January 2018
Good Morning from the eastern Florida Panhandle! Today's bucket shows off the various places I've explored in these first few weeks of the new year. I've posted many a photo of these spots over the years but there is always something new if you slow down and look. Sharing has also been a great way for me to solidify the learning so here we go.
The cover photo was taken at Spring Canyon in western Gadsden county - a Longleaf pine sandhill being to restored to its ancient greatness, or at least as well as can be done nowadays with so many bad things beating up our natural world. Over the last few years I've been helping Ms. Helen hand-clear the encroaching hardwoods coming up the slopes. All that fuel we cut and piled last spring will be burned later this month. And I got to help Helen and Tom put the finishing touches on the new UTV-capable bridge over one of the seepage streams. Sorry I did not take a photo of its completion.
From Gholson Nature Park:
Trilliums! 1000s of trilliums as we worked the slopes removing invasive plants.
Below is one of the many invasives we've been removing over the last decade. If you picture the park as a bowl with steep sides but opening on the west side to the floodplain of the Apalachicola River, the rim is surrounded by homes and all the various exotics planted over the years. Back in the '50s the Garden Club actually encouraged the planting of Coral Ardisia.
Our usual group of 5 was treated to this colony of Tipularia that will be flowering in April-May.
Not too far down the slope from the street is this Beech tree that found a way to hang on despite being toppled. I’ve seen lots of Sourwood do this lateral growth but I thought it was unusual for a Beech.
Runoff from the city streets has added to the normal channel creating deep dark holes like this.
On the other hand, the exposed banks provide sheltered space for plants like this Christmas fern.
Halfway down this section of the slope it leveled off and there's a small pond formed long ago by someone's dam. Such things are no longer allowed but over time it now has its own micro-environment with plants that would not usually be there. I think this is a River Birch - telltale shaggy bark and limited to the edges of the river — but then I’ve never seen one this shaggy. And with the bumpy bark, maybe a Hackberry or else a Myrtle Holly usually found in wet areas. Hard to tell without leaves.
From my yard in eastern Gadsden county:
The Water Oak, the one with multiple Pileated Woodpecker holes that broke off in a summer storm, is well on its way back to earth. An early colonizer…
A very common plant I just learned from someone's share on FB. It's everywhere in our woods - Sanicula sp. aka Black-snakeroot. I guess I should dig one up and see if the roots are black and snakey.
Not really a complaint, especially compared to everyone north of me, but we are getting our coldest days this winter. Sleet is expected but not snow. The high for the day was 43º and that was at 5:30 AM when I woke. Daytime high will not reach 40 and a hard freeze with temps down near 20 is forecast the next 2 nights. A hard North wind drops our windchill down to the teens. Anyways, y'all are welcome (and encouraged) to comment with tales of how cold is it in your backyard and observations of your birds, bugs, critters and plants.
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