Ah, spring! After a whacky winter of ice and snow, and temperatures more suited to May, I can finally get back to my garden, and begin a new season of planning and planting.
But I also want to get some writing done, and because I am an avid gardener and we are supposed to “write what we know,” I’m going to weave in some information about flora to help set the scene for my romance in the Poconos. Now, I know plenty about garden plants, but not so much about that native shrubs and bushes out there. So where do I turn? There is plenty of solid information on the web if you don’t have time to get out there in the woods yourself to experience the thorns and brambles of real life.
The North American Native Plant Society has a cool database of native plants that you can peruse: http://nanps.org/native-plant-database/. Maybe I’ll have the gallant gent meet the pretty damsel in the middle of a patch of maidenhair fern (habitat: woodland; light requirements: part sun, shade).
Now if I want to set my cozy mystery in Vermont, what kind of forest would surround that remote cabin where the body is found? The Arbor Day Foundation has guide to nearly 200 types of trees at https://www.arborday.org/trees/treeguide/. And if I want to give some details about the big limb that crushed the bad guy at the climax of my novella, I could consult the ADF’s page on the anatomy of a tree.
I can also look at this post on the Scientific American blog that discusses what kinds of trees are most vulnerable to windthrows – or toppling over in a storm: https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/why-do-trees-topple-in-a-storm/. The taller the tree, the greater the risk. OK, I’ll go with a balsam fir.
Oh, but I just realized a better murder weapon might be a poisonous mushroom! The USDA’s Forest Service website https://www.fs.fed.us/nrs/pubs/gtr/gtr_nrs79.pdf tells me never to eat any wild mushrooms unless I’m absolutely positive I know what I’m eating. Sounds like a perfect crime set-up to me. Perusing the site, I saw photos of a mossy maze polypore, studied the parts of a mushroom, and learned that those pretty golden capped mushrooms that grow in fairy rings in my yard are poisonous amanitas!
Or, what if the victim eats poisonous berries out there in the woods? The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia offers a list of the most poisonous at http://www.chop.edu/centers-programs/poison-control-center/poisonous-berries. And I always thought pokeweed berries looked so delicious…
Switching back to my own garden, or rather, the garden in my thriller, what kinds of flowers might brighten up the plant bed where the buried treasure is found? The seed company Burpee has advice on what to put in a flower garden, https://www.burpee.com/gardenadvicecenter/annuals/general-gardening/flower-gardens/article10014.html. They also offer a long list of flowers and their descriptions, https://www.burpee.com/flowers/.
Or perhaps I could season a scene in my new fantasy novel with an herb or two. The Penn State Extension website has plenty of information on growing herbs outdoors: https://extension.psu.edu/growing-herbs-outdoors.
To make my horror short story more creepy, I could consult the Missouri Botanical Garden’s site on garden pests, http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/gardens-gardening/your-garden/help-for-the-home-gardener/advice-tips-resources/pests-and-problems.aspx.
And finally, if I want to move the crime indoors, this post from the Den Garden offers a list of toxic houseplants: https://dengarden.com/gardening/Dangerous-Beauties-Twenty-Toxic-Houseplants-to-Avoid-Around-Children-and-Pets. Looks like oleander would be the most effective, although the lily is moderately poisonous.
I hope you find these seeds for thought useful. Happy spring writing!