Wetland fun!
Imagine if you will....a 42 acre site.....so densely vegetated that it is possible to get lost....for a long period of time (apparently walking in circles)....all while you are profusely sweating, woozy from dehydration and heat, and having to hack your way through dense stands of blackberry, raspberry (black and red), multiflora rose, and greenbriar, and mutant poison ivy. Your arms are so scratched it looks like you lost a fight with several very large cats and there are ticks. Oh so many ticks. And mosquitoes! Don't forget those! Oh and periodic machine gun fire. I kid you not. It was a parcel owned by the U.S. military, part of Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania Headquarters of the National Guard (Army and Air). Although the machine gun fire wasn't on the site we were on, it still is disconcerting to hear it off in the distance while you are lost and about to drop from heat exhaustion. Anyway, welcome to my world!
But I got to see some cool stuff.
Here are a few things:Tall Ironweed (Vernonia altissima), easily 7 feet tall. Grows in moist areas.
Wild Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa). A new one for me. I've never seen this plant in person before. And there was a ton of it. Grows in dry meadows.
Sensitive Fern (Onoclea sensibilis), reliable indicator of wetland conditions.
posted by meresy_g at Friday, August 18, 2006
5 Comments:
What a fantastic adventure. Bits of it sounds disturbing as they reminded me too much of el salvador (being lost in the wood and then gun fire).
the wild bergamot in the picture is very similar to the one i have at home. i will look for the tag to see what the proper name is.
I wasn't thinking fantastic advernture at the time.
ha ha.. i can totally understand that. the pictures are fantastic though!
Yeah, spare me the machine gun fire, thankyou. We have some of the wild bergamot in our garden, too. The hummers don't seem to like it as much as the red stuff... maybe they can't see it?
Your blog is so interesting, and i'll check back to read more of it when I have time. I'm new at blogging and can learn from you.
Your photos are great too.
Thanks for sharing.
PS: I heart goats too.
Post a Comment
<< Home