6.0 North Forest Gully general
Changed the area map a bit so that this area includes all the drainage into it.
map of area 6, north forest gully
This gully drains down to the neighbour's yard, into a pond behind their house. There is a lot of old trash under the leaves.
got left behind and unintentionally very well hidden.
got left behind and unintentionally very well hidden. This is the upper end of the gully along the south side. The path is off to the right. Center right is a persimmon strangled by winter creeper, which also blankets the ground in this area. The center of the top of the gully is in the middle, the brown area, which is forest litter on top of various levels of trash. The original owners of this house, back in the 50's, had their septic tank overflow going into this gully and also used it as their trash dump. I have donated a few items myself, degradable items that hopefully will help retain rainfall and keep this area well supplied with underground water. I'm standing on the small ridge that is the upper pond's dam wall anchor on this side.
DSC00410
The shad bush or service berry blooms first, and only for a few days.
shadbush_pano-16-Pano
shadbush pano rainy day-1-Pano
Pear on left, unknown on right
unknown has much lighter flower center and more like a stem at the base of the petals and toothed leaves.
this is a very large image and will take a while to load.
Unlike any other flowering bush/tree in the area. Coming up in what will become dense shade.
twig structure is a bundle of leaves at the end, sometimes with a bundle of flowers above. The twigs alternate, and the leaves do too, but in tight clump at the end of each twig.
The leaf shape is elliptical, narrowing at each end, alternating veins, and small teeth.
Unlike any other flowering bush/tree in the area. Coming up in what will become dense shade.
The flowers are white when open, pinkish when still closed. 5 petals each and a bunch of stamens, greenish yellow in the middle.
From up the hill across the pond, it almost looked like these three locusts and their viney partners are dancing. The two on the left are black locust, the one on the right is a honey locust with some really huge 10 inch thorns near the base.
Midwinter: new growth is red stem, alternating buds with at least two scales.
Midwinter: new growth is red stem, alternating buds with at least two scales.
Also midwinter and something white is apparently dining on this new growth.
Also midwinter and something white is apparently dining on this new growth.
Very difficult to get enough depth of field at f 3.5. This is pretty good for that one bud, but I needed to shoot this from off to the left in order to see what kind of shape the bud tip has. Can't really tell is there is one or two scales on that bud. Would need magnification as well since details of the leaf scars can't be seen here. Overall shape of the twig end shows that branching takes plac nearr it also.
Very difficult to get enough depth of field at f 3.5. This is pretty good for that one bud, but I needed to shoot this from off to the left in order to see what kind of shape the bud tip has. Can't really tell is there is one or two scales on that bud. Would need magnification as well since details of the leaf scars can't be seen here. Overall shape of the twig end shows that branching takes plac nearr it also.
The leaf scar is one of the important parts of the key to identifying trees in winter. The book says you need a hand lens to see what kind of things are in the leaf scar. Is it continuous or are there dots or lines called bundle scars? My guess would be yes. The bud above it, though, and the other bud visible, are difficult to fathom. Does it have bud scales? In fact, I'm not at all sure this is a leaf scar. The spring photos do not show any leaves coming directly out of a stem this, in the middle. All the leaves are at the end of twigs. Perhaps those twigs ae in fact leaf stems, and that's what his is, a place where one of those twigs dropped off. (due to lack of sun, perhaps)
