my post – Page 6 – Kihaku-Gato's Garden Blog (tumblr import)

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.

A Linden or maybe basswood tree? The leaf side makes me think Basswood.

I don’t get much opportunity to ID trees in the wilds normally. Its good practice to clear off the plant ID rust.

I called this Woodland Goldenrod in my tweets but that’s actually the wrong common name for this species (though I was correct for its habitat preference); they’re in fact Zigzag/broadleaf goldenrod (Solidago flexicaulis).

Short stature, broad toothy leaves, and small clusters of yellow flowers, it is almost a day-and-night comparison to the field goldenrods that thrive away from the forests.

This is actually the first time I’ve seen this species in the local woodlands, but at the same time I am almost never in the woodlands in the autumn season, so that’s likely in play. Granted, I only saw 2 different clumps of it in my entire forest walk.

3 different deciduous tree sapling species; a species of white oak (? burr oak?, you’ll see its momma in a different post), Elm, and Sugar Maple.

They’ll probably stay small till the forest canopy opens up for some tasty sunlight for them to bulk up on.

Wild Jacks (Arisaema triphyllum)

Looks like the wildlife are gleaning off some of their berries. My garden ones (fortunately) never get eaten by wildlife. With the bumbercrop at home I left the forest’s Jacks be.

Wild violet in flower in September??? Thought such oddities only happened to non-native floral shrubbery.