Blog From The Bog

Mystery Plant

Last week on my visit to Brooklake I noticed this aquatic plant floating on the water.  Not knowing what it was and thinking it might be a unwanted invasive; I contacted Chris Carrel ( Friends of the Hylebos) and Jason Gerwen ( FW Parks ) to see if they could answer my question.

I also did some internet checking on invasive plants and found a very informative King County site on Noxious Weeds .   The plant in question was not on the list of noxious weeds.  Doing more clicking I found photos of the plant Common Duckweed  - Lemna minor,  on a Texas Fish and Wildlife page and sent the information to my consultants Chris and Jason.  Our group consensus is, the plant is indeed Common Duckweed. 

Jason, also consulted with Dan Smith the City's water quality coordinator, who reported that the plant is not a problem we need to be concerned about at this time.  Due to the warm temperatures this summer, we are seeing higher quantities of it this year.

Although in some areas of the country this plant can become a problem, once the fall stream flow picks up I think the Duckweed will not thrive.

One small mystery solved. 

 

Quiet Walk to Brooklake

 

Great day for a quiet walk to Brooklake.

Favoite Visitor Comments from the Guest Log:

Beautiful place for a walk
Peaceful Blessing!
Great Park! Very Serene
Smells Good!
Thanks! Lovely, educational and safe boardwalk
Enjoyable park.  I love slugs

 

 

 

Fruit, Flowers and Berries

Summer is the best kept secret in Washington!  It's great to be back visiting the Hylebos after my extended family business trip.   My last post in June looks like a dream, green meadows of wildflowers.

Today Teri and I beat the heat by getting an early start.  We did some vine trimming on the BrookLake spur of the boardwalk and removed some branches, just waiting to poke someone in the eye.   It was a beautiful cool, foggy morning.  A Western Tanager, perched high in a Douglas Fir, greeted us with song.  We never did see his brilliant yellow, orange and black plumage, but that's ok.   Near one of the stream crossings, I scared a small mammal into the brush.  From the movement, I thought it might have been a short-tailed weasel, but did not get a good look.   Many flowers have faded, but the pink cotton candy plumes of Spirea douglasii still remain.    

The orchard trees are laden with apples.

Along the board walk, look for the dark purple berries of the Cascara.  The bark of this plant was used by many NW Indian tribes to make a powerful laxative tea.  I don't recommend doing this yourself.  Also, look for the winged seeds of the Vine Maple, white clusters of berries on Red-Osier Dogwood and hips forming on the Nootka roses.

176 Visitors signed the guest list this past month.  Favorite Comments:

Loved the walkway! Plaques, cabins are cool.
Great Improvements
Cool hike on a hot day.
Wetland in the rain
Great, many active birds and bugs
Absolutely loved it.  Thank you!

 

Pics From A Hot Friday in the Hylebos

I took a quick visit to the park on Friday. I wasn't able to walk the entire boardwalk, but did snap these photos while there.

 Some mushrooms starting to come up in the lawn by the Barker Cabin.

I don't know my shrooms, so if anyone can identify, feel free to post.

 

Also, nearby native creeping blackberry is coming in. This is nice stuff; better to see this than the  invasive kind.

Here's a pic of the area behind the cabins. This is restoration in progress. You can see many of the trees & plants we have planted in the last 2-3 years starting to come in. This is future forest:  visualize. Ten years ago, when I got started with the Friends, this entire area was a huge wall of Himalayan blackberry!

And, finally, a pic I took of the arch of trees overhanging the path on the way to the boardwalk. It looked to me like a gateway welcoming me to another world: out of the urban and into the wild! (and cool shade!!)