The Mysterious Milkweed Pods

Common Milkweed, Asclepias syriaca
Green Milkweed Pods with the pod carpel seam intact.



The seam dries first and separates.
Milkweed has a specialized pollination system. The pollen is not distributed in particles but rather small sacs of pollen are tethered to the stamens and when large insects such as wasps visit the flower, the sacs catch on their feet ready to be transported to a place of fertilization.


Getting ready, very neatly packed in a drying pod. The silk begins to liberate itself.

As the pod dries it contracts slowly exposing the seeds with their wind catching fibers.

It can take several weeks before the pod dries sufficiently to expose all the seeds to their chance to catch a lift on the moving air. Thus distributing seeds over time and varying weather conditions.

The center carpel membrane is finally completely exposed and the pod is down to it's last seed. The first serious frost is forecast for tonight.

Donegal Browne

Bears in Anchorage, Alaska.

Imagine a mom's surprise when the morning after assembling the kid's new play set, she looked out the upstairs bedroom window and saw the neighbors trying it out.

There isn't one position that does not mimic that of human children at play. Though, admittedly, travelling on all fours happens less often with Homo sapiens.

Sent in by Julie Anderson-Wade and Marian Anderson.

Donegal Browne

The Treats of Autumn

The chlorophyll is passing away, ceasing production of sugars, and the other pigments show through the leaves which will soon drift off, on the way to deciduous tree dormancy.


The Dark-eyed Juncos are back in force. The flash of their contrasting white and black tail feathers flit across meadows and into the Spruce trees.

In Hillside Cemetery today, the Bluebird House that during the breeding season, hosted a pair of interloping Tree Swallows, has for tonight become the roost box of a family of five Bluebirds. I watched them hunt among the stones and then slip into the small round door of the box one by one. Five Bluebirds at dusk, all at once, is a definite treat.

I'm told that when the air is crisp and the vines dry, it's the time to dig the potatoes out of the garden. Though the vines have not dried yet, I thought I'd dig in just a little and see how the potatoes were doing. I went to the garage, took my shovel out, set me foot to it, turned the soil under a potato vine, and came up with a potato.

This is my potato. And in case you think it's a smallish potato on a very large plate. See the photo below.

It's a teeny potato on a small plate. It took 22 seconds to microwave, and was a delicious bite of butter and salt. The skin so tender it skims off with the touch of a finger nail. Now I just have to hope that the other potatoes are bigger or that there are a whole lot of them. But even if there aren't, its very existence in my garden delighted me--another treat of Autumn.

Donegal Browne