MUN Botanical Garden

One of the things I wanted to do on this trip was walk around the MUN Botanical Garden, so when Wayne came to get me in Mt. Pearl I convinced him to go. 

Wayne thinks these were Dogberry branches

How did I accomplish that?  Asking my second cousin Allison to meet us there made it hard for him to say no!

Me and Allison were wowed by the large hostas

I haven't seen Allison in at least 30 years, but thanks to Facebook it's easy to keep tabs on those distant relatives now!  Hanging out with her led to lots of interesting information on events coming up in the area like the George Street Festival which Wayne is definitely attending.

Green Frog - click here for info and to hear Green Frog call

I like things a little quieter than a festival.  I will probably drop him off and head for the East Coast Trail instead.  We've both decided that this trip is an opportunity to get out there and collect some new experiences.

More than 100 years ago, Queen Victoria chose the pitcher plant
to be engraved on a newly minted Newfoundland penny

The Botanical Garden had a small greenhouse, a vegetable garden, and various other flower beds but it also had a trail system that winds through its 110 acres.

Cinnamon fern?

The Yetman Trail took us through the woods and across a fen to see some native plants but unfortunately most of those were not labeled like the ones in the flower beds were.

Foxglove

You don't have to go to the Botanical Garden if you want to see wild roses, they are everywhere in Newfoundland.

But if you want to see Gnome doors and houses, the garden is your best bet.

Also at the Garden is Oxen Pond where quite a few American Black Ducks were swimming around hoping for some handouts.

I'm guessing the Gnomes don't feed them, but who knows what goes on there at night?

With all these ladies swimming around there should be some youngsters around...

Male in the middle? ID info says pale brown head and yellow bill

Sure enough, they were all snuggled up on a rock having their afternoon nap.

There was a rather large loon on the pond as well, but he was a bit far off to get a good look.  So I settled for a picture of this instead.

A hosta with water droplets made for a good photography subject, but most of my flower shots the color was off so I'm guessing my settings were off.  Oh well, it's not always about the photos I bring home and this was a nice place to visit for $9 and we didn't even get bit by mosquitoes!

Pennsylvania State Park Sampler

Of course I made time to stop at a few state parks when we were in Pennsylvania.

Linn Run State Park

Linn Run State Park had ample picnic areas, along with cabins for rent and a few trails.  I walked over to Adams Falls from the picnic area where I saw the mushrooms, but alas the streambeds and waterfall were dry!

Spruce Flats Bog

Nearby Laurel Summit State Park is home to Spruce Flats Bog, not something I was expecting! From the parking area you can take a trail off into the woods for a hike or take the short gravel path to the bog.

As much as I love a hike, I couldn't resist the opportunity to take some pictures at the bog which contains large cranberry, pitcher plant, sundew, cotton grass, and other plants that remind me of times spent in Newfoundland.

Keep your eyes open in the early fall when you pass through the woods no matter which state you are in to see those fungi communities spring to life!

When I was passing through Quakertown I stopped at Nockamixon State Park for a half hour walk on the Sterner Mill Trail.

The trail was slippery from a recent rain, but the droplets on the Jewel Weed made a lovely sight.

Again, my eye was drawn to the fungi, here a lovely orange jelly variety.

I almost stepped on the tortoise on the trail, his shell looked like a rock!  I picked him up and moved him to a safer spot, hoping he was healthy enough to keep going.

Cook Forest State Park was probably the park with the best trail system, though I didn't get as much time to explore as I would have liked.

The North Country Trail passes through the lovely forest of old growth white pine and hemlock, where ferns look tiny compared to the large trees.

I was delighted to spot a small patch of Toothed Jelly Fungus (Pseudohydnum gelatinosum), I haven't seen one of those since a hike along the Alum Cave Trail in the Smokies in 2014!

I got a good stretch for my legs here, climbing up and down the banks to get a good shot of the trees down across the water.

While clambering around I found more fungi...

And even a spider patiently waiting for dinner to be delivered!

All that's left of our time in Pennsylvania last month is some murals I believe, yes, I did find some of those too!

Pinhook Bog

I'm almost done talking about my weekend getaway with Sharon last week.  Sharon got to cross "see pitcher plants" off her bucket list at Pinhook Bog.

Happy Sharon

There's a short trail out to Pinhook Bog, but it's only open for ranger led tours.  Kelly from our farm tour was at the trailhead with all the info we needed to know about how bogs are formed.  Pinhook Bog was originally a kettle lake, formed when a chunk of glacier broke off and a depression was made which filled with the melting glacial water.

Sarracenia purpurea

Plants that thrive in bogs must be able to tolerate low nutrient levels in soil and water due to the acidic environment.  Carnivorous plants such as pitcher plants and sundews have adapted to the low nutrient levels by trapping insects and dissolving them for their nutrient needs.

Ranger Amy was busy showing bladderwort to the kids and explaining the habitat to a group when we approached on the floating boardwalk.  I had my photographer's eye on the cotton grass growing at the edge of the water.

 
Cotton grass is actually a member of the sedge family and not a true grass.  It was so pretty against the red leaves.  I also learned that Poison Sumac likes "its feet wet" from Ranger Kelly.  Good to know since I go around touching plants without thinking all the time.  If the red leaves of the Sumac you're admiring this fall are in a dry habitat like the one I touched recently on the Ice Age Trail you should be safe.

 Don't worry about the ants shown above, only 1% of the visiting prey get captured.  South Carolina and neighboring states have different species of pitcher plants than what we see here in the north.  Hope we get to see some, but we might not be close enough to the right habitat on our trip next week. What will we see?  Don't worry, I'll take lots of pictures and show them to you!   But first I have one more post from Indiana's Cowles Bog and a mural on Monday to share with you too.

All Downhill

There's nothing like flying from Chicago O'Hare to the airport in St. John's, Newfoundland to make you never want to get on a plane again.

3 hour layover in Toronto- 1st stop Tim Horton's!

The day starts with leaving home 4 hours before the first flight.  Then an hour and a half to Toronto, just to have to wait another 3 hours....sitting across from four stores that sell perfume.  I had to sit at the next gate down and had a headache by the time we boarded.  Then I had to request some creative seating from the flight attendant on the plane because someone near my original seat was wearing cologne.  I spent takeoff with my fingers pressed to my eyes trying not to cry from the stress of the day while I hoped a migraine wasn't on its way.  Luckily I soon fell asleep and a migraine didn't appear.  After 3 hours to St John's in the air, it's pick up the rental car for an hour and a half drive to the final destination, while hoping no moose jump out in front of you in the dark.  And I had to be the one driving because two of my other companions were "impaired" due to anti-anxiety medication.  Katrina and I were dropped off at my grandmother's house while Cory and Wayne went on down the road a few more miles to Placentia.

This morning was a whole different story.  After falling asleep under an open window to the sounds of surf and seagulls (ahhhh!) I woke to the gentle company of my Nan.  I showed a few pictures to her on my laptop and told a few camping stories after we had toast and hard boiled eggs for breakfast.

Nan meets my hiking pal

After breakfast Katrina and I couldn't wait to get outside since the dire weather forecast I previewed last week didn't come to pass.  We decided to walk from Freshwater to Placentia and from there it was all downhill, but only in the literal sense.

When Katrina was standing by the sign to the "Back Path" all I could hear was my Mom and her cousins telling stories back in Gatlinburg about walking down that road in their high heels going to Sunday mass.

Katrina makes a friend

It took us almost an hour to get out Freshwater, that's how it works around here.  First one relative stops you as they pass on the road in their car, then another relative shouts out to you from their front step to come in for a few minutes, then further on down you have to stop into the local convenience store to visit the relative who owns that.

Is that a break in the clouds?

By the time we were leaving Freshwater the sun was trying to break through the clouds.  Not only was the temperature comfortably cool and the wind mild but sun too?

As you can tell from our faces, we were confused when confronted by sunlight when expecting fog.

Once in Placentia we stopped into the Paint Store to visit my uncle and immediately ran into Wayne and Cory who had spent the night at Wayne's Mom's house.  When Wayne suggested a road trip to Argentia to check out the campground we'll be staying at next summer I was on board.

Argentia

You all know me, it wasn't long before I was saying "stop the car" and I was hopping out with my camera.

My dad's favorite saying about Newfoundland is that it's nothing but a rock with stunted trees growing out of it.  We saw a lot of stunted trees growing out of rock in Argentia.

But stunted trees can be beautiful, right?

It's a bit too soon here for much to be growing.  I saw a few rhubarb plants making their way up out of the soil, but the pitcher plants aren't doing their thing.

When we got to the top of the road to Site Sam we had a "follower" and in true Newfie style conversation was instantly struck up.  You all know I wandered off with the camera though...

It's not hard to see where I get my fascination with lichens and pitcher plants, right?

In the five minutes I escaped from the car I found a cute little snail shell too.

Back in the car and heading back downhill Katrina made the wildlife sighting of the day.  She spotted the cute rabbit off the side of the road.

You won't believe the foolishness we got up to later in the evening.  Katrina brought a little "pal" along with her on the trip also that got up to some mischief...from there it was all downhill, too!