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Sweet pepper,
Clethra alnifolia |
I headed out in the middle of showers to walk and have a little time alone. I start at what the Land Bank calls Beechwood Farm on Almanac Pond Road and head to Norwood Farm. Little ladies tresses ( spiranthese tuberosa)are growing all along the path to the Norwood Oak. Hints of the coming fall are visible: the first mahogany of Tupelo leaves, the first downy goldenrod, the earliest sweet everlasting.
The Sweet pepper(clethra alnifolia) is in full bloom, and at Norwood Farm, I walk surrounded by its sweet fragrance. It encloses me in a blanket of pleasure, and I breathe in deeply. It closes in on the path, wrapping me up in its aroma.
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| Little Ladies’ Tresses |
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| Spirantheses tuberosa |
The stormy winds are tossing the grasses and trees. The Hypericum stragulum is matted on the path. There are new growths of hypericum gentianoides, called pineweed.
Towhees are most frequent along the path; the yellowthroats are now mostly silent- there was only one chirping as I walked. A common raven and a Northern Flicker were the treats. The Eastern kingbirds were also out tittering at the ponds.
Some white water lilies are still on the ponds, and azure pickerel weed (Pondeteria cordata). Arrowroot and Virginia Meadow Beauties bloom at the edge. Sickle-leaved silk grass (pityopsis falcata)Is growing all along the Pout Ponds road heading back to Almanac Pond Road. As I avoid puddles, I notice that my footsteps are the first on the rain flattened sand...usually deer hooves or people’s shoeprints or bike trails are on the road.
At Almanac Pond, gratiola aurea and Mayflower Marsh pennywort (Hydrocotyle umbellata) are growing all around the pond. I spot the pink of slender rose gentians (Sabatia campanulata) and go to investigate. They are around half of the pond, dotted between theVirginia Meadow-beauties.
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