The weather people were a little off with their predictions for last weekend and instead of a nor’easter dumping a foot of heavy, wet snow we had drizzle that lasted for a day and a half. I was happy that it didn’t snow because I’m ready for spring, but the clouds and drizzle didn’t make for very good photographic opportunities.
February has been a moody, cloudy and cool month and it’s another one that I’m not sorry to say goodbye to. I don’t know if I’m imagining it or not, but even the geese seem to prefer sunny days. I hardly ever see them in this part of the Ashuelot River in cloudy weather.
The river banks are lined with Native witch hazel (Hammamelis virginiana) in this area. The buds on this shrub might fool you into thinking it was spring by the way the tiny leaves appear, but they have no bud scales so this is how they look all winter long-naked to the weather.
Beavers have been gnawing at this elm tree for months. I can’t imagine why they picked on one of the toughest, stringiest trees unless it is to keep their ever growing teeth from getting too long.
This maple burl was interesting but on the small side-probably about as big as a football. One day, if it is allowed to grow, it could be worth a lot of money if sold as figured maple lumber.
The trouble with finding mushrooms at this time of year is it’s hard to tell if they are fresh or if they have been there all winter. These looked and felt fresh and I’m fairly certain that they are jelly crep mushrooms (Crepidotus mollis.) They are also known as soft slipper mushrooms. The biggest one was about as big as a quarter.
The fronds of our native evergreen polypody ferns curl sometimes and that makes their spore bearing capsules (Sori) much easier to see. They appear on the undersides of fertile fronds.
The spore sacs on the undersides of the common polypody fern frond are naked rather than covered. They look like tiny piles of birdseed. Common polypody ferns are also called rock cap fern because they like to grow on boulders.
Smokey eye boulder lichens (Porpidia albocaerulescens) also like to grow on boulders and weren’t too far from the polypody ferns. I can’t be positive that this is a smokey eye boulder lichen because the reproductive structures (Apothecia) are so blue. They are usually light to dark gray, so I don’t know if the one pictured is another species or if the color is a trick of the very low light from the drizzly sky.
Hair cap moss (Polytrichum commune ) is always a welcome sight. This moss is very common on nearly every continent and gets its common name from the hairs that cap the hood that protects the spore case. Sometimes it is called goldilocks.
In the forest everybody is racing to grow taller faster to reach the required amount of sunshine first. Grape vines stake out their territory the previous year by fastening themselves to anything and everything, so when it gets warm enough they have a head start advantage.
You will find something more in woods than in books. Trees and stones will teach you that which you can never learn from masters. ~Saint Bernard
Thanks for stopping in.
New Hampshire Garden Solutions 
Great scenery- I wonder if the beavers will bring the elm tree down?
Hard to tell if they’ll drop that tree. They often eat half way through and leave it.
You have a beautiful river there…
I think so too-it’s one of my favorite places.
The fern spore capsules look like ladybird beetles to me. I anxiously await the melting of the thick blanket of snow, so I can go look for some of the things you have shown us.
That’s a good way to think of the spore capsules Sue, if it helps you remember them. Polypody ferns are easy because the sori are so big and are easily visible. The snow is melting slowly here too-quite a lot of difference between this year and last!
Our seasons seem to have been skewed for a few years now, warmer winters but with snow in February, cool wet summers. I hope we get some sun this year as the plants don’t know what to do. There was a rhododendron blooming all through November, December and January and it’s still going now! Never seen that before.
The seasons have been confused here too, but our summers have been hot and dry. Much hotter than average. I saw a witch hazel that normally blooms in October blooming at the end of January, but I haven’t seen any rhodies doing that.(Yet)
That is an amazing looking lichen. Glad you didn’t get the snow we got (since you didn’t want it and I did).
I’ve got to find someone capable of shoveling my roof. The dread of doing it takes all the fun out of winter. That lichen’s color is bothering me, so I’ll be paying it another visit this weekend if we see some sunshine.
Wonderful hike. I thoroughtly enjoyed. Particularly like the bluish lichen. We definitely don’t have that one here.
Thanks! I’m still wondering about that lichen. I’m going to go back to it on a drier, sunnier day and see if that makes any difference in its color.
I think that I have to disagree with the quote, I consider you to be a master, and I sure do learn a lot from your posts!
Thanks Jerry, I appreciate it, but I’m far from being a master! You should see the stack of books next to this computer-I’d be lost without them. I’m glad that you learn something from these posts though, because that makes the effort worthwhile. I learn a lot too!
Wonderful details of the native plants ! The grapevine reminds me of the bittersweet growing in my back yard on an arbour but also latching itself onto an ajoining tree…it has completly zoomed up the branches to the top of the tree. Goodbye February! So nice that the days are “getting longer” here in Ontario….just starting maple syrup weather though. I think things are slightly off season with that industry again.
Thank you. I know what you mean about bittersweet. Once it gets established it really takes off and is fond of tree tops. I hope you have a native variety and not the oriental, which is very invasive. I’m glad to see the days getting longer too, and on March 10th daylight savings time begins! That means I’ll be able to spend some time taking pictures after work, which I can’t wait to be able to do. The sap is flowing here in my maples but I haven’t seen any signs of people gathering it yet. I’m not sure what is holding them back. I know what you mean about the seasons being off-this winter has been very strange here, and warmer than normal much of the time.