Connor Bayou
We had more hot and humid weather for the last half of August, and finally we had some significant rainfall. It gets noticeably darker, earlier in the evening now.
Ottawa County, Michigan
We made a few visits to Hofma Preserve in Grand Haven Township. It was almost too dark for photos at 8 pm..
Crockery Creek Natural Area is on the north side of the Grand River. From the park you don't get to see the Grand River, you can see Crockery Creek.
The history of the property...
"The earliest record of activity on this property is that of a brickyard that operated in the 1870s. A large pit still remains today where clay and other materials were dug and formed into bricks. A small barge then transported the bricks to Grand Haven to build roads and for other uses.
In 1882, the Kirkby family came from England, purchased this land and built their homestead. Several generations of the Kirkbys lived on the farm for 123 years. Mrs. Frankie A. Kirkby was the last of the family to reside there until her death in 2005. She was 94.
Frankie and her husband, George, moved into the house to live with George’s mother in 1940. At that time, George’s mother was raising turkeys and peddling them along with butter and eggs in Grand Haven.
George was an electrician and a school bus driver. Frankie was a nurse in Muskegon. In addition to their jobs, they kept a working farm with 13 dairy cows, a couple of horses and some chickens. They also grew a variety of crops including wheat, oats, corn, potatoes and vegetables. They used most of the animal and plant products; however, they did sell chickens and eggs to neighbors. In the 1950s, they logged some virgin oaks and maples from the property to supplement their income.
During a conversation in 2002, Frankie recalled fighting hoards of mosquitoes as she rounded up the cows from the “flats.” She also stated what a thrill it was to see the first whitetail deer on their property in 1940. She remembered seeing a beaver on the property, as well as many muskrats that George would trap.
The Michigan Historical Commission certified the farm as a Centennial Farm in 1982."
There was a visit to Riverside Park, another Ottawa County Park. This park is on the south side of the Grand River about 3 1/2 miles east of Connor Bayou Park.
One very hot day, August 20, I walked at the east end of Bass River Recreation Area owned by the state of Michigan. I went to check on the Cardinal Flowers, which I found blooming nicely. Also to see if the Bottle Gentian were getting ready to bloom. I found no Bottle Gentian but it was early for their bloom time.
Monkeyflower was blooming even though the big puddles and small ponds where it grows were dried up. 
August 22 - Marie and I were again exploring Allegan State Game Area along a section of 126th Avenue.
We came up from the swamp area and moved on to woods and fields. It really is a beautiful place. Here we saw two kinds of Blazing Star.
And a foxglove....maybe Smooth False Foxglove?
More fungi...
A plant that we have never identified before, maybe we never saw it before... Naked Stem Sunflower! The name describes it, the stem has only tiny leaves and looks bare.
Next we left the open fields and walked to the Kalamazoo River through the woods.
For more information on this vine, check out New Hampshire Garden Solutions, right there under My Blog List on the right hand side of this blog.
After hiking more than a half mile, through the woods on a two track, we came to the Kalamazoo River.
August 29 Another trip to Allegan County.
It had rained for several days and even the day we were here there was some rain. So for that reason, I think, we saw more types of fungi.
This place in Allegan County is considered a Coastal Plain Marsh. From Michigan's Natural Features Inventory website... https://mnfi.anr.msu.edu/communities/community.cfm?id=10670
Coastal plain marsh is a grass-, spike-rush-, and rush-dominated wetland community that contains numerous plant disjuncts from the Atlantic and Gulf coastal plains.
One of the special flowers we see here is Meadow Beauty. At this site we see mostly the Maryland Meadow Beauty or Pale Meadow Beauty (Rhexia mariana).
There were a few of the Virginia Meadow Beauty (Rhexia virginica).
At other Coastal Plain Marshes we usually see the Virginia Meadow Beauty.
Here are a few more things we saw that day.
I made another trip to Bass Recreational Area, alone. We had several inches of rain since I was there August 20, ten days earlier. The dry areas were no longer dry!
But the Bottle Gentian had made their appearance!
I also saw a few Nodding Ladies Tresses orchids! These two plants, the gentian and ladies tresses, are the reason I made this visit!
The month ended with one more trip to Crockery Creek Natural Area. I had to mention this visit because I found Ladies Tresses here for the first time. It is most likely Nodding Ladies Tresses but the orchid wasn't quite blooming. And they were growing right on the mowed path!
August 2018 started dry and hot. It ended wet and hot. I hope you enjoyed my adventures as much as I did! Thanks for stopping by.
4 comments:
Gosh what a load of beautiful photos of beautiful flowers and fungi! I've never even heard of a white cardinal flower.
I think that pair of leaves do belong to an orchid and the small purple flower after the Queen Anne's lace is a Gerardia. Which one I don't know, possibly smooth gerardia.
I think the fungal flower is another earth star. I've been hoping to see one for a long time!
I'm glad you found the field milkwort and the wild cucumbers!
Great to see the lady's tresses. Now I've got to go see if the bottle gentian is blooming!
Thanks, Allen. Yes that was a big load of photos, I just can't see to stop with them.
It was the first time I saw a white Cardinal Flower! I just saw a totally white gerardia today! Why no color, I wonder?
Most of the gerardia seem a deeper pink color this year, beautiful color!
I'm not sure about the "Flower Fungus" I don't remember if it had a stem, it was in very wet woods.
I have seen Cross-Leaved Milkwort and Racemed Milkwort, but not Field Milkwort. These plants are different enough from each other for me to identify.
So many plants are just too difficult to tell apart, such subtle differences.
And the Wild Cucumber! I tried to get a clear photo of the tendrils but every picture was blurry! I liked your description of them being like telephone cords.
I saw more Bottle Gentian and Nodding Ladies Tresses this morning at Bass RRA!
:) Chris
Great post Chris, you sure found some real beauty’s, as I was looking I kept saying Wow you found this and Wow you found that. Never seen that may cardinal flowers in the wild in one place. You even found cacti. Great hunting!
Thanks, Dave! I did get to see a lot of neat things in August. Cardinal Flower Lane is the best. I think the camera never quite captures that beautiful red but it's close. It was all fun.
:) Chris
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