Centennial Park in the Cold

Centennial Park on a cold gray day in winter looks deserted initially. There are no fishermen on the shore or in small boats…not women pushing strollers along the path around the lake…no groups of power walkers.

I didn’t stay very long – only enough to notice a young oak with leaves still clinging while all the other trees around were bare. There was a breeze that cause riffles in the lake so the reflections were only good where the jetty acted to smooth the water. This time of year the red railing is a welcome bit of color.

In the few minutes I was there, I did see 4 other people walking. One had a dog. They were all bundled up I their coats, gloves, hats and scarves. They were tougher than me in the cold damp of an early winter day.

Centennial Park Reflections

There were thick clouds the morning I walked around Centennial Lake; the light made for muted reflections rather than crisp clean lines in the water and blue sky above the line of trees…but I enjoyed the challenge and got a few images that I like well enough to share.

There was a pile of rocks that has been extending into the lake long enough for vegetation to take root. The reflections of the plants growing on the rocks are reflected as well as the trees from the opposite bank of the lake. I liked the muted fall colors.

The trees are still mostly green but there is an occasional bright red. I wondered if the fishermen thought the fish were lurching in the water near the bright color!

The bridge over an inlet to the lake can always be counted on for color – and again there was a fishing boat nearby. The trees appear to be on the verge of losing their green; it should be all the colors of fall by the end of the month.

Centennial Lake in the morning has a good orientation for reflections. My challenge is to go back on another morning toward the end of the month when there is no breeze….to get the glory of fall foliage in the trees and reflections.

Centennial Park Close Ups

Cloudy days are opportunities for some close-up photography. That was my first thought when I walked around Centennial Lake (Howard County Maryland) last week. The poke weed seeds stalks are quite distinctive….a nice color contrast with the green of their leaves.

Queen Anne’s Lace grows between the rocks on the dam that creates the water

As do other plants that are racing to bloom and create their seeds before frost.

A beech tree is shedding its seeds into the mulch bed (and lichen) along the walk near the boat rental

And an oak leaf – still retaining some green – has landed there as well.

I was looking carefully in that mulch bed for the birds nest fungus I had found there earlier in the season. Many of the cups were washed clean of their ‘eggs’ (spore cases) by last week's rain (or maybe an earlier rain) and the runoff had broken up some of the mats. There were some small mushrooms growing nearby – looking very delicate compared to the other plants and big leaves.

In the walk back to the car – I noticed several other plants in bloom

And some were dispersing their seed, already prepared for winter.

A Story Derived from Feathers

As I neared the boat ramp near Centennial Lake I noticed a relatively large feather on the sidewalk.

I noticed other feathers caught in the grooves of the ramp

And in the grass.

Then I noticed there were a lot more feathers near the parking area.

The breeze was already separating them so I must have just barely missed the action.

What do you think happened?

The feathers are all dark and quite large. There were enough of them on the ground that it was obvious that they belonged to a bird that did not survive. The bird that attacked must have been large as well….and carried the prey away from the area.

Woodland Gardening

Last week I attended at session on Woodland Gardening at the Maryland Master Naturalist Annual Conference….which influenced my observations during a walk at Centennial Lake this past weekend.

The idea of woodland gardening is to create outdoor spaces that mimic woodlands. My planting the sassafras and spice bush in the back of my yard - moving the forest further into my ‘yard’ by another 3 feet - was my first attempt at it but I’m already thinking about my next project and looking at woodlands for ideas.

The talk presented some principles of woodland gardening and I noticed examples of these in my walk:

Distill the essence of the forest. One ‘essence’ that I find awe inspiring is the view upward. It would take a long time to create such a few in a garden. I will be content with the wall of green where the forest begins toward the back of my yard.

Celebrate light. I noticed light that filtered through the trees to the woodland floor

And highlighted leaves of the trees from above.

Sculpt with layers…which means mimicking or allowing succession to take place.I noticed that the park maintenance was not cutting as much of the grassy area around the lake - letting a meadow develop. There was a lot more milkweed in the park than in previous years which bodes well for any Monarch Butterflies in the area.

Integrate woodland textures. There are redbuds planned along some of the walkways at the edge of the forest. Their heart shaped leaves and bean-like seed pods are like a gateway to the larger trees in the forest.