woodlot – Kihaku-Gato's Garden Blog (tumblr import)

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.

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.

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.

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.

Y’know how weird it is to see areas of woodlot carpeted with primarily strawberry plants? Trippy it be.

I really want to go back to this forest during their flowering season and see if I can ID them as Wild strawberry (Fragaria virginiana) or Woodland strawberry (Fragaria vesca).

Both Virginia Creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) and Poison Ivy Toxicodendron radicans) thrive in this forest. Though the Virginia Creeper is far scarcer, with only one location where I saw a population. Poison Ivy was hiding in almost any nook where you could have your guard down. Luckily climbing poison ivy I only saw in 3 different locations.

Interesting how the Virginia Creeper is ahead of the Poison Ivy for the autumn colours though.

Same part of the creek photographed from the opposite sides of it (notice the trees with the distinctive curve from the base of their trunks). Basically discovered the south side of the creek would lead me away from the forest so had to trek ALL THE WAY back to the road the retrack my path from the north side.

First pic I had taken from that woodland walk livetweeting (~~and where I chose THE WRONG SIDE OF THE CREEK~~).

This forest is well known for heavy poison ivy colonies (luckily encountered less than I expected) and is heavily protected by a thicket barrier of Hawthorns/Pears in the East/South side.