Eight or ten years ago there was an Asian Ambrosia Beetle that was vectoring a fungus that killed native Red Bay trees. It's the same Laurel Wilt that is killing the Avocado trees in FL. I worked with a team of biologists that identified infected trees at Hunting Island, a nearby state park. We marked several thousand for removal, these were within 10' of the trails and might have fallen and injured a visitor. In the interior forest there were hundreds of thousands of Red Bays - all dead or dying. All of a sudden there were vast open areas where the trees had been. However, once the trees were dead the the beetles had nothing to munch on and they died also. Now the Red Bays, without an immediate threat, are coming back on their own. The local biologists hope the returning trees are seedlings from the strongest strains that might have some natural immunity to the fungus now.
As one of two counties in SC under quarantine, we are still recommending removal of citrus with greening if someone asks but no one is going out and looking for it.
Minds are like parachutes; they work better when they are open.
We took a walk this morning at the Ramapo State Forest to enjoy the blooming Cypripedium acaule. There were tons of small plants every where and there were a lot of single plants in bloom in wide swaths and some in clusters. One sees dark colored pink to very light and Klaus saw on one location the white form (which we did not visit today).
Habitat pic
A large Mushroom and a wild Azalea
After doing the annual Cyp acaule walks at the Ramapo mountains we managed, finally due to decent enough weather yesterday, to do the whole tour through our Pennsy forest, visiting all three major stands of Cyp acaule. (Hopefully I haven't bored you to tears yet with my pictures.)
It is not a great Cyp acaule year at our place, but we still saw plenty of plants in bloom and dozens of plants in many locations, although somewhat more spaced than usual.
One of the habitats - I think, if you don't know what you are looking for, these plants are very difficult to find!
Gay Wings/Polygala paucifolia
And looking for more Cyps
The Trilliums are now pretty much done
Tiarella cordifolia
And some pretty Veronica at our entrance, whatever the lawn cutter missed!
Klaus took a walk by himself today at the Ramapo mountains to look at a Cyp acaule forma albiflorum he had spotted last week. Interesting are the different shades of pink on some of the other plants. ( I had a major repotting session in the meanwhile)
Also, noting Lupines and pretty Colombines as part of the walk.
Name: Carol Santa Ana, ca Sunset zone 22, USDA zone 10 A.
Jim, What is your elevation there? I'm at 42' here and that is the sandstone bluffs at the shoreline. The best we can do is a few gravel pits (and sand pits) in the foothills.
Name: Daisy I Reno, Nv (Zone 6b) Not all who wander are lost
The highest elevation in Florida is 15 feet.
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and proclaiming...."WOW What a Ride!!" -Mark Frost
President: Orchid Society of Northern Nevada
Webmaster: osnnv.org
Name: Carol Santa Ana, ca Sunset zone 22, USDA zone 10 A.
That's about what I figured. You folks do live on a sand spit/ swamp. LOL! We have a so called mountain range here, but mountain is stretching the imagination. I think, without looking it up, our highest peak is about 2000'. That's where all the satellite towers etc. are. It does get a slight dusting of snow about once every winter but you have to look fast before it's gone. I'm in the delta portion of the county.
Name: Carol Santa Ana, ca Sunset zone 22, USDA zone 10 A.
Hmm. One of these days, when I'm bored, I'll have to look up the natural history to see how long that sand spit/swamp has been there. And they the seas are rising...
There used to be a large saw mill on the other side of my lake. It was the largest employer in Odessa. They used the lake to float large logs to the mill from the logging camps and there was a railroad that came through as well. The mill burned down in the 1920s and Odessa became a lake cottage get-a-way area for the Tampa folks. Most of those old cottages have been replaced by newer, larger homes and it is now an up-scale suburb while still retaining some of the country features. About 10 years ago, they built Citrus Park Mall 5 miles south of here and there has been a rush on to cut down the last tree ever since. We still enjoy a peaceful environment with lake views but urban creep is all about. Here is the view from our kitchen window:
Jim
"Advertising may be described as the science of arresting the human intelligence long enough to get money from it." -- Steven Leacock
Name: Elaine Sarasota, Fl The one constant in life is change
We are in the "nosebleed section" here, at 29ft. above sea level. It is flat, flat, flat here but there are a few hills far up near the Georgia border that get over 300ft. Hey that's almost as high as the middle of the bridge over Tampa Bay!
Elaine
"Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm." –Winston Churchill
They are building a WalMart near us. Crazy, it is a two lane road with tidal marsh right up to the road on both sides. Greedy developers and weak county planners will do the area in. The land for the store is so low they are bringing in 25,000 dump trucks of fill so the elevation can be raised 6'.
Florida is pretty high for the SE. The St. Johns river runs north from central FL to Jacksonville where the elevation is lowest. That is also where the east coastline starts to curve in. In that curve that runs between Jacksonville and Charleston there are many hundreds, perhaps thousands of marshy sea islands. It is also where hurricanes do not venture. Last one to hit here was 1893.
Ursulas ephemeral wildflowers and rocks are almost exotic to me. I always bring rocks back from Asheville when I am visiting son #2 but they look so out of place here.
Minds are like parachutes; they work better when they are open.
Carol, we are at 361'. In the foothills of north Orange County. Nice views when the hills are green. Of course we have not seen that in a while. Even with normal rain it is only green for a few weeks in the winter
Name: Carol Santa Ana, ca Sunset zone 22, USDA zone 10 A.
I'll bet on one of those rare clear days in winter you can see Catalina. I used to love the view coming down from the landfill in Irvine when I drove the packer.
On good days when driving south from Puente Hills on harbor you can see the island. From our place we have a more west view and on that clear day we can see Palos Verdes penninsula
