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derek arnold

@derekarnold.bsky.social
73 followers 72 following 534 posts

iowa

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derek arnold @derekarnold.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
I don’t respect plants that can’t cause at least minor injury
Photo of my wrist with several glochids’ worth of spines embedded in my skin, next to a prickly pear cactus
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derek arnold @derekarnold.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
turns out the key to germinating Opuntias is saying fuck it and leaving all the fruit junk on the seeds
Photo of a few Opuntia seedlings with red spindly stalks, green/red seed leaves, poking up out of mostly perlite and pumice in a Culver’s box I got cheese curds in
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derek arnold @derekarnold.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
looking forward to having a few dead tree yuccas in a couple years
Photo of two plastic bags labeled Y. faxoniana (5) and Y. Filifera (15) on cardboard
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derek arnold @derekarnold.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
This was over a month and a half ago
Same plant but without any leaves
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derek arnold @derekarnold.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Thing has so many leaves now I can’t even tell if the caudex is growing damn
A photo of a small Othonna euphorbioides with a shitload of leaves
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derek arnold @derekarnold.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
new friends
Prickly pearsPrickly pears, more fucked up and sunburnedYuccasJack in the pulpit berries on a stalk
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derek arnold @derekarnold.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Gentianella quinquefolia (agueweed) prefers calcareous soil, and I spotted this in a former quarry spot without topsoil. Calcareous areas are somewhat uncommon in Iowa but inat has observations across the state, guess it pays to have the wind disperse your seeds
A photo of lavender/white flowers on a small plant amongst grasses
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derek arnold @derekarnold.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
I told you people to stop doing this shit
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derek arnold @derekarnold.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
You can make planters out of anything. Like a destroyed mall’s landscaping wall
Photo of two pieces of brick joined by mortar roughly with Sedum ternatum growing from dirt in a void in the middle
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derek arnold @derekarnold.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
I will murder three thousand moths driving at night and spend five minutes safely capturing a single tiny moth without killing it
American Idia Moth in a glass jar
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derek arnold @derekarnold.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
in this house we nurture Rhipsalis
Various Rhipsalis cacti in pots on a wood plant stand
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derek arnold @derekarnold.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
be free, my cacti children. The snow and ice shall be harsh but some of you will survive
A photo of a planter box with a whole mess of prickly pear and cholla cacti amongst a bunch of rocks and gravel
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derek arnold @derekarnold.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Found a randomly variegated weed
I think it’s garlic mustard? The venation is green, the leaf itself is more white
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derek arnold @derekarnold.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
God Damn I can’t wait to take a big bite of this
A deported Prairie Dropseed plant that is almost entirely rootball
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derek arnold @derekarnold.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
The corpse flower lawyer has informed us that we need a warning! So.. if you are under the age of 18 or find th1s photograph offensive, please don't look at it. Thank you!
A tuber weighing 117 kg, which produced three inflorescences simultaneously in May 2006 at the Botanic Gardens, Bonn
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derek arnold @derekarnold.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Cholla budding. The iPhone’s macro mode looks like shit.
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derek arnold @derekarnold.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
This is an instrument that looks better with a simple grained top. I looked up a couple on Reverb and the crazy grained tops are just a hat on a hat
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derek arnold @derekarnold.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
How could you forget the most incredible wreath of all time
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derek arnold @derekarnold.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
i wish
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derek arnold @derekarnold.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
????
SPECIES
Cucurbita pepo
American Pumpkin
ESTABLISHMENT MEANS
Introduced to United States (Source List: United States
Check List)
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derek arnold @derekarnold.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
macro lenses rule. here's a sedum
macro shot of Sedum morganianum, with flash
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derek arnold @derekarnold.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
macro is better
idk some small sunflower hybrid
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derek arnold @derekarnold.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
they look nicer with a 55m nikon macro lens though
a macro photo closeup of a purslane flower, same one as before but the colors look way better
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derek arnold @derekarnold.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
and a slightly motion blurred picture of some kind of sunflower hybrid
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derek arnold @derekarnold.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
apparently in the intervening 20 years between buying this zenit and now these helios lenses became way overpriced, which is weird because it kind of sucks. Anyway here's a Portulaca umbraticola 'Mojave Fuchsia' from my front steps I took with that lens, maybe it doesn't suck after all
closeup photo of the flowers and foliate of 'Mojave Fuchsia'
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derek arnold @derekarnold.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
I forgot I took this picture. Ancient Nikon D50 with a Helios-44-2 2/58 I borrowed from my Zenit-E
WARNING
Transcontinental Cable Crossing
Do Not Dig Anywhere In This Area
etc

Sign by AT&T in a conservation area in Northern Iowa, taken in the early spring, on an overcast day, with last year's dead grass vegetation in the background, and two stands of leafless trees on either side
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derek arnold @derekarnold.bsky.social · 21/06/2026
dirt. Different dirt
Dirt in a box in a yard. I have a yucca
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derek arnold @derekarnold.bsky.social · 20/06/2026
thing I’m finding with plant stuff is it’s like cooking but you’re like “this brown shit doesn’t have enough sand in it yet”
Big ass planter box full of fuckin dirt and gravel basically
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derek arnold @derekarnold.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
this thing fell on the ground, barely has any roots, and has been in the shade for weeks and it still gave me a bloom
A photo of a couple of eastern prickly pear cactus paddles in a pot and one has a bright yellow flower coming out of the top
A photo of the bloom on an eastern prickly pear, detail view
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derek arnold @derekarnold.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
Stop making these
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derek arnold @derekarnold.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
there is nothing more useless and grotesque about modern society as how someone decided that the finder face, already friendly enough, had to be completely funko popified into this disgusting shit extruded from a disney adult's mind
the original macos finder logo. it's a face. it's friendly enough on its ownthe 'lil finder guy'. because adults are so self-infantilizing that they can't stand when anthropomorphizing something doesn't also make it a cute lil baby oh lil numnums I am 44 and if it isn't a cute face I feel threatened and need to hide in a closet
020
derek arnold @derekarnold.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
A photo of a phone booth outdoors by a tree, fence, and garage. The light on the phone booth is on
000
derek arnold @derekarnold.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
I don’t usually shopdrop but when I do I do it outside
Two bits of sedum ternatum I stuck in some rocks somewhere
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derek arnold @derekarnold.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
If you need me I’ll be starting a cactus nursery. I’ll call it “Midwest Pricks”
A photo of several newly potted Eastern Prickly Pear cactus paddles on a shelf in a window supported by an open c-clamp
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derek arnold @derekarnold.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
I didn’t read any rule that you can’t submit your lunch to iNaturalist
Photo of a piece of lettuce on an open burger on the app inaturalist 

derekarnold
5/29/26 11:42 AM CDT
Lettuce
Lactuca sativa
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derek arnold @derekarnold.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
Photo of some moss and plants on limestone
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derek arnold @derekarnold.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
picture of a cat with a skooshed face
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derek arnold @derekarnold.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
I found Sedum Ternatum in its native geography but not how I thought I would
A photo of two Sedum Ternatum (woodland stonecrop) plants from the plant stand at a grocery store on a dirty car hood
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derek arnold @derekarnold.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
me, at work, unprompted: it's a great morning to be stranglin' that loon
a photo of a studio pottery mug. It is black with white dots in a cluster on the front. The handle is the head of a loon with a red eye, kinda drooping down
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derek arnold @derekarnold.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
Artificial Calcareous Glades of Iowa
A photo of a former limestone quarry with the topsoil stripped to limestone
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derek arnold @derekarnold.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
don't you hate it when you think you find a new friend but it's been extirpated from your state
a screenshot from NatureServe Explorer showing Sedum Ternatum (Woodland Stonecrop) is possibly extirpated from the state of Iowa
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derek arnold @derekarnold.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
Hell yeah one of my sedums just started growing in a random place
A photo of some kind of sedum/stonecrop, a kind of evergreen looking one
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derek arnold @derekarnold.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
Americans in the 1960s: Dignified, assumes NASA can handle such simple matters as how Astronauts go to the bathroom Americans in the 2020s: w̷̡͘H̵̜͗e̸̱̽R̷̢̓e̷̦͌'̸̺͂S̵̠̐ ̸̗͂ţ̶̿Ḧ̵̰́e̵̦̒ ̷̩̋F̵̖̈ú̴̦C̶̦͝k̸̤̄I̸̫͝n̴̼̽G̷̣̔ ̸̭̓p̶͈̔I̸̼͆s̴̝̕S̵̫̀?̸̼̊?̴̞͌
"Conversation
ISSPissTracker
@ISSPissTracker
Found a cool project on reddit. 

The tank fills in real time based on the ISS Piss tank capacity.
"
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derek arnold @derekarnold.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
Douchebag Columbo
A photo of Ty Pennington in a yellow suede jacket and hat on a tv screen
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derek arnold @derekarnold.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
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derek arnold @derekarnold.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
“Is this a hurdy gurdy” using the butterfly meme. Instead of a butterfly there’s a buffing wheel
001
derek arnold @derekarnold.bsky.social · 01/03/2026
Erin Burnett just straight up talking into a furby
Erin Burnett talking into a mic with a windscreen
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derek arnold @derekarnold.bsky.social · 01/03/2026
rip beef supreme
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derek arnold @derekarnold.bsky.social · 24/02/2026
look at this fuckin tableau
A photo of a black cat next to a 1939 Kalamazoo KG-31 archtop in front of an antique North Wind chair
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derek arnold @derekarnold.bsky.social · 21/02/2026
archtops are so much more badass than any flat top. smack those strings hard enough and the top reverberates hard enough to break up like a speaker in an amp. it’s natural distortion I’m in a competition with myself to set off the loud environment warning on my watch while playing this Kalamazoo
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