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alex51324 · 5 months

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Botanical garden expedition!

Today's adventure was a visit to Longwood Gardens, a large botanical garden a reasonable drive from my home. They cleverly draw crowds in what would otherwise be their slow season, with a big display of Christmas lights, trees, and other decorations.

It's hugely popular; you have to reserve tickets in advance, and it's timed entry, where you can stay as long as you want, but you have to arrive within half an hour of the time that's on your ticket--so they don't have a zillion people showing up just at dusk, I guess. By the time I decided to go, in the middle of this past week, the latest arrival time they had left for Friday was 1 PM. (Every Saturday and Sunday until the end of the Christmas event is sold out; luckily, I don't work on Fridays and my dad is retired.)

It worked out OK--we went through all of the indoor displays while they were just crowded and not completely packed. Here's a picture I took in the main conservatory:

The flower beds in here were mainly poinsettias, amarylis, and paperwhites (shown). The bright green lawn in December was also an interesting novelty. There were about a dozen different Christmas trees, and some rooms with period furniture/Christmas decorations. This corridor was neat:

(The people are strangers; see above re: crowds.) This hallway leads to the orchid room. A lot of people just zipped right through the orchid room--I guess since it didn't have anything special in it for Christmas--so I took advantage of the elbow room and ability to get a few pictures without being in anyone's way:

It smelled really nice in there, too:

We also had plenty of time to explore the grounds and decide what we wanted to go back and see again once it was lit up.

They had several of these treehouse things, all decorated for Christmas:

This one had these Dr. Seuss-looking trumpet things:

And Christmas trees, of course:

We also had a walk through the Wildflower Meadow, which is the Gardens' natural area. Admittedly, in December is doesn't look a whole lot different from, say, a soybean field, which we can walk through any time we want, but it was nice to get away from the crowds for a bit, and we talked about coming back in the summer when the wildflowers will be in bloom. Here's some staghorn sumac:

The destination for the meadow walk is this 300-year-old farmhouse:

It has a few exhibits inside, about the history of the house and what you can see in the meadow (when it's not December). I liked the cooking hearth, of course:

The big tree next to the farmhouse is completely wrapped in lights, so that was #1 on our list of things we wanted to see lit up. We didn't hike up to the house again in the dark; there's a place you can see it from the edge of the platform:

The picture doesn't do it justice at all; either my phone camera just isn't good enough to take pictures of Christmas lights, or I didn't get the settings right. Here's a similar tree in the middle of the meadow, that came out a little better:

This area near the edge of the meadow was one of the neatest places for lights. There's a boardwalk that runs along it; one section they had these lights that were done to look like torches, scattered through the grass, and then another section they had these multicolored orbs that pulsed through a range of colors.

Back to daytime, I was fascinated with this berry bush:

It's called beautyberry, and the purple is even more vibrant in person. Here's a closeup:

Around here, it's not hard to find red and orange berries on winter bushes, but purple was new for me.

The other big thing at this garden is the water features; my dad and I both remembered them from (separate) visits some decades ago. A lot of them don't run in December, of course, but they have one section of fountains that do:

They do a show with lights and music, every 15 minutes. (More strangers in the picture.) And here's another water feature that I attempted to take a picture of:

There was a lot of other cool stuff that I couldn't get pictures of--several tunnels of lights, and lots of trees lit from below with colored lights, like the green ones in the picture above. There was one group of trees lit in red and silver, that looked really nice. But by that point I had realized that it made more sense to just look at things, rather than taking disappointing pictures of them, so I'll leave you with one more of the meadow area:

#christmas #longwood gardens

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headspace-hotel · 2 years

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I really appreciate your posts on plant diversity! Do you have any suggestions for how to tackle this issue as a renter? We live in a small house with a yard and our lease requires us to keep the grass cut. We've pretty much been ignoring this and our lawn is full of clover and plants I don't recognize, but I'm worried about trying to do anything more in terms of native plants for fear we'll have negative repercussions or that our work will be undone when we move out. Do you have any ideas for how to advocate for biodiversity with our landlord?

Hmm. If you are allowed to plant trees and flower beds and stuff, don't replace the whole lawn necessarily, just turn some into something else.

Without knowing what region you are in, I can't say much specific, but if your climate is suited to them, shrubs will take up space, shade out overgrowth, and provide shelter and food for wildlife. In the eastern US, there are bushes and shrubs for everything. Variety is the spice of (wild)life! We recently planted Beautyberry bushes which have bright purple berries in the fall. I didn't even know they existed.

If you have space, and you live in a biome with trees, I can't overstate how good trees are. I'm personally a big fan of planting a few together in a little grove (it motivates them to reach up and grow taller, and decreases their chance of breaking in storms). If your yard is overgrown, there's almost definitely a tree there already. Keep big trees away from foundations and septic systems and things though. A tree's roots typically spread out under the ground as much as their branches do above.

I personally like Eastern Redcedar a lot. (I'm from the eastern US.) They tend to be small in poor soils, and grow reeeeeally slowly so they're probably effectively like...a bush. But they are evergreens so good for screening (giving privacy/wind shelter) and their berries are good for birds. Also, and I cannot stress this enough, they grow everywhere on gravelly roadsides. Just little tiny puffs of bluish needles. They are easy to yoink.

If you don't have much space, you can try putting up a little pergola or whatever they call those little pavilions that vines grow on. Watch out for the difference between woody vines and herbaceous vines. Woody vines get bigger and heavier over the years much like a tree; herbaceous vines will die back and don't risk collapsing or wrecking structures as much. A nice little structure in the backyard will serve as well as a tree for vines to grow on, and will let you fill vertical space. Make sure it's kinda stupid looking and pointless without anything growing on it so subsequent people don't want to get rid of your plants.

Watch out for invasive species! They often go wild when a disturbed or cultivated area is left to regrow. They will greatly slow down the "regeneration" process and stop new things from moving in. Callery pears and wintercreeper are the worst around my area. Identify those plants! I still recommend plant identification apps as a starting point. They're pretty good and they give you a foothold in the possibilities.

Even just a small area of your grass being allowed to "re-wild" is awesome. It doesn't have to be the whole lawn. Figure out what you've got already and work from there!

Look up native plant nurseries near you to get an idea of the kind of plants you might be able to add in.

Also remember, cutting the grass and doing nothing else is infinitely better than spraying pesticides on everything that isn't grass. Don't get in trouble if you don't have to, identify your plants and figure out what you might wanna keep or transplant.

Good luck!

#gardening #native plants #native plant gardening #lawn alternatives

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sayafics · 10 months

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The Makings of an Army - Chapter I

The sound of cheers echo through the crisp air.

It was a cold winter evening, the snow was thick, lying over the woodlands like a dense blanket, most of the trees were stripped of their leaves but the spindly branches were still weighed down heavily as soft mounds of snow collected on them.

Shrubs of beautyberry and mahonia were dotted around chaotically, the hues of blue and purple flowers gleaming brightly against the stark white that had lulled the woods to sleep.

The sky had already darkened, but the three stumbling figures felt as though nothing could dim their glowing spirits.

They had escaped.

They’re free.

The realisation had been spiralling around the mind of the shortest boy, his heart racing with adrenaline, hands trembling as he laughed in disbelief causing his shoulders to shake lightly and strands of blonde hair to fall and brush against his forehead with every breath.

His eyes glanced down at a mop of dark curls. The boy he was holding up, tired and wrecked, had also been laughing, relief filling his body as the air from his lungs escaped with manic glee.

The shortest boy then glanced at his other friend, his hair shining almost red in the moonlight as they caught each other’s eyes, there was a whisper of incredulity reverberating through the gap between them.

“We did it Barty,” the blonde boy’s voice shook, his blue eyes wide in joy, the colour almost glittering in the slivers of light as they burned at the realisation before he looked down at the boy the two were holding up, “we’re free Reg,” he pulled the dark-haired boy up higher, pulling the arm over his shoulder tighter so he wouldn’t slip, “we’re free.”

Regulus sighed quietly, his body slumped over and his eyes were closed as he moved his feet subconsciously to match the strides of his friends and leaning his head on the blonde-haired boy’s shoulder, a lop-sided grin tugged at his lips, “we made it Ev.”

Silence stretched between them soon, but it was the type of silence they had longed for over so many years. It was calm and quiet, there was no urge to fill it with endless rambles, or dares and gossip meant for distraction, or questions about schoolwork and exams to avoid what truly haunted their thoughts.

It was a silence they relished in as they tried to settle their frantic hearts and convince their paranoid minds.

They were free. Truly free.

The silence was broken by Evan’s squawk of indignation as Regulus seemed to hunch over further, his breathing laboured and shallow, dizziness overtaking him as he screwed his eyes shut further, in an attempt to shake away the feeling he was on the verge of collapsing.

“Shit,” it was the first word Barty had spoken, his voice rough and raw, as he threw a hand around Regulus’ waist to stop him from keeling over. He stopped abruptly, forcing Evan to come to a halt as they both manoeuvred Regulus between them so they could hold him upright once more, when Barty continued his voice was tight, “we have to get somewhere safe. Fuck, we can’t apparate anywhere like this, it’d bloody well kill him if anything goes wrong.”

Barty was right, but Regulus still tried to protest. As his head raised against the nausea that weighed heavily on him, Evan interrupted his pained whispers of protest.

“Bart’s right. You’re still hurt from the first time. We can’t risk doing that again. Look we’ll go somewhere close, okay? We’ll stay for the night, try and fix you up and then we’ll leave.”

Regulus still shook his head in dissent, his tongue feeling too thick to speak in his usual aloof tone.

“This isn’t up for debate Black,” Barty had used his last name, that only meant he was getting annoyed with Regulus, he was already paranoid and seeing Regulus like this? Both Barty and Evan were on the verge of losing their minds, their hearts sinking in dread.

Without another word, Barty lugged Regulus further up, nodding at Evan to do the same. Between the two of them, they shared the burden of Regulus’ wilting body, feverous wishes whispered into the darkness as they searched for somewhere safe.

Anywhere safe.

Evan felt his breaths stutter when he saw it. A small path was outlined by pebbles and slabs of rocks, the dirt path led up to a quaint and homely cabin.

Off to one side Evan could hear slow running water, and as his eyes followed the path ahead, they began to trace over the wooden residence. It looked neat and tidy, it was made of rough logs, the oak covered in growing moss and twining vines that leach up every corner they could find, and although it seemed small, he knew it would be safe.

It had seemed Barty had caught sight of it too, and the two began to lug Regulus’ collapsing body its way.

Barty’s eyes roved over the bushes of firethorn and winter jasmine, secretly admiring the shrubs of daphne and winter aconites.

The air was tinged with a floral scent, it was overpowering. But in some way the boys found themselves relaxing at the scent, such fragrances had never graced the halls of the houses they grew up in. And it seemed to further cement the fact they had escaped.

As they drew closer, they looked around the cabin cautiously. Barty heaved Regulus’ weight onto Evan, ignoring his yelp at the sudden load, before trekking around the house, looking for any sign of life.

There was not even a lit candle, and he deemed it safe enough to enter.

If there happened to be a muggle inside, he could always take care of the problem. For now, the more important thing was to get Regulus out the cold, and to help him before they formulated a plan to escape.

Barty came back to his friends, helping Evan bear Regulus’ weight as he gave them both an affirming nod – this place would do, for now.

They began to stumble their way in, reaching the door. There was a moment of hesitation then, as the boys hoped that the door would open with no resistance.

They were defenceless. Wandless.

Regulus had lost his wand to his brawl with the Inferi, Evan had snapped his from his own clumsiness and Barty had tossed his away, afraid his father might have charmed it with a locator spell.

It was Evan who reached for the doorknob, his hands were now steady as he calmed from the adrenaline that had been racing through his blood when they had first apparated into the woods. They wrapped around the handle, pushing down on it.

Click.

A surprised laugh escaped him, a gasping sound as he realised the door was open. That they could go in, they could help Regulus and they would have somewhere warm to sleep.

“C’mon Ev, let’s get him in.”

Needing no further prompting, the pair dragged in their tired and injured friend, crossing into the threshold with darting eyes.

Barty didn’t see much sense in taking in the decor, accepting the burden of Regulus’ limp body as Evan spun around in one place and took in the house.

Barty dragged Regulus towards a tattered sofa, it was a muddy brown colour with mismatched throwovers strewn across the arms and back. It was just long enough for Regulus to fit comfortably, but his long legs still hung over one side as his head rested against the arm on the other.

Regulus released a soft sigh, his heart calming as he sank into its warmth.

Barty had taken that as a sign to survey the room, and so his eyes began to dart and trace every item he could find within reach.

The cabin was larger than they expected, they stood in the living room, which was pieced together with shades of nude, brown and grey.

Apart from the sofa Regulus began to lightly doze off in, there was also a reclining armchair glowing a hideous yellow that sat on one side of the room, beneath a large window. At the centre of the room sat a teal tea table, potted plants and drained cups of tea littered atop, and underneath it was a plush cream rug.

Behind them sat a fireplace, outlined by a wall of cobblestone. In it was the ashes of a fire that had been doused long ago.

So far, the trio had been eyeing each other and their surroundings in the dark, the moon as their only source of light. But it didn’t take long for Evan to fumble with the trinkets nailed to the walls and switch on the lights by accident.

He flinched when the lights flickered on and pooled the room in a hazy yellow, glancing across the room to find an open kitchen, separated from them by a counter. The kitchen was blooming with hues of teal and green.

His lips twitched in amusement; the cabin was a myriad of mismatched colours. But it looked cozy, like it had been well used and was filled with a kind of warmth the boys had never gotten close to scratching.

It didn’t take long for the boys to track their eyes back to Regulus’ form, guilt flooding their eyes at the sound of his pained breaths. Evan looked to Barty, “find some stuff we can use.”

Without their wands they were practically useless, and being so unfamiliar with the muggle world meant they had no clue how to use their resources.

Still, Barty replied with a steely nod as he began to rummage through the kitchen drawers looking for something that could help.

Evan made his way to Regulus. The curly-haired boy was still dressed in his school robes, so Evan began to pull those off first. They were damp now, an earthy and musty scent emanating from it with each movement. As the robe was thrown aside Evan had to hold his breath at the sight in front of him.

It wasn’t the first time he had seen Regulus in such a state. No, the first time had been when Kreacher had apparated them to the outskirts of a dark and despicable cave, where they had found Regulus’ body broken and limp at the mouth. Kreacher had begged them to take him. To take him and run, to save his Master.

And of course, they did.

Regulus had looked so small in that moment, and it caused a fiery sense of protection to bubble in the hearts of his friends.

Their first attempt at apparating somewhere safe had gone completely wrong, causing Evan’s wand and Regulus’ thigh to get splinched.

Evan profusely apologised as he wrapped the shredded pieces of his robe tightly around the wound, hoping to stop the bleeding.

Barty had discarded his wand on the rocky island, fearful of getting caught by his father. So there was not much to do but hope Regulus did not die until they could get him somewhere safe.

It was only now though, that Evan got a clear look at the damage Regulus had faced alone in that cave. His shirt was splotched with blood, deep gashes and light lacerations marking his body, tearing itself across his stomach and back and shoulders and neck.

Evan drew in a shaky breath, Regulus had either fallen unconscious or succumbed to the deep sleep his body had been begging him for, which only caused Evan to panic further.

His voice raised, his eyes round and face pale in distress, “Crouch! Hurry up and find something!”

Find something. But what?

Barty didn’t know.

He knew everything there was to know about the Dark Arts, consuming every book and novel he could find, researching every legend and every myth.

But healing? Especially as a muggle?

Still, he rummaged chaotically through the drawers, uncaring of the thuds and crashes he causes. He had just made it to the cupboard under the sink when he saw it.

First-aid kit. That had to be a muggle tool, right?

He wasn’t too sure, but tearing it open he found bandages. And he was sure he had seen Madam Pomfrey use them numerous times during his visits to the nurse, so they had to be helpful.

Yes. Yes, this would do.

He stumbled to his feet, lurching out the waist-length door attached to one side of the kitchen counter so he could make his way back to his friends.

“Here,” he thrusted the first-aid kit into Evan’s hands as he took a seat next to him on the floor, “here, use these.”

Evan looked at the materials in confusion, the boys had no clue what they were doing. But if they didn’t try, they weren’t sure if Regulus would ever be okay.

His gashes had stopped bleeding, and Evan was sure the place where he was splinched had stopped bleeding too.

Still, he looked at Barty in poorly concealed fear, “I don’t…I don’t know how to- fuck, I don’t know how to use this stuff.”

Barty opened his mouth, unsure of what he was going to say but trying anyway, before he was cut off.

“Oh.”

Evan’s lips hadn’t moved, and a glance at Regulus showed he was still in a blissful sleep. To make matters worse, this voice was quiet, it was soft, and it was feminine. It had come from behind them, and the two boys twisted viciously as they clambered to their feet, standing defensively in front of the sofa Regulus occupied.

It was a girl. A muggle?

Barty closed his eyes in frustration, he should have checked the house. He should have made sure they were alone. He thought back to the potted plants that were still alive and the cups of tea that were freshly drained and berated himself for his carelessness.

The girl that stood in front of them was shorter than them all, her dark hair flowed around her in unruly waves, her eyes squinted against the light and in her hands, she held tightly onto a pink slipper. The dim lights made her brown skin glow golden under the yellow hues.

Evan snorted quietly at the sight of that, but Barty only released an angered sigh as he began to step forward to the girl.

Evan could tell from the way Barty’s shoulders had raised, the way his lips curled with ferocity and the way his muscles tensed that Barty was getting ready for a fight.

He would kill this girl if he had to, if it meant Regulus and Evan would be safe. He would kill her with no remorse.

But he was stopped by a tight grasp to his shoulder, fingers clenching tightly into the material of his school robes as Evan tugged him back, so he stood at his side.

Barty looked at Evan with narrowed eyes, but Evan was only looking at the girl as she raised her slipper higher as though she was ready to take aim. Barty could see how Evan was holding back his amusement at the sight, his worry for Regulus outweighing his urge to pull his usual antics.

Barty’s back straightened at Evan’s voice, it was low – almost a whisper, full of pleading as his other hand came up in a placating manner.

“Please, can you help our friend?”

The girl’s eyes glanced towards the legs that hung over the arm of the sofa in scepticism, and Evan nudged at Barty to make a path for her to see.

The girl had so many questions running in her mind. Who are these people? How did they get here? Why are they here? Are they going to hurt her?

Every question died as they tried to escape past her lips, every protest squashed as she took in the sight of a boy who looked so small and so frail as he laid back against the sofa. His shirt was bloodied and torn, and around his thigh was a tightly wrapped piece of clothing.

Her brows furrowed as she struggled to make a decision, but Evan spoke again, “he’s our friend. He’s hurt, badly. Please.”

Her eyes flickered back to meet his, the blue eyes were drowning in guilt and in sorrow but a glance at his friend made her hesitate a moment longer.

It was then Barty had chosen to speak, “we won’t hurt you. Just help him.”

His words were not as kind, nor as pleading but she could see the grief-stricken expression he tried to restrain, the stoic mask he tried to put in its place.

So, she stepped forward, the hand holding her slipper lowered as it dropped to the floor. She treaded her way closer cautiously, holding her breath as she brushed past the two boys who stood at the end of the sofa like guard dogs, before coming to a stop at the injured boy’s side.

He looked like he was sleeping, but his face would tighten in pain every now and then, his breathing would become sharp and laboured before slowing down again. She glanced to the first-aid kit left on the ground at her feet.

She had three strange boys in her house, and she couldn’t do anything which would spook them unless she wanted them to hurt her. She recognised the spark of violence in the eyes of the taller boy when he stalked his way towards her before the blonde-haired one had stopped him.

She takes in a shaky breath, taking one final glance in the direction of the boys and noticing how they had come closer – they watched her with wide eyes and terrorised grimaces – before kneeling next to the limp figure on the couch.

She could do this.

She would help them and then they would leave.

Taglist: @xcharlottemikaelsonx

#regulus black #regulus black fic #regulus black x reader #regulus black x ofc #regulus black x oc #harry potter #hp marauders #hp fandom #hp fanfic #barty crouch jr #barty crouch junior #evan rosier #slytherin

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