GoBeechnut Gardens

Apios americana, Americab groundnut
Spotted tumbling up into witch hazels and willows along the boardwalk at the Edwin P Griffin Native Preserve (Cottonwood Trail). This perennial vine is native to North America, and has edible tubers and bean pods. It is also leguminous, which means it has root nodules that host a nitrogen-fixing bacteria. Unlike potatoes, this edible tuber plant does bot require large amounts of fertilization.

While picking (and eating) domestic blackberries in my garden yesterday, I notIced this white structure on top of one of the fruits. It is an egg from a Green Lacewing. Females lay each egg on the end of long, hair-like stalk to inhibit their newly hatched young from eating each other. There are several species of Green Lacewings in North America. They are a beneficial insect to have in your yard or garden because they are a common predator of aphids.

A legendary Ozark chestnut tree, thought extinct, is rediscovered The chinquapin was supposed to have been wiped out by blight. Now one determined Missouri naturalist is hand-pollinating trees in secret groves to bring it back.

Happy Father’s Day to the best father in the world! Here’s a painting I made of Robert Plant singing—frontman of my dad’s favorite band, Led Zeppelin.

In my spare time I make art

Native forest plants rebound when invasive shrubs are removed | Penn State University Removing invasive shrubs to restore native forest habitat brings a surprising result, according to Penn State researchers, who say desired native understory plants display an unexpected ability and vigor to recolonize open spots.

I designed this poster for a contest earlier this year. It’s inspired by the boardwalk at the Cottonwood Trail because of the most essential feature of wetlands around here—the pale bones of dead trees standing like forgotten pillars of times past. Wetlands are anything but dead and forgotten. They’re like an ecological phoenix—out of the ashes (or rather, drowned remains of woodlands) comes life. Wetlands seem like boggy, stagnant depressions where everything goes to die—but they are constantly shifting and changing, flooding and drying, full of life in between. Look closely at those ghostly figures and you see hollows for birds to nest, the boggy sediment is teeming with the roots of vigorous wetland plants and it’s all operating as a massive natural filtration system for groundwater. It’s where living things exist in so many layers, all with their own function. A small few of which are represented below... Taxodium distichum (bald cypress, an amazing versatile tree and personal favorite), Juncus effusus (rush), Sagittarius latifolia (broadleaf arrowhead, an edible with interesting history), Typha latifolia (cattail, very popular, excellent for bioremediation and also an edible)...

The boardwalk itself makes it possible for us to observe these lovely features up close with ease—without going out and getting rubber waders.

I shared a very interesting article recently about T. distichum, bald cypress, being one of the 5th oldest living trees in the world in Black Creek, North Carolina at an estimated 2,654 years old. You’ll also find them planted downtown Spartanburg near The Little River Coffee Bar, as well as in front of the Spartanburg Community College Downtown Campus.

Anyway, I’m selling 13x19 prints of this poster for $38... you can find frames this size online pretty easy. lemme know if you want one! -Elder

Looking for some inspiration for your yard?

I offer landscape design consultations—I can sketch up a quick plan on-site at your kitchen table for small projects! Takes about an hour or two. I’ll show you examples of plants that you’ll be happy with in your yard, and give you instructions on how to keep your garden successful!

I’m also a pretty handy resource on where to find what plants, where you can find garden art and statuary, and products I do and don’t recommend you spend your money on for your yard.

Starting at $75 for a one hour consultation at your home.

Much older than the famed live oak down on Johns Island—the fifth oldest living identified tree, a bald cypress. It looks a lot like a gnarly pollarded old Ent from Lord of the Rings 👀

Here we have such an amazingly versatile tree species literally withstanding millennia.

North Carolina Bald Cypresses Are Among the World's Oldest Trees Some of the trees along the Black River provide a window into climates dating back thousands of years

Follow this page! The more you know... ⭐️✨💫

The large flowers of Tulip Poplars (Liriodendron tulipifera) are a beautiful sign of spring in the eastern US. These native trees grow in bottomland and cove forests, as well as many yards. They are a host for eastern tiger swallowtail caterpillars. Tulip (Yellow) Poplars become massive trees. Their long, straight trunks once made them prized for building log cabins.

Good tips 🌱🦌

Deer Resistant Plants for the Landscape –Annuals & Perennials It is disheartening to add new annual and perennial plants to the landscape only to find them mowed to the ground by resident wildlife. Many gardeners...

This page has amazing native plant highlight updates for this area. Be sure to follow if you love learning more about your local landscape.

Carolina Silverbell (Halesia carolina) is flowering now in bottomland forests. This native understory tree produces white, bell-shaped flowers. This tree often retains some of its unique 4-winged fruits through the winter. Carolina Silverbell makes a great addition to yards along woodland borders.