Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Spring Is In The Air: Fort Yargo State Park, Section B To The Dam, April 17th (Part 2)


April 17th. (Continued from…) When I visited Fort Yargo State Park in mid-February, there were few signs of Spring. The only wildflower plants that were obvious were the leaves of Cranefly Orchids (Tipularia discolor) that I found in many places.

The route… I’ve described it here, here, here, and here. This walk doesn’t have the variety of wildflowers as my other walk from the Group A Shelter to the Old Fort but it does have some gems. On a previous walk on April 12th, the leaves of the Pink Lady’s Slipper (Cypripedium acaule) Orchids were starting to bloom and was surprised to find several Smallflower Pawpaw (Asimina parviflora).


I found a couple of Woolsower galls. One still had red spots; the red spots on the second one had almost turned brown. They’ll become more difficult to spot as they turn brown.


One of the many pretty small oaks in the woods.


I made my way around the trail to the Pink Lady’s Slipper Orchid patch, where…


several plants were blooming. These flowers develop to a darker pink than those over at the Fishing Area. These orchids are protected in Georgia.
  

I found another Smallflower Pawpaw a little further along the trail that had a fertilized flower.


I made my way along the trail, up The Hill and…


down the other side, and…


to the lake shore again. 

I noticed another Smallflower Pawpaw shrub a little way off the trail. It was about five feet tall, the tallest I’ve found so far, and was treated to…


flowers at various stages of development. Before I moved on, I unwound a Kudzu vine that was making its way up the plant.


About to leave the woods and make my way back to the parking lot. Once again, a rewarding walk on this trail. 

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Spring Is In The Air: Fort Yargo State Park, Section B To The Dam, April 17th (Part 1)


April 17th. When I visited Fort Yargo State Park in mid-February, there were few signs of Spring. The only wildflower plants that were obvious were the leaves of Cranefly Orchids (Tipularia discolor) that I found in many places.

 The route… I’ve described it here, here, here, and here. This walk doesn’t have the variety of wildflowers as my other walk from the Group A Shelter to the Old Fort but it does have some gems. On a previous walk on April 12th, the leaves of the Pink Lady’s Slipper (Cypripedium acaule) Orchids were starting to bloom and was surprised to find several Smallflower Pawpaw (Asimina parviflora).

  

We had a windy storm in the day or so previous to this walk that had brought down another tree limb. I found several lichens that were fruiting.


There were a number of Amber Jelly fungus, Exidia recisa, along the limb.


The woods were becoming increasingly green and more shaded.


Now that they were leafing out, I found several more Smallflower Pawpaw plants along the trail approaching the ‘Christmas Fern grove.’ Most didn’t have flowers.


I found an old Blackberry Knot Gall on a blackberry cane.


This Pipsissewa/Spotted Wintergreen (Chimaphila maculata) at the edge of the trail was setting blooms.


A view along the lake shore, and…


starting the climb up ‘The Hill.’


The Smallflower Pawpaw at the top of The Hill still had one good flower.


More importantly, some of the flowers appeared to have been fertilized. Some of the flowers had several fruit beginning to develop; this particular flower had four fruit. It will be interesting to see how far they develop on this small bush.


The Tulip Poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera) was still putting on leaves, and when I poked around on the left side of the tree, I found several…


flower buds forming.


I continued around to the dam. Given the amount of rain we had recently, I was curious about the water level. Just over 24 feet, the highest this season. 


Water was pouring out the outlet. The woods below the dam were now green and the Princess Tree (Pawlonia tomentosa) just to the right of the outlet was in bloom. 


As I turned to go back to the trail, I spotted a Mountain Azalea (Rhododendron canescens) blooming along the lake shore. 
To be continued… 

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Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Spring Walk At Fort Yargo State Park: Shelter A To The Old Fort, 16th April, 2015 (Part 2)

April 16th. (Continued from…) I started to walk again at Fort Yargo State Park in Winder, Georgia. One of my favorite walks is from the Group Shelter A to the Old Fort and back.This is a rewarding walk for viewing wildflowers and I’ve been trying to walk it weekly and document the wildflowers I see.


The route, which I described here. Things, in the way of Spring wildflowers, was starting to warm up on my most recent walk, documented here, here and here. It had been raining and it was still cloudy so I had to use artificial light for photographs. I continued around the Fishing Area… 
The Green Arrow Arum (Peltandra virginica) plants were thriving. 

When I continued into the ‘Rock Garden,’ I found some Smallflower Pawpaw (Asimina parviflora); one still had a flower and the stems were leafing out. I hadn’t realized that these plants were in this part of the park either. 
  
The Eastern Sweetshrub (Calycanthus floridus) in the Rock Garden were blooming. The flowers in this area were a deep maroon.

There were some excellent Woolsower galls in this area. 


The new leaves of the wild ginger Little Brown Jug (Hexastylis arifolia) had developed and pushed the leaves away from the flowers that were now exposed. 

The Rock Garden had a special atmosphere after the rain. 

I found a Perfoliate Bellwort (Uvularia perfoliata) beside the trail. There was one flower, and… 
It looked like the older flower might be going to develop a seedpod. (Unfortunately, I couldn’t find the plant on my next walk). 

Another Solomon’s Seal was blooming near the end of the Rock Garden. 

This patch of ferns marks the end of the Rock Garden trail. 

I walked along the trail to the Old Fort, and then… 

back toward the Fishing Area. 

I found these spectacular Woolsower galls just before I got back to the Fishing Area. 

The trail just south of the Fishing Area, and… 

approaching the cliff, followed by the… 

trail at the top of the cliff. 

The buds of the Strawberry Bush (Euonymus americanus) were still developing. One bud in each cluster was dominant. 

Then south over the ‘root steps,’ and… 

through the woods back to the parking lot. 

There was one final surprise which has remained a mystery. 



I found a gall on the leaf stem of a cluster of oak leaves that had fallen from a tree during the recent windy storms. I haven’t been able to identify the gall, possibly because it was too early in its development to see its mature form. Too bad.

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