Winter Annuals - Pot vs. Barrens Grown

The rains have come and temperatures have warmed.  That means the little winter annuals of the barrens are growing rapidly in order to gather sunlight and produce a crop of seed.  This must be done before neighboring plants grow tall enough to block the source of light.  The plants of my container bound barrens show change on an almost daily basis.  Blooms are not too far in the future.

 

The Draba cuneifolia that made such exceptional growth early in the season have developed a central stem and numerous side branches.  Below freezing temperatures during a period of no snow cover caused one plant to die and several others to develop dead areas on the leaf tips.  That bit of adversity hasn’t slowed these plants down any.  If our County Fair had a Draba category, I think this plant would be a sure winner.

Flower buds crowd the tip of the main stalk.  This cluster of buds alone will produce an amount of seed equal to at least a dozen normal sized plants.  Add to that the seed that will come from the flowers developing at the ends of the many branches and this plant will produce as much seed as 40 or 50 normal plants.   The total amount of seed from this one plant may exceed the total of all the plants growing in one of the barrens openings found at Blue Jay Barrens.

This is more typical of the container grown Draba cuneifolia plants.  I would expect this plant to produce two or three flower stalks.

Although I try to reproduce the barrens ecosystem in my containers, the true barrens provide much harsher growing conditions.  You won’t find any super sized Drabas growing out here.

This Draba cuneifolia is typical of the maximum sized plants found growing in the barrens.  It is just slightly smaller than the average pot grown specimen and will produce one or two flower stalks.  Fortunately, each flower produces an abundance of almost dust sized seed, so chances are good that some seed will survive to produce plants next year.

Container grown Leavenworthia uniflora is an impressive sight.  Leavenworthia produces no elongated stem.  The leaves radiate out from a central base in the same manner as the common dandelion.  Several pairs of short, pointed leaflets line the leaf stalk which terminates in a flat, roughly five lobed leaflet. 

Flower stalks emerge from the center of the plant at the base of the leaves.  Each stalk will bear a single flower which produces about a dozen seeds.  A plant of this size will produce ten or more flowers.

The barrens grown plants are noticeably smaller.  This plant was so small that the leaf stalk never got long enough to produce leaflets.  This small leaf cluster is capable of supporting only one or two flowers.  A single flower stalk is seen here, but it is early enough for the plant to produce a second if conditions remain favorable.  Annuals have only one chance to produce seed, so every bit of the plant’s energy goes into the effort.

Draba reptans is the smallest of the Drabas.  It could easily take 40 of these plants to equal the leaf area of one average sized Draba cuneifolia.  Most of those rocks seen in the photo are actually sand sized.

The Draba reptans that I find in the barrens are about equal in size to those grown in pots.  One reason for this may be the fact that I have a tough time actually spotting any plants smaller than this.  If I crawled around with a magnifying lens, I may find some of those extra tiny plants.  There’s no question that a lot can be learned about a plant by growing it in a container, but you can’t always apply that knowledge to field situations.

Escape of the Potato Dandelions

This is the site where once stood a small outbuilding filled with precious possessions.  Fire consumed the wooden structure and left behind a pile of junk.  Previous tenants found this to be an ideal place to deposit additional junk.  Every spring I take some time to comb through the junk pile soil and remove all manner of glass, metal and plastic artifacts.  No matter how much I collect, winter frost heave of the soil brings an entirely new batch to the surface.  I’ve done a good job of clearing the outlying area, but the ground that was once beneath the shed floor seems to be more junk than soil.  It’ll be a few years before this task is completed.

These tubers came to light as I pulled a short length of thin aluminum wire from the ground.  There’s no mistaking Potato Dandelion, Krigia dandelion, especially when there are some leaves attached to the tubers. 

I have to admit that the Potato Dandelion tubers are the most valuable item I’ve ever pulled up in this location.  The question is why this state threatened species was growing in this particular spot.

Here’s where it should have been, growing with its fellow Krigias in the designated pot.  I’m not surprised to find it thriving away from its pot.  Potato Dandelion is an exceptionally vigorous grower and can quickly spread out to fill any sized opening.  Except for two things: 1. It competes very poorly with other plants and loses out in crowded growing conditions; and 2. Every animal in the world that eats plants will eat Potato Dandelions and they will continue eating until every leaf, root and tuber is consumed.

Potato Dandelions grow so well in the pot because I have used screen and a woven wire lid to keep the animals out.  The screen was added two years ago when Chipmunks squeezed through the woven wire and ran off with 95% of my tubers.

Apparently, some of the stolen tubers were cached in the junk pile soil and at least one survived the Chipmunk’s appetite long enough to establish a small colony.  They have now been returned to a safe pot environment.  The Blue Jay Barrens patch of Potato Dandelions, from which came my pot bound population, rarely produces flowers and never produces viable seed.  I’m surprised that it persists and even more surprised that, through vegetative means, it continues to expand.  I suspect that the species originally arrived here by way of a tuber, possibly carried in the tread of logging equipment.  Then I begin wondering where the source was.  The entire population may be a mass of clones originating from a single tuber, or seed.  I will probably never be sure.

A couple of rainy days and the newly planted Potato Dandelions have settled in and are actively growing.  If I keep at it long enough, I may unravel some of the mysteries associated with this neat little plant.

First Woodland Blooms

I spent a little time yesterday walking the woods in search of early spring flowers.  At first glance it didn’t appear that I would a green leaf, let alone a blooming plant.  After 29 years of walking these woods, I’ve had to accept the fact that Blue Jay Barrens is a disappointment in the category of spring woodland flowers.  The shallow soils and dry conditions, along with historic land abuse, have not allowed massive quantities of the typical spring woodland wildflowers.

It wasn’t long before I spotted Blue Jay Barrens’ most common early spring bloomer.  White Trout Lily, Erythronium albidum, grows throughout the woods, but is generally found as scattered plants instead of thick stands.

Leatherwood shrubs, Dirca palustris, were in full bloom.  The droopy yellow flowers are quite showy from a distance of a few feet.  From farther away they are hardly noticeable in the sun drenched woodland understory.

Hazelnut, Corylus americana, was also in full bloom.  Leatherwood is a beacon compared to the diminutive flower of the Hazelnut.  Unless they are actively seeking it, most people never see this bloom.

Hazelnut is one of those plants that has separate male and female flowers.  What people see are they highly visible pollen producing catkins that hang like miniature opossum tails from the branch.  The female flower from which the edible nut will develop is represented by a tiny cluster of red pistils that wither soon after pollination.

The showiest blooms came from this Red Maple, Acer rubrum, growing at the edge of the woods.  The vibrant red blooms make this tree hard to miss.  This is another species that has separate male and female flowers.  Shown here are the male flowers.  I couldn’t find any female flowers anywhere on the tree.  The lack of female flowers causes me no distress since Red Maples can be aggressively invasive in open fields.  I would be happiest if the tree didn’t produce any seeds.

A few other woodland species had reached the point of developing flower buds.  This is Toad Trillium, Trillium sessile, my most common Trillium species.  Unfortunately, the deer browse heavily on this plant and many will be eaten before they have an opportunity to bloom.

Purple Cress, Cardamine douglassii, can also be found throughout the woods.  This is a hairier and slightly shorter version of the common Spring Cress.  Spring Cress tends to be confined to the areas of moister soils, where as Purple Cress thrives from the flood plains to the driest ridge tops.

Not even a flower bud here.  The distinctive leaves of Puttyroot, Aplectrum hyemale, are a promise of blooms to come later in the summer.  It won’t be a showy bloom, but it’s what I’ve come to expect from the woodland flowers of Blue Jay Barrens and I know it will be enjoyed.

Wood Frog Eggs Hatching

Wood Frog egg masses are falling apart and the developing larvae are breaking through the egg membrane into open water.  Even though they have left the egg, the larvae are not yet free swimming.  Most just flutter to the pond bottom where they will rest for the next couple of days.  During this time they will use up the remaining yolk in their egg sack as they develop into a more typical tadpole shape.

Some egg clusters lost their globular shape and floated about on the water’s surface.  This did not seem to affect hatching at all.  Even so, there were several larvae that emerged on the upper surface of the raft and seemed in danger not making it down into the water.

Other egg clusters fell to the pond bottom.  No matter where they ended up, all of the egg masses produced healthy larvae.

Egg masses laid a little later in the season were still in the early stages of development.  The pond was ice covered on many mornings during the past two weeks.  I imagine the cold temperatures played a part in the delayed development.

The floating tree branch did an outstanding job of keeping the frog and salamander eggs from being exposed during times of falling water level.  A shortage of rainfall during March caused the pond water level to drop to record low levels for this time of year.  I was able to maneuver the tree branch into the deepest part of the pond and the eggs on the branch were spared exposure to the air.

Jelly masses that once protected salamander eggs broke lose and floated freely about the pond.

Almost all of the jellies were empty.  Most successfully produced salamander larvae, but a few contained unfertilized eggs that were consumed by fungus.

There were just a few larvae that had not left the egg.  Now I just have to wait a few weeks for the larvae to grow large enough for me to see them in the pond.  Water won’t be a problem for a while.  Thunder storms earlier today dropped 1.2 inches of rainfall and the pond is now near its full level.  More storm clouds are hurrying in from the west and I’m rushing to type this and get it posted before the heavy rain once again blocks my internet satellite link.

What About Those Deer?

Nothing seems to elicit ooh’s and aah’s from hikers as much as a chance encounter with a Whitetail Deer.  I used to react that way 30 years ago.  Now, when I can’t seem to walk anywhere without seeing deer, they tend to lose their allure. 

I’ve begun to think of deer in the same way that urban dwellers often view rats.  If you see one during the day, there are a dozen hidden away that you won’t see until the sun goes down.  Wait for that period between sunset and dark and you’re likely to find deer coming out from everywhere.

This photo, taken near dark through my dining room window, shows 22 deer browsing in the field behind the house.  I’m still debating how the increasing deer population will factor into my management decisions.  I manage Blue Jay Barrens in an attempt to create healthy native plant and animal communities with an emphasis on developing populations of rare and unusual species.  A major component of management is the identification of variables that affect achievement of the desired goals.  Deer are a variable that will definitely influence the nature of the plant populations.  Will their actions work against my achieving the desired management goals and what can be done about it if they do?

Signs of deer activity are easy to spot.  Deer trails are showing up everywhere.

The trails through the tall grasses are so numerous that it’s almost like following a maze.

With the trails comes soil disturbance.  Disturbed soil is necessary for the colonization of many plant species.  This is good when those species are natives.  Unfortunately, aggressive non-native invasives thrive in these situations and can use these trails to infiltrate native stands.

Deer seem to feed on just about any plant.  Their constant browsing often shapes the growth pattern of woody shrubs.  Patches of Late Low Blueberry, Vaccinium pallidum, all display a flat top appearance due to constant browsing.

The pruning causes an increase in stem development like that found in a well groomed hedge. 

Due to a profusion of buds along the stem, deer browsing does not typically kill woody plants.  Buds just below the browse point are ready to take over as leaders and regrow what was lost.

Deer tend to favor certain plant species.  As the deer population increases, less desirable plant species begin to show signs of deer browsing.

Yucca, a non-native plant in this area, has leaves tougher than anything else in the landscape.  This is the first year I’ve noticed them being eaten by deer.  If the deer would concentrate their efforts on non-native species, I wouldn’t be questioning their desirability at Blue Jay Barrens.

Deer are certainly doing their part to recycle plant material back through the soil ecosystem.  The question is whether those droppings come from plants adapted to surviving continual browsing or rarities such as the orchids that suffer greatly from an annual pruning.  It will certainly be interesting to see what changes the deer bring to the landscape during the next decade.

Final Last Snow of the Season

I am reporting my snowfall totals for this winter because I have promised my daughter that we have seen the last of the snows.  Actually, the snow we had last Wednesday was the one I promised her to be the last.  Yesterday’s storm gave us another inch of snow, but it was only a rain event at her school about one hundred miles south of here, so I’m arguing that my promise has not been broken.  At Blue Jay Barrens we have had 22 snow storms this season and a total of 44 inches of snowfall.  In addition we have had three more storms that brought a total of 0.8 inches of ice.

This most recent storm began as rain and ended as heavy, wet snow driven by a powerful wind out of the north-west.  The snow was melting rather quickly, but the temperature suddenly dropped and the wet snow froze into a hard crust. 

The north side of the ant hills developed a nice cap of snow.  The south side was sheltered from the cold wind and retained much of its heat.  The snow never got a foothold there.  By mid afternoon the temperature was in the fifties, the snow was gone and the ants were out working on their mounds.

The Indian Grass has taken a lot abuse this winter, but it has managed to remain upright.  Dozens of sparrows have spent the past few months roosting and foraging in the tall grass stalks. 
 

Some patches of grass were pushed almost to the horizontal.  By the end of the day they had rebounded considerably.  I’ve noticed that wet stalks have the ability to bend without breaking and tend to regain their shape as they dry.

The top of the hill is always a pretty sight when covered with snow.  Many of the late spring blooming prairie plants are already beginning their growth and they won’t be put off by a little late winter snow.

Snow cover makes it easier to see the open fields on a distant hilltop.  Those fields are used for hay production and are already showing a lot of green.  Once the trees put on their leaves, the distant view will be lost.

This former site of a Multiflora Rose infestation is looking clear and free of roses.  I’m thinking about removing a couple of these trees to allow a little more sunlight into the field.

It’s easy to tell the direction from which the storm winds were blowing.  The snow was half an inch thick on the north-west side of the utility pole.

I love taking photos from this position because everything in the picture is a part of Blue Jay Barrens.  No matter how much things change on neighboring properties, this view should remain relatively constant.