The Difference a Week Makes

Another nature hike happened last Wednesday.  I went out to my favorite park in the city and walked around to de-stress during work.  It was a beautiful day.  If I don't get outside on those beautiful days, I have no one to blame but myself.  I am a naturalist, after all.  Isn't it my job to explore the parks and see what I can find?

I always find awesome things, despite the mosquitoes, and the heat, and the sweat.  (No, I haven't yet used bug spray this year, and I don't really want to; otherwise I would miss out on some awesome insects!)  

Solomon's seal fruit!

I found several fruiting plants, and a few others that have burst into flower.  I didn't see any turtles or ducks though, which made me sad.  I was hoping for more wildlife, even though every time a startled frog jumped from the sound of my footsteps, I started a little bit.  There are a lot of frogs because there are so many lily pads for shade!

Today is another beautiful day, so I went back to the same park, and I noticed a few subtle changes.  This may not seem like much, but to me, this is part of the intricate natural dance, and it leaves me in awe.  Some things happen so fast, like blood root flowers that only come out for one day, and others take forever, like oak trees flowering and then fruiting.

I like to document the things that happen quickly, because it does show that the environment is a constantly changing place.  I probably should start my own nature journal.  (In fact, I have just now planned to start it in September, on the first day of fall, and attempt to do a nature journal for the whole fall season).

Some things haven't changed much, like these lily pads.

Lily Pads last week

They're still growing nice and tall, though the lack of rain this week has left them looking slightly less like a steaming jungle, and has given them some yellow "age spots" (as I like to call them).  The drying trend of summer is continuing.

 

Lily pads this week

I don't remember seeing this tall plant near them though.  This is jewel weed, my absolute favorite plant of all time.  Not only do the juices inside help relieve the itch of poison ivy, but the seeds form into little spring-loaded seed pods that burst when touched.  I can spend hours just wandering through a patch of jewel weed and popping the seed pods.  I am very much looking forward to fall and seeing this plant (which is as tall as I am) fruit.

This button bush was probably the first thing that I noticed upon coming into the park last week.  It had a ton of flowers all over it.  They look like fuzzy dandelion heads, but they're actually clusters of hundreds of flowers in each bundle.

Button bush last week

Look at the difference a week has made!  This is really the plant I noticed this week when I went too, because I was expecting it to still be flowered.  Notice how all the flowers have fallen off.  I'm pretty sure this is the same bundle from the original picture, just from a different angle.

Button bush this week

Super duper cool.  I love to see little changes like this.  I especially love to point them out to kids and ask, "Why do you think this happened?" and then listen to the answers that they come up with.  Sometimes they are spot on, sometimes they get the answer horribly wrong, but I like asking them what they think because they are then able to puzzle through the answers instead of having the answers handed to them.

Gets their grey matter engaged in the process that nature is going through.

On my way out from the park last week, I saw these pink flowers.  I have no idea what they are; they're growing on a vine.  It looks like a grape vine but it's not.  I think they look like little smurf hats or fairy bonnets.  Yay, fairy bonnets!

Fairy bonnet vine?

I tried to key them out using my tree key identifier (I use the V-Tree App), but it had nothing listed.  It must not be a woody plant then, but a green seasonal one.  May have to break out the wildflower guide again... if I can find it! 

More pink flowers from last week

 This week, most of the flowers were gone, to my dismay.  All that was left were these sad droopy flowers.  I had gotten so excited to see pink flowers in July.  Most of the flowers I associate with July are white (Queen Anne's Lace) or yellow (Goldenrod), so seeing pink flowers made me think it was spring again, even for just a moment.

Flowers this week

These vines have started the process of fruiting (which is what happens when the flower petals fall off).  I will have to check back in a few weeks to see what kind of fruit this plant bears.

Lack of flowers this week

Now just imagine, if a plant can change this subtlely in a week, how much can people change, ever so subtlely, in a week?