I’d like to take you for a little walk through December in New Hampshire so those who’ve never been here might know what it’s like. I’m going to start on December 9th, when I was taking photos of Johnny jump ups (Viola tricolor.) As any gardener knows these pretty little flowers don’t mind a little cold but still, seeing them blooming in December is rare here.
Even rarer than Johnny jump ups blooming in December is forsythia blooming at any time beyond June, but I found one shrub blooming happily in the warm sunshine on the same day I saw the Johnny jump ups. And it wasn’t just a single blossom; this bush probably had 30-40 flowers on it. Whether or not it will bloom again in the spring like it should is anyone’s guess.
Flowers weren’t the only thing happily carrying on in the warmth; bright yellow lemon drop fungi (Bisporella citrina) decorated the end of a log. They look like tiny drops of sunshine sprinkled over logs and stumps, and are fairly common. Lemon drops are in the sac fungus family, which refers to their microscopic reproductive structures that resemble wineskins. There are over 64,000 different sac fungi, including ear and cup fungi, jelly babies, and the morel and false morel mushrooms.
Lemon drops start life as a tiny yellow disc and look as if they lie flat on the log, but they actually hover just above the surface on a short stalk. As they age each disc will become cup shaped. The citrina part of the scientific name comes from the Latin citrin, and means “lemon yellow.” They are very small; the smallest in this photo would be barely the size of a period made by a pencil on paper, so a hand or macro lens comes in handy.
Greater celandine (Chelidonium majus) is a tease and always reminds me of spring, but it just lies under the snow all winter staying almost as green as it is here. Greater celandine was purposely introduced from Europe and is now considered an invasive plant but nobody really seems to mind it. When I was a boy we called it mustard because of the yellow sap that stained your hands, but it is in the poppy family and has nothing to do with mustard. The sap was once used to remove warts but science has found that it is toxic and can be extremely irritating, especially to the eyes and skin, so its use isn’t recommended.
Sweet little bunchberry (Cornus canadensis) is the smallest member of the dogwood family that I know of here in New Hampshire. It gets its name from the bunches of red berries that appear after the flowers are pollinated, and I hoped to get some photos of them for you this year but they are apparently popular with the critters because they disappeared quickly. Instead all I can show is its pretty fall leaves. Bunchberry was an important plant to Native Americans. They made tea from it to treat colds and also dried the leaves for smoking. Ashes from the burned plants were used to treat sores and insect bites and the roots were ground and used to treat colic in infants. The plant has strong antiseptic, antibiotic, and anti-inflammatory properties but I love it for its beautiful pure white, dogwood like blossoms.
I wish I could tell you what this is but I don’t know myself. I found several of them growing in damp, sandy soil in full sun and it says liverwort to me, but I can’t be sure. It is a low growing, flat on the ground plant. When I went back to look a little closer they had all curled up and died from the cold. At least I think so. If you’ve seen them and know what they are I’d love to hear from you.
Witch hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) is our latest blooming shrub, even blooming as late as January in a warm winter, so I wasn’t that surprised to see these blossoms in December. What the real surprise concerning witch hazels was this year was their lack of blossoms. Most of the shrubs that I know of didn’t bloom at all this year, and that’s very strange. In fact I only saw two or three shrubs out of hundreds blooming and I can’t guess what is holding them back, unless it was the unusually cool weather in August. Some Native American tribes steamed witch hazel twigs over hot stones in their sweat lodges to soothe aching muscles and others made tea from it to treat coughs. As is often the case Natives had a use for virtually every part of the plant and witch hazel is still in use today. It can be found as a lotion in almost any drugstore.
Since I was in the neighborhood I had to stop in to see the only plantain leaved sedge (Carex plantaginea) that I know of. It grows in an old stone wall and I like to see its crinkly, foot long evergreen leaves. Each leaf has a prominent midrib and a vein running on either side of it, and this makes identification very easy. I often come to see it in mid spring when it blooms. I wish I’d see more of them but so far in my experience this plant is quite rare here.
Heartleaf foamflower (Tiarella cordifolia) blooms in May and seems like a delicate little thing, but in reality it’s a very tough plant that stays green under the snow all winter. Some foamflower plants have leaves that turn pink and maroon but these examples stayed green. Like many plants that hold their leaves through winter, this year’s foliage will only brown and die back in spring, when new ones will appear. It is thought that some plants stay green in winter so they can get a jump on their competitors by photosynthesizing just a short time earlier. Foamflowers form dense mats of foliage and there is usually nothing else seen growing among them.
American wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens,) another of our native evergreens, goes by many other names but to me it will always be the checkerberry. Thanks to my grandmother, who had trouble getting up after keeling and so had me crawl around through the forest looking for its bright red berries, it was the first plant I learned to identify. We loved the minty, spicy flavor of the berries but coming up with only a handful was often difficult. The name checkerberry comes from the chequer tree, which is a mountain ash tree native to Europe and which is thought to have similar berries. From what I’ve seen though the only similarity is the color of the fruit. Oil of wintergreen can be distilled from the leaves of American wintergreen, and they also make a pleasant, minty tea. Native Americans would take a handful of the leaves with them on a hunt and nibble on them to help them breathe easier while running or carrying heavy game.
With a name like evergreen Christmas fern you probably wouldn’t be surprised to see this fern’s green leaves in winter, but these leaves did surprise me because they weren’t the deep green color that they usually have. They were a much paler, blanched green and this is something I’ve never seen before. I can’t even guess what would have caused this nearly indestructible fern to lose its color. Early colonials used to bring the fronds of this fern indoors in the winter, presumably to brighten what must have been a long, cold, dark period for them. If you look closely you can see that each leaf has a tiny “toe,” which makes it look like a Christmas stocking.
You would expect it to get cold in December and we weren’t too deep into the month when I started finding mushrooms like these brown ones frozen absolutely solid, but the cold that froze them was nothing compared to what was to come.
If you want to strike fear into the heart of even the crustiest New Englander just say the words “Ice storm.” An ice storm coats absolutely everything in ice and as the ice builds up layer after layer on tree branches the branches and sometimes the whole tree will fall, and when they fall they usually take the already weighed down power lines with them. This leaves entire regions; sometimes millions of people, without electricity. Of course it is cold outside as well, and when you don’t have electricity to power your furnace, unless you have a woodstove or fireplace you have only two choices: move or freeze. I have no backup heat source, and all of these thoughts crossed my mind as I walked through the landscape on the morning of Christmas Eve day, right after an ice storm.
An ice storm can be both beautiful and terrible at the same time, but thankfully only a few thousand people lost their power this time and it was restored rather quickly. I’ve known people who have lost their power for close to a month after an ice storm and returned home only to find their house nearly destroyed by frozen and burst water pipes. I don’t think there is any weather event that we fear more.
The ice looked thick on all the trees but in reality was probably only about a quarter inch thick, which isn’t usually enough to cause much damage, thankfully. Anything above that can mean trouble.
After the ice came about 5 inches of snow on Christmas morning, and this weighed the branches down even more because most of the ice was still on them. Still, though the Christmas tree lights blinked once or twice our power stayed on and I was able to cook our Christmas ham.
After the snow of Christmas day came the cold, and I do mean cold. Record breaking, dangerous cold settled in and hasn’t left yet, nearly a week later. As I write this I’m hoping I don’t wake to -16 °F again tomorrow as I did this morning, because you don’t go outside in that kind of cold, and it’s hard to chronicle what is happening in nature if you can’t get outside. In nearly eight years of writing this blog the weather has never stopped it, but this year could be different. I waited until it warmed to +14 ° and went out to take some photos, but an hour of that was all I could take. I must be getting old or maybe just tired of the cold; when I started this blog I could stay out most of the day if it was above 10 degrees but on this day it was more like work than fun.
But the cold can’t last forever; the earth will continue tilting toward the sun and spring will come once again. Meanwhile I’ll get outside when I can and if I can’t I might have to do a re-blog, which is something I’ve never done and don’t have the slightest idea how to do. It can’t be that hard.
If you’re wondering why I’m showing a photo of an old rock, it isn’t the rock I’m trying to show; it’s the skirt of ice it’s wearing. This stone is in the Ashuelot River and the river has frozen over from bank to bank in places. All I need to see is the river frozen over like that and I don’t need a thermometer to know it has been cold.
I see feathers all the time, but this is the first partridge feather I’ve ever seen. The partridge is an old world game bird that was introduced into the U.S. sometime around 1790. From what I’ve read it hasn’t been very successful here but it can do well on northern prairies and open farmland. They forage in tall grass and whole flocks of them can often be very close but remain unseen, so that might help explain why I’ve never seen one. I hope they and all the other birds and animals survive this terrible cold. How they do so, I don’t know.
So that’s our look at December in New Hampshire. Maybe January will be warmer so we can all go outside once again.
Ice burns, and it is hard for the warm-skinned to distinguish one sensation, fire, from the other, frost. ~A.S. Byatt
Thanks for coming by.
As always, a tremendously informative post!
Thanks!
Thanks for braving the cold and coming back with photographic gold. Appreciated.
Thank you Ben. December was a very strange month.
I presume you are referring to the weather.
Yes it was unusual, from a blooming world to a frozen one in just over two weeks.
I think it’s Selaginella apoda – btw I love your posts, Thank you
You’re welcome Stephanie and thank you. I’ll have to look it up!
The weather did change rather abruptly, didn’t it? This is the longest cold spell I can ever remember (and I’m no spring chicken). More in store by the looks of it. This, too, shall pass. 🙂
Thank you Eliza. Yes, it did change quickly and I hope it will warm up again just as quickly.
Spring will be extra sweet this year!
Yes, indeed, it always is after the long winter. 🙂
Lots of beautiful variety in your month. Like you, I dislike the sub-zero days. We have had few of those so far this winter though. Great photos!
Thanks Montucky! We’ve had a longer stretch of below zero weather than I can remember, and more on the way. Spring will be very welcome this year!
I am very glad that your survived the ice storm. They must be frightening indeed.
Thank you. Yes, they can be terrible.
I agree with Steve. It sure looks like a Selaginella. I had one I had purchased from a greenhouse supplier growing in a terrarium a long time ago.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selaginella
Thank you Lavinia. It’s a plant I’ve never heard of.
I would worry if we had ice storms here! Ordinary ice is bad enough but to get it that thick on trees and power cables must be awful! I am glad you had power on Christmas Day. It must have been good to have seen flowers in bloom in December – viola tricolor are favourites of mine.
Thank you Clare. Ice storms are terrible and can cause millions of dollars in damage, not to mention all the trees that are destroyed.
It was great to see flowers in December. If only it had lasted longer!
I understand that wish!
Hey, beloved Robin, I hope you subscribe to this site. It makes me smile. Be careful in the horrid and dangerous weather. I send love❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️💝
Sent from my iPad
>
I’m not sure who Robin is but I’m glad the blog makes you smile Adrian!
Photo seven is a spike moss (Selaginella).
Thanks very much Steve!
Good Morning,
I very much enjoy reading your blog, and seeing the photos that you take. In this blog you mentioned plants and the uses native Americans had for them for medicine. Would you recommend a book, or several, for references?
Happy New Year, Gail Platz
Thank you Gail. I’m sorry but I don’t have a regular reference for how Natives used plants and I’m not even sure there is one. What I do is Google something like “Native American uses for witch hazel” and I usually find several web sites that way. The trouble is it never seems to be the same web site for a different plant.
I wish I could be more helpful.
The weather is the same in Maine. And you are so right about the word “ice storm” striking terror in the hearts of folks in northern New England. Twelve inches of snow? No problem. Ice storm? Panic!!!
Thank you Laurie. We had a major ice storm here a few years ago. We didn’t lose power but I know many who did and it was terrible.
I hope we don’t see any more of it this year!
You and me, too. Waiting to see what this storm will bring. We are ready.
We got hammered. Looks like another weekend spent shoveling the roof!
Same here. We are dreaming of a metal roof. If only they weren’t so expensive.
My roof has too shallow a pitch so snow probably wouldn’t slide off metal, but I dream of it too.
I’m glad that you didn’t lose power in the ice storm, that would have been terrible on Christmas! I did enjoy the look back to the beginning of December, when temperatures were nearer to normal, especially the flowers and green plants.
This winter has been brutal, and we don’t get as cold here in Michigan as you do in New Hampshire. I suppose that we should both consider ourselves lucky that we don’t live in one of the Dakotas or Minnesota, where it gets even colder. I haven’t been out with a camera since Christmas Eve, and it may be more than week before I venture out if the weather forecasts are correct. Just too darned cold out there for me.
Thanks Jerry!
A year or two ago many people here lost power on Thanksgiving, which was just as bad.\
Yes, I’m very happy that I don’t live in Minnesota! You’re lucky you don’t get the cold we do, it’s been terrible.
I was going to try getting out this weekend but they’re saying -1 for Saturday and 11 for Sunday, so it isn’t looking good.
love your posts and the detail i learn from them and can even identify more stuff in the woods, and you make me look more closely at the little stuff which is great….i do believe the partridge, ruffed grouse to us, is indigenous however….
Thanks very much Tom. If you’re used to this blog you know I don’t know too much about birds, but you and a few others agree on the ruffed grouse so I’d guess you were right.
I read about the gray partridge, which is apparently an imported bird.
What a great reminder that it hasn’t been Arctic for ever but just barely two weeks! Hard to believe you were seeing those flowers in early December when you look at the thermometer now!
Glad to know it wasn’t just me wondering why I didn’t see the witch hazel in bloom this year in the places I usually do. I wonder why.
I would have identified that feather as being from a ruffed grouse. I see those quite often. I’ll have to look up partridge feathers to note what makes them different.
Stay warm! Supposed to get into the low 20s today I believe. A heat wave!
Thank you Jennifer. I couldn’t believe it myself. I had to check the date on the photos!
I have heard any answers on the witch hazel. It might just be having an off year.
You could be right on the feather. I asked a hunter which bird it was but a few others agree with you.
Wasn’t it nizce to have it above zero today!
It was amazing today! Hope you were able to get out for some exploring and pictures!
Apparently, some people call the Ruffed Grouse a “partridge.” So, as with plants…there’s always room for confusion when it comes to common names!
Unfortunately I had to work today so I didn’t get a chance for even one photo. It gets dark just as I get home now too, so keeping the blog going is tough at this time of year.
I learned when I was quite young that colorblindness just didn’t work with birds so though I’ve always loved watching them and hearing their sons I never really studied them, so I don’t know them well at all. I knew it wasn’t a turkey feather but that was about as close as I could come!
It’s been wicked cold here. Instant frozen fingers while trying to manipulate the camera during frigid walks in area nature have made photos almost impossible.
It’s been the same here. I have almost nothing for future posts.
Your mystery plant looks like creeping snowberry to me. Has a lovely white berry which is edible. Tastes like wintergreen, only better.
Thank you Kathy. There is a resemblance but I don’t think that’s it. Creeping snowberry has much darker and shinier “waxy” leaves and hairy stems.
How about meadow spikemoss, Selaginella apoda?
https://gobotany.newenglandwild.org/species/selaginella/apoda/
Thank you Celia, I think you might be right because others agree with you. I’ve never seen or heard of spikemoss. Apparently it isn’t common here.
Selaginella is one of those “fern allies”. S. apoda is state watch list, so uncommon, and likes moisture. You might be familiar with the more common S.rupestris, which likes rocky balds.
Thank you, no I can’t remember ever seeing S.rupestris either, but if things go as usual I’ll start seeing them everywhere now.
From Flowers to freezing, quite a temperature swing. Hope the temps climb to something a little more moderate soon.
Thanks Laura, me too. I hope Texas is warmer!
We are actually back in Florida for a couple months, but Texas isn’t too much better. I talked to some friends at the campground and all the water pipes in the park have frozen. This morning in Crystal River, FL it is 33 degrees and raining. Not exactly how I pictured my first winter out of NH!
I hope we all warm up very soon!
What a month of contrasts, the pretty flowers and then the ice storm which sounds terrifying! I am glad you were able to cook your ham and stay warm even if you couldn’t go outside. I guess your house is pretty well insulated.
Thank you Susan. Yes, our houses have to be well insulated here with below zero temperatures common in winter. What is uncommon this year is how long the cold is lasting. I think we’re going on two weeks now.
Goodness me, I hope it warms up soon.
Thank you. Me too!