Pigment Of Nature's Imagination

I was looking for butterflies and was checking nectar plants and made an interesting discovery.
The flowers on one Blazing Star plant had no pigment, which was rather striking.
I've seen this occasionally, which are known as "sporting plants" as recounted in Darwin's writings on evolution.
I also checked to see whether the Giant Orchids had emerged this year. They have not. I haven't seen them in a few years. Maybe next year.

The Natal grass continues to be rife and once weather cools down, I'll clear it from the main path.

I've found some new trash piles and will deal with them as I have time.

Cogon Grass On The Fringe

There has been a recurring problem with cogon grass, particularly on the west side of the preserve.
It is likely there will be more problems until something is done to treat the increasingly large area between the CSX tracks and Recker Highway.
It's fairly rife in a growing part of that property.
Meanwhile, I checked on any wind damage. There were a couple of sand pines down, one of which had fallen before the storm.
I chopped them in half to clear the main path.
Sandspurs are becoming common again. I plan to remove them from the main paths.
  

The Blues Have It

Ceraunus Blue butterflies have always been fairly common here.
After the habitat in the north tract was opened with mechanical clearing and prescribed fire, they became  abundant. for a time, but declined following a couple of severe winters.
They're back.
Today I counted 141.
It will be interesting to see if that number grows by fall.

Keeping the path clear

I've been working steadily when I have time to remove Natal grass from the north-south path through the heart of the scrub area.

This corridor is a main route for getting around and is also at the center of the main population of Scrub blazing star.

Meanwhile, I also made a temporary fix to the fence that was cut adjacent to the TECO property.

Busting the monoliths

I have known for several years that there were concrete pieces in the pile where the railroad ties had been dumped on the north fire lane by the tracks.

Recently I decided to explore what to do about removing them.

It was obvious that these concrete monoliths were much too heavy to move singlehandedly.
So, what to do?

I'm thinking this calls for a sledge hammer and perhaps some other tools to bust these pieces into smaller, but usable pieces.

It occurs to me the smaller pieces might be ideal for boundaries for a driveway.

It took some time, but several hours and one sledge hammer handle later, the work is done.
Now I have to haul out the debris.

.

Spring in the Scrub

I went out today looking for color and was not disappointed.

The most obvious was the pawpaws, which have been out for a few weeks, but dayflower, alicia, roseling and scrub lupine are adding to the show.

I'm sure other habitats offer similar delights.

Get outdoors.

Blooms and butterflies

Spring may be arriving a bit early at the preserve.
Today I saw the first Scrub Lupine flowers of the year and saw the promise of future blooms in the buds of other plants, including the young volunteer plant

Al.so, I saw a bloom today on Britton's beargrass,which seems a bit early.

Meanwhile, I was curious whether it was an early spring for butterflies, too. Most of the sightings today were Little Yellows and Common Buckeyes,but I did find a couple of Northern Cloudywings.