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Nick in NC

@nicknc.bsky.social

930 followers 460 following 2.3K posts

gardener, amateur naturalist. neurobiologist. mennonite. Views my own. All photos mine. May include predator-prey interactions, spiders, and snakes. https://sweetgumandpines.wordpress.com

sweetgumandpines.wordpress.com

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Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 18h

Wow! Boiling tofu in salty water really does improve texture and make it easier to pan fry it brown and crispy.

All these years I’ve been wasting time pressing it.

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Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 21h

I definitely remember sabotaging myself on occasion by trying to actually recite a number instead of just dialing by muscle memory.

Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 1d

Correct!

Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 1d

35x zoom view from observation tower: Oil refineries, towards Beaumont, I think. 11 of 11.

Towers and other equipment of what is probably an oil refinery seen beyond woodland. The refinery was magnified with a telephoto lens and is quite distant.

Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 1d

35x zoom view from observation tower: Houston skyline. 10 of 11.

Houston skyscrapers seen in the distance beyond a lake and woodland.

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Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 1d

View from observation tower: bald cypresses. 9 of 11.

Seen from above, a shallow lake with bald cypress trees scattered through it.

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Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 1d

Ipomoea species, Morning glory. 8 of 11. 🌱

Purple flowers with darker purple centers on a twining vine.

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Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 1d

wild sunflowers. 7 of 11.

Yellow flowers with dark centers growing among wiry grasses.

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Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 1d

Old hatchery pond. 6 of 11.

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Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 1d

Observation tower. 5 of 11.

An observation tower rising above wetland prairie dominated by grasses and flowering goldenrods. The sky is intensely blue.

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Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 1d

"Knees" of Taxodium distichum, bald cypress. 4 of 11. 🌱

Knobby bark-covered towers emerging from the bank beside a pond

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Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 1d

Crinum americanum, swamp lily, I think. Only the tip of the inflorescence was visible above the prairie grass. 3 of 11. 🌱

Spidery white flowers with purple stamens.

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Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 1d

American white ibis, Eudocimus albus. 2 of 11. #birds

A white bird with long neck, long curved beak, and long legs. The legs, beak, and exposed skin around the eyes are orange. The eyes are blue.

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Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 1d

My first visit to Sheldon Lake State Park, a little oasis of peace about 20 minutes drive from Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport. Part of the park is restored coastal prairie, and part is an old fish hatchery with ponds slowly reverting to nature. 1 of 11. #herps

A young alligator swimming across a still pond with a few floating leaves.

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Reposted by Nick in NC

Jacob @jgsimmerman.bsky.social · 1d

Yes, my carnivorous nursery sells venus flytraps at the farmers market here in South Carolina, but ours are tissue cultured and we kick people out when they talk about poaching!

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Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 1d

Do they arrest people for stealing plants, or plants for being invasive?

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Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 2d

I’m not a UK person, but shopping at a specialist nursery like Hampshire Carnivorous Plants is a good way to go. They’ve been around for many years, are known internationally, and have a lot of selectively bred cultivars.

Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 2d

But when it flowers. . . Wow!

Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 2d

It’s from an arid region that gets summer monsoons, so I dutifully give it summer watering and a dry winter. Most years, nothing happens. Its relatives the Bessera species, which come from similar habitat, grow like weeds. This guy just looks like an empty pot for years on end.

Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 2d

Behria tenuiflora, a geophyte endemic to Baja California. I have been growing it since 2016, and it has flowered twice. More strangely, the corm only sprouts leaves once every three or four years, and I have no idea what induces it to grow…or not. Whenever I am convinced it is dead, it reappears. 🌱

A wiry inflorescence bearing tubular flowers that are orange-red with yellow stripes. Long stamens tipped with purple
pollen extend from the tubes.

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Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 3d

This fact is going to remain lodged in my memory until I die.

Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 3d

The soil was bone dry, but the pitcher plants were in reasonable shape and a few were even growing new pitchers this late in the year.

I didn’t see another human anywhere in the preserve all day long. It was glorious.
🌱 2/2

Savanna with dry wiry grass, pine trees, and scattered pitcher plants under bright sun.

Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 3d

Sarracenia alata, pale pitcher plant, in Big Thicket National Preserve, east Texas. This is one of the Sarracenia species that don’t grow in NC, so it was fun to add it to my list of species seen in the wild. 1/2 🌱

A tall trumpet like leaf that serves as an insect trap. It is green with some reddish stripes.

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Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 3d

Hibernate it. In the fridge if it’s in a small pot. In a large planter or tub, outside is fine. They are hardy in central NC but won’t like rapid freeze thaw cycles in a small pot.

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Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 3d

To be super safe, look for weird cultivars that do not occur in nature (all red, shark-tooth trap edges, etc.)