Petaluma Nature Almanac: Buckeye State of Mind

Today is the fourth Friday of the month, and that means it's time for the Petaluma Nature Almanac. My latest column covers the California buckeye, perhaps my favorite tree and one of my favorite plants, period. 

Here's how it starts: "They say life finds a way. It survives in the strangest of places, in innumerable forms. It bides its time and adapts to novel conditions. It exploits miniscule niches to feed, finds the most ingenious ways to reproduce, and defends itself creatively but fiercely.

This makes me think of the California buckeye."