Mt Pleasant – October 2016

It was very damp – almost raining – last Saturday during my hike at The Howard County Conservancy’s Mt Pleasant Farm. I took a few pictures to document the day: black walnuts on the ground in various stages of ripeness,

Colorful dogwood and grass along the drive to the farmhouse….and a zoomed view of the grass.

But the biggest surprise of the hike was some chicken of the woods fungus growing high on a tree near the stream. I was leading a hike so I only took time to take one picture….and then went back again yesterday to take some more documentary pictures. The one below shows that the fungus is at least 10 feet above ground level (near the middle of the image below).

Zoomed in a little – it appears to be growing in a groove in the trunk…maybe a place where lightning damaged the tree. The tree may be standing deadwood since it had no leaves.

Zoomed some more – the groove where the fungus is growing has no bark.

I walked a little further to take some pictures from directly underneath. The underside of the fungus seemed to glow in the morning sunlight.

There were other things to see as well yesterday: the fork in the path down to the stream,

Water on horse nettle fruits and past-prime flowers (the water on the grass soaked through the tops of my hiking boots and got my feet wet!),

And the larger rocks deposited by the storms of last summer at the ‘beach’ area of the stream.

I hiked back to the nature center to get ready to hike with first graders. It was quite a change from last week’s fifth graders!

Mt. Pleasant – September 2016

Earlier this month I posted some images of ‘minutes in the meadow’ at Mt. Pleasant – but fall is such a great time around the Howard County Conservancy place that I more to share from other times I was at Mt. Pleasant. The black walnuts are still green but beginning to turn. Their out hull will be oozing black before too long.

The pine trees have their cones – like decorations.

The horse nettles are still blooming

But there are fruits that are forming as well.

The chicory is still blooming too

And hoverflies abound.

But the big showy plant of September is the goldenrod – it is a sweep of yellow in the meadow –

Tall and lush --- providing food for the butterflies. The monarchs need it for their migration southward.

In our area – the fall usually peaks in mid to late October. We have had some leaves falling already – not pretty ones; the early leaf fall has been from dry weather in late summer. We are getting some rain this week but it may to too late to give us a brilliant fall. October will tell.

Buttonbush – Pickerel Weed – Horse Nettle

There are other plants at Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens besides water lilies and lotuses. Three that I noticed – and was pleased that I recognized – were buttonbush, pickerel weed, and horse nettle. The button bush grows at the edges of many of the ponds – often under a larger tree so that the bush is at least partially in the shade.

The flowers form round balls on the plant. They are green toward the center then white.

And the bees love them at certain stages of their bloom.

The pickerel week grows at the edge of ponds – in wetter ground that the button bush – and it likes full sun.

The arrow shaped leaves point upward.

The flowers start blooming at the bottom and move up to the tip of the stem….keeping the bees happy for the duration.

I spotted horse nettle near the ponds as well. This is a weed that is native…and very common to our area. It grows in our front flower bed (where I promptly pull it up) and in the meadow at the Howard County Conservancy. During the fall hikes the children always comment about this plant’s yellow fruits that look like tomatoes….and I tell them right away that they may look like tomatoes but they are definitely not tomatoes; the fruits are poisonous.