Meadow at Lake Springfield Boathouse

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I opted to drive myself the Lake Springfield boathouse last week so I could photograph the meadow/prairie and the other plantings near the boathouse before the rest of the Identifying Woody Plants class arrived. The beautyberry was spectacular! I am so glad I planted some in my yard recently and hope it makes it through the winter to be a great plant next year.

The common milkweed had already been cut down but there were several pods spilling their seeds where the plants once stood.

The asters seemed to be hosting the most insects in the meadow/prairie area. I was thrilled to see Monarch butterflies; they were large ones…the ones that go all the way to Mexico for the winter. The thistles were releasing their seeds and the golden rods were the second most popular nectar plant for insects.

It was a great day to see the meadow in fall glory!

Missouri Master Naturalist Training – Week 2

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During last week’s class, we headed out to Kickapoo Edge Prairie which is a small area of the Springfield Botanical Gardens that is being managed as a reconstructed prairie.

Along the way we stopped at the rain garden and I got the last good light to photograph some seed pods there.

A paved walk runs through the prairie making it easy to see many native species of grasses and prairie flowers. This time of year, the goldenrods are blooming, and the milkweed pods are fat – not popped open yet. The prairie is surrounded by trees of the garden so keeping woody growth out is challenging; they clip and drip (herbicide on the cut stem) plus do burns periodically. One woody plant they are letting stay so far is Smooth Sumac. They have two sizes of ragweed – a regular sized plant and some giant plants; I was surprised that I did not have any allergy problems after the walk. On a more positive note:  there is a passionflower native to Missouri (Passiflora incarnata) and there was a plant blooming in this prairie!

The class included a discussion of native plants…focusing on plants that do well in yards around our homes.

Our field trip to La Petite Gemme Prairie was last weekend. It is about 40 miles north of the Springfield Botanical Gardens. I took a few pictures at the gardens where we met before heading to the prairies for carpool organization  since parking is limited at the prairie location: a playground silver maple and a nearby yellow poplar…both displaying some fall color. There were also leaves on the ground with interesting nodules (insects?). It was a great day for a field trip – in the 70s, a little breezy, cloudy but getting sunny later.

At the prairie before we started our session I noticed a path mowed through it and took a few pictures before the program started.

We were divided into groups. My first session was about the nature photography. We walked through the tall grass and up a hill (i.e. not the mowed path). I was glad I had my jeans tucked into my socks and some gaiters over that. It was my first experience walking through a prairie!

My favorite flowers of the day were the Prairie Gentians (Gentiana puberulenta)

But several different kinds of goldenrods and blazing stars were great to photograph too.

Our second session was to id as many plants as we could encircled by a hula-hoop. Most of us used the SEEK app although we quickly learned that it is hard to get good focus on the plant to id with all the other plants crowded close together…and the breeze moving everything.

Of course, there are small creatures about too…I managed to photography a grasshopper and a yellow spider.

The third session was an intro to nature journalling. We spred out along the mowed path. I thought about the layering of the prairie…the shortest to tallest plants; the plants are very dense closer to the ground; usually the grasses are the highest although some sunflowers get tall. I noticed a barbed wire fence (probably the boundary of the prairie) and how tall the plants were on the other side…including some woody plants; it takes work to maintain the prairie as it is.

On the way to our fourth session, I photographed a wasp (Great golden digger wasp, Sphex ichneumoneous?) on a goldenrod.

The fourth session was about seed dispersal. The ones that stuck to my clothes mainly during the hike in the first session were champion hitchhikers, but I managed to get most of them off before we headed home. So far, I don’t think I was bitten by anything!

A wonderful way to spend a Saturday morning!

Fall Meadow at Lake Springfield Boathouse (1)

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We visited the meadow near the Lake Springfield (Missouri) Boathouse last week  on a sunny, but relatively cool fall morning. Near the Boathouse, I noticed some beautyberry and asters.

The large cup plant has already been cut down - the stumps of the 4-angled square stems obvious.

We noticed that the purple martin houses had been taken down; there were big mowers in the area around the boathouse as we walked toward the meadow.

A lot of meadow plants have already produced seed. The goldenrods and asters are still blooming…and a few thistles.  

The area that becomes an overflow creek during heavy rains was dry but there were some interesting plants around it:

Invasive bush honeysuckle with lots of red berries.

Seed pods of mallows.

There was only one milkweed plant I saw in the meadow…and wondered what happened to the plants I had seen earlier in the season. Perhaps they fell over, and the other plants hid them?

On the other side of the visitor center, I did find some milkweed with bursting seed ponds. The plants had fallen over but the seeds were still spilling out and floating away.

The vines in the trees were easy to see. The leaves on both poison ivy and Virginia creeper turn red in the fall! The edge of the forest is full of trees with the vines growing up the trunks and into the higher branches.

Tomorrow’s post will be about the insects we saw.

Sophia M. Sachs Butterly House

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After a day at the Missouri Botanical Garden – we headed to the Sophia M. Sachs Butterfly House near St. Louis MO the next morning. Its another facility that is part of the Missouri Botanical Garden. We were there a few minutes before it opened and walked around the outside gardens. It included a giant butterfly and caterpillar sculpture!

There was also a butterfly bench like the ones in Brookside Gardens in Maryland!

There were many fall plants blooming too – including cone flowers, butterfly weed, and goldenrod.

We entered the building as it opened. Everything had a butterfly theme – even a wall sculpture near the restrooms.

The conservatory is a year-round climate-controlled space for butterflies. We were familiar with many of the butterflies there because of our experiences at Brookside. Some of the butterflies were tagged – not sure why. We enjoyed watching the children with their families experience the butterflies – noticing butterflies in the air…looking to see them on the fruit or in the foliage.

The exit  from the conservatory leads to another garden with a water feature and sculpture of a child with butterflies on her hand and knee.

It was a good morning activity. We enjoyed photographing the gardens and butterflies (would be even more appealing in the winter when the conservatory would be pleasantly warm compared to outdoors) and we headed home afterward.

Native Plants for our Missouri Yard

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There are 5 new native plants at our house! I bought them at the Fall Wildflower Market located at the Shaw Nature Reserve about a week ago and have them all transplanted into our back yard:

Callicarpa americana - American Beautyberry

Solidago speciosa - Showy Goldenrod

Ratibida pinnata - Grayhead Coneflower

Pycnanthemum pilosum - American Mountain Mint

Aralia racemosa - American Spikenard

 The largest plant – and the one I had been wanting since I bought one for my sister last spring – is Callicarpa americana - American Beautyberry. The one I bought already has some berries on it which I hope will turn purple this fall. In a few years it should be the dominant plant in the area where a pine tree used to be in our yard (it fell over and had to be hauled away…the stump ground up).

I also planted three of the other plants (smaller) in that same area and will propagate them to other parts of the yard as they become established: showy goldenrod, grayhead coneflower, and American mountain mint.

The American Spikenard is planted at the edge of a flowerbed overflowing with violets where I can see it from my office window. It is a shade-loving plant that has red berries in the fall. It won’t this year but I hope it does next year….food for birds and a good scene from my window.

I’ll post again about how the native plants (these and the fragrant sumac I planted earlier last summer) survive (or not) in November.

Springfield Botanical Gardens (plants) – September 2022

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Last week my husband and I headed over to the Springfield Botanical Gardens for some early fall photography. I quickly opted toward macro shots with my phone (Samsung Galaxy S10e) even though my external shutter clicker had a dead battery. I was pleased with the results.

Early fall is a great time for seed pods and drying flowers. There are the cheery yellow flowers and green foliage (sunflowers of various kinds, goldenrod)…it seems like some plants are throwing a last burst of energy into their flowers.

Tomorrow’s post will be about insects and spiders. We skewed toward the meadow and pollinator gardens – and found the ‘wildlife’ just about everywhere we looked!

Neighborhood Walk

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It’s early fall in our neighborhood. There are a few leaves that are turning and falling. I found a pretty one at the base of our oak at the very beginning of my walk. The tree is struggling with the infection that is impacting (eventually killing) many oaks in our area and has already dropped about half its leaves. It will linger for a few more years. The one across the street has lost almost all its leaves already and I wonder if it will not survive the winter.

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As I walked toward the storm water pond, I noticed another oak that was mostly green…except for one branch of yellow leaves.

The pond was too peaceful and quite – no frogs or red-winged blackbirds making morning songs, no turtles coming out to warm up in the sunshine. There was no algae or floating water plants and I wondered if the treatment used to control that ‘problem’ killed the other life in the pond. They are not mowed as far down the slope as they did at one time, but it seems like it would be better to let the vegetation grow a little further up the slope.

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There were plants going to seed…some with candelabra type branches supporting their fluffy seeds.

There were two types of goldenrod. Do you see the out-of-focus bee at the right side of the second picture? I didn’t notice it until I got home and looked at my images on a big screen….glad I captured the image since it shows the value of these late blooming plants to pollinators.

The willow has a tall branch that is dead – lower ones that are still green with slender branches gracefully sweeping the bank and hanging over the water. There are shelf fungus growing up and down the dead trunk.

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There are a few plants still blooming. One was down in the grass and the picture I took looks like it has an arching fuzzy boa spilling from the flower! In reality the fuzzy boa is an out-of-focus grass seed stalk.

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One of the houses has several Rose of Sharon buses planted on the pond side of their fence. I liked the extra wrinkles of the purple one (not completely unfurled).

The milkweed stand at the back of the pond was a disappointment. It was still there was overgrown with invasive pear seedlings that have grown rapidly over the summer. Maybe they will mow the area later in the fall to try to control that invasion for next season although the pear will come up from roots as well as the milkweed.

Overall – a worthwhile walk on a coolish weekend morning before many other people were out in the neighborhood.

Patuxent Research Refuge – Milkweed and Goldenrod

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The milkweeds are going to seed and the goldenrods are blooming at the South Tract of Patuxent Research Refuge last week – typical fall meadow views. The milkweed seed pods have burst open and are spilling their seeds to the wind. The seeds have the possibility of starting new stands of the plant next year. The stands that are healthy now will come up from the roots already well-established next spring (i.e. no seed sprouting required).

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My favorite picture of the morning was the very first one I took – with the dew still sparkling on the fluff and the seeds still neatly emerging from the opening pod.

Often the goldenrod and milkweed are mixed in meadow areas but there are some almost pure stands of the goldenrod. It is the hero in the fall for migrating Monarchs and other nectar feeding insects. Sometimes the plant gets blamed for allergies, but it is insect pollinated, rather than wind. People with fall allergies are more likely to be feeling the impact of ragweed pollen!

Longwood Gardens – Part IV

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Of course – there is a lot more of Longwood Gardens outside that in the conservatory. We walked out of the conservatory a few minutes before the 11:15 presentation of ‘Fountains Then and Now’ – and found seats in the front row on the terrace in front of the conservatory. Last time we had visited the gardens, the fountains were being renovated so we savored that a lot of what we remembered is still there plus there are high jets of water from air canons and nozzles that move to make arcs of water than move with the music. Afterwards we walked down to see the fountains closer and looked back toward the conservatory from the terrace of the big fountain. Under that terrace they now have some history of the fountain machinery….a little bit about how they got the water pressure needed originally and today. Part of the gardens (the Tower and Eye of Water) was closed off in preparation for the fireworks that were schedule for the evening (sold out long before we decided to visit) so the only perspective I got of the tower was from afar.

Then it was time for lunch. The air temperature was much hotter when we emerged from the café. We enjoyed the dahlias – and bees.

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The garlic chives in the demonstration garden were popular with the bees as well.

There was a funnel spider with a web full of water droplets.

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We walked past the fountains again to the formal garden rooms. I noticed some stone walls and realized that they probably told the geology story of the place.

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I always like the stairs with water in the Italian Garden…but it was so hot – with no breeze - by the time we were there that the shade and water did not restore draining energy.

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We walked along a boardwalk in the meadow full of joe pye weed and goldenrod on the way back to the visitor center. We cooled off walking around the gift store before starting the drive home.

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Morning Walk at Mt. Pleasant (part 2)

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Today I’m focusing on the plants I photographed during my morning walk earlier this week at Howard County Conservancy’s Mt. Pleasant. The seed pods on the sweet bay magnolia are in all stages of development: from green to

Seeds bursting from the pod (I always think they look like red M&Ms) and then pods that are mostly empty and dry.

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There are always chicory flowers after each rain. I liked the blurs of yellow and green behind this macro image.

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Goldenrod is beginning to bloom. Goldenrod is one of the nectar plants for butterflies into the fall. People thought it caused their terrible fall allergies but now ragweed is said to be the primary culprit.

There was Queen Ann’s Lace in the meadow as well. It’s always interesting to me how different a plant appears in the macro view.

As I hiked along the narrow path near the stream there was a young sycamore that had leaves that were beginning to lose their chlorophyll for fall. The leaves were backlit so I took some macro images to show the changes.

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There are still new leaves being unfurled on the tree too; this one was about the size of a dime.

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Thistles are not very friendly looking! Too many prickles.

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Bind weed is an occasional plant in the meadow. The flowers always look like they have little pleats.

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This mint flower – taken from above with the macro lens – was coated with morning dew.

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Dandelions are always attention getters. They look a bit like bursts of fireworks…or yellow streamers.

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Even the clovers that are usually not noticed have a unique beauty seen through the macro lens.

Do you recognize mile-a-minute? It’s an invasive plant that grows very quickly and has wicked thorns.

And now for the Pokeweed. The ones I photographed were still blooming and the fruits that were formed were still green. They’ll turn purple later…and the stem will be bright pink. I’ll remember to photograph the plants through the fall to track their development.

By the end of the walk – I was hot…ready to cool off in the air-conditioned car as I drove home and to drink a lot of water.

Mt Pleasant Meadow

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Late Last week, I arrived at Mt. Pleasant early enough to take a short walk in the meadow before a kindergarten field trip. I was surprised that there were so many people already there. It turned out there was a high school filed trip already in progress! I watched them head down the path to the stream. The morning was cooler than the stream field trips I’d helped with in September and earlier this month. Hopefully no one got water inside their boots.

The fields that are mowed for hay around the conservancy have bales now and the parts that are left for meadow are full of goldenrod and plants going to seed – typical fall. The late summer and fall has been drier than usual and the trees may never achieve the bright colors this fall. Some of the trees already look like they’ve lost their leaves – or may those are the ash trees that are succumbing to emerald ash borer (very common in Maryland). The meadow still has a few Callery pear saplings but they are gradually being removed (hard work!). Otherwise – the meadow looks good this fall. There is plenty of goldenrod for any migrating Monarchs that come through.

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