It intrigues me how trees are so often intertwined with our culture and history. The July celebration of our Independence is a good time for a history lesson. The Liberty Tree was an elm tree in Boston where protesters of English rule would congregate. It became a symbol of individual liberty and resistance to tyranny, and during the Revolutionary War several flags were designed with a tree that represented the Tree of Liberty. One flag in particular had an important message.

Anyone who has picked blackberries is familiar with June bugs, because they'll startle you when you reach in and pick one of them instead of a berry. As a youngster I was taught that June bugs are those large, green backed beetles an inch long that are common during the heat of summer. They can often be seen flying low over your lawn in a zigzag pattern. You will also find them feeding on their preferred foods which includes grapes, berries, apples, and ripening corn.

No doubt you have heard plenty of news stories about the 17-year cicada emerging this year. I have yet to see or hear them in my area yet, but I look forward to hearing the male cicadas’ persistent and often loud chorus. The combined drone of thousands of cicadas singing at once hides the fact that there are three species of cicadas out there, each singing a different song, which chances depending on the proximity to a possible female mate.

Humans seem hardwired to fear snakes, and it is useful to help us be cautious around poisonous species.
But most snake species found in our area are harmless and perform a useful service of keeping rodent populations in check.
There are two well-known poisonous ones in our woods where caution is advised, though.

By: Steve Roark
Volunteer Interpreter, Cumberland Gap National Historical Park

You have no doubt noted the large swaths of yellow flowers in pasture and hayfields this Spring. Those are buttercups, and while picturesque, are not welcome to farmers because they can poison cattle and take up growing space that should be growing grass.

Mulching around trees and flower beds offers several benefits, such as soil moisture retention, reduced weeding, and keeping yard equipment a safe distance away from plants. Shredded bark is a popular mulch to use, which requires periodic touch up as it gradually decomposes. However, I have seen landscapes where a lot of mulch was routinely added every year whether it was needed or not, creating an overly thick layer of mulch that can injure or even kill the plants you are trying to benefit.

By: Steve Roark
Volunteer Interpreter, Cumberland Gap National Park

Everyone knows the dandelion (Taraxacum officinale), which is usually found somewhere in your lawn unless herbicides are heavily used. This European import is probably enemy number one on the lawn weed list, but it is still an interesting study, being both an edible and a medicinal.

We had a hard freeze recently at a bad time for some trees, with many just putting out those very succulent and tender new leaves. A number of trees and shrubs got hammered in my yard, totally wiping out all of the leaves, and many forest trees took the same hit. If your trees were impacted too, you may be wondering what all this means in terms of tree health and fruit/nut production.

While several hawk species spend time in East Tennessee, the red-tailed hawk stays around all year and is the most common one seen.
They prefer to hang out in open fields near woodland edges. Seeing a red tail gliding across the sky and hearing their high-pitched cry gives one a pleasing dose of wildness.
The red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) has a body around two feet long with wide wings that span around 4 four feet, making it the largest hawk we have. The female is a third larger than the male.

By: Steve Roark
Volunteer Interpreter, Cumberland Gap National Historical Park

Our forefathers paid a lot more attention to natural events than we do now. They had no radio, TV, or newspaper to provide weather trends, so they looked to nature to tell them when to plant beans or when to strip hickory bark for chair bottoms. They didn’t know it but they were practicing phenology: the study of cyclic and seasonal natural phenomena, especially in relation to climate, plant, and animal life.