What Lurks In The Bushes Outside The Fence?

 

Ancient Islands Group of Florida Sierra wanted to organize a Great American Cleanup event Saturday /

I suggested we take a crack at the area around Lake Blue Scrub. I knew there was some trash, but wasn't prepared for the amount that was present. 

We found tires, a mattress and box spring, an aquarium and bags and bags of beer bottles and similar debris.

There was also several hundred pounds of concrete debris that we left behind.

Later in the day I returned to see if the pile had been removed. I ran into one of the neighbors at the other end of Holton Road  and told me there had been dumping the night before of several bags of trash. One landed inside the fence and I retrieved it.

Cogon Grass Infestation Spreads

 

An infestation of Cogon Grass in a sandhill area at the southeast corner of the north tract seems to be expanding and may reach the eastern fire lane soon unless treatment begins.

Another section of this small sandhill patch contains the only population of Clitoria fragrans  on this site.

I once tried to occasionally dig up the grass to control it, but learned at a webinar I watched a couple of years ago that such an approach was futile and might encourage the spread. 

Another Lupine Season Begins; Forgotten Plants Flagged

 Another Scrub Lupine season has begun at the preserve this week, about on schedule.

The first seedlings typically appear in mid to late January and continue emerging into February.

The first three seedings I detected were outside the main planting areas along the edge of the heavily impacted east-west trail that is annually mowed even though it has never been overgrown in the 20 years or so I've been on the site.

In recent years the lupines growing along this path have had to have been clearly marked to avoid  being destroyed by mechanical onslaught.

I also flagged a three more lupines that apparently emerged last year, and either were never flagged or the flags was removed or destroyed.  

In a search earlier this week I also discovered a previous planting area that I had missed when I was asked by Bok's Cheryl Peterson last October  to remove cages around the plants to prevent the Eastern Cottontail Rabbits that live on this site from consuming them.

The lupines for the most part appear healthy and as I've noticed regularly some plants have growth with more vigor than others.

So far I have not found any seedlings in the southern planting area, which still has some surviving seedlings from last year's emergence.

The norther planting area contains plants of various ages.

  

Maybe A New Sign Someday

 

The sign at the southeast corner of the preserve's north tract is showing its age and the inevitable effects of having a southern exposure even though there is some shade to moderate the effects on the suns's rays.

I was wondering whether a new sign might be considered in a future budget to make the place look a little less neglected.

I was out documenting a couple of patches of  mistletoe, checking to see whether lupine seedlings had begun popping up--they had not--though I moved some of the existing flags to be near unflagged surviving plants from last year's crop in the southern planting area.

I also checked a section of the south tract for Ghost Pipes, but found nothing but an old shoe and an older beer can and some spots along the fire lane for further excavation. 

I also found a place where someone may be setting up camp along the fence line in the south tract.

Cleaning Small Debris After The Storm

 I went out this week after a heavy rainstorm--5 inches at my house a mile away--to see what had emerged from the sand.

It was, as I expected, mostly broken glass.

I found one iron chain and a few remnants of aluminum cans.

Fall wildflowers are mostly past their prime.

The next survey will occur in mid-winter to see this year's crop of Scrub Lupine.

  

Freeing The Lupines

 I went out today to remove the cages around several of the lupines located in the newest planting area. Many of them have reached mature size and needed to be uncaged so that they didn't  become restricted.

In one case I had to cut off some shoots because they had grown through the wire openings and could not be pulled back inside without further damaging the plant.

When I contacted Cheryl Peterson at Bok, I learned that this was supposed to have been done already and offered to  carry out the task to save her a trip. Most of the cages still had lupines of various sizes, though many were surrounded by everything from oaks to various species of grass--mostly Natal grass--and other plants such as Horseweed.

I also noticed the exoskeletons of Narceus gordanus, the large millipede that is fairly common here, stuck either trying to get in or get  out of t he enclosures. I ddi see some rabbit scat, but no real sign of herbivory.

Scrub Blazing Star Expands At Last

 

Since the mechanical clearing several years ago, I have been concerned about the decline of the number of Scrub Blazing Star on the preserve.

During a walk through today, I found a number of  blooming plants that were emerging later than I had seen them before. though that may have  been influenced by the irregular rainflall in late summer and early fall here connected with the arrival of Hurricane Ian.

Rainfall about a mile from this site for September was 19.1 inches/

The plants were emerging from a patth that had been cleared between the second Lupine planting area and the main north-south interior path.

The Lupines were doing fine, though some seem to be bound by the cages installed around them to protect them from herbivory by Eastern Cottontail Rabbits. 

There was some tree fall along the northern fire lane adjacent to First Avenue, but generally the preserve .did well.