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| Had a great trip back to the Door, and was fascinated by many of the conifers in the area. I am sure I saw nothing real special, but did see some interesting specimens. These were all taken at either The Clearing folk school or The Ridges Sanctuary
The iconic three pines at The Clearing, Pinus strobus, and of which I did not remember to get a properly composed shot:
The most humble Abies balsamea, but I'll be darned if I saw a leader on this plant...naturally prostrate?
Thuja occidentails, some of the oldest, toughest, most tenacious trees I have ever seen:
I was actually quite taken with Oldfield Juniper, Juniperus communis var. depressa:
From death comes life- a seedling conifer (A. balsamea? T. canadensis?) and its nurse-tree, a fallen paper birch:
Some monster white pines at The Ridges, with what appears to be some proliferation, or strange needle arrangements:
A group of baby Picea mariana, soft and beautiful:
And a larger one:
Cones on P.mariana and (uh-oh!) bagworms:
I loved seeing Juniperus horizontalis in its native form and habitat!
Holy Co-Dominant Leaders, Batman! This was the strangest P. strobus I have ever seen, with very little lateral growth, but two enormous branches that could have been whole separate trees themselves, never mind sharing leader-duty. I am intrigued and wish to know exactly how this happened:
So I guess that's it; certainly not the only trees I saw, but all the ones I saw fit to photograph. I do have some pics, I guess, of a tree we could not positively ID, but they are not great photos and it is almost unfair to ask for some ID guesses. Well, what the hey, I'll post 'em anyway:
And one for the road, a really cool northern water snake that let me get quite near. I guess the heat made us ALL a little addled:
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Follow-Up Postings:
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| Wow! That was fun - thanks for posting - loved the narrative too. |
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| I'll add a Wow too! Thank you for the great tour. |
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- Posted by tsugajunkie z5 SE WI (My Page) on Mon, Jul 9, 12 at 17:53
| Nice trip, Greenhaven. It brought back memories. I think, from what I can see, your unidentified tree is Pinus resinosa. tj |
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- Posted by wisconsitom 4/5 WI (My Page) on Mon, Jul 9, 12 at 17:54
| Real nice, Green! I love the Door, especially the lake side, like where you were. BTW, some time when you're back, check out Cave Point. that's a great place for all manner of marveling at nature. I can't quite ID the trees you wondered about. I was all set to say white spruce, as I know there to be a good many big, old, and somewhat decrepit ones at Ridges, but that foliage seems to suggest red pine, also in an advanced state of dieback. But great stuff all the same. PS....as the great midwestern drought continues, the very area you were at is once again being hit by heavy storms. Definitely gotta go north this year if you want to see rain. +oM |
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| Great photos. Love the rocks a lot, the snake not so much. :) Cher |
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| I liked all that flat rock the best. Mike |
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- Posted by wisconsitom 4/5 WI (My Page) on Mon, Jul 9, 12 at 22:49
| For those who may be interested, Door County, Wisconsin is an extension of the same Niagara Escarpment of waterfall fame. A very large old reef of dolomitic limestone. As such, it is Northern White Cedar (Thuja occidentalis) Central as these trees are especially fond of the minerals in that rock. Interestingly, to me at least, the land where my tree farm and woods is is directly west of Door Co. in the mainland part of N.E. WI and is just north of the limestone region. Soils there run more towards sandy loams, yet "cedar" does extremely well there too. It makes up a major portion of my woods and is moving up into the field, as I gradually rent less and less of it to the farmer guy. It is strangely gratifying to see how vigorous this species is, given all the foo foo cultivars and such. The species itself is more than happy to colonize new land! +oM |
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- Posted by greenhaven N Illinois 4b-5a (My Page) on Tue, Jul 10, 12 at 8:53
| Glad you folks enjoyed, Door County is such a distinct ecosystem in so many ways. Thanks, Tom, for the additional commentary on the geology, which is quite fascinating. While I was there it stormed three times, and while hubby and I were there three weeks ago about three inches fell in two days! We definitely could use some of that rain. I would love to go back and have nothing to do but photograph the flora; class was great, but my attention was divided. |
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- Posted by gardener365 IL 5/6 (My Page) on Tue, Jul 10, 12 at 11:03
| Very nice, thanks! Dax |
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| Am I the only one who liked the snake? Me 10 yrs ago. |
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- Posted by greenhaven N Illinois 4b-5a (My Page) on Tue, Jul 10, 12 at 14:37
| I love the snake!!! ;o) 'Course, I'd probably have a problem with wrapping it around my neck, but hey, each to his/her own! |
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| After reading up on the Northern Water Snake it seems they are biters. I would rather take my chances with the Burmese Pythons which are fairly mellow....as long as they are not hungry. |
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- Posted by wisconsitom 4/5 WI (My Page) on Tue, Jul 10, 12 at 17:48
| I love all snakes....in their home environment. Some dude with a white-phase python around his neck, sitting on a bench downtown...not so much! Actually, Door Cty. with it's endless miles of rocky shoreline, is a real snake haven. Unfortunately, humans, with their unreasonable fear and hatred towards snakes, have been keeping cats for the express purpose of killing the snakes...for decades. I hate that. +oM |
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- Posted by greenhaven N Illinois 4b-5a (My Page) on Tue, Jul 10, 12 at 21:41
| jonnyb, thanks for the heads up. This guy made no threatening moves at all, but it is good to know they could be a threat. A good reminder to pay attention and use the longest lens possible, lol! |
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| I was going to say you want to stay away from those water snakes. They can be aggressive. Nice pics. I haven't been to door country since winter three years ago. Its actually pretty cool that time a year as the lake creates "shelves" near the shoreline. |
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- Posted by greenhaven N Illinois 4b-5a (My Page) on Tue, Jul 10, 12 at 21:53
| You know what? I got curious and started to do some research myself. I was relying on the ID of this snake form a very knowledgeable person that just assumed water snake because it was in the water. Turns out this was not a Northern Water Snake at all, but a Western Fox Snake! Glad I got that one corrected, I like to know what things really are. |
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| Super! I like the seedling on the birch. Thanks for the tour! |
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