BaumbachWoodlandWalk 2018 – Page 2 – Kihaku-Gato's Garden Blog (tumblr import)

One of the uprooted/ing trees happened to be a towering canadian hemlock. It may only be still holding on thanks to some younger trees rooted together with it.

IT WAS BIG.

BABIES! There were so many sapling Canadian Hemlocks! This isn’t even half of them I’m sure.

~~Also if anyone suggests digging these slow-growing babies up I’m gonna slap them.~~

There were a LOT of Canadian Hemlock (Tsuga canadensis); old trees, young trees, one even uprooted but still holding on (will have a separate post for those two specific groups).

I’m sure there are at least 15+ specimens in that forest. I have never seen this many Canadian Hemlock trees in the wild before! All other specimens I’ve seen in the past have been either garden specimens (like in Cuddy Gardens) or were singular lonely specimens in the entire forest (that one swam forest walk a few years back).

It’s…. almost strange to think this tree is threatened by pests down south in the Appalachia.

I was very confused this fern especially when I discovered its identity (thanks to @geopsych); Sensitive Fern (Onoclea sensibilis).

I was not aware they could get SO BIG with such big fronds; some definitely almost reached waist high in height. ~~Also weird; I don’t seem to have any uploaded pics of the MASSIVE colony of them which I saw in that forest…~~

I think this is a musclewood/rionwood/blue beech (Carpinus caroliniana).

First one I’ve ever seen in the wild. Must be a decent age as it’s even taller than me! Shame there were no signs of fruit/seeds.

An odd looking sight; Wild raspberries being opportunists and calling first dibs on a small rotting log. updrooted tree rootballs often got covered by similar opportunists.

While I am now sure what I saw, I am still flabbergasted af by it; an old beaver dam is part of this creek??!? Mud and sticks, its gotta be. ~~I would’ve gotten closer to take some shots but I was not in the mood to SOMEHOW encounter some peeved beavers.~~

It’s holding back a lot of water too; if I were to stand on the drier side of the dam which is nothing but puddles for water depth, I’m sure the water being held by the damside would reach above my head!!! With the overgrowth of grasses, it has to have been there for a good few years.

When I told dad of the dam he was determined to let everybody know so it’d get torn down (farmers, drainage ditches, and beaver dams don’t blend together well) but the fact the dam shows signs of being so old gave him surprised pause fortunately…

Momma white (Burr?) Oak BIG. Massive. She has to be the parent of the seedlings I saw in parts of the forest. I never realized there was such a gigantic oak tree (or just GIGANTIC TREE PERIOD) in our neighborhood.

I encountered her as I was trying to figure out how to get back into the forest; the creek lead around the meadow and far beyond and away from the forest, and following the fence/property line was impossible as the thickets got too thick. Basically I took a wide turn around the meadow and kept following the forest edge for an area not blocked off by hawthorn thicket.

A wild white aster colony in part of the forest. Would give a genus/species but… IDing native/wild asters was never my strongsuit. I honestly have no clue.

A cute little colony of Starry False Solomons Seal (Maianthemum stellatum).

Appears I had just missed their fruiting season.