Come along and read the landscape.
Rich in Nature is the field journal of an amateur naturalist specializing in woody plants. I explore places by noticing what grows there, following questions in the field, and learning how plants and their companions reveal the character of a landscape.
Woody plants are the center of gravity.
Trees, shrubs, cacti, and other woody forms become guides to climate, elevation, water, disturbance, and time. Follow individual encounters—and watch the relationships accumulate.
Explore by place.
From the Sonoran Desert to the Cascades—and from botanical gardens to roadsides and neighborhoods—follow the places where field questions begin.
Latest Field Note
Crismon Trailhead · Mesa, Arizona. An evening in a surprisingly woody Sonoran Desert—among saguaros, chollas, creosote, compound leaves, and the changing life of dusk.