LOOK FOR: Wild Grapes

I had a book of Aesop's Fables as a child, and the story I remember best is the story of the Fox and the Grapes. There's a big, juicy bunch of grapes hanging from a vine, and a fox is trying as hard as he can to get to them, but just can't quite reach. When he gives up, the fox says, "I don't want those grapes anyway -- they're probably sour!"

Sounds like the wild grapes of ancient Greece weren't too different from our own -- very tempting but very sour. Our native grapes are also very small. But we like them anyway...and like the fox in Aesop's fable, we'll go to some lengths to get some every fall.

Before you try to eat wild grapes, be confident in your identification. The leaves can be quite varied in size and shape, but generally have roughly toothed edges. The leaves may have three distinct lobes, or they may just hint at them. The vines climb with distinctive, curly tendrils that wrap around whatever they can for support. As they get older, the vines shed their bark, giving them a shredded texture. It's not uncommon to see thick, peeling grapevines reaching far up into the canopy -- they've kept pace with the tree they're hanging from, making sure they can get sun for their leaves even as the tree puts on new growth.

But you're looking for fruit that's within reach, which will likely be on younger vines. Clusters of wild grapes look something like miniature clusters of cultivated grapes. When ripe, they are dark purple, but (like cultivated grapes) they may have a blush of yeast on them that makes them look a little lighter. They have multiple crunchy seeds which take up a lot of the fruit. But the fruit that is there has an intense flavor.

There are several other small, purple fruits in the fall. Make sure you rule these out -- none of them are edible, and some are quite poisonous: virginia creeper (which has leaves made of five leaflets, and red stems on the fruit), Canada moonseed (whose leaves are a similar shape to grapes, but smooth, not toothed; each fruit has a single, moon-shaped seed), porcelain berry (also has grape-like leaves, but the berries are blue and white before ripening, not green like unripe grapes), and pokeweed (not a vine, but it can be mixed into thickets that also include grapes; fruits branch off a very straight stalk that's often reddish).

Enough warnings. We've taught 3-year-olds to reliably recognize wild grapes...you can do it too.

In the wild: Wild grapes need some sunlight to fruit well but they also like the support of trees. They generally thrive where there has been a disturbance in the forest canopy, or on the trees on the edge of a forest. There are tons of grapes out there that you have no hope of reaching, but every once in a while, a younger vine will have some fruit low enough for you to get a taste.

In your yard: Wild grapes are a lot easier to grow than cultivated grapes, in the sense that they don't get as many pests and diseases. But the vines can grow up to 75 feet long. They'll do best in full sun, on a trellis. You can also try a more naturalistic planting, as long as there's something for the tendrils to wrap around for support.

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LOOK FOR: Acorns of many shapes and sizes - an identification guide for 12 common oak species

There are 90 species of oak in North America. Their acorns are an important food for a broad diversity of wildlife, from insects to deer. And historically, they were a staple food for Native Americans in this area.

Oaks are generally split into two groups: "red" and "white." Red oaks have leaves whose lobes come to a point, with a little bristle on each point. Their acorns take two years to mature, so even as they're dropping this year's crop, they've already got half-grown acorns for next year. White oaks have leaves with more rounded lobes, typically lighter-colored bark, and their acorns take only one year to mature. But even within those two groups, there's a wonderful diversity of acorn shapes and sizes. Below are a selection of some of the acorns you might see in the greater DC area. (We've tried to line them up so they're to scale.) How many can you find in the wild?

Red Oaks

Northern Red Oak Quercus rubra	Southern red oak Quercus falcata	Black oak Quercus velutina
Willow Oak Quercus phellos	Pin oak Quercus palustris	Blackjack oak Quercus marilandica

White Oaks

White oak Quercus alba	Overcup oak Quercus lyrata	Swamp white oak Quercus bicolor

Chestnut oak Quercus prinus	Post oak Quercus stellata	Bur oak Quercus macrocarpa

One way to really get familiar with acorns is to collect them for Growing Native. The Potomac Conservancy will use them to replant buffer zones along the Potomac and its tributaries. This improves water quality and provides important wildlife habitat. You can donate collected acorns until October 26 in Virginia and October 31 in  Maryland and DC.

All photos by Steve Hurst at the amazing USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database, except the post oak acorns, which are from the magnificent old tree here at The Natural Capital headquarters.

LOOK FOR: Spicebush Berries

If you have ever been hiking in the woods in the DC area, chances are you've walked by hundreds of spicebush shrubs. They've got small yellow flowers in the spring, then they form a nondescript green backdrop in the woods for the rest of the summer. Until September -- when their berries turn bright red.

Spicebush can grow up to 20 feet tall, but we commonly see them at about 5-10 feet. The leaves have smooth edges and alternate along the branch. As fall progresses, the leaves will turn yellow.  The berries may remain on the shrub after the leaves have fallen off, but the birds may get to them first.

The twigs, leaves, and berries of spicebush all have a smell reminiscent of nutmeg or allspice when crushed.  Presumably, the Latin name Lindera benzoin was given as a reference to benzoin resin, which was used to make incense and perfume in Asia and Europe.  It's actually more related to laurels, including the bay laurel that gives us bay leaves.

Spicebush parts don't just smell good -- you can use them as a spice. The twigs can be brewed in hot water to make tea. Berries can be used fresh or frozen, as an allspice substitute. (Steve Brill recommends against drying.) We'll often cook them up with sliced apples to make a delicious topping for pancakes. Each berry has a single seed inside, which can be ground up with the rest if you're going to use it as a spice -- that's a lot less work than trying to get the seed out of each one. 

As you're looking for the berries, also take a peek if you see any leaves folded over. You might find the caterpillar of a spicebush swallowtail butterfly, whose only host plant is the spicebush. They're lovely black butterflies, but their caterpillars are adorable -- they have big eyespots that make them look like a cartoon snake. You might also find the caterpillar of a promethea silkmoth, a large and beautiful moth that we have seen far more as a cocoon hanging from spicebush than in any other stage of its life cycle.

In the wild: Spicebush is one of the dominant understory shrubs in our local forest.  In Rock Creek Park, we recently noticed large groves on both sides of the Valley Trail, in the section east of Boundary Bridge.

In your yard: Spicebush need shade, but a few hours of sun will encourage them to flower more and set more fruit. They can also suffer if they get too dry, especially as they're getting established -- they'll do best with reasonably moist soil.

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LOOK FOR: Paw Paws

The paw paw is the largest fruit of any native plant in our area. And you can eat it. And they should be ripening over the next few weeks. Need I say more?

Paw paw fruits have a green skin and soft yellow flesh, and are typically about the size of two golf balls stacked together. The flavor has been described as similar to many different things -- banana, custard, mango -- but really it has its own taste. Pawpaws can have an unusual aftertaste that limit me to enjoying one or two fruits. But those few fruits are such a treat when they come from the forest!

Paw Paw (Asimina triloba) is the northernmost member of the Annonaceae family, which includes other tropical fruits such as the soursop. I had always thought they were related to papaya, but apparently it is in name (and somewhat appearance) only.

Immature paw paw trees are abundant in the forests in and around Washington, DC. When young, they look more like an understory shrub than a fruit-bearing tree. You will often see groves of them growing together, because they can spread by underground roots. Their large, broad leaves (6 to 12 inches long) alternate along the branches and have a distinctive smell when they are rubbed or broken. (It reminds me of kerosene.)

It seems only a small fraction of the abundant small trees actually become large enough to bear fruit. They also fruit more when the trees that allowed them to thrive as shade-loving seedlings die and fall, leaving the pawpaws with more sun. Under the right conditions, they can bear quite a crop. Paw paws attract not only humans but are also a good food source for racoons, opossums, and squirrels. (As an added bonus, the leaves of the paw paw tree are the larval food of beautiful zebra swallowtail butterflies.)

For harvesting, you want the fruit to be quite soft; the best way to find ripe fruits is to shake the tree and go after the ones that fall down. The skin will be green even when ripe.

In the wild: We seem to find the most large, fruit bearing trees along the Potomac flood plain. Look for breaks in the tree canopy where pawpaws may be getting more sun. We've seen numerous fruits recently (not yet ripe) on trees in the Carderock area and at Scott's Run...and even a few in Rock Creek Park.

In your yard: Pawpaws were once cultivated by Native Americans, and Thomas Jefferson is said to have planted them at Monticello - so you'd be in good company if you want to try to grow one. They're supposed to be easy to start from seed. You might have the best luck with seed collected from racoon or opossum scat. However, that presages a challenge to getting the fruit from your trees -- the raccoons may beat you to them.

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LOOK FOR: Chicken of the Woods

Chicken of the woods is a great mushroom with a great name. The fungus forms overlapping orange fans that look a little like the tailfeathers of a chicken. And if you cook it and eat it (only after careful ID, please!) you may find the texture a lot like chicken, too.

Before the tree leaves start to change, there isn't much orange in the woods. So chicken of the woods (also known as sulfur shelf, or Laetiporus sulphureus, literally "bright-pored sulphur-yellow") can be eye-catching even from quite a distance. There are actually two varieties. One is bright orange on top, with bright sulphur-yellow underneath. It always grows on tree trunks (standing or fallen). The other is a paler orange on top, and nearly white on the underside. It often grows from tree roots. Both have tiny pores on the underside, rather than the gills you see on grocery store mushrooms.

Chicken of the woods is fairly difficult to confuse with other mushroom species once you know what you're looking for. Still, if you want to eat the mushrooms you find, we highly recommend a foray with the Mycological Association of Washington. If you can't make it out with the group, get yourself a couple of ID books to cross-check your identification. And, even once you're sure you've got the right fungus, start out by eating only a little bit and see how it sits with you. For a small percentage of people, chicken of the woods can cause stomach upset.

In the wild: As the name suggests, look in the woods -- although we've seen a few specimens of the root-growing variety coming up in suburban yards, we've found far more of the tree-growing variety in the woods. If you find some, check back again next year in the same spot -- they can come back several years in a row.

In your yard: Although there are companies that sell mushroom kits, we haven't seen this species for sale yet. You'll just have to go for a walk in the woods!

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LOOK FOR: Goldfinches

Goldfinches are one of the most brightly colored common birds in the DC area. If you saw one in a tropical area, you might be transfixed...but here, it's just a goldfinch. Well, stop and let yourself be transfixed anyway. They're lovely birds.

It's the male goldfinch that's a showy yellow-and-black bird. The female is the same size and shape, but is much duller-colored. You'll often see them together in pairs (they're monogamous) or groups. During the winter, the males will molt and take on the duller colors of the female. They'll grow brighter feathers again in the spring in time for mating season, which is the real purpose of all that color, after all.

Unlike most birds, goldfinches rely almost entirely on seeds; they don't seek out insects for food at all. In fact, you could call them "thistle birds" -- the first part of the Latin name Carduelis tristis comes from Carduus, a genus of thistle found in Europe and Asia. (The species name, tristis, comes from the Latin for "sad," which makes no sense to me - anyone?)

Around August, the goldfinches start to regularly come to our yard to eat the seeds of our summer flowers. Among the flowers we offer, they seem to be particularly attracted to anise hyssop, purple coneflower, oxeye sunflower, and black-eyed susan. In the spring it also brings in the goldfinches when we let the kale and cilantro go to seed in the vegetable garden. Other flowers reported as attractive include milkweed, asters, and sunflowers. They'll also feed on grasses and the seeds of trees, including alder, birch, western red cedar, and elm.

Besides looking for the distinctive yellow markings, you can learn to listen for the song of the goldfinch. This video has a good example:

In the wild: Look for meadows on edges of woods. Goldfinches will feed on the seeds of the sun-loving flowers in the meadow (where you'll be able to see them better), but nest in the trees and shrubs.

In your yard: You can purchase birdfeeders specially designed for goldfinches, and fill them with thistle or nyjer seed. Squirrels seem less interested in these tiny seeds than in a typical birdseed mix, but be careful -- those plants may start growing where you don't want them from spilled seed. Goldfinches will also eat sunflower seeds out of a more typical birdseed. Or, just plant yourself a goldfinch garden with some of the native flowers listed above.

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LOOK FOR: Sumac Berries

Lemonade is a major staple in our household over the summer months. For a special treat, we make lemonade without lemon juice -- we brew it from lemony sumac berries.

There are actually several varieties of sumac in our area. All get extremely distinctive clusters of dark red, hairy berries in the late summer. And they all have pinnate leaves (multiple leaflets on a stem form the larger leaf) that turn gorgeous shades of red to purple in the fall.

Rhus typhina, staghorn sumac, is the giant of the genus, growing up to 25 feet tall. It has fuzz on the stems very much like the fuzz that covers new antlers on a deer. Rhus coppalina, shining or winged sumac, has "wings" on its stems; Rhus glabra, or smooth sumac, has smooth (not winged or fuzzy) stems. And the distinguishing characteristic of Rhus aromatica, or fragrant sumac? Its leaves have a distinctive odor when crushed.

Worried about poison sumac? It's actually an unrelated shrub (Toxicodendron vernix) that is not very common in the DC area. Its berries are white, so it is not likely that you will confuse it with non-poison sumac if you are out looking for red berries. But you're right to worry -- it will give you a rash, just like its much closer relative poison ivy (Toxicodendrum radicans).

To make sumac lemonade, cut off a few heads of berries with some garden clippers. Soak them in a half-gallon of water for half an hour or more. This will leach out the ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) and its lemony flavor, along with enough color to give you pink lemonade. You can crush the berries a little with your hands to help the process along. There's a sweet spot you're looking for -- too little soaking won't give enough flavor, but too much will start to leach out the tannins and make your lemonade taste more like tea. Pour the liquid through a strainer to get out the hairs, then sweeten to taste.

There's one catch: just like the lemony goodness of the sumac berries will leach out into your pitcher of water, it will leach out in the rain. So you may find lovely bunches of sumac berries that have very little flavor. Before picking, take a little taste test of one of the berries. It should be noticeably tart. If not, look for another bunch -- preferably one that's been more sheltered from the rain.

In the wild: Sumac is very common in the DC area. We see it most frequently on roadsides -- it likes the sun. All four varieties of sumac native to our area are growing around Lake Artemesia -- take an ID book and see if you can find each species! The berries are good food for birds, so please don't take too many heads of sumac, and be sure to use whatever you do pick. Also be sure not to pick in a park that doesn't allow it.

In your yard: Sumac has a reputation for being very aggressive -- it spreads by underground roots and can take over an area. Which makes it great for roadsides, but not so much in your yard -- unless you have a lot of space.

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LOOK FOR: Monarch caterpillars (and raise them!)

The life cycle of a monarch butterfly is pretty amazing. And you can not only watch, but be a part of helping to make it happen.

Over the summer months in our area, there are multiple generations of monarchs. Adults mate and then lay their eggs on the leaves of milkweed plants. Caterpillars hatch from the eggs and proceed to devour as much milkweed as possible for the next two weeks or so of their lives, shedding their skin several times as they grow.

When they're ready, the monarch caterpillars will look for a good place to pupate, attach themselves upside down with a strong mass of silk threads, and shed their skins one more time. Their next skin hardens into a beautiful chrysalis, like jade decorated with sparkling gold.

Inside the chrysalis, the monarch pupa takes another two weeks or so to transform into a butterfly. The night before it is ready to hatch, you can see the butterfly inside: the chrysalis looks as if it has turned from green to black.

Early in the morning, the butterfly will split open its chrysalis, crawl out, and hang from the empty shell. It must pump fluid into its wings before they will stretch out to their full size. Here's a video we made a few years ago of the whole process as it took place in our kitchen:



Want to try your hand at it? To find caterpillars to raise, look for milkweed. Try looking along roadsides, the edges of playgrounds, or other "waste" places. Remember the caterpillars can be very small when they first hatch. They're probably trying to hide from you and the birds -- look on the undersides of leaves.

Before you bring any caterpillars home, make sure your schedule will allow you to replenish their food supply (milkweed leaves) every day or two. The leaves need to be kept fresh -- the best way seems to be picking whole stems and keeping them in water like cut flowers. We usually do this in a jar with holes poked in the lid, so the caterpillars can't fall into the water (we've drowned a few).

Your caterpillars will be so intent on eating that you don't have to do anything to cage them until the end of their larvaehood. But when they're ready to pupate, they will wander. We put ours in a small aquarium, and they attach themselves to the sides or the screen on top. You can also get a container made especially for raising butterflies.

Report back in the comments and let us know how it goes -- or share your own tips for raising butterflies!

LOOK FOR: Tiger Swallowtails

DC may be erupting in flowers, but there's something about seeing my first tiger swallowtail that makes me feel like it's really spring. In the fall, tiger swallowtails will form a chrysalis in which they'll spend the whole winter, waiting for the right time to emerge. And then, on some warm, sunny day in April or May, you'll see one fluttering by. And you'll know: winter's really over. In June, you'll start to see more. Summer's here.

Tiger swallowtails are large butterflies (they can have a wingspan up to 6 inches), and their black-and-yellow pattern is hard to miss. They have slightly different markings depending on whether they're male or female. The female has more blue on its bottom wings; males have little to no blue. (Just remember, blue is for...girls.) It must be this blue that Linneus was referring to when he gave this butterfly its species name, Papilio glaucus: "glaucus" can mean cerulean blue.

Remarkably, females can also be almost entirely black. There is some speculation that this might be mimicry of the pipevine swallowtail, which is much rarer in the DC area. It's also easy to confuse the black form of female tiger swallowtails with other black-colored swallowtails, such as the spicebush and black swallowtails. If you compare the two pictures on the right of the post, you'll see the edges of the wings are almost identical, but the blue is less pronounced. (Spicebush swallowtail has light blue, not yellow, spots on the edges of the wings; black swallowtail has more yellow on the wings.) They're all lovely.

In your yard: To attract tiger swallowtails temporarily, plant nectar flowers. But to really support them, plant one of their host plants -- which will provide the leaves the caterpillars need to eat. These include several trees; black cherry and tuliptree are favorites.

In the wild: You'll see tiger swallowtails in both woods and open fields. We've noticed they like to fly over trails and streams, perhaps because there are fewer obstacles. They sometimes will "puddle" in a sunny, muddy area, where they absorb minerals from the mud.

Sources for this post:

• Douglas Tallamy, Bringing Nature Home: How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants
• Amy Bartlett Wright, Peterson First Guide to Caterpillars of North America