Links that may or may not be related to gardens, food, travel, nature, or heterotopias and liminal spaces but probably are. Sources in parentheses. Unless mentioned, all links should be free of paywalls.
essay: What makes for a brilliant fall color season? Why are some years better than others? (Heather Wall/Natural Wonders) It was a glorious fall colour season here in central NH, with so many red maples starting to colour and drop as early as 1 Sept. (and tulip poplars and Virginia creeper), then the deep red of the blueberry foliage and more red and sugar maples, and now ending with persisting red blueberries, yellow aspens, a few maples (Norway maples turn yellow and are later than the others), the rich butterscotch flavours of beeches, and luscious oak hues of startling red, purple, mahogany, russet, and orange. As Wall explains, many leaves are filled with beta-carotene, which gives them an orange appearance, and flavanols, which makes them look yellow and gold; those colours are always there in the leaves but they are “masked by the presence of chlorophyll all summer. When fall comes, some trees pump their leaves full of red anthocyanin, which protects them from ultraviolet rays by acting as a type of sunblock” and keeps them on the tree longer.
photo essay: Side Garden: Shady to Sunny in a Day! (Shari/Nuts for Natives) Interesting to me because I have a shade garden whose only shade tree, a big apple, may be coming down next year or soon after, and I’ll need to figure out what can (or must, because of size) stay, what needs to be moved, and what needs to be added. I may replace the apple with a smaller less shady tree, a small hawthorne or honey locust. Looks like oakleaf hydrangeas might be something to add.
essay with photos: 10 ways gardeners are ready for the apocalypse: Professional gardener or professional vampire slayer? It’s time for the truth (Jack Wallington/Wild Way) Equally fun and serious piece on how gardeners are prepared for not only food shortages, fuel shortages, and water shortages, but also zombies, werewolves, and vampires. My fave is actually #10.
essay: Pretty privilege can save lives: Pretty privilege doesn’t stop at humans. In nature, looks decide which species get studied and protected (Belle de Jong/The European Correspondent) “The study found that less attractive species were also worse off on the 2025 European Red List of threatened species. … ‘Many inconspicuous brown species in the Alps are under serious threat from climate change.’ … Plants have it even harder… ‘We perceive plants not as living organisms but as a kind of greenish background that accompanies our life.’” Ouch.
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