Finding Meadow Beauty and Autumn Coralroot!

So this very hot August day (92 degrees),  we decided on a road trip to Brown Sanctuary along the Paw Paw River in the northern section of Berrien County.

Sign for Brown Sanctuary

Paw Paw River from Brown Sanctuary

Paw Paw River

After Brown we went south to Grand Mere State Park and Natural Area.

We were driving north just into Van Buren County and stopped by Barvicks Dunes Nature Sanctuary.  But what I thought was the best part of the trip was a stop at Ross Coastal Plain Marsh Preserve, where we found two plants I have been wanting to find.  First was the Autumn Coralroot!

Autumn Coralroot (This is an Orchid!)

And the best find of the day was, drum roll please...

Meadow Beauty

                         What a day to remember!

Sneaking away on a Thursday!

Yes this adventure was on Thursday.  I helped someone paint her shed so she had time to go wildflowering. 

Our first stop was near Rothbury Michigan (Oceana County) to see Northern Blazing Star, tall spires of purple flowers, nice.  

  

Next it was up to a special ditch somewhere in Oceana County to see Closed (or Bottle) Gentian.  Lovely.

         Trail at Gale's Pond

We also made our way to Gale's Pond.  This is a cool nature trail.    



Somewhere along the road in Oceana County

Then we painted a shed.

Laketown Township, Allegan County, Michigan 2010 08 23

Another adventure day with my sister, finally!  It was a long week, and our wildflowering trips are necessary for both of us.  Really. 

So where to go this week?  We decided on Laketown Township, just south of Holland Michigan.  We stopped and got info from the township hall, great maps, we like maps.

Farview Nature Park  87 acres, with a large pond, walking trails, boardwalks, picnic area, very nice.  

Nodding Ladies' Tresses

Round-leaved Sundew (right - those leaves are round)

  

So the trail here at Farview went through some interesting places - wet, wooded, mossy places.  This is a good place for a walk.
Next we headed over to Huyser Farm Park and Nature Preserve.  We picked some blueberries here as we walked through the field of blueberry bushes, yum.  Then over a small sandy creek to some remnants of farm buildings with what we think may be an American Chestnut tree. We could be wrong.

                                                American Chestnut ?

  Pond at Huyser Farm

 

Orange Hawkweed


After Huyser we drove by Gilligan Lake which does have public access and paved parking along the road, and Kelly Lake which has public access limited to foot traffic but we didn't see a good spot to pull off the road.


We also stopped at Wolters Woods 34 acres, a community park with a playground including a merry-go- round, hiking/skiing trails, picnic area.

There are many more parks in this township, Shore Acres, Sanctuary Woods, Laketown Beach, and Saugatuck Dunes State Park.