Welcome to the Natural Coalescence Blog

Making and testing natural inks & dyes from fruits and flowers in PNW.

Differences between WA Erysimum species- Erysimum capitatum vs arenicola.

Summer time means melons. All sorts of melons these days, not just the classic "water" so many of us ate and spat from the patio on a...

Edible or lethal plants. Comparing and admiring common camas with death-camas, and a few native plant relatives in the PNW.

Oak apples aren't a fruit, they're a gall from a wasp and they may not be edible but you can use them for home-made ink.

You know you're a botanist when typing.... you keep trying to spell "left" but muscle memory keeps making you type "leaf". Even better if...

Buds buds everywhere and not a bulb to eat. Spring is popping up, literally, as represented by bulbs popping up their plump flower heads...

Ever seen blue balls on a bee? Possibly not what you think, but they do get them. Bee blue-balls is more accurately bee blue-baskets (on...

The chill is in the air, the winds are kicking up, and sky has it's blanket of leaky grey all ready to tuck us in for the winter. Fall...

medical traits and ID of wild shelf mushroom red belted conk (Fomitopsis pinicola)

There are many cool trees all over the world and possibly more than our 'fair share' in the Pacific northwest due to the variety of...

Blue flowers are the RAREST color. I’ve noticed this for a long time. And it makes sense. But it is also confusing and weird and...

*(sweaty, even while standing still because… heat domes & such) It’s a berry Pacific Northwest kind of life in summer time here. The sun...

There’s a disturbance in the woods. The snow has melted in most places, the skiers have slipped away with the entrance of spring. And...

Hydrangea season approaches! Blue is coming. The special and huge draw of these shrubs for many gardeners is the unusual color of certain...

As the summer solstice passes, a very 'spring to summer' plant comes to mind- oso berry. They are pretty much the very first native plant...

Plant obsessions go through trends, just like the huge tulip obsession and flash trade market that was huge for a short time, then...

I will never forget being puzzled by a large tree, trying to ID it during a plant monitoring project but the leaves were all too high up...

The iris is more than a lovely (ok absolutely gorgeous) flower. Of ancient Greek mythology, she is the goddess who personified the...

What's the best way to get rid of weeds? Eat them, of course! And we are hitting prime dandelion season, so it's time to get digging. ...