There is a plant that interests me as much in the depths of winter, as when it’s green and juicy. One of the last weeds still standing, gangly Pokeweeds’s bleached skeletons rear up along the forest edge, offering a few shriveled berries to animals sheltering there.
As a former visual artist and botanical illustrator, I also dabbled in darkroom photography for a few years. Sometimes in the depths of winter when the landscape is drained of color, I get the urge to use black and white again. ( 12/9 Liquid Frozen ). One late afternoon last week, the light playing on the wasted stems of winter weeds was just right for photography- soft and luminous with no harsh shadows.
In our color saturated world of images, the intentional use of black and white may seem as perversely retro as records on turntables. But I think it still has a place – as a way to hone down a subject, enhance a feeling sensed by the photographer. The art lies in expressing that original sensation – which thankfully can now be done with a simple photo editor. These pics started as ordinary color images, and were whittled down in an attempt to capture what first caught my eye.
Much like bl & wh photography, Pokeweed gets mixed reviews. A Google search turns up all the different ways to kill it, as well as pleas from bird lovers to let it stay. There’s no doubt it’s a berry bounty, with long dangling racemes each holding thirty or more juicy dark purple fruits. That’s a lot of weight for a non-woody stem. In fact, looking at the winter limbs, one can see how the branch structure is adapted just for bearing this heavy load, and dangling it out where birds will notice.
The secret to Pokeweed’s architectural strength appears to be its unique branching angles, forking this way and that, but somehow balancing out strong and stable. I’ve never seen a Pokeweed branch break under it’s berry load.
This frost-split stem shows another Pokeweed attribute – chambered pith. Rather than a continuous spongy pith, inside the mostly hollow stem are rows and rows of little clear circles, whose exact purpose I could not discover. Apparently walnuts and some other fast growing plants share this unique trait.
As we move toward spring, the last standing wrecks of Pokeweed are falling to frost, wind, and trampling deer. Soon, fat clusters of lurid green shoots will nose up from the wreckage. I can’t wait to see it.
one forest fragment 
blissgrey
Is Pokeweed native in Kentucky? I never thought to let it stand for the birds. I have been told that the mature plants are poisonous, so your Poke Salad should be made using only the young leaves. I assumed the berries were poisonous, and never let them grow.
LikeLike
Beth
I’m learning to leave more plants/weeds alone & observe them over the winter months. I love our little plot of land and all the flora & fauna that grace it. Thank you for all the education you provide!
Also, as much as I despise the plethora of bush honeysuckle that grows here, I do find the bigger limbs make excellent, sturdy walking sticks. I also use them to build trellises for my garden and like them for row markers, too. I do have to be careful because the young, newly cut sticks have sprouted in my raised beds!
LikeLiked by 1 person
oneforestfragment
Thank-you Beth! I saw an article about a woodworker who makes elegant table legs with the huge multistemed bases of bush honeysuckle.
LikeLike
shoreacres
I enjoyed your photos, and that look inside the desiccated stalks. I’ve never seen pokeweed at that stage. It may be that I haven’t recognized it. As for color, I’ve read that camera phones tend to saturate colors more deeply than DSLR cameras, and that the practice has led people to over-saturate in post-processing. In any case, and even though I tend to prefer color to B&W, sometimes it’s perfect for things like winter landscapes. It certainly works here.
LikeLiked by 1 person
oneforestfragment
Thank-you -the intersection between the “real” world and our images of it is an interesting place. I am also guilty of color enhancing!
LikeLiked by 1 person
tonytomeo
I never would have looked at it that closely. It just gets cut down. It just showed up here few years ago, and has really gotten around. It makes a nice brown ink that is even prettier before it oxidizes to brown.
LikeLiked by 1 person
oneforestfragment
Yes – the pigment is a shockingly lovely shade of magenta, you always know when this berry has been pooped on your car!
LikeLiked by 1 person
tonytomeo
I sort of thin that the magenta is prettier than the brown. It stays magenta for quite a while, even after fermented. The color reminds me of the 1980s, and it seems odd that it was popular during the Early American period.
LikeLike