12/14/2024 plants in their home : Cast Iron Garden

Mom and Dad kindly invited me to visit Chickasaw National Recreation Area with them this weekend. The cats get a rest from Briar’s ideas.

We walked along the trail and looked at Little Niagara. Briar was very concerned at the noise this small waterfall made. She kept rotating her ears back to monitor my reaction. Why was I not concerned?? the waterfall probably drops 10 feet over rocks and the creek is maybe twice that wide.

We went down to the creek shoreline near the waterfall and Briar still felt this was very concerning. She had hesitant drawn back ears.

We saw bushy bluestem up on the creek bank. We were walking on the east side so the very fluffy seeds were backlit from the west! This species prefers a bit of damp soil like the creek, so we don’t have any in our yard.

Along the trail there were several Carolina Buckthorns with glowing orange leaves and a few shriveled dark berries. I tried planting this understory species in our yard but I think it’s too dry, and I didn’t see it this year that I can remember.

The little green rosette of dark green leaves by the creek are White Avens (*Geum canadense*). This species is very abundant in our shady yard so it was fun to see them out in this natural area!

Several tall soapberry trees had their almost translucent yellow berries on leafless winter branches, bright against the clear blue sky.

Purple top grass (*Tridens flavus)*! This grass is so adaptable. We usually see them in open woodlands like here at the edge of creek and trail and parking lot. This species is doing really well in our yard despite that location being drier. It seems like the dappled edge light is more important for them.

The Travertine Nature Center has nice plant labels in a small demonstration garden of local native plant friends!

Briar the dog sadly could not appreciate the labels but she really enjoyed her walk along the creek trail.

4 Replies to “12/14/2024 plants in their home”

We will be visiting Chickasaw in a couple of weeks. We made a reconnaissance visit there on the way home from Nebraska this past August, and are making a deep dive this time now that it’s cooler. I’m excited and hoping for good weather!
Re: Carolina buckthorn – I’ve grown it and observed it for years. It’s mysteriously fickle. I don’t think a wetter habitat is required as I’ve often seen it growing in sandy, dry oak woodlands. But I’m not yet sure what the secret to long term success is. Twice I’ve had 10+ year old specimens grown from seed suddenly die, but I know it can live a lot longer than that. Maybe there’s a mycorrhizal symbiont needed?🤷

What a wonderful place to visit – the creek and waterfall the perfect place to stroll as well as just pause (fir a long time!) and enjoy all that watery music.

So glad you and Briar joined us!! And the Purpletop does fine in full sun too. At least we have lots of it in the our prairie. Often seen at the grasslands in the open too.

I’m so happy you went. Looks like a wonderful place. I hope to get there too someday. Briar will be happy to get home.

4 Replies to “12/14/2024 plants in their home”

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