This was a measured outing for the photographer’s rehabilitation back to hiking. The previous week her post-surgical Achilles had done well on an asphalt trail, so we sought out a flat grassed trail. Hisey Park in Warren County, Ohio offered such on a historic, former two hundred year old farm that had been in the same family from its founding in 1809, until its transition to a park in 2004, a history that the photographer would appreciate. We didn’t know what to expect other than flat, floodplain terrain.
The remaining farm buildings are outstanding including a well maintained barn,
as well as the old homestead. New to the backyard is an observatory for stargazers.
Once in the parking lot we could tell that the park was well planned with several tree allées.
As we were appreciating the number of new tree plantings, we noted a Tupelo tree that was offering some premature fall color and had to investigate it further.
As we studied the tree we were amazed to find a variety of well established lichens on this relatively young tree that was in full sun. I think that I need to find a course in lichenology to better understand this marriage between fungi and algae.
From there we traversed the margins of some baseball fields to find the informal trailhead to the Wetland Trail, which is teal colored on the map below.
Once entering the trail we found something that we did not expect – a series of stations offering some stress reduction guidance for kids.
The widely mowed trail opened in a meadow that largely featured the non-native Teasel that was nearing the end of its blooming period, soon to be replaced by the flowering of Goldenrod that was interwoven amongst the Teasel.
Teasel is characterized by its spiny nature that includes small bristles on its stem, and pointed bracts that arch up around its flower head. The flowers can vary from white to light purple.
Despite being non-native it is a valuable source of nectar for many pollinators:
Black Swallowtail – interestingly, we have not seen many of these in our garden but we have noted many of their caterpillars on our parsley and fennel plants.
Monarch – while it is an absolutely unscientific study, our time on trails and in our garden this late summer suggests that we are seeing a significantly higher number of monarchs than in recent years. Generally adult Monarchs only live for a few weeks, but those that pupate in late summer are members of the “super generation”, will live for 6 to 9 months, and complete the migration to Central Mexico and the Caribbean. Eventually they will breed the first of next years’ generations, who will migrate north and back into our gardens and greenspaces.
Eastern Bumble Bee – given its small size and the white “vest”, this is a very young adult.
Pure Gold-green Sweat Bee – it is small, at about one third of an inch in length. It is one of the most common native bees in the Eastern U.S. They are solitary animals. While all males die in the fall, impregnated females survive in the moist soil beneath logs and build a new nest in the spring.
The Teasel’s abundance and proximity to the trail allowed us to study it more than we usually do. In the photo below, as well as several of those seen above, one can appreciate the periwinkle colored stamens that are arising from the flowers. The Teasel “flower” is actually a cluster of over a hundred individual, tubular flowers.
One of the things noted on the Teasel here, that I do not think that I had appreciated before, is its structural similarity to Cup Plant that we featured in a recent article. Like Cup Plant, the leaves on Teasel form a shallow cup where they attach to the stem, allowing water to collect. As noted in the earlier article, botanists believe that this could be a source of hydration, can protect the plant from stem climbing insects, and traps insects which then drown and provide some nutrition as they decompose.
After leaving the meadow, the trail weaves through a younger progression wood that is on the true wetland of the property. Although the trail does not proximate the Little Miami River, we know that it is there, as we passed over it on our way in. We liked how nature mimicked the earlier tree allées that we noted, with this informal Sycamore allée.
After passing through the wood the trail returned to the meadow. From a distance we noted this collection of large white blooms.
It was the largest Wild Potato Vine that we have seen on our outings, covering a small tree. The three inch flowers have a tropical look to them.
Even the flower buds are interesting, and exotic appearing.
It is a perennial, arising off a large, edible tuber that Native Americans regularly ate. The tubers can weigh up to twenty pounds and were baked or ground into a flour. They are in the same family as the more familiar Sweet Potato and Morning Glory…