“All the leaves are brown, and the sky is gray…I’ve been for a walk, on a winter’s day.” California Dreaming by The Mammas and the Pappas has been playing in my head a lot lately; maybe because I hoped to do one more fall foliage post. But now, since all the leaves are brown I doubt that it will happen.
I shouldn’t say all the leaves are brown because bracken fern’s leaves (Pteridium aquilinum) have turned kind of a pinky gray. Bracken is one of the oldest ferns; fossils date it to over 55 million years ago, so it has been very successful. That might be because it eliminates competition by releasing chemicals that inhibit the growth of other plants. That’s why large colonies of nothing but bracken fern are seen, often along roadsides. Some Native American tribes peeled and cooked the roots of bracken fern to use as food but science has shown that all parts of the plant contain carcinogens.
It has gotten cold here all of the sudden; cold enough to be record breaking in parts of the state, so scenes like this one of frosty leaves and grass have become commonplace in the morning. I was hoping I could get all of the leaves picked up before it snowed, but that isn’t going to happen.
This juniper haircap moss (Polytrichum juniperinum) was about as frosty as it could be but mosses can handle extremes and this little plot of moss should come through winter completely unscathed.
The thin, crinkly white puddle ice that I used to love riding my bike through as a boy has appeared on the puddles. I was never thrilled to see it in the fall but I loved seeing it in the spring because it meant that the earth was warming up after a long winter and soon school would be letting out for the summer. I’ve learned since then that the white color comes from bubbles, because this ice contains lots of oxygen. I’ve also learned that you can see some amazing things in this ice; I’ve seen wave ripples, birds flying, high mountains, distant stars, and space and time. All of that and more can all be there for the seeing, but most of us don’t take the time to look.
At the river there was ice of another kind. Just seeing it in a photo makes me shiver because I remember how cold it was that day.
Speaking of the river, the Ashuelot’s banks won’t hold much more. We’ve been getting 1-4 inches of rain each week since about mid-July and so far there hasn’t been any serious flooding but as this photo shows, something is going to have to give soon if it keeps up. Luckily the weather people are finally talking about a pattern change, and except for a few snow showers the upcoming week looks fairly dry for the most part.
Of course streams are running furiously as well. I visited Beaver Brook in Keene recently to admire the stone wall that was built over and around the brook, probably well over a hundred years ago. It’s the only stone wall built around a brook that I’ve ever seen; essentially a box culvert on top of rather than below ground, built by a clever farmer I’d guess. The only time you can get a good look at it is after the leaves fall.
Even beavers are saying “enough rain already!” This beaver dam was breached by high water because apparently even the industrious beavers can’t keep up.
Beavers have been very active near my house. They cut down this 5 inch diameter poplar tree and I was surprised because in the past they’ve always cut birches first. There are quite a few birches in the same area but so far they’ve left them alone. They can cut and drag off an amazing number of trees in one night.
Usually it’s the top branches of a tree that beavers want most for winter food so I was surprised that they left this poplar limb behind. I’m guessing that they probably came back for it that night.
Though jelly fungi grow at all times of year I think of them as winter fungi because that’s usually when I find them. I often see them on fallen branches, often oak or alder, and I always wonder how they got way up in the tree tops. Yellow jellies (Tremella mesenterica) like this one are called witches butter and are fairly common. We also have black, white, red, orange and amber jelly fungi and I’d have to say that white and red are the rarest. I think I’ve seen each color only two or three times. Jelly fungi can be parasitic on other fungi.
The most common of all jelly fungi is the amber one in my experience (Exidia recisa,) because I see it all the time, especially after a rain. This one always reminds me of jellied cranberry sauce. Jelly fungi dry out when it’s dry and appear as tiny colored flakes that you’d hardly believe could grow as much as they do, but they absorb water like a sponge and can grow to 60 times bigger than they were when dry. Jelly fungi have a shiny side and a kind of matte finish side and their spores are produced on their shiny sides. After a good rain look closely at those fallen limbs, big or small, and you’re sure to find jelly fungi.
Hemlock varnish shelf fungi (Ganoderma tsugae) can be quite big but they are still easiest to see when the leaves fall. Their color can vary greatly but they’re almost always shiny on top, hence the “varnish” part of the common name, but this example had no shine. In China this mushroom is called the Reishi mushroom and it has been used medicinally for centuries. It is considered the most important of all the herbs and substances used in Chinese medicine and scientists from around the world are researching its anti-cancer potential.
When I started my current job I saw a tree / shrub that I hadn’t ever seen. I watched it for a while to see what it would do but even after watching it for months I couldn’t find it in any guide, so I put it on the blog as an unknown. Right off my blogging friend Clare from the Suffolk Lane blog told me it was a spindle berry, native to Europe, and after researching it I was happy with that name and I’ve called it that ever since. But recently I found out that we have a native version called eastern wahoo (Euonymus atropurpureus,) so now I’m going to have to watch it even more closely to see which one it is. I think it’s probably the native version. The photo above is of its interesting bright red fruit.
In my last post I mentioned how the inner bark of staghorn sumac (Rhus typhina) was often a beautiful bright red, but the odd thing about it is that it seems to turn red only after exposure to the elements. I’ve peeled the bark from dead staghorn sumacs and have never been able to find any red color, but if I look closely at dead sumacs with bark that has peeled naturally like that in the above photo, it’s often quite red. How and why it changes is a mystery to me but it’s nice to see in winter when there isn’t a lot of color.
Wooly alder aphids (Paraprociphilus tessellatus) are sucking insects that pierce the bark of an alder and suck out the sap, so they do harm the plant. They can be winged or unwinged and need both alders and silver maples to complete their life cycle. Eggs overwinter in crevices in the bark of silver maple trees. In spring the nymphs hatch and begin feeding on the undersides of new leaves until in late May through July they develop wings and fly off to find alders. Once on an alder they begin feeding on the sap and reproducing. Soon the colony is made up of aphids in all stages of growth and becomes covered in a fluffy white, waxy “wool” like that seen in this photo. Some aphids mature and fly off to silver maples to mate and once mated the female will lay a single egg in a crevice in the bark and the cycle will repeat.
Last year I was able to do an entire flower post in November but this year it got cold quickly, so I was surprised to see this little lobelia (Lobelia inflata) still blooming. The flowers are no bigger than a pencil eraser and its common name of Indian tobacco comes from its inflated seedpods, which are said to look like the pouches that Native Americans carried their smoking mixtures in.
I’ve seen native witch hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) bloom in January in a warm winter, so it wasn’t a surprise to see it blooming in November, but even witch hazel can have too much cold and I doubt I’ll see these pretty blooms again until the spring witch hazels bloom in March. It’s an event I’ll be impatiently waiting for. Just the thought of spring, my favorite season, is like a soothing balm that gets me through winter.
If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies only in yourself. ~Tecumseh, Shawnee
I hope everyone has a safe and happy Thanksgiving! Thanks for coming by.
We have a native shrub in our area that locals call Hearts a-Bursting with Love, though I think it’s called Hearts a-Bustin’ elsewhere, that your Eastern Wahoo reminds me very much of. The fruit and seeds are very similar. Our native plant is Euonymus americanus. I wonder if your plant is the same? It was one of the first plant names I learned after moving to Tennessee. Your posts mentioning witch hazel reminded me that I need to go look for blossoms on a plant I know of, though I’ve probably missed the blossoms down here already. Thank you, as always, for the enjoyable post! Hope you had a great Thanksgiving! 🙂
Thank you Cheri. I don’t think this one is Euonymus americanus because this one doesn’t have the same warty fruits. These are quite smooth.
I’ve seen witch hazel blossoming in January so if it’s warm there you have a good chance of finding it in bloom.
I hope your Thanksgiving was a good one too!
Oh, interesting! I’ll be following along to see what your plant turns out to be! Thank you for all of the lovely posts – I always look forward to seeing them in my inbox! I hope to go look for the witch hazel later today, if I can manage it! 🙂
Thank you, I hope once I see the flowers I’ll be able to ID it.
I hope you saw some witch hazel. It’s had a good year here!
A belated happy Thanksgiving to you and your family as well.
I think that my favorite things in this post are the jelly fungi, because I see so few of them. I also liked your imagination when it came to the puddle of ice. The stone wall crossing the brook was great example of how such structures should be built so as not to impede fish in the brook from going up or downstream as the seasons change.
My two favorite images from this post are the frosty juniper haircap moss and the wooly alder aphids.
Thanks Jerry! I’m surprised you don’t see more jelly fungi. You can usually count on finding them on just about any fallen oak limb you pick up here.
That’s a good point about the fish going through the wall. Maybe that’s why it was built that way. I know there used to be a lot of brook trout in Beaver brook and probably still are.
I am pleased you have discovered that there is a native spindle. I would much rather have native trees in my woods than introduced species no matter how attractive and un-invasive they might be.
I hope you have enough dry weather to enable the water levels to go down.
Thank you Clare, I’d rather have a native too. This one doesn’t have an ornamental look but I’ll have to see the flowers to be sure.
We’re having snow instead of rain now but since snow takes a while to melt it is letting all the the water drain off some.
We were fortunate to notice some blooming witch hazel on a recent hike. First time I remember seeing it which may say more about my observational skills than it’s abundance in central Ohio.
When the leaves are on the plant the flowers can be really hard to see. Once they fall it’s much easier.
My, it’s still so pretty in your part of the world!
Thanks Montucky! It’s all under snow now!
Thank you for sharing your walks, knowledge, and wisdom. Much appreciated. My eyes see so much more on my own walks now that I regularly read and view your posts. Happy Thanksgiving!
You’re welcome, and thank you for letting me know that you’re getting something from this blog. I’m always happy to hear that and I appreciate your taking the time to tell me so.
Happy Thanksgiving to you as well. I hope your will be warmer than ours.
Happy Thanksgiving to you, too. Bundle up, it’s going to be a cold one!
Thanks very much Eliza. Yes, at 40 degrees Saturday sounds absolutely balmy! Have a great Thanksgiving!
I really enjoyed the wooly alder aphids. You have introduced me to more wonders than any other blog that I know.
Thank you. It gets a little harder to find new wonders each year but sometimes the already seen ones are worth a second look. I like the aphids too, as long as they aren’t on my plants.
I like that this puddle ice too, and I do see all sorts of things in that ice. And it’s fun to break. Your river photo is so pretty with the blue sky and blue water, wow! Witch Hazel is still blooming here, and a few dandelions. It hasn’t been to the teens here yet but close, and yes tomorrow is going to be very cold.
Happy Thanksgiving Allen, and thank you again for sharing the wonderful things you see.
Thank you Chris. I used to love riding my bike through that ice in the spring!
I saw witch hazel blossoms covered with snow yesterday but I haven’t seen a dandelion for a while now.
I probably won’t be in the woods tomorrow. I doubt my cameras could take it!
Have a great Thanksgiving!
It would be fun to set up a trail camera and watch those beavers haul down trees overnight! Great post – makes me homesick for Quabbin.
Thank you Cathy. I wish I had a trail camera. That’s one of many things I’d like to do with it!
Always so much to see. Those aphids gave me the creeps, but I know that is not an impartial way of viewing creatures who are just trying to make their living, like every other creature.
Thank you Laurie. I know what you mean about the aphids, and they can do so much damage! Have a great day tomorrow!
Will do! And same to you.
Another fascinating post, Allen…I do love your leafy walkway in the first photo…and your ever-present Ashuelot River. Thank you for sharing.
You’re welcome Scott, and thank you. I hope you and the family have a great Thanksgiving!
Happy Thanksgiving to you as well. Bundle up if you head out this weekend. 🙂
Thank you Judy. I’ll be out there and I certainly will be bundled up. It feels like January!
I wonder if all this time I’ve been seeing juniper hiarcap moss and thinking it was spaghnum moss, they look so similar. Live and learn, right? I like how your imagination sees beautiful things in the puddle ice. Thanks again for a wonderful post and I hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving.
Thanks very much Lynn. I think you should Google images of the Juniper haircap moss and sphagnum moss to see the differences clearly. The moss in my photo was very dry in spite of the frost and it’s appearance changes quite a lot when it becomes dry.
Sometimes I wonder if I might have an overactive imagination! Have a great day tomorrow!
Interesting as always, I particularly liked your picture of the puddle ice and the following one of actual icicles. You must have had very cold.weather.
Thank you Susan. Yes, it has been cold here and tomorrow is supposed to be the coldest yet, with about 10 degrees F for a high temp.