Decades ago, when I lived in Shreveport, Louisiana, I played a lot in the forests of East Texas. But after I moved to Houston, over twenty years ago, I somehow forgot how beautiful the East Texas forests were. Last weekend, Natalie and I visited our friend Mary Z, and enjoyed an outing to Ratcliff Lake. Natalie decided she wanted to paddle the forty-five acre lake, while I decided to hike around it. I had a little exercise and found lots of exciting plants. Mary was having leg trouble and elected to sit and enjoy the lake, the fishermen, hikers, and the birds.
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| Lake Ratcliff View |
Two trees are blooming now, dogwoods and grancy graybeards, or fringe trees. The only time I saw grancy graybeards, we were flying down a highway so I didn't get a picture of any of them. But I enjoyed lots of dogwoods along my hike.
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| Dogwoods among the loblolly pines |
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Another of my favorite plants is red buckeye. I saw a few young plants in bloom.
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| Red Buckeye |
Much of my walk was on a road. But there was a short trail along one arm of the lake.
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| Walking bridge over a little creek |
The next surprise was several patches of May apples. A few were in bloom but all had their shiny umbrellas's unfurled.
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| Blooming May apples |
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| The prettiest arm of the lake |
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| Violets |
This area was hit by a tornado recently and currently is only open for day use. But it does give a little history of the timber industry in this area and great place in which to decompress.
I wish I had your knowledge of plants and trees.
ReplyDeleteYou probably do.:) I have to spend a lot of time looking u the ones I haven't grown. And you definitely know more birds.
ReplyDeleteToday I was almost stumped by by a dead bird in the road we came across while walking. It was a sora in fresh plumage.