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Art & Nature @capecodfairytales.bsky.social · 9h

#Poetry #Painting #EverdayMagic Nature is not stingy with her miracles We simply forget to look 🎨 Rex Preston

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Gina @createnewpaths.bsky.social · 12h

“I believe that there is a subtle magnetism in nature, which, if we unconsciously yield to it, will direct us.” ~Henry David Thoreau Yes. Allow Mother Nature to guide you and have a wonderful day✨✨ #eastcoastkin

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Eli's Native Plants @elisnativeplants.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Virgin's Bower (Clematis Virginiana) is our only native vine that will flower in full shade, theoretically. I see it more often in wet meadows and forest edges, draping over a shrub or tall clumping herb, blooming profusely. #nativeplants #ecoregion58

White 4-petalled, many-stamened flowers on a waxy-leaved Virgin's Bower vine draping a shrub.

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Eli's Native Plants @elisnativeplants.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Opening up the field edge for feral apples, Hawthorns (e.g. this Crataegus pruinosa?) and other #nativeplants at my grandparents' place is humbling work. Removing thickets of Alder-leaved Blackthorn. Tools: A weed wrench, hand saw, and seeds. I'll be back with a hatchet to cut resprouting stumps.

Possibly a Frosted Hawthorn, as it doesn't seem like "Large-seeded" (C. macrocarpa) would be the right epithet.

This just shows some double-toothed hawthorn leaves and twigs, a few thorns...

The Hawthorn from 10m back, trunk centered and completely obscured by artfully draped foliage, even after I've just cleared the surrounding buckthorns.

Hawthorns are subtle. I think that's the fun. You'll notice a lot if you go looking for them.

View from the side, a little down the field, at the pile of Buckthorns, roots and all, and the white steel weed wrench. The near side of the Hawthorn has been cleared, but you can't see the small shrubby cluster of trunks from here

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Eli's Native Plants @elisnativeplants.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Be cautious and respectful of our friends the Hickory Tussock Moths (Lophocampa caryae). Avoid skin exposure to setae (hairs). Annual life cycle, seen as catrplrs in NE US in fall. Hosts: deciduous, woody plants. Picked around them in the Am. Hazels, NP. More info: extension.psu.edu/hickory-tuss...

A Hickory Tussock Moth on an oak? tree: closeup of bark and centered caterpillar with many white and black hairs, some bristly longer clumps sticking out at intervals.

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Eli's Native Plants @elisnativeplants.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Spicebush Swallowtail (Papilio troilus) caterpillar on American Hazelnut leaf (Corylus americana). They prefer Spicebush or Sassafras but will eat Hazel or Birch. #nativeplants #insects #lepidoptera #ecoregion58 (Berne, NY, 09/26)

A caterpillar, green with little yellow snake eye markings, on a serrated Hazelnut leaf.

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Eli's Native Plants @elisnativeplants.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Prunus serotina, Black Cherries, are native to most of the Eastern US. To harvest: put the cherries in a blender (low) or food processor with lemon juice (1:4). Process, then strain through a fine seive or cheesecloth. Use juice in dressings, frostings, drinks. #nativeplants #foraging #seedsaving

Clusters of ripe shiny Black Cherries, with a few red unripe ones, hanging densely from every branch of a Prunus serotina tree

A Black Cherry, loaded with fruit, standing 10m, sticking out of scrubland (3-5m mostly places) by a mowed path.

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Suzanne Daley @suzannedaley.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Trees ~ keepers of ancient wisdom, holders of the light 🌲🌿🦎 #greenwitch #forest #nature #trees #animism #peace

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Eli's Native Plants @elisnativeplants.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Purple-flowering Raspberry (Rubus odoratus) is local species I maligned in our the Rubus podcast episode. @genusbarpod.bsky.social These were delicious: just as good as Thimbleberries (R. parviflorus)—western/northern cousins (in subgenus Anoplobatus) w/ simple leaves. #ecoregion60 #nativeplants

Purple flowering raspberry blooming with magenta wild-rose-like flowers and maple-like rough pale-green leave

Purple Flowering Raspberry fruit, thimble shaped

Large round corollas of just picked berries, which give them the thimble shape

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Eli's Native Plants @elisnativeplants.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Helderberg Escarpment [1] #ecoregion60 the Allegheny Plateau falls away changes toward the Hudson Valley, and the ecosystem (eg plant life) changes to #ecoregion59, like the S. ME coast to New York NY. 1/2 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helderb... dmap-prod-oms-edc.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/ORD/Ecoregio...

The Helderberg Escarpment, green landscape with with trees falling away in the foreground, with lower horizon than the extension of the green cliff in the distance. Hickories, Oaks and Eastern Redcedar (Juniperus virginiana)

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Eli's Native Plants @elisnativeplants.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

The Peace of Wild Things By Wendell Berry I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief. I come into the presence of still water. And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light. For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

courier-journal.com

Wendell Berry, influential Kentucky writer and activist, has died

Wendell Berry, a Kentucky native and man of letters and the land, who helped inspire the new American food movement, has died. He was 92.

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tree creak @moistwelldrained.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Whorled wood aster! #nativeplants #CT

Whorled wood aster dark green leaves and white / yellow flowers on the forest floor

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Eli's Native Plants @elisnativeplants.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

White Woodland Asters (Eurybia divaricata) are native from Southern Maine to Alabama. They grow in dry woodlands with partial sunlight, often along paths and near woods openings. They host the Pearl Crescent Butterfly (Phyciodes tharos), and multiple moths here, in #ecoregion59. #nativeplants

Floral array of funny centered, bright white petalled (described as star-like) White Woodland Asters flowers, with some brown-centered, pollinated flowers in each cluster

White Woodland Asters in a dense patch, filling the space in a woodland edge with rough-toothed green leaves and sprays of white flowers

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Eli's Native Plants @elisnativeplants.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Wapato (Sagittaria latifolia) blooming on the banks of the Assabet, in a spike of lovely little lilly-like tri-petalled flowers. It hosts 7 species of butterfly and moth (e.g. the Waterlily Owlet) in my zip code, according to NWFs 'native plant finder.' #nativeplants #ecoregion59 #foraging #wildfood

Wapato (Sagittaria latifolia) floral spikes emerging from a provision of the broad arrowhead-shaped leaves and sedge leaves on the back of a river (not pictured).

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Suzanne Daley @suzannedaley.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Green ~ 🌲nature🌱 growth 🍃 renewal 🐸 balance 🐲 hope 💚 love 🐢 health 🌳 vitality #greenwitch #green #nature #forest #trees #health #peace

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Eli's Native Plants @elisnativeplants.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Paddleboarding on the Assabet River with some friends on Saturday, fell in the river when I got too excited. In my defence, I had just found a huge, new (to me) population of Hibiscus moscheutos. Anyway, the camera on my phone has moisture in it, and takes foggy pics now. Throwbacks/hiatus time.

The Assabet River in MA. The foreground is water, with dark reflections of trees and light reflections of a cloudy sky both distorted by ripples.

My friend is on a red and yellow kayak, and my wife is on a paddleboard, teal, matching her shirt. Both are small in the distance against the shoreline the shore is light green riverbank plants (Pickerelweed, Wapato) moving up to dark green trees (White Pine, Red Maple, Black Tupelo, Cottonwood) then white cloudy sky.

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KM✨ @mcaulogy.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

#ecoregion59 compatriots 🌱 Find community in #nativeplants at the Middlesex Conservation District’s 43rd Annual Fall Plant Sale! Shop local ecotype, straight species plants selected for local landscapes. middlesexconservationdistrict.org/fall-sale-2/

middlesexconservationdistrict.org

2026 Middlesex Conservation District Fall Native Plant Sale

Choose from a wide selection of local ecotype, straight-species native wildflowers, shrubs, grasses, trees, rushes, and groundcovers. Order online in advance for the best selection…

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Eli's Native Plants @elisnativeplants.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

I tried my hand at describing an ecosystem instead of describing a plant in the alt text. Someday I would like to write more, in a style that will inspire others to want to see the beauty in the thousand shades of green and the species that create them.

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Genus Bar Podcast @genusbarpod.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Wild Raisins, Viburnum nudum, have the tastiest berries of any Viburnum species I have tried, including Nannyberries. Wavy-edged, waxy, opposite leaves on this wet open understory shrub, and berries ranging in ripeness and color. plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/vibur... #nativeplants #ecoregion59

Dark purple to pale pine berries dangling in clusters near the end of the branches of a leggy Viburnum nudum

Viburnum nudum in the understory of a Pitch Pine/oak forest, with a dense understory of mostly Ericaceae: huckleberries, blueberries, Mountain Laural

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Eli's Native Plants @elisnativeplants.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

My MIL says ppl she dog-sits for are asking where they can get some of the Hibiscus moscheutos (Swamp Rosemallow) that I planted there. Tell them to take seeds! I'd rather they grew my wild-type seeds, but this gets 'em growing our lone Northern mallow. #bloomscrolling #nativeplants #ecoregion59

Hibiscus moscheutos cultivar, looking like a giant-petalled version of our wild-type here in MA, with the 'red eye.' spreading, giant white flowers with pink -> red centers on a small shrub by my in-laws house

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Eli's Native Plants @elisnativeplants.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

Woolly Beach-heather (Hudsonia tomentosa) looks like 6" (15cm) tall junipers. I loved seeing the little plants holding the dunes together at Crane Beach, in MA. They are in the Cistaceae—the rock-rose family, which is mostly sub-tropical woody plants. #nativeplants #ecoregion59

A Woolly Beach-heather shrub, 6" tall, speaking, spreading, reaching upward on a mound of white sand, with pale green foliage of tiny leaves that remind me of juniper from a distance

A view of the ocean, over dunes, between Pitch Pines. The nearby dunes of dry loose sand are covered in Woolly Beach-heather

Collapsing edge of a sand dune, with burrows in the wall of the escarpment. The sky is bright blue overhead,with fluffy white clouds. The sand is off-white and fine. There is a thin line of little Woolly Beach-heather shrubs holding the edge of the dune-cliff against collapse, separating sand and sky

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Eli's Native Plants @elisnativeplants.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Pitch Pines (Pinus resinosa) at Crane Beach in MA. Leaves needle-like in bundles of 3 (2 for Red, 5 for White Pine), are thick and stiff like Red Pine. They are adapted to fire, and do well with sand, salt, and coastal disturbance. #nativeplants #ecoregion59 #pines #beaches #coastalflats #ma

Looking up at gnarled bark and poorly abandoned (dead, braking, persistent) lower branches and into the crown of a 20+m tall Pitch Pine, with Roundleaf Greenbriar in and Red Maples behind. Blue sky and dark green canopy through pine branches on the mid left.

Coarse bark of a younger Pitch Pine before it becomes platey on the straight centered trunk section, with 2 older pines behind. The older pines are straight too, lower down, and gnarled, twisted shapes where they have been broken by weather and regrown high up in the trees. In harsher weather or after a fire, they are low twisted pines that look like the tops of the pines in back. They have evolved to regrow and resprout after damage and fire.

Coarse, flattened triplets of needles in dense brush-like form on the ends of branches with a cluster of last-years open cones on the thicker branches that go through the image horizontally

A little, spreading, upward-reaching Pitch Pine in a sandy open area. This one is bright green with healthy looking foliage, spotted with old cones, and undulating higher up where the trunk had broken and regrown. It is <10m tall.

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Eli's Native Plants @elisnativeplants.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Crane Beach, in MA, has amazing nature trails, and a wealth of berries. American Plums (Prunus americana), Black Cherry (Prunus serotina), and Northern Bayberry line the parking lot. I hiked, picked (from the parking lot), and jumped in the cold ocean to cool off. #nativeplants #foraging #seedsaving

American Plums, ripe, surround the parking lot and boardwalk to the beach at Crane Beach. This is a close shot showing many ripe red plums and foliage of Prunus americana, taken with my feet on asphalt.

A dangling branch of a Black Cherry taken from the parking lot. Clusters of berries (1-1.3cm cherries) mostly black, with a few unripe red ones hang from a small twig with a few pale green leaves. Many clusters retain a bract (leaf attached to the cluster) indicating that this P. serotina and not P. virginiana (Chokecherry).

The trunk of the cherry tree stands over a dense clump of Northern Bayberry (Morella pensylvanica) in the out-of-focus background.

Glorious dense, waxy-leaved Northern Bayberry (Morella pensylvanica) under a Black Cherry, taken from the parking lot at Crane Beach

Three bowls containing Black Cherries, American Plums, and Northern Bayberries. This is enough of each species for me to harvest and distribute seeds. I didn't have to break the rules and step off the path to pick at all. I wouldn't have anyway, but I didn't even have to pick as I hiked. There was enough genetic diversity lining the parking lot.

Btw, Black Cherry and Northern Bayberry are common species throughout the area, but American Plum, marked as introduced to the MA coast by Native Plant Trust, are only by the parking lot, competing with the invasives found throughout the park (Alder Buckthorn, Sea Pea), and the ones only found near the parking lot (Beach Rose, many others).

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Eli's Native Plants @elisnativeplants.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

The irony in this take is staggering, especially looking at what just happened in Minnesota. The claim that progressives "didn't care" about ICE oppression until Renee Good and Alex Pretti died is completely backwards. Progressives like Peggy Flanagan have been calling to dismantle ICE for years...

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Eli's Native Plants @elisnativeplants.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

A big, healthy Eastern Hemlock (Tsuga canadensis). Reminds me of the Adirondacks, and my childhood home on a hill over Hemlock Lake. Peaceful in the deep shade of these trees. Every winter, I hope for a 24hr, -4°F cold snap to burst the Woolly Hemlock Adelgid eggs. #nativeplants #hemlock #adelgid

Pic from hear the ground, looking up at the prominent flattened ridges of Eastern Hemlock bark on the trunk of a huge tree. A heavily shaded boulder and Mountain Laurel (Kalmia latifolia) in the foreground (bottom), shaded lower branches if the Hemlock higher up, and the brighter foliage of deciduous trees that allow more light through as background, contrasting with the dark hemlock branches and foliage.

Looking higher up, along the trunk and I to the canopy of the huge hemlock. Lower branches are widely spaced, but retained to scoop up the last of the light padding through the dense and upward-reaching branches near the crown. Background broad-leaf foliage is much better lit than the dark, shady hemlock foliage and branches

My wife, with her arms around the trunk of the Hemlock, hands leaving a substantial gap, as she can't reach around it. She has a lovely smile that I hid from you behind an emoji. The background in Hemlock/White Pine duff, and Ericoid foliage: blueberries, huckleberries, and Mountain Laurel.

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Eli's Native Plants @elisnativeplants.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

Catberry, Mountain Holly, Ilex mucronata, three names and little info on this native shrub of the Northeast. The Blue Hill, ME native plant site did a good job compiling info from Native Plant Trust and Minnesota Wildflowers. plants.nativemainegardens.org/plants/ilex-... #nativeplants #ecoregion57

Bright red berries and irregular lanceolate leaves of Ilex mucronata, formerly Nemopanthus mucronata, before it was discovered that this species was closely related to Sarvis Holly (Ilex amalanchier)

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Genus Bar Podcast @genusbarpod.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Even in coastal Maine, #ecoregion57, where berries abound on the coastal plain, the best places to pick are powerline cuts. Black Huckleberries, highbush and lowbush blueberries, Wild Raisins, Chokecherry, Serviceberry... These species do best where cutting every few years mimics fire. #nativeplants

A powerline cut filled with shrubs, starting with Black Huckleberry and Lowbush Blueberries, blending into a continuum of shrubby growth under the power lines, bordered by mature White Pine

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Eli's Native Plants @elisnativeplants.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Black Huckleberry lines the paths in much of the Hundred Acre Woods, in Brooklin, ME Gaylussaccia baccata, denizen of Northeastern oak woods and pine barrens, waiting for a fire. It thrives in powerline cuts, and where the coastal weather and poor soils limit competition. #nativeplants #ecoregion57

A wide, flat stone chip path lined with Black Huckleberry and White Pine

Dense shrub layer of Black Huckleberry before the trees start up

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Eli's Native Plants @elisnativeplants.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Chokecherry? I like Turtle Island Bird Cherry better for Prunus virginiana. Native to a wide swath along the US/Canada border, you'll find them in a ditch or on a forest edge. This lover of disturbance is doing well in #CoastalME. #nativeplants #ecoregion57 practicalselfreliance.com/chokecherry/

Waxy, lanceolate, light green, finely toothed leaves of Prunus virginiana, and a hanging cluster of almost 30 berries: red to purple shiny little cherries.

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Eli's Native Plants @elisnativeplants.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Possibly a Frosted Hawthorn, Crataegus pruinosa, #ecoregion57 Coastal of ME, near Blue Hill, has fruit-filled edges. Feral Apples, Serviceberry, and Chokecherries are common, but Hawthorns aren't rare. Once you have a feel for the leaf shapes, and look for the fruit, they appear. #nativeplants

A Hawthorn branch with a big spike of a thorn, and green haws along with toothy leaves

Pale, thorny, undulating Hawthorn branch with red-petioled leaves. Backdrop is a shrubby profusion of many plant species.

The little Hawthorn emerging above a Juniper

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Eli's Native Plants @elisnativeplants.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

A tale of two Sassafrass One Sassafras in their prime, near the forest edge, has outstripped the Witchhazel and outlived the birch. One lost an old stem, started again by shoots, and will wait decades for an opening to again go for the upper understory. #nativeplants #ecoregion59

A slim, writhing Sassafras albidum trunk, centered, with a dead light (probs Grey or White) Birch trunk dead, shedding lower bark, and a tall Witch-hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) surrounding the Sassafras trunk in shade 3/4 of the way up. All of the branches and leaves are on the top quarter if the S., above the H.. There is a young Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum) competing with the Witch-hazel for sub-canopy light

Large dead sassafras trunk under young-adult Cherry Birch. A little White Pine seedlings and a rock in the foreground -- near the ground looking up

Lattice patterned Sassafras bark on the dead trunk, on the lip of a slope, with a rock and a cluster of dark green Sassafrass leaves on multiple shoots coming from the base of the dead trunk. The White Pine and rock from the last picture on the bottom R

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Eli's Native Plants @elisnativeplants.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Wild Raisins, Viburnum nudum, common in the coastal plains, wet woodlands and bogs from Canada to Florida along the East Coast. Growing with Blueberry and Huckleberry in the Hundred Acre Woods, in Brooklin, ME. North Atlantic Coastal Zone #ecoregion57 #nativeplants #wildfood #foraging

Waxy leaves and green (unripe) berries of Viburnum nudum. Leafcutter bees have been going after this plant.

Dark stems of a Viburnum nudum shrub branching into a spray of dark green, waxy leaves, over ferns, at the edge of the path in the Hundred Acre Woods

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Eli's Native Plants @elisnativeplants.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Common Evening Primroses are starting to bloom. Bumblebees approve. Humans sometimes gripe that they spread too much. I understand mobility issues can make this hard, but don't 'weed' a plant with edible roots, shoots, leaves, flowers and seeds. Harvest it. #nativeplants #ecoregion59 #wildfood

A Common Evening Primrose, with 4-petalled yellow blooms beginning to close for the day, and two bumblebees feeding, R and L.

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Eli's Native Plants @elisnativeplants.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

I switched from AT&T to US Mobile, and now I'm not supporting ICE with my phone company, and I'm not being monitored (as closely) by my service provider. Half the price of the AT&T plan for unlimited data and access to multiple networks. If you're on AT&T, switch ASAP. #boycott #divest #resist

Sometimes resistance is an easy and rewarding path.

Pic: a wide flat stone chip path in Sedgwick ME, angling to the Left, lined with Black Huckleberry (Gaylussaccia baccata)

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Eli's Native Plants @elisnativeplants.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

Good morning from Harriman's Point, Brooklyn, ME.

Harriman's Point, with a little patch of green, accessible at low tide, out past a stretch of rocky, kelpy, muddy part-time ocean floor. Ocean and mostly clouded bright blue sky, and more land in the distance.

Still ocean inlet past a rocky shore, looking toward the Sun. Far side of the inlet is a coniferous forest.

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Eli's Native Plants @elisnativeplants.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

Please excuse the interruption of the regularly scheduled plant posting. We are contemplating the ocean. Elliot is contemplating seagulls and sandpipers.

A barnicle- and shell-crusted rocky beach in Sedgwick, ME, looking toward an inlet, at still ocean water, with a reflection of trees and sky.

Also, my little poodly dog Elliot, pulling at the leash. He's a mobility-impared rescue dog. That's our excuse for not teaching him better manners. But he's an avid birder, and manners would be out the window with the raucous bird calls in the distance anyway.

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Eli's Native Plants @elisnativeplants.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

Sometimes I give a skewed view of the world, angling the lens so I don't pick up the Asiatic Bittersweet, pulling a few Burning Bush seedlings for my pic of Aralia nudicaulis. The meadow from the Joe Pye post. Lots of Purple Loosestrife, with Joe Pye (Eutrochium) in the top R. #ecoregion59 Cont'd ↓

A diverse wet meadow with a backdrop of forest edge. Speckled Alder fills the lower L treeline, with White Pines standing above and behind. On the R it is mostly Cottonwood and Red Maple. The plants are a diversity of goldenrods (Solidago spp), asters (Symphyotrichum spp) and grasses (e.g. Big Bluestem — Andropogon gerardii).

Purple Loosestrife is a strong component, but hasn't taken over in monoculture. The invasive nature has been curbed by the release of the Purple Loosestrife Beetle. The purple in the back R of the meadow is Joe Pye (Eutrochium maculatum, mostly, probably others too).

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IRANZYE ART @iranzye.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

My painting QUIET HOUR

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Eli's Native Plants @elisnativeplants.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

Spotted Joe-Pye Eutrochium maculatum Joe was a real Mohican healer named Schauquethqueat (settler name Joseph Pye). He used the E. purpureum for fevers in the late 1700s. The legend of him saving a colonial town from plague is a myth. His memory is honored by the name nonetheless. #NativePlants

A moist meadow filled with Spotted Joe Pye with a backdrop of Cottonwood, Speckled Alder and Red Maple. Cluster of pink blooms will become clouds above the foliage in the meadow as the blooms continue to open up. There are more buds than full flowers now

A blooming Spotted Joe-Pye plant on the edge of the path, over the corner of a boardwalk

The boardwalk/flat bridge, with meadow trying to envelop it, and a patch of Joe-Pye plants on the far right.

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Eli's Native Plants @elisnativeplants.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

It has been one year since Awdah (عوده) Hathaleen was murdered by Yinon Levi. Awdah video taped Levi, an Israeli settler, destroying an olive tree and water pipe. The video includes Levi drawing a gun and shooting Awdah. Levi still walks free. This isn't unusual, it is Israeli SOP. #FreePalestine

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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

Trump just levied a new round of tariffs, the cost of which will be passed onto consumers — just like his previous ones. Meanwhile, he calls affordability "a word made up by the Democrats." Baloney. Here are 10 steps to make America actually affordable again.

youtube.com

10 Ways to Make America Affordable

Trump claims America’s affordability crisis is a “con job.”Baloney. Here are 10 steps to make America affordable again.

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Genus Bar Podcast @genusbarpod.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

Blooms don't tell the whole tale. The bees were going wild: they love Porcelain Berry blooms, and this whole valley is blooming with this wall and all-draping carpet spreading monoculture of a plant with a tactic with which this ecosystem cannot compete. #rewilding #nativeplants #combat #invasives

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Eli's Native Plants @elisnativeplants.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

We are going to win. But don't stop pushing. We need progressive candidates what aren't beholden to corporate America. Ones that will claw back the powers of a corrupt presidency, and curb billionaire and corporate influence. Keep taking #progressive #primaries. The #voteblue can come after.

currentaffairs.org

Leftists Can Stack Up Wins in the 2026 Midterms

Election Day is coming up, and there’s an opportunity for socialists, labor candidates, and the Medicare for All movement to make historic gains.

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Eli's Native Plants @elisnativeplants.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

Highbush, New Jersey Highbush, Lowbush, and Hillside Blueberries at least. Latin in alt. My 2026 Vaccinium seed supply from powerline cuts, swamps, riversides, and forests. -Food processor w/ lemon juice -cheese cloth -dry -separate seeds #nativeplants #ecoregion59 #seedsaving #cropwildrelatives

The blueberries, from Vaccinium corymbosum, fuscatum, angustifolium, fuscatum, and probably more. But I'm pretty confident that they're all Vaccinium (blueberries) and not Gaylussaccia (huckleberries).

I picked these over the last 3 weeks, keeping them fresh in the fridge with some Sweetfern (Comptonia) leaves to avoid mold (thanks Robin Wall Kimmerer).

A 400ml+ jar full of blueberry pulp and lemon juice fresh from the food processor. It went back into the fridge for a day before I had time to squeeze the juice through a cheese cloth.

The juice is great in mixed drinks, dressings, frosting, and scones. The pulp will be spread out on baking sheets and air dried. Then it will be broken up and the seeds will be sifted and winnowed away from dried pulp.

After the slow drying process, I don't really trust the pulp not to have mold or contaminants in it. It also has some seeds in it still, so I mix it into the soil.

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Eli's Native Plants @elisnativeplants.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Prince of the Prairie, friend of the finches, host to skippers, introducing Big Bluestem aka Andropogon gerardi. Find this regal member of the Poaceae in any dry and unmown wild space. They cannot take heavy grazing or mowing, but bounce back after fires or buffalo pass through. #ecoregion59

Classic turkey-foot arrangement of 3 racemes of spikelets (flowers) as this plant begins blooming this year. These plants have 2-6 racemes per culm (stem) so it's not always this shape. This is a macro shot showing the culm, where the racemes split off.

Patches of light green tall grasses in a meadow. These are mostly Big Bluestem, as evidenced by the glaucous blue tint to the leaves, and the racemes from the last picture, highlighted by sun, against a dark patch in the forest behind the meadow.

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Eli's Native Plants @elisnativeplants.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

More Meadowsweet (Spiraea alba) in a Beaver Brook Meadow in Boxborough MA. More beetles. Also some Early Goldenrods and wasps (Solidago juncea and assorted Hymenopterans). Assorted Joe Pyes (Eutrochium fistulosum, and E. maculatum and/or E. dubium) mostly budding. #ecoregion59 #meadow

White Meadowsweet with just opening white blooms being visited by a couple of long yellow patchy beetles. Spiral of dense flower buds tightens toward the top. Inflorescence is hanging out from the meadow into the path.

Early Goldenrod (Solidago juncea) blooming and being visited by many small wasps and sweat bees.

A large area of wet meadow looks to be all Joe Pye in the distance, but shows diversity up close where you can see between the tall Joe Pye. Sensitive Fern and Deer Tongue Grass, goodenrods and asters.

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Eli's Native Plants @elisnativeplants.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

Spiraea alba (White Meadowsweet) is named for the spiral arrangement and the white undersides of the leaves. Usually larger plants growing in a moist meadow, here they are, small, but blooming like mad in the understory of this swamp. #bloomscrollling #wildflowers #nativeplants #ecoregion59

A White Meadowsweet plant with a few stems pushing up between sedges, ending in dense panicles of white flowers, with yellow centers of clustered stamens. The 5-petalled blooms and many stamens are a hint that this is in the rose family.

A close-up of the panicle of white petalled flowers. A few small, long and smooth black beetles are eating pollen and many more are hiding from me inside the panicle of flowers.

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Eli's Native Plants @elisnativeplants.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

The fence at a train stop: The Asiatic Bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus) is being smothered by Virginia Creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia). "A host plant with berries for birds and pretty fall foliage" is my typical VC pitch. But these tiny flowers sure draw bees. #nativeplants #ecoregion59

A fence, densely covered in the waxy, 5-leaved sprays of Virginia Creeper foliage. There are little red-stemmed clusters on the tiny flowers and a cadre of bees that aren't visible.

A little Asiatic Bittersweet foliage is sticking out on the left and at the bottom. The pale conifer branch at the bottom is Common Juniper, loaded with berries.

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