Freezing Rain

I took this picture on Sunday afternoon. Late Satrurday night, the snow turned to freezing rain, covering even the top branches of the oaks with glittering coats of ices.

 

Oaks covered with ice

The post Freezing Rain appeared first on Something Downeast.

Bishop’s Weed

Bishop’s weed or Aegopodium podagraria is a native of Eurasia, also known as ground elder, herb gerard, goutweed, gout wort, and snow-in-the-mountain. Like its cousin, Queen Anne’s Lace, another Eurasian import, (Daucus carota) Bishop’s weed is a perennial and member of the carrot family. Bishop’s Weed was brought to the U.S. as an ornamental ground cover in the late 1800s. It is still very common in Europe and has spread to most of the U.S.

Bishop’s weed has been classed as an invasive weed in a number of states because it is aggressive and pervasive. It has long rhizomes that propagate even if they are ripped out of the ground, as well as numerous small seeds from the flowers. It grows rapidly to height in early spring and summer and stops shorter (native) plants that grow close to the ground from receiving adequate exposure to sunlight, causing them to die. I’e been helping a friend weed a local garden with flowerbeds. A few years ago some donated bulbs came with an extra payload of Bishop’s weed, and it flourished and spread despite aggressive attempts to remove it. Some of these plants are over five feet from rhizome to top.

The post Bishop’s Weed appeared first on Something Downeast.

Spring Blossoms

The Forsythia was stunning this year, but the weather for taking pictures of the Forsythia was less stunning. It was a strange winter, and so far, a strange spring. Lots of rain, lots of over cast skies, and the spring migration of birds was a little behind the usual schedule. That said, the Ruby-throated hummingbirds were back the first week of May, and they seem ravenous and populous.

Though I missed pictures of the Forsythia, here are some magnolias.

Tulip Magnolia

Tulip Magnolia

Star Magnolia

Star Magnolia

The post Spring Blossoms appeared first on Something Downeast.

Wolfe’s Neck Park

I got a chance to visit Wolfe’s Neck Woods State Park, near Freeport today. I’m hoping to go there again some day. There are several trails, ranging from the “wheel chair accessible” White Pines Trail to the slightly rugged, winding Harraseeket trail, which runs partway along Harraseeket river, and partway along Casco Bay. Today was one of those Maine Autumn days that threaten to rain, but never quite deliver. I took a lot of photographs.

Sugar Maple eaves already showing mottled red and orange, striking against the bright green of other deciduous trees’ leaves.

Not sure what species of fungus this mushroom is, but there were many of them, large and small.

Lady Slipper with seed-pod.

Partridge Berry

Partridge Berry Mitchella repens L. 

Partridge Berry is one of the plants I love. It’s really common in the Eastern U.S. and it’s a favorite food for grouse. It takes two flowers to produce a single berry.

Most of these saplings are less than twenty years old.

Glacial gift

The floor of this forest is rotted vegetation over soil. A foot or three (at most) of soil that’s covering bedrock, or what’s locally called ledge. It’s the same rock you see as outcroppings along the Maine and N.H. and Canadian coastline.

I don’t know what this is. It’s shrub; maybe an Elder species?

A spray of partially turned Sugar Maple leaves, mottled with bright orange.

The post Wolfe’s Neck Park appeared first on Something Downeast.