Christian writes about the hidden structures of the natural world: spirals, symmetries, adaptations, and the oddities that make plants fascinating. His interests include carnivorous plants, mathematical patterns in nature, and the science behind everyday garden life.
On a bright December afternoon, a young tree trunk can seem to be enjoying the only warm thing in the garden. The beds are flat, the hose is asleep, and the mulch is edged with frost, but the low sun lands on one side of the bark with surprising force. If there is snow on the ground, the light comes…
Most winter garden work happens above ground: cutting back blackened stems, emptying pots, gathering leaves, pretending the hose should have been put away last week. But one of the strangest small gardens you can keep is almost entirely hidden from that view. It sits in a tub, a half barrel, or a small pond, and its leaves do their work…
By early October, a milkweed pod can look as if it is holding its breath. The green has faded toward gray. The skin has toughened. A seam that was almost invisible in August begins to lift, and inside the pod is a compressed little weather system: brown seeds packed like shingles, each one tied to a white silk sail. The…
After a night of October rain, a garden bed can look as if someone has quietly moved in furniture. Yesterday there was only dark mulch under the asters, a few yellow leaves, and the damp edge of the path. This morning, a cluster of pale caps is standing there on thin stems, glossy with rain, arranged with the confidence of…
Read more about Why mushrooms rise overnight after autumn rain
In early October, a juniper can make a liar out of ordinary words. The shrub looks evergreen in the most literal way: prickly, resinous, and built for weather. Then you notice the blue beads tucked along the twigs, as round and matte as tiny blueberries. They look like fruit. They are usually called berries. They even turn up in kitchens…
By October, the visible garden starts behaving as if the year is almost filed away. Leaves thin out. Annuals lose their nerve. The tomato vines look tired, the border gets looser at the edges, and the first serious leaf rake begins to sound reasonable. But the garden has a poor sense of human endings. Above ground, many plants are slowing…
A spotless October garden has excellent public relations. The stems are gone. The leaves are bagged. The beds are shaved down to mulch and labels. From the sidewalk, it looks responsible, almost moral, as if the gardener has defeated decay itself and sent it away in kraft paper sacks. Here is the irritating truth: a garden that clean is often…
Read more about Your spotless fall garden is not the virtue you think it is
Slice an apple from stem to blossom end and it behaves the way apples usually behave in kitchens: two shoulders, a pale core, a neat place for the knife to pass. Slice it across the middle instead, and the fruit shows a different map. In the center is a small star, five little rooms arranged around a point, each one…
If you ever find a dead fly glued to a window, a fence rail, or the tip of a late-summer plant stem, do not wipe it away too quickly. Look at the wings first. If they are lifted like tiny glass doors, and a pale dusting sits around the body, you may be looking at one of the strangest deaths…
Read more about The fungus that turns flies into launch pads
There is a particular kind of September energy that makes gardeners dangerous. The tomatoes are tired. The borders are shaggy. The paths are disappearing under late growth. Suddenly the pruners feel like a reasonable answer to everything. Then comes the satisfying cut. A lilac gets rounded. A forsythia gets shortened. A bigleaf hydrangea is made tidy for fall. The shrub…
Read more about The September pruning mistake that can erase next spring’s flowers
