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beechhollow.bsky.social
Pandra
@beechhollow.bsky.social
1.4K followers 1.1K following 1.8K posts
Dark trunks crowd the glade
Freckled with summer light
A glow of red lilies.
Hummingbird - a green flash
Hovers - sips - gone.

Proud member of GA Plant Conservation Alliance #nativeplants
Photos my own or attributed
AI blocked
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beechhollow.bsky.social
it is #Caturday!
#catpics #catsky #catsofbluesky
November 1, 2025 at 12:51 PM
beechhollow.bsky.social
Always a help at 1 am. Warm, soft, cuddly, and giving me goo-goo eyes. Love the goo-goo eyes; unconditional kitty love is the best.

#Catsofbluesky #catsky #catpics
October 27, 2025 at 5:14 AM
beechhollow.bsky.social
#nativeplants #bloomscrolling #gardening
Despite our horrific drought, this lovely shade loving Wavy leaf Aster, Symphyotrichum undulatum, is blooming valiantly in our open woodlands this fall.
October 25, 2025 at 3:41 PM
beechhollow.bsky.social
#Caturday #catpics #catsky
Cookie is suspicious of the giant wheel. I hope he and his brothers will learn to use it. Right now they’re weirded out by the big thing that moves when stepped upon. *Sigh.*
October 25, 2025 at 3:04 PM
beechhollow.bsky.social
#caturday #catsky #catpics
The beasties have taken over the doll house!
October 18, 2025 at 7:55 AM
beechhollow.bsky.social
#nativeplants #butterflies
Pipevine Swallowtail, Battus philenor, nectaring on a
Cirsium species. The blue flowers are Heart leaf Aster, Symphyotrichum cordifolium. Blue ridge North Carolina.
October 4, 2025 at 1:27 PM
beechhollow.bsky.social
#fungifriends
Blue ridge mushroom morning
October 1, 2025 at 5:10 PM
beechhollow.bsky.social
Devil's Walking Stick, Aralia spinosa, has enormous clusters of berries at the top of its stems in late summer. The birds really love the berries, in early summer pollinators love the flowers as well.
Short pink stems hold dense clusters of purple-black berries. Green leaves are in the background. Enormous bracts of tiny yellow green flowers at the top of a stem of Devil's Walking stick. There is a black and yellow butterfly nectaring on the flowers.
September 29, 2025 at 1:45 PM
beechhollow.bsky.social
Elderberries, Sambucus canadensis, is also a favorite midsummer berry for people and birds. Also high in antioxidants, this berry has a long history of being a good food or remedy for winter colds and cordials.
Ripe, purple-black berries of Elderberry hanging on their stems against a backdrop of green leaves. A broad cluster of tiny white elderberry flowers, with green leaves in the background.
September 29, 2025 at 1:45 PM
beechhollow.bsky.social
High in antioxidants, Black Chokeberry, Aronia melanocarpa, also ripens in early to midsummer. Edible for people and birds, this shrub is native to the northern part of Georgia, but does well in the Piedmont if planted in moisture and rich soil.
Round Black Chokeberry berries clustered together in a group of dark green leaves and reddish stems. White five petaled flowers of Black Chokeberry nestled in green leaves. The flowers of Aronia species are favorites for native bees, a halictid bee is on the uppermost open flower in this picture.
September 29, 2025 at 1:45 PM
beechhollow.bsky.social
#nativeplants
Summer berries for birds & (people)! Delicious for both birds and people, Highbush Blueberry, Vaccinium corymbosum, is always popular, and ripens in early summer.

#greenthumbs #gardeninspiration #pollinatorgarden #foodforest #homesteadgarden #backyardorchard
A branch full of blueberries ripening. The berry colors range from yellow green through pink to deep blue. There are green leaves in the background. White bell shaped blueberry flowers on a green stem with shiny green leaves, brown mulch in the background.
September 29, 2025 at 1:45 PM
beechhollow.bsky.social
#caturday #catsky #catpics
Cookie cat
September 27, 2025 at 9:27 PM
beechhollow.bsky.social
The berries of Parsley Leaf Hawthorn, Crataegus marshallii, & Red Chokeberry, Aronia arbutiflolia , are winter persistent, making important winter forage resources for winter resident birds and other wildlife.
Red winter fruits of Parsley Leaf Hawthorn clustered on gray branches, against a blue winter sky. White petaled Hawthorn flowers clustered along a dark gray stem with large thorns and scattered green leaves. Red Chokeberries in winter, cased in ice from an ice storm. The plentiful fruit will be available to wildlife through the cold months. Clusters of dainty white Chokeberry flowers nestled in between dark green leaves.
September 27, 2025 at 5:22 PM
beechhollow.bsky.social
Ripening now, the pomes from Dwarf Hawthorn, Crataegus uniflora, are edible for both birds & people. Hawthorns are members of the Rose family, and the fruits are structurally similar to apples and rose hips. When ripe, these little fruits have the fragrance of a golden delicious apple.
Peachy colored Dwarf Hawthorn pomes, about the diameter of a nickle, held in an outstretched hand. Singular, white, five petaled flower of the Dwarf Hawthorn.
September 27, 2025 at 5:22 PM
beechhollow.bsky.social
Fall & Winter berries for birds! Heart's-a-Busting, Euonymous americanus, a beautiful and bizarre fruit. The teensy flowers are pollinated by ants and small beetles.
#nativeplants #greenthumbs #wildlifegarden #perennial #bloomscrolling #perennial #pollinatorgarden #birds
Brilliant and warty magenta capsules crack open and dangle orange berries. The berries quiver and dance with every breeze and gust, catching the attention of local birds. The very small and inconspicuous flowers of Euonymous americanus offer a nectar that is rich in lipids and linoleic acids. Nectars that attract ants are different from the nectars that target bees or hummingbirds.  Ant-attracting nectars aren’t sugar based, instead they provide the ants with fats, linoleic and oleic acids, and amino acids.  Ants cannot produce linoleic acid, but their larvae require this nutrient for development.  Small brown and white beetle on a tiny yellow flower.
September 27, 2025 at 5:22 PM
beechhollow.bsky.social
#caturday @ 2 am

Mush. Total ginger mush.
September 27, 2025 at 6:42 AM
beechhollow.bsky.social
#catsky #catpics #caturday

Gingers for the morning, Curry and Sapelo.
September 20, 2025 at 9:41 AM
beechhollow.bsky.social
Three Black Swallowtail, Papilio polyxenes, caterpillars on Meadow parsnip, Thaspium trifolium. And a couple of pictures of Monarch caterpillars, Danaeus plexippus, taking down our baby pink milkweed, Asclepius incarnata, plants in trays to absolute nubbins.
Rows of green plants in black pots with light brown mulch. The green leaves of the plant in front have three caterpillars with bright stripes ofgreen & black with yellow polkadots. They're cute. a grid of black plug tray with small vertical green stems and leaves of Pink Milkweed plants. The plants have two Monarch caterpillars with white, yellow and black stripes. nom nom nom
September 15, 2025 at 2:42 PM
beechhollow.bsky.social
This Spicebush Swallowtail, Papilio troilus, caterpillar also uses bird dropping camouflage in its smaller instars. Here the little muncher is nibbling Spicebush, Lindera benzoin:
A small instar of another caterpillar with bird dropping camouflage, it is crawling across the medium green leaves of its host plant, Spicebush, Lindera benzoin. This is the caterpillar for the Spicebush Swallowtail, Papilio troilus. A side view of the same caterpillar as the last picture. A small instar of a caterpillar with bird dropping camouflage, it is crawling across the medium green leaves of its host plant, Spicebush, Lindera benzoin. This is the caterpillar for the Spicebush Swallowtail, Papilio troilus.
September 15, 2025 at 2:42 PM
beechhollow.bsky.social
#nativeplants One of the joys of having an organic nursery practice is that we have happy animals. Right now there are caterpillars everywhere! Here is a early instar of the Giant Swallowtail butterfly, Papilio cresphontes, on Ptelia trifoliata:
A caterpillar mimicking bird dropping coloration to dissuade predators, is nibbling some shiny bright green leaves with its little head raised. This is the caterpillar for the Giant Swallowtail, Papilio cresphontes. A closeup picture of the caterpillar with its bird dropping coloration, it is crawling across some shiny bright green leaves. This is the caterpillar for the Giant Swallowtail, Papilio cresphontes.
September 15, 2025 at 2:42 PM
beechhollow.bsky.social
Xyris blowing in the wind.
September 9, 2025 at 1:22 AM
beechhollow.bsky.social
#nativeplants. This patch of Xyris, Yellow Eyed Grass, is growing along the edge of a small pool of water. I think it’s Xyris caroliniana, but I didn’t have time to key it out.
September 9, 2025 at 1:22 AM
beechhollow.bsky.social
And would overwhelm the native species in this delicate ecosystem, possibly eliminating certain species in this area.

I know this plant is used in the cuisine of several different cultures. That’s fine. Great in a garden, but not here.
Mike and I received permission to remove the plant.
September 8, 2025 at 8:27 PM
beechhollow.bsky.social
#nativeplants
I asked the ranger’s permission to remove this large stand of Perilla frutescens from one of the naturally occurring “dish gardens” this park with cedar glades. This is an aggressive plant, and considered invasive in the SE. It seeds prolifically,
Perilla frutescens is a beautiful plant, indigenous to Asia, and used in the cuisine of several different cultures. However, it is an aggressive re-seeder, and if it were not removed, next year the thousands of seeds it would have produced would blanket this area, disrupting the ecosystem, & destroying the food web that the local wildlife depend on.
September 8, 2025 at 8:27 PM
beechhollow.bsky.social
#Caturday #catsky #catpics #catsofbluesky

Good morning!
Show me your Existential Void: when you stare into the void, and the void stares back.
September 6, 2025 at 1:31 PM