It’s hard to spot Katydids because they are so well camouflaged. But anyone who sits on their porch on a late summer’s night has enjoyed hearing their “katy did….katy didn’t” song, along with their chirping cousin, the cricket.

While spring is the traditional season to plant trees and shrubs, fall may be better. The soil is still fairly warm on into December, and it gives the tree a chance to rest and get well settled into the soil before the spring growth spurt. The following are a few guidelines on choosing and planting trees.

Many consider forestry to only mean growing trees to cut for lumber, and in the old days that was true. But the forest is much more than a place to produce wood fiber and it has multiple uses it can be managed for. Many of these uses can be managed simultaneously with proper planning.
Here is a list of the major uses.

Let me warn you that this story is not for the squeamish. Way back in 1908 the millionaire John D Rockefeller wanted to make still more money, but most of his markets were saturated, so he began looking at the southern United States as an untapped marketplace. But there was a problem…the South’s economy was lousy. The people were illiterate, dirt poor, and were perceived as lazy. Farms weren’t fully operational, and the economic engine seemed to be turned off.

By: Steve Roark
Volunteer, Cumberland Gap National Historical Park

If you own much land, chances are it has thistle growing on it. This group of plants is one of the most persistent weeds in our area, and if dirt is exposed it will likely end up growing there.

Mimosa (Albizia julibrissin) is an imported landscape tree that is very common in our area and is most noticed when it produces its fluffy pink flowers in the summer. Its commonness has been a concern from a forest health standpoint.

By Steve Roark
Volunteer, Cumberland Gap National Historical Park
It’s nice to think that plants produce fruit for our pleasure and that of other creatures. They do want us to eat them, but they have an ulterior motive of coaxing us into dispersing their seeds to other places.

Back in my mom’s day folks only had access to a few flavored drinks, like milk, coffee, and water. To make things more interesting, they would seek and use native plants that provided a nice change of taste. The more common ones used were sassafras tea, teaberry, spicebush, and my topic today, Mountain Mint (Pycnanthemum spp.). It’s easy to find along roadsides and woodland edges and makes a pretty tasty mint tea that also has medicinal value.

Solar power normally conjures up visuals of black panels that capture the sun’s energy to power a home or outdoor device. The truth is that almost every energy source we use began with solar power.

Humans and the animal kingdom in general eat food for energy. You may choose to get that energy by eating say a T-bone steak with a side salad. The steak came from a mammal that got its energy from grass, which got its energy from the sun through the miracle of photosynthesis. Same goes for the salad.

The mountains of our area contain one of the most diverse forests in the world. Over 170 woody species and close to 2000 herbaceous plants grow here, second only to tropical rain forests in variety. If you’re observant, you can find sites here that are the same as forests hundreds of miles away.