Tag: Flora
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Exploration of Scarlett & Mitchell Rain Gardens Nature Walk (September 7, 2024)
WHAT: End of summer Nature Walk Featuring Solidago & Sunflower/Pollinators & Predators WHEN: 10:00am Saturday, September 7, 2024 WHERE: Meet at the main entrance showcase (kiosk) to Scarlett Mitchell Woods. We’ll explore the rain gardens at Scarlett Middle and Mitchell Elementary schools. WHY: Solidago is the scientific name of Goldenrod. If the weather is right,…
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Ann Arbor Parks and Nature Areas
The City of Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County and the Public School system own many parks and nature areas. The Parks and Rec Department owns 50 of the 90 acres of Scarlett Mitchell Woods. Scarlett Mitchell Woods is the big star on the lower right corner of the Ann Arbor map. Ann Arbor has a huge…
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Northern Blue Flag Iris
Last year I photographed the irises on the west edge of the pond, but I never saw them in bloom. This year I did the workday on June 1st and the irises were in bloom. Now, one can identify them as northern blue flag irises (Iris versicolor, which means “variously colored”). The iris has 6 petals,…
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Doug Fulton’s, A Naturalist’s Journal
Doug Fulton was a journalist with the Ann Arbor News. He wrote hundreds of articles. Many of the articles were environmental and nature based. He wrote two full page articles on Scarlett Mitchell Woods. On the ‘Mitchell Scarlett Woods Nature Area’ sign is an image of a bird. Ever wondered what’s the bird, well the…
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Spring Beauty
The Spring Beauty (Claytonia) is one of the spring ephemerals. It is a low plant with loose clusters of 5 petals white or pink flowers, striped with dark pink. It has a pair of slender leaves This picture was taken on April 4, 2024, on our first Spring Serendipity Walk. In the morning at 10:00,…
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Spring Ephemerals in Scarlett Mitchell Woods
e-phem-er-al something that lasts for a very short time : ‘fashions are ephemeral’ The word is derived from the Greek ephemeros, ‘lasting for only a day’. To read more about spring ephemerals see this article by Robin Sweetser. This article will talk about the following 10 ephemerals:
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Spring 2024 Serendipity Walk – Path Less Taken
The last of four Spring Serendipity Walks took place on May 18, 2024. This time we focused on Scarlett Mitchell Woods – West, sometimes referred to as the Korschak section after the previous owners. It took 25 years to procure this section with funds from the City of Ann Arbor, a grant from the State…
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Spring 2024 Serendipity Walk – Creatures of the Pond
Michael led us on a walk to the pond and looked for bugs, larvae and nymphs in the water. We found a red water mite, water fleas, a blood sucker and a variety of larvae. The pond was not teeming with bugs and larvae as was expected. The bugs and larvae are food for other…
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Prickly Ash
Prickly Ash (Zanthoxylum americanum) has a long litany of common names including toothache tree on Wikipedia. The oil extracts from the bark of the prickly ash have been used in traditional medicine and studied for antifungal and cancer killing properties. This was photographed along the path to the pond.
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Bloodroot
Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) sounds like a plant from Professor Pomona Sprout’s Herbology class at Hogwarts. It is definitely a real plant. In reading Wikipedia, one learns that the red sap can kill skin cells but may find some use in helping with cancer. This plant was near the entrance where the path branches towards the pond.