Just a Few Scottville Pictures

  I walked down to Riverside Park today. The trail I used to walk there has fallen into complete disrepair, but there is still a small loop. They do have a new sign.

This huge glacial erratic rock used to be in town, but it was moved down here a number of years ago.

Someone's late garden has pure pink gladiolas, and one of the hostas with large white flowers.

Growing in the "wild" was this Trumpet Vine (or Cow-Itch vine!), Campsis radicans. It's very showy, and it's native.

In other news, I worked on required things in the morning, and walked and gardened in the afternoon. This is really the schedule of a perfect day in my opinion. I'm trying to make it the general plan of my "normal" life.

Miles walked in 2024: 411.2

See Walking Tour du Ludington

Unidentified Non-Flying Red Things

 
Two mysteries today. I think I've got the first one narrowed down. The second is a complete head-shaker.

On my recent hike, I snapped a picture of this flower in bud. As you may know, I think I'm pretty knowledgeable about plants. However, this one had me stumped. In the first place, it's in bud in late September. I've decided that's a fluke. So I've tried to narrow down the possibilities. I'm pretty sure it's a honeysuckle, Lonicera sp.. But it's certainly not one of the native ones in this area. Probably an ornamental variety that got planted by going through a bird's gut. Any input welcome.



Red mystery number two. I found this while cleaning the house. I'm reluctant to throw it out until I know if it might be something important. Anyone recognize what this is? It's about 2.5 inches long



In other news: more bookkeeping, ordered more books, errands, laundry, and more yard work. Boring.

	See Red Things
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Rounding Out the Evening

 
Today was the first really hot day we've had in a while. I'm enjoying our cool summer immensely, and having it over 80 now didn't feel very good. So I laid low and waited for evening. I just came in from a little walk after the day started to cool down. Thought I'd find some things to picture for the blog.

The very first thing I found of interest was this bull thistle, getting ready to bloom. You can just barely see some of the purple petals breaking out of a bud in the right rear. I'd never noticed before that the buds are, at one point, quite round. They become more pear-shaped as they get ready to open.



And thus was born the theme of my quest- round. I did find some round things. I've showed you all the others previously, but they are still pretty. Next up is the seed head of goatsbeard. Looks like a really big, and fluffier dandelion.



The berries of tatarian honeysuckle are luscious looking, but taste bitter, and might give you a tummy ache if you actually succeeded in eating enough of them. Honeysuckle fruits are little Siamese twins- always two stuck together.



Finally, I went to my flower garden and snapped a globe thistle. It's not a real thistle. It's one of my favorite plants. Partly because it agrees to grow in my lousy soil, partly because I love the color!



It wasn't till I saved the pictures that I realized I had a bud, a flower, a fruit, and a seedhead. It's like the game of SET, you can count it because everything is round, or you could count it because everything is different.

Actually, this is a good place to rant about one of my pet peeves with some kinds of test questions. My favorite example (I really saw this question) is a picture of four balls: A soccer ball, a basketball, a baseball, and a football. The question was: "Which one is different?"

I suppose the "right" answer is the football because it is not round. However. However...

It could be the basketball because it's the only one you play the game inside. It could be the baseball because it's smaller. It could be the soccer ball because it's the only one you can't touch with your hands. The question is unanswerable. I am told I overthink things. Maybe. But answering those kinds of questions for me involves thinking of the possible answers and then figuring out what the question writer wants.

So, of these pictures, which one is different, eh? The goatsbeard, because it is not a color? The berries, because they are not a flower? The globe thistle, because it is the most perfect globe? The bull thistle because it has prickles?

OK, I'll stop now.

	See Spikey Things
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Shoal Creek Nature Preserve

 
We found the most wonderful small nature preserve today. It's just north of Florence, Alabama. About 300 acres and 5 miles of hiking trails, and a 2-mile horse trail.

There are several creeks through the tract. I think this one is Lawson Creek. We crossed the bridge and did the Lawson Trail loop.



Sunlight on running water sure is a welcome sight!



We immediately began seeing wildflowers. There are too many pictures today, and I won't even show you all of them. Here is Rue Anemone, Thalictrum thalictroides, a sweet little spring gem that is also found in the north.



I wanted to take a picture of the back of this leaf (no ID yet), and look what I found when I looked at the photo on the computer! A cute little green spider. No ID on him either.



Of course, it seems like every natural place has to have it's own invasive species. This is a new one to me, but it was easy to find. It's a vine, with some early leaves that look like oak leaves, but the terminal leaves won't have the lobes. Well, I suspected it was a honeysuckle, and it is. Lonicera japonica, Japanese honeysuckle, is already banned in some states, and labeled noxious in others. It's virtually impossible to control once established, and crowds out native plants. Sigh.



Here comes the best find! I have added a new flower to my life list. This is Sweet-Betsy Trillium, also known as Large Toadshade, Trillium cuneatum. I kept looking for one that was all the way open, but now that I've studied the flower book, I think it's at its prime when the petals are still erect, and the open one is "over the hill." Either way, it's gorgeous. [species and upright habit confirmed with a real botanist]



I think it doesn't always have mottled leaves, either, but we saw everything from almost all dark green, to ones like this with almost no dark green.



I couldn't resist a closeup of the velvety stamens.



And when we were almost back at the start, a lovely female tiger swallowtail butterfly decided to dance around us, and she even let us take her picture.

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