 |
| Wild Bee Balm, which also grows in a pink form in my garden |
There were a few vacations and nature walks I took this summer. One was in Dolly Sodds, WV. The environment on top of the mountains here is totally different than only a few hundred feet below. It's supposedly the same environment that is found in the Canadian tundra, but was left behind as a habitat when the glaciers receded.
The thing I learned here was how to use shrubs to create an isolated clearing feeling, even feet away from the road. The towering rhododendrons and soft mosses growing on the rocks created a cozy glen where the cars on the road could still be heard, but not seen. It was like a little room, complete with moss carpet.
 |
| Strange ferns in Dolly Sodds, WV |
My hike in Caroline Furnace, VA was through a new-growth forest. The land owners had heaped up the dirt from a road-side drainage ditch to create a raised path through the woods. There was a lot of moss on the areas of the path that received dappled sunlight, coupled with a lack of thick leaves because of the rain and wind sweeping them off of the raised surface. I learned that moss doesn't grow where thick leaves are.
 |
| Moss may not grow on a rolling stone, but it sure grows well on a partly sunny one! |
It's not a plant fact, but I also learned here that the long tensile strands holding a spider web to anchor points are not sticky, whereas the web strands going around and around are. You can literally lift a spider web out of your path with a finger on the anchor strands, then let it plunk back into place after you. The spider still runs to the top of the web or drops to the ground though. I'm not sure if it was worth it other than I didn't end up with an orb spider on me every ten feet. I'm amazed at how strong spider webs are.
 |
| I love orb spiders, just not on my face |
In Elk Springs, WV I went for a hike at the top of a mountain that had not been disturbed for a pretty decent amount of time. Not old-growth, but older than a few decades. I learned that some plants like Joe Pye Weed likes growing beside streams because it has more sunlight there. The closer a plant can get to actually sitting IN the stream, the more light it can claim, since other plants aren't competing with it. Maybe that's why it's so hard to find shade plants for permanently wet locations.
 |
| Joe Pye Weed growing practically in the stream |
My yard has given me a lot of information about what happens when too. I've learned what pests show up when, when the soil gets really soggy vs when it dries out, and how the sun moves from season to season. I had a little bit of this information when I lived in the apartment, but I only had my little porch to go off of. Now I have an entire yard to get information from.
I like learning about plants by just observing other plants. Nature does a good job of telling me where a plant will grow well, because there's no person messing with the soil and water it gets when it's in the wild. If it doesn't do well it just dies. Hopefully I can go for more hikes next year to see what new things I can learn!
