Mt. Pleasant Farm - August 2015 (part 1)

I was at the Howard County Conservancy’s Mt. Pleasant Farm earlier this week to lead a nature photography activity for their campers (ages 5-12). By the end of the day I had over 1600 photos from the children that I needed to review during the evening and a few of my own. Now that I’ve had a chance to review my own - there are a few worth sharing via this blog….in the same order that I took them so they do reflect the hiking we did.

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Just behind the nature center a large limb had been cut recently.

We went past the bee hives…down the hill…past the butterfly garden

And stopped to look at the mossy logs that have fallen over the stream.

Then we walked along the path toward Hodge Podge Lodge. The goldenrod was starting to bloom along the grassy path.

The shingles of Hodge Podge Lodge caught my attention….lichen, moss, and leaves.

The path to the side of the Lodge down to the stream looked wet from the rain the night before.

And we started to close the loop by walking toward the community garden. I didn’t notice the bugs on this plant until I was looking at the photos…and have not identified the plant or the bugs!

We started the hike for the second group on the path downhill from the back of the nature center. This red bud was early on the trail….with lots of seed pods.

The jewelweed was near the stream.

The mile a minute seems to be taking over this bird house.

Back up the hill and down the road toward the meadow - we stopped in the old orchard. The apples were beginning their turn to red.

There was lots of milkweed pods (still green) in the meadow….and some had beetles.

And every flower seemed to have an insect of some kind.

To be continued in Sunday’s blog post…

Invasive Plants in my Yard

I’ve been working in my yard between 7 and 8 AM all this week and finally got around to looking more closely at the area at the edge of the yard that blends into the forest. Yikes! The edge has been overrun with invasive plants!

I noticed the wavy leaf basket grass first. It was covering the area. I started pulling out handfuls and noticed other plants underneath --- maybe some of them are natives; I’ll have to go back with a book next time I work in that area. Then I noticed the mile-a-minute; not profuse (yet) but it does live up to its name. I pulled it out too.

Then I saw a pretty little blue flower that I didn’t recognize. I left it and went back later to take a picture so that I could identify it. Aargh! It’s Commelina communis (common names Asiatic Dayflower, mouse ears, dew herb) and it’s an invasive from Asia. That’s one more plant to pull in the area.