Articles tagged: Rick Meader
home & garden: County Farm Park's Britton Woods is a native plant must-see
Posted: May 15, 2013Quick! Move fast! This warm weather is both a blessing and a curse. It’s a blessing for obvious reasons, wearing shorts without getting goose pimples is one. It’s a curse because our wonderful spring ephemerals ... Read more »
home & garden: The life of a dead tree - plant 'bones' shelter animals, improve ground water even after death
Posted: Mar 18, 2013Native or not, a living tree is a pretty thing to see, and the shade that trees provide is a welcome relief on a hot day, and necessary for some plants to survive. Living trees ... Read more »
home & garden: The shapes of winter - native trees and shrubs show their character
Posted: Mar 13, 2013To me, when daylight savings time kicks in and the local Dairy Queens open, Michigan spring begins, so Happy Spring everyone! Since our springs are typically random weather crap-shoots as to what a particular day ... Read more »
home & garden: Cat-tails: an unsung native that acts like an 'invasive'
Posted: Feb 06, 2013If you’re lucky enough to have a wetland, pond, or persistent wet area on your property, there is a very good chance you have cat-tails there. Right now, it is sporting a puffy seedhead and ... Read more »
home & garden: Native plant sightings on the U-M campus
Posted: Apr 24, 2012Sometimes, when you’re all bound-up from studying, or teaching, or from eating too many burritos, it’s good to get out, get some fresh air and enjoy nature. On a built-up campus like Michigan’s however, sometimes ... Read more »
home & garden: Pokeweed - A giant among native plants
Posted: Sep 13, 2011You’re enjoying a nice walk in a rich woods, or along its edge, taking note of the asters and goldenrods starting to bloom, maybe even finding a bundle of bright red Jack-in-the-Pulpit seeds, when, all ... Read more »
Freshman girl is unschooled in teenage social system
Posted: May 28, 2011DEAR ABBY: I'm a 14-year-old girl in my first year of high school. I'm not sure what to do about boys or how to make friends. All I ever learned at home was what not ... Read more »
home & garden: Solomon's Seal: A native plant and its look-alike impostors
Posted: May 10, 2011Right now, growing in a woods near you, is a native wildflower, not terribly showy, but interesting to say the least. And, also growing in what may the same woods is an imposter, trying to ... Read more »
Ypsilanti school board approves bids for New Tech High School renovation
Posted: Mar 29, 2011The Ypsilanti school board approved more than $595,000 in bids for renovation work at the New Tech High School, anticipated to be finished before the next school year. The funds for the project will be ... Read more »
Ann Arbor Native - Bring your landscape closer to nature, and nature closer to you
Posted: Mar 07, 2011In the days of yore, the wilds were a terrifying place, full of wolves, bears and cougars that could threaten a homeowner at his or her doorstep. Well, in these parts, anyway, we’ve pretty well ... Read more »
Ann Arbor Native - Ground Juniper: The conifer that is almost last, and definitely least (in stature)
Posted: Feb 08, 2011We started off with the king, Eastern White Pine (Pinus strobus), then we worked down the chain to Arborvitae (Thuja occidentalis) and Eastern Redcedar (Juniperus virginiana), and last time talked about the charmingly balding conifer, ... Read more »
Critical Hits: Trust 'Betrayal' for a fun, slightly random game experience
Posted: Jan 25, 2011Not all great board games are fun. Not all fun board games are great. While I wouldn’t say that today’s game, Betrayal at House on the Hill, is a game worthy of greatness, it certainly ... Read more »
Ann Arbor Native - White pine was king
Posted: Nov 29, 2010They’re gone! The leaves, they’re gone, from pretty much all but the non-natives! Michigan’s deciduous trees, shrubs and wildflowers have pretty well settled in for winter in their naked state. But, we do have some ... Read more »
Ann Arbor Native - Oak openings and their kin
Posted: Nov 16, 2010No, an oak opening is not a wooden door. An oak opening, or some other similar oak savanna-type habitat along the prairie to oak forest continuum, was a cross between a prairie and an oak ... Read more »
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