High Flats State Forest - Part 3

The dogs and I were exploring a new (to us) trail in High Flats State Forest and were almost back to our car. I stopped to photograph this Common St. Johnswort and the bedraggled Oxeye Daisy behind it:

A better looking Oxeye Daisy and a Heal-All in flower:

The dogs were much slowed down by now and I no longer had to call them back. They stayed close to me now that they were tired:

And the forest was lovely:

Cream colored mushrooms;

Clover got tangled up in a clinging type of Bedstraw. I looked it up when we got home and decided that it was probably Cleavers, a member of the Bedstraw family which sticks like Velcro. I carefully removed it from her hair before it got too entangled:

I saw a flash of yellow off in the woods and started off for a closer look. But before I got there, I saw these tiny (1") golden mushrooms:

And right next to them were these even smaller (3/4") bright red mushroom:

I got photos of the tiny mushrooms and then continued on to this giant (12") yellow mushroom. Luckily, Clover got in the picture to help show just how big it was:

Oh no, it's not autumn yet! This Mountain Maple leaf was, I hope, an anomaly:

As we neared the end of our hike, I contemplated whether we'd return. With nothing marked, I doubt we were on the trail I'd intended, and Close Pond, the destination I was after, turned out (I think) to be right next to the road where there were no visible trails. I think I'll go back to Whiskey Flats before I return here, though there sure were a lot of interesting things to see:

We were almost to the road when I saw these yellow flowers. I remembered that they were a kind of Loosestrife, but didn't remember which one. I looked it up when I got home and decided they were Fringed Loosestrife:

The road we'd taken to get here wasn't much bigger than the trail, though it had fewer rocks and ruts. The dogs were happy to see our car again:

And they were tired. Daphne, Jack and Clover curled up for a nap on the front seat:

Seamus rode in the back, but wanted to see out the windows. Fergus was next to him, already napping:

A Wildflower Afternoon At Beebe Hill

I had a day off in the middle of the week and it was very hot. I decided that I really needed to get out somewhere into the woods and take a hike - as long as it was a short hike. I chose my old favorite, Beebe Hill, just south of Albany in Columbia County. The dogs and I began hiking up an old service road with deep forests on each side but lots of sun and wildflowers along the road. I first stopped to photograph the abundant Butter-And-Eggs, Linaria vulgaris. It's an alien wildflower, but a common and lovely one:

We passed by Bartlett Pond and began ascending the hill:

The dogs were, of course, happy and excited. They ran and played and sniffed and had a grand time:

And then I encountered a patch of creamy pink trumpet flowers, a new species for me. I took several photos so that I could identify it when I got home:

I checked my Peterson's Field Guide, turning the pages slowly until I arrived at a picture of Spreading Dogbane, Apocynum androsaemifolium. It was a beautiful flower, striped on its interior with a deep rose color:

And there were, of course, lots of more common wildflowers such as this Daisy Fleabane, Erigeron annuus:

Another common and abundant wildflower was Common St. Johnswort, Hypericum perforatum:

And what hike would be complete without the beautiful and useful Jewelweed, also known as Spotted Touch-Me-Not, Impatiens capensis. There is plenty of interesting lore about this wondrous plant. Maybe I'll do a whole post on the subject some day:

And then I encountered another wildflower new to me. It looked much like the Whorled Loosestrife which I'd only discovered this year, but not quite. I figured it must be related and have since concluded that it must have been Fringed Loosestrife, Lysimachia ciliata:

And another old friend, Sundrops, Onagraceae fruticosa. This plant is pretty much like Common Evening Primrose except that it blooms by day instead of by night. Well, I hadn't planned for this to be a wildflower hike, but it sure was turning out that way:

And another old friend, Bladder Campion, Silene cucubalus. I'll post more tomorrow: