A Website about Urban Environmental Restoration in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia
I remember May 10 of 2020 as being a very uncertain time as a frightening global pandemic was bearing down on us. I picked up Isabelle at the Jacksonville Amtrak station and we drove out to the Driftwood Beach.
In front of our house in Thomasville Georgia is a very majestic Live oak Quercus virginiana. Today, March 20, 2023, It has new leaves emerging that are about 1/2 inch long. The tree is hosting the currently green Resurrection Fern Pleopeltis polypodioides.
A long 930 mile two day trip, with carefully planned stops to take care of the most basic needs. I curated the trip going from antique mall to antique mall to experience the cleanest bathrooms spanning the breadth of the East Coast of the United States Of America. Pounding America’s finest pavements, I often relax into the journey by botanizing and delving into the beautiful natural world that I 95 relentlessly plows through. For much of the almost 1000 mile trip, the grinding and exhausting interstate highway is just feet away from exquisitely beautiful natural surroundings, all of which are fully appreciated here on the Sanguine Root.
Through Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and DC there were plenty of blooming Japanese Cherry trees. As I got into northern Virginia, blooming red maples were the stars of the show. Once I crossed the East Coast epic James River, the Botanical landscape changed. Running right through Richmond Virginia, the James River is a notable crossroads into a different botanical environment. At this time, the Redbuds are blooming! Driving south in early March is so interesting in this respect, in that real differences in blooming trees can be viewed in an immediate time reference!
South of Florence, South Carolina I started to see Carolina Jasmine, Jessamine sempervirens, growing alongside the highway. This plant is an astoundingly beautiful flowering vine that will leave you mesmerized from its beauty and you will just keep thinking about it after your initial experience with it. When you first see Carolina Jasmine, it it is your personal re-entry into spring and the end of winter. I never got a chance to get a picture and stay tuned for that one! Also in South Carolina I saw Saw Palmetto Serenoa repens growing in the woods just adjacent to I 95!
We do this drive often, working on two rundown houses, one in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the other in Thomasville Georgia. We have gotten to know the natural world in between. That whole world has been scientifically delineated by plant range maps, notably available at the U.S. Geological Survey. Upon my arrival in Thomasville Georgia, I was greeted by my already bloomed and gone to seed cultivated Bloodroot Sanguinaria canadensis.