Last month, I posted about the advantages and disadvantages of multi-year needles versus annual broad leaves on trees (You can read about that here: https://www.pei-untamed.com/post/conifer-adaptations ). Some of you asked about Eastern Larch, a tree with a foot in each world. Let’s take a look!   Keeping needles all winter does have a price: it allows snow to build up on the tree, placing tremendous weight on its branches. This can cause branches to break, or entire trees to

It’s been a busy year: more than 100 educational posts on the plants, fungi, and wildlife of PEI; 79 in-person events at 25 locations across the province; and one popular new book! I sincerely thank the more than 2,000 people who attended my public walks and talks, the 17,500 who follow me on Facebook and Instagram, everyone who visits this website, and all those who took the time to like, comment, or share my posts. I’m truly grateful to each of you for supporting this work.

If I had to design vegetation for a movie set on an alien planet, I’d take inspiration from this PEI plant: the odd-looking Rough Cocklebur ( Xanthium strumarium ).    Cocklebur gets its name from spine-covered fruit (burs) that look a bit like Burdocks but have two distinctive beaks at the end (inset photo). Like Burdock ( Arctium minus ), Cocklebur’s Velcro-like fruits are distributed by hitch-hiking on animals, including humans. Those burs also float, allowing them to be r

PEI has more than 30 native, wild plants with edible berries, but here’s one of the lesser-known: Bearberry ( Arctostaphylos uva-ursi ).     Bearberry doesn’t compete taste-wise with some of our other wild fruit. Raw, the berries are dry and bland (but that’s probably just as well, because too many raw berries can have a laxative effect). Cooking improves their flavour and texture, and Bearberries make pleasant preserves, interesting additions to soups or stews, and excellent