Julia Preminger

I took so many photographs during July! Two things really stood out—colorful dawn skies and the extravagant blossoming of Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca). We are fortunate to have several dense stands of this incredibly fragrant and beautiful plant on the land here. I could do a whole slideshow just of Milkweed and the creatures that interact with it but I'll just give the highlights here. Click on any thumbnail to start the full-size slide show. There are some videos bel

May 26 2022. I've been trying to learn more about the local forest—varieties of trees, fungi, and plants, and how they interact with each other. One of my favorite phenomena is new plants rooting and flourishing on decomposing trees. On my morning walk I came across a fallen hemlock carpeted with moss, sporting newly emerged Hemlock Reishi—Ganoderma tsugae also known as Hemlock Varnish Shelf. The fruiting fungi were joined by richly textured mosses, holding sporophytes high,

It was as if nature couldn’t quite decide whether to continue with winter or to get going with spring. April showers were rare this year, only happening in the last few days of the month. Instead, for most of the month, we had a wild ride between vigorous snowstorms and sudden episodes of July temperatures. April 3 gave us a snow storm just after warm and sunny days. On the 8th, a wild sun-drenched frog party led to ponds full of gelatinous egg masses the next day. Streams we

Scenes from the Month of March in the Catskill Mountains—a time of transition from winter to spring.