Foraging Wild Plants in a Human Dominated Landscape

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Ramps in early spring. UWExtension In April, my friend Laura brought me some ramps—not just parts, but the entire plant, broad, smooth leaves, small, shallot-size bulbs, roots and all. I know she wouldn’t go out in the local forest preserves and dig them up, foraging or poaching, depending upon your perspective. So where did she get them? Her CSA has begun growing them. Because they were intact, neither of us ate them, but planted them in our respective gardens, watered them in well, and are hoping for the best. I did remember to mark where I’d put them, luckily, because the leaves soon faded away and disappeared, as happens with many species of spring ephemerals. I’ve never eaten ramps that I know of, though I hear they’re delicious. I know where they grow, at several undisclosed locations, but they are on forest preserve land, and a strict no-poaching policy is in place. As such I would not go harvesting against the rules, partly because, as a volunteer steward, I have engaged to fol...
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American Goldfinches, Right on Schedule

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When the purple coneflowers bloom, the goldfinches show up. They're cool that way.

The last couple of days I've been wondering when they'd appear. This morning when I finished my writing stint, I went out on the back porch to drink a cup of coffee and indulge in what I call thinking and my beloved family calls "there's mom, staring at the plants again"--and there they were, a male and female sitting on the coneflowers, eating the seeds. They also like sunflowers, milkweed, native thistles, and bee balm. They'll come to a feeder to eat nyger and sunflower seeds. A bird at a feeder is good, but a bird on a flower is excellent. It means the garden is bioregion-appropriate.

The males turn bright yellow during mating season. The females are a dull yellow year round and the males revert in October. They are fairly common and live in the Chicago area all year, but somehow I don't notice them until they make their flashy presence known in late June.

The Cornell Ornithology Lab Website All About Birds, where I got the photo, is a great place to learn more.

Comments

ginny said…
I love goldfinches but haven't seen them in my garden. I have purple coneflowers, a nyger seed feeder, and a feeder full of black oil sunflower seed. I also have bee balm. Maybe one day they'll show up - meanwhile I enjoy the house finches, nuthatches, cardinals, titmice, chickadees, wrens, doves, and others. I agree - a bird on a plant is much better than one at the feeder!
June 30, 2010 at 8:38 AM
Anonymous said…
Thanks for the goldfinch thoughts.
How big a pot does it take to grow coneflowers or bee balm?
Mom
June 30, 2010 at 12:08 PM
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