Ohio is home to about 1,800 native plants, and some of them get more love than others. The state wildflower, large-flowered trillium, is a spectacular sign of spring, and it's oohed and aahed over.

Pokeweed, or inkberry if you prefer, emerges in the spring as a clump of large pale green, pointed oval leaves, each about eight inches long. If you try to pull it up, it almost always breaks off, ...

When birdwatcher Patricia Scanlon wrote to ask if I would write a column on pokeweed and all of its benefits for wildlife, I had a nice little feeling of affirmation. Just last year, I decided to let ...