Persimmons and More

This post, and the three that follow, describe the September 15  Rushmore Wildflowers Walk, which started with at Persimmon Grove and ended at the Pawpaw Patch.  In between we looked at the Sandy Run Ditch, which has volunteer wildflowers, and then Ro's garden, which has planted wildflowers.  Jane Bourquin and Ro Wilson led the walk and identified the plants.

Dick Webster, Ro Wilson, Karen Sannwald (with Taco her Chijuajua),  BJ Tetlow, and Peg Scott pose for photographer Maggie Heineman.  Jane Bourquin, wildflower and mushroom expert,  arrived a few moments later and the walk began.

Dick Webster with persimmons. The ones that had fallen to the ground were ripe and sweet.

Boneset

Goldenrod was in bloom.   Ragweed is bad. Goldenrod is good , but has a bad reputation because it blooms at the same time as Ragweed.

 

Wild Primrose has yellow flowers

 

Sandy Run Ditch

 A small swampy area near the Persimmon Grove provides the headwaters for Sandy Run.  First the water goes into a ditch that runs  parallel to the Rushmore road. The ditch then disappears where the water is channeled down to a culvert that runs under Medford Leas Way and then emerges as as a small creek, Sandy Run, which flows through the woods and eventually empties into the Rancocas Creek (between the Tulip Poplar Grove and Yellow Trail #7).   As the map shows, Sandy Run goes through two culverts and under three bridges between the Rushmore ditch and the Rancocas Creek. 

To some the ditch is full of weeds.  Others see it as an excellent habitat for wildflowers, birds, butterflies and insects.  

Mostly boneset and goldenrod

Jane's cane becomes a seat.

Ro and Jane with tricycle, car, and seat-cane. Wild cherry in the foreground.. 

Grasshopper

Mystery bush with pretty flowers and invaded by grape vine.
BJ and Herry Tetlow have since removed the vine from this lovely bush. 

Knotweed

Where the mower won't go
There the trees will grow

Wild Cherry

Lots of Ageratum

The bees don't have far to fly to reach a ditch of full of wildflowers. 

After filling one bag with ragweed, Maggie gave up.  About 80% of the ragweed is still there.

Ro's Garden

Ro doesn't like lawn.  
Ro doesn't approve of lawn. 
Ro doesn't have lawn.  
Ro has a wildflower garden that attracts bird, butterflies, visitors and rubber snakes. 

Ro's lawnless garden is wild and  full of good things.    It is a  wildflower garden for birds, butterflies and hummingbirds  in a postage stamp.   To be added: photos of the goldenrod and black coshoh-cincomfuga. (spelling? -- circumfuga?)

Fennel - a host plant for black swallowtail butterflies

(non-native) Lemongrass - with rubber snake

Night-blooming Jasmine
non-native, with a wonderful fragrance

A monarch chrysalis dangling from a leaf.

When caterpillars hatch, Ro saves them from predators by placing them in a terrariam with this screen top.  

She feeds them and eventually each one attaches to the screen and forms a chrysallis.  

Next to Ro's thumb is a catepillar (green and black) which has not yet formed its chrysallis. 

Paw Paw Patch

At Ro's instigation there will be a paw paw patch between Kriebel Trail and Ro's house.   There are several plants with this name, but undoubtedly the one Ro had planted is Asimina triloba, which is native to this area.  That Wikipedia page tells all about paw-paws, including this rhyme 

Pickin' up pawpaws, puttin' 'em in your pocketPickin' up pawpaws, puttin' 'em in your pocketPickin' up pawpaws, puttin' 'em in your pocketWay down yonder in the pawpaw patch

Wikipedia explains that  "picking up pawpaws" refers to gathering the ripe, fallen fruit from beneath the trees, and that the "pocket" in the song is that of an apron or similar tie-on pocket, not a modern pants or blue jeans pocket, into which pawpaws would hardly fit.A "pawpaw patch" refers to the plant's characteristic patch-forming clonal growth habit.

The six trees that Ro had planted are a few feet apart, but hey seem healthy and with the clonal growth habit, we can look forward to a real patch in the future. 

Ro with one of the paw paw trees

Large Canna grow along the back of Ro's home

Elevating the Birch - Thank you Davis

Around 1999 or 2000 seven River Birch were planted at the lower end of the Lumberton Meadow. they have grown large.  Four of them are planted in the lawn and have mulch at the base.  In this picture the tree in the distance, 2nd from the right , is one of those in-lawn-and-mulched trees.  those four in-lawn trees have been elevated over the years.  The  other three,  that were planted in the meadow,  are now surrounded by mugwort and they were never elevated. Each of them had dozens of small branches hanging down.  After the first round of spraying we received a request to cut the small branches of those 3 birch because they were keeping the sprayers from  getting at the mugwort.  This morning Davis Henderson lopped off those dozens of small branches.     The photo below shows the three birches that Davisy trimmed and the  piles of small branches.  The distant tree in the center of photo shows a dark area behind it -- that's another pile of cut branches.

 The photo above shows the three birches that Davisy rimmed and the  piles of small branches.  The distant tree in the center of photo shows a dark area behind it -- that's another pile of cut branches.

Clearing the Lumberton Canoe Dock

Judy Norcross, along with Judy and Conant Atwood have cleared the path to the Lumberton Dock.   It's always necessary to be mindful of tides here.

Cub Scout Visit

April Showers Bring a High Tide

These photos and text are from Ralph Berglund's blog.
http://bergiesplace.wordpress.com/2012/04/29/april-showers-bring-a-high-tide/

One morning after the recent nor’easter I went camera-ing.  What had been the shoal waters of Sharp’s Walk (Run) had changed.  The tide had come in.

It was nice to see the swirling waters, and the rain, having washed away the dust, had made the greens more vivid.

Even more important there was a new set of wildflower varieties along the red trail.

The trails were still there but some required special “navigation”.

Just follow the Red Trail marks 

Sharp's Run in April

Sharp's run goes under Medford Leas Way.
When it floods, the gate is closed. 

The trail goes between these "trees" which are actually
branches of the fallen tree which is on the ground to  the left

The trail group maintains plank bridges on Medford Leas trails.

Steps were added by trail group volunteers.

Two culverts carry Sharp's Run under the railroad embankment

There were white, purple and lavender violets

Spring Cress

Ralph's photo of the Spring Cress is better.