On a Lifelong Journey to Learn my Place
Plants
This morning the kids and I joined a mushroom outing at Mosquito Cove trail led by last night’s seminar series speaker Kate Mohatt (who is one of the organizers of some forest/fungus fairs in Southcentral Alaska). It was interesting to see the diversity of species brought in by the various participants when they were all … Read more
With a pretty good fall gale forecast to arrive tomorrow, this seemed like it might be the last opportunity for the year to get out in conditions approaching summer (~60F and sunny). Rowan suggested we go out to Mosquito Cove, so around mid-morning we drove out (on the much improved road) to the trailhead. It … Read more
I’ve previously noted late blooming Mt. Ash (Sorbus aucuparia). At the time I thought it might be unusual, but I saw some even more robustly blooming this year along the harbor yesterday. Questions Is this a typical sort of occurrence, or is it dependent on the weather? Do these late blooming flowers ever actually develop … Read more
This summer an apparently long-awaited dredging of Swan Lake occurred. I had originally thought they would go all around the lake, but in the end it seems they only went from a little to the uplake side of the peninsula down to the outflow. I didn’t really pay much attention to the process beyond noticing … Read more
While walking through Totem Park recently, I noticed something red that seemed to be growing on or at the base of red alders (Alnus rubra) near the estuary. In places, it was unclear whether they were coming out of the ground, but I did find a couple where it was clear that they were growing … Read more
Slender Bog Orchid (Platanthera stricta) along Beaver Lake Trail One of several fairly common orchids around Sitka, I have seen the Slender Bog Orchid (Platanthera stricta) in a variety of habitats, from low elevation forests, open meadows and fens, and up to the alpine. With relatively small green flowers, it’s not an especially showy plant … Read more