4 and exploded out of control under strong fanning winds. 

Photography from 1901

The Corcoran Gallery of Art hosted an exhibit of photography from the local camera club in April 1901…and the exhibition book is my pick for Book of the Week. The book is available on Internet Archive.

The year caught my attention since one of my grandfathers was born in 1901; he would have been 3 months old when this exhibition happened!

My favorite of the sample images is the icy fountain…with the US Capitol in the background.  

 Tenth annual exhibition of the Capital Camera Club: April 22d to 30th, 1901

Missouri Botanical Garden – Part 2

We checked into the hotel and had a light dinner before returning to the garden. We arrived while it was still light and was easy to get a parking spot close to the Visitor Center. My daughter had bought our tickets and had had them on her phone for the garden staff to scan for our entry. We visited some close gardens and smaller conservatories that we hadn’t seen earlier in the day.

And then it got dark enough for the lights to give the geometric sculptures a different look…with light coming from within.

I experimented with different angles and zoomed images…also noticing the patterns of light and shadow (or reflection) at the base of the sculptures. These were my favorite images:

Field Trip Reconnoiter

I’ve been busy working on the curriculum of the core training to be offered next fall by my local Missouri Master Naturalist chapter. One of the field trips we had added to the curriculum was unfamiliar to everyone….but had been one the places featured in a 2025 Ozark Public Television production called Wild Ozarks. Four of us participated in a reconnoiter trip to the place last week.

Wow! It is a great place for a field trip.

Easy to get to from Springfield

Springs and sinkholes

Remediated riverbank…and ash trees (dead or dying) replaced with other tree species

Tree cavities

Some invasives but not overwhelming

Road or mowed trail for hiking

Pawpaw patch

And much more!

I loved the handmade tree signs!

We modified the plan to divide the students into 4 groups rather than 3 (so 6-7 students/group) and the topics will be: forest ecology, geology (karst), tree identification (using dichotomous key), and nature journaling/nature observation.

I am looking forward to seeing the place in the fall….and observing the students discovering this special place.