Tag: <span>Trails</span>

March 4, 2025March 9, 2025

Wolf Creek Trout Lily Preserve February 15, 2025

Our 10th year visiting the Trout Lily Preserve in Whigham, Georgia! It is a beautiful place and we are so grateful for the preservation of this property and the continuing enhancements of it for the public good!

So on this beautiful Saturday afternoon, February 15, 2025, the visit was made! The Volunteers had outdone themselves again with a stunning welcome! Carefully planned free parking made to accommodate every visitor and a brand new visitors center! Lots of informative signage and visitor guidance to help enhance the visitors experience and to protect the delicate plants of the preserve. (stay on the trails, do not trample the beautiful plants you are here to see) is essentially what the message was.

There is so much beauty here, the colors, the shapes, and the variations! Every trout lily flower has a different shape! On this day I spent plenty of time photographing individual Trout lilies showing how each one has a different shape and growth pattern. The next few photos will illustrate this observation.

It just goes to show how much genetic variation can exist in a genetically isolated environment. The Trout lily Preserve is an example. It is the southern most population of this species and hundreds of miles from the nearest Trout Lily populations, which are found in Northern Georgia.

The ten years of observation at this site has been informative and has prompted some interesting questions about the genetic history and genesis of this special place. To start off, this population of Trout Lilies is an anomaly. It is isolated. Isolation in Science offers an opportunity for study, when some factors are removed, allowing for a focused and simpler case. I am interested in how isolated this unique population actually is: The pollen from the northern populations must at some point enter into the atmosphere. How do they travel? Most of the winds in the U.S. travel from west to east, but they can also blow south, so perhaps Trout Lily pollen could be blown due south, reaching the isolated population in Southern Georgia, breathing into that population the genetic diversity possibly needed for long-term sustenance. From my understanding, isolated populations of any species have a unique genetic blueprint that is for the most part in stasis. There are no new variables introduced into the genome that can provide a different DNA code than the dominant strain. Why is this an important issue? Because if a pathogen is introduced into this population that targets a specific cellular composition, there is an enhanced possibility of a widespread pandemic that could potentially wipe out a whole population. If there is a section of the population that has a varied genetic makeup that differs from the rest of the population than there is a real chance that this pathogen will not succeed in total anniliation of that specific population. That population is able to procreate and subsist even after substantial losses. To further understand this scenario it is important to understand that genetics always has the occasional mutation resulting in a different DNA sequence. This is a known natural behavior. It is these abnormalities that could potentially result in a specimen or specimens of a species that have a resistance to a pathogen such as a virus that could result in survival rates of a deadly pandemic statistically significant enough for the continuation of the overall population.

Another thought about this interesting isolated population of Erythronium umbilicatum is the sheer volume of individual specimens on this 140 acre site. (There are also scattered populations in nearby North Florida as well!) The reason I bring up the volume of specimens is because this may have an impact on genetic variation of a population, given enough time: The natural mutations within a given population over time can result in a naturally diversified community of specimens within a definitively spaced/isolated population. I’m guessing here thousands of years.

So what may have started out with a more homogenous genetic makeup as a re-oriented population of a species in a new location will have morphed into a diverse enough genetic pool over a long enough time to become sustainable in a longer arc of history. The natural mutations that do occur in reproduction offer a longevity for a given population of species, if the conditions are favorable to begin with. With these Whigham, Georgia Trout lilies, it is a north facing slope, with a clay soil favorable to this species.

And how about this Trillium maculatum, found all throughout the site, growing alongside the Trout Lilies!

The newly reconstructed trails bring us visitors right up to the banks of Wolf Creek, our Preserve’s namesake and defining geographic feature. All along the Creek is the stunning Bluestem Palmetto Sabal minor, growing right alongside the Trout Lilies and Trillium. It is noteworthy to observe these plants growing right along side each other, sharing the same soil, moisture and light conditions. From a gardener’s perspective, noting these closely associated plants is essential to trying to re-create them successfully in one’s yard. We have been working on trying to re-create something like Wolf Creek Trout Lily Preserve in our Thomasville, Georgia yard, which is 23 miles to the east, for the past ten years, with some degree of success. All of our plants are purchased at nurseries and local plant sales in the area, and it is interesting to note that Trout Lilies are totally unavailable for sale because of their unique morphology: the mature flowering plants exist as a corm buried deep into the ground, as much as 12 inches or more underground most of the year. The corm is like a tiny potato, about 5/8 of an inch long. when it is time to shine, it sends up a long shoot that reaches the surface of the earth and sends up a leaf and sometimes a flower. It takes many years for the corm to create a flower. This renders it effectively impossible for this plant, as a specimen, to be sold at a nursery. Many years ago Lowe’s was selling the corms, and we purchased a few and we have Trout Lily leaves coming up in our yard but have yet to see flower.

The Preserve is so fascinating in so many ways and it was delight to visit on February 15, 2025, with a balmy 77 degrees and sunny skies. It is great to be able to enjoy the beauty of the place and also to have the luxury to expand my thoughts into a meditation about genetics and the history of plants and the places they grow and the timeline. Its always more questions than answers. The questions and simplistic understanding about genetics outlined here are grounded in a respect for science and worries about disease and pandemics. In the world of plants, disease and catastrophic failure, we are in an obfuscated situation, completely dependent on plants to survive to sustain our species and are at risk of losing the scientific muscle needed to overcome a black swan event of sudden disease of crucial plant species such as wheat, oats etc. The Potato famine in Ireland needs to be remembered here. Genetics matter, Science matters. Scientific research needs to be respected and understood for the value it brings to our society, and funded appropriately. In this dark time of taking away much needed government funding of scientific research, we are putting our society at risk of disease and famine. We have entered into an era of disease and pandemics and we have the scientific prowess to resist it still with us, and we must try to stay on that path!

Lastly, Check out this beautiful population of gorgeous Trout Lilies, thousands of years old!

May 2, 2013

THE BLOOMING BLUEBELLS OF THE LOWER SUSQUEHANNA RIVER, MARYLAND

Susquehanna State Park, Maryland.Sunday, April, 21, 2013 www.thesanguineroot.com

This inviting trail on this Susquehanna State Park floodplain led us for miles along the majestic Susquehanna River. The trail wound through an enchanting forest rising from a sea of blooming bluebells. The blue of the fresh flowers complemented the deep blue of the river’s water and the bright blue of the Maryland Spring sky. Across the river we could see the hues of that delicate spring green on the trees, this the same green that was the backdrop of the rich, robust blues that dominated the forest floor all around us.

The hollow stems of the Mertensia virginica, the Virginia Bluebells, make for a delicate plant, easily crushed or broken off by the drop of a dead branch or the footsteps of animals, the leaves tender and floppy and richly green, leathery to the eye, but truly thin and never seeming to reach maturity- the leaves yellow and die before they ever become hardened or even tattered. This is a Spring plant that lasts as long as Spring lasts, flowering for weeks at a time, making it desirable in cultivation, as a garden beauty- actually the showpiece Spring garden planting as it produces masses of flowers of brilliant blue, right at the time when we gardeners and observers of natural beauty Â yearn for anything green-and to have this luminescent blue in the inflorescence is astounding.

In the natural world, on its own, as it has been for millenia, this seemingly endless expanse of Bluebells here on this sunny April day along the riparian woodlands of the Lower Susquehanna, have us mezmerized. Â We stopped on the trail to take in the sight of this vast population, growing in a forest of Sycamores, Paw-Paw and Red Maple…the beauty of the sight has no measure or quantifiable Â relevance. What it is to just see the whole herbaceous layer, a completely blue inflorescence of native plants on the forest floor!

The blue of the sky and the blue of the river. The blue of the plants! Â We are ensconced in blue.

On this bright, sunny day, we are very happy, and it is so enjoyable to walk for miles along the river and see this Springtime carpet of bluebells.

The very thought of them not being present becomes upsetting. We really love these flowers! Â And we are not the only ones. The native bees are Â very interested in them as well. Before the flowers bloom, they are pink.

A pink flower on this one! We see these from time to time, and sometimes completely white ones too. That natural variation of species is interesting to observe in a highly populated setting.

We can see to the horizon of this forest, bluebells all the way!

The gently winding trail through this natural area makes it look like a garden. For gardeners, nature is the true inspiration, and for trail builders and natural land managers, perhaps the garden is the best inspiration for trail design. How can a trail through this natural area be as inviting as possible and showing off the best views, all the while creating a sense of place so satisfying that there Â is never a desire to leave the trail? Â This trail wound its way along the floodplain, affording us spanning vistas of the Susquehanna from time to time, as well as leading us into the forests where we were surrounded by the bluebells.

It must be noted that when a plant emerges from the ground below, and creates the color of the sky above with such vibrant luminescence, that we are witness to a communication of minerals, living cellular organisms, and the physical properties of air and water, such as how they refract light waves, so that we see them as we do, the light is bent into the blue that we see-this communication we understand as colors that we appreciate.

For us, and possibly the bees too, the message is just that, just why we are attracted to the message. These plants may eventually benefit from such an attraction by humans, by being propagated and maintained as garden specimens, gaining an evolutionary advantage in a world where more and more natural areas are being consumed by developments that destroy them and then plant a monolithic strata of alien cultivated species that have no interactive Â relevance to the immediate natural surroundings.

Bluebells are relevant to the immediate biosphere and we find them attractive.

Maybe only the native plants with the prettiest flowers to humans will survive, along with the toughest native weeds.

The delicate nature of Bluebells, so easily crushed, the flowers detach with the slightest pluck, they are truly the ephemeral nature of Spring. This is why we cannot wander off the carefully designed trails into the woods, because the Bluebells would be crushed immediately, and a heavily visited public park such as this, staying on the trails is paramount, for the Bluebells are for all, and all can destroy them so easily. To have what is left of the natural world in our area to be as wild as possible, and true to its origins, Â then we must think of them as gardens, to be weeded of invasives and carefully trodden upon. At least in this part of the world, in this part of Maryland, and the heavily populated northeastern U.S., wild is something we have to maintain and become stewards of. While we cannot create the wild, we can stop destroying it and we can begin to restore it, even in our gardens.

The wild, as history unfolds, has turned out to be quite enchanting and mesmerizing, and ever so delicate!

Seeing right into the flower of the Bluebell, we are looking at Spring itself, right in the eye.

February 24, 2011February 25, 2011

SNOWCOVER NEVER LIES: TRACKING THE HISTORY OF THE TRAIL

PAWS AND SHOES, BOOTS AND SNEAKERS. BICYCLE WHEELS AND SLEDS ARE DETECTED ON THE MORRIS PARK ROAD TRAIL THIS MORNING.

Keeba inspects trail for evidence of other dogs. Morris Park Philadelphia

Five inches of fresh powder in late February. This snow was like the old days in December 2010, a fluffy dusting, a reminder that winter still has its grip on our region. Before the snowcover is gone for the year, coming soon, there is a need for some mention of how great snow is for tracking.

Nothing is lost on a fresh coat of snow. Â The wanderings of deer and fox, human and dog are recorded exactly as they are on the frozen sheet of snow. Â If we would like to follow the passage of any of these creatures, this is the time. Â We can live the morning commute of a white-tailed deer, or of an energetic canine by following their footpath.

The snowcover will hopefully protect the soon-to-be emerging wildflowers from having their delicate buds being crushed by feet.

The log-bordered trail, in some sections, was designed to wind around Â our populations of delicate and beautiful spring wildflowers, so they can be appreciated, photographed, drawn, inspected, meditated upon, admired and thoroughly enjoyed without being crushed accidently.

It is heart-warming to see so many tracks on the trail, that there is an enthusiastic usage in our community of this fantastic and inspiring natural area, right here in the City Of Philadelphia, one of the largest cities in the country. Â The diversity of native-to-Pennsylvania trees, shrubs and wildflowers in Morris Park is notable.

While the City Of Philadelphia has a distinguished and great personality in its people and its amazing architecture (especially our rowhomes, which are spectacular in architectural detail), our parks that represent and contribute to the diversity and richness of the flora and fauna of Pennsylvania are the most astounding quality of Â our urban status. Â Philadelphia is a city of homes and forested Parks.

Philadelphia Pennsylvania: A city of homes and forested urban Parks

Here, there is a heavily used Morris Park trail, with a neighborhood of fine row-homes in the background. Â This image robustly illustrates how a densely populated urban area can elegantly co-exist with it’s northeastern deciduous Pennsylvania piedmont forest location.

What is most uplifting is the amount of appreciation from the surrounding community there is for this arrangement. Â The sense of belonging, attachment, usage and responsibility is clearly evident in the tracks in the snowy trail.

Reports have been coming to the Sanguine Root from dog walkers who not only carry bags with them to pick up after their dogs in the park, but are also remembering to bring an extra bag, so they can pick up trash that may have been accidentally introduced into the park. (Sometimes trash will come out of our pockets when we reach into them to grab a bag to pick up after our dog). Â We at the Sanguine Root have actually found trash that we accidently dropped from our own pockets a few hours earlier. Isabelle exclaimed just yesterday upon finding a receipt from Shop-Rite Â on the trail: “Thats my garbage! I polluted!”

We also track some of the most unfortunate circumstances we face in the area: heroin users who leave behind empty bags and paraphernalia, sometimes in alarming frequency and with disturbing deposits, sometimes very close to our homes.

There are those that toss their empty beer cans into the forest along the trails. The Sanguine Root does our best to not let our blood boil. Â We pick them up, and move on. When we hear of other neighbors doing the same, we feel even better!

The Morris Park Road trail has become a place where the neighbors see each other and talk. it is an everyday experience. In the most heavily used sections there is hardly a bit of trash found, because someone in the neighborhood has picked it up.

Our neighbors in Overbrook, Philadelphia, enjoying a sunday afternoon in Morris Park

When we go into the park, we want to experience the woods, and luckily enough for us here in Overbrook, the woods is right here.

The snow clearly shows how much the park is being used. Â All the foot traffic we see is inspirational.

For anyone who is able to get to an accessible natural area or park, we recommend Â that you take a walk in your place if you can.

“Take a walk in the park” -one of the Sanguine Root’s mantras.

By the way, less than 30 days until spring, so enjoy all that winter has to offer!

Heard shrieking in the park last night, these are most likely Fox tracks. They put their back feet in the same placement as the front in what is called 'direct register'. Morris Park Philadelphia