Nature at its finest

I went bogging this morning with a friend. Below are some of the photos of this, so-far, undisturbed site.

breakfast, lunch and supper. Talk about eating more than you can chew.

a view of this little paradise

How absolutely fantastic! You are so fortunate to be able to see these beautiful plants in their natural habitat. Sarracenia leucophylla is undoubtedly one of the finest plant species in the US, let alone carnivorous species. I myself grow some 60 different clones. It's one of my favorites.

Were you able to see much variation between plants? How large were the largest trumpets that you saw in this or adjacent areas? I also find that in cultivation the new pitchers fill to near overflowing almost immediately. I have heard that the colors are capable of converting the sun into a spectrum that is more enticing to insects. The copius nectar production doesn't hurt either.

Please post more photos of your ventures into cp land. Were there any other species of cp in this area as well; drosera, pinguicula, utricularia? Lucky, lucky you.

Thank you for sharing these pics with us. I felt the same way you did when I saw my first Darlingtonia in the wild. After seeing something like 1/2 million of them in one area it humbles you to levels undescribable.

Keep up the good work.

Hooray! Beautiful photographs. S. leucophylla are breathtaking.

The Gulf Fritillary in the tube shot is excellent!

OhOH and OHHH! How wonderful! Please post more photos. Could you tell by Philcula's post that he was practically jumping up and down with excitement? I second the excitement! Don't I wish I could just transport myself right to that spot and go bogging with you!

The pics came out fantastic. It was amazing to me how tall some of them were. And then the little red ones with the hood were so cute.

Little red ones with hoods? Were there any spots on the backs of the tubes of the ones you saw by chance? Sort of white giraffe looking spots?

As best as I remember they were like the others axcept small and red. It was really interesting seeing what grows naturally in a bog area. There was this thick moss that was red and this soft green things that looked like a cross between deer antlers and stapeliad, but soft. Also we saw some short , squat bladderworts (I guess that is what you call them. Kind of like pitchers plants but short and squat, with a bigger, rounder receptacle. I also saw this really wierd plant that looked like it came from outer space. there was a round bulb, a little bigger than a marble. It had these long fuzzy things sticking out of it. And also lots of plants that look like bromeliad but the leaves were softer. They lad a long the4n stem sticking out of them with a little white glob e flower on top. Interesting day, interesting flowers.

Where are the photos of all these fascinating species? I am reading this thread with a napkin attached to my neck to catch the drool. Don't want to ruin my keyboard.
Maybe the short, squat ones were Sarracenia purpurea? The plant with fuzzy things: could it have been Drosera intermedia?

You are MzMunchken's bogging buddy! Lucky you! Now I get it! Takes me a while sometimes.

Beats me on the thick red moss. Many of those out there that could be.

"Small and red" might be Drosera capillaris down in that area. Those are very nice.

The "Kind of like pitchers plants but short and squat, with a bigger, rounder receptacle" are possibly psittacina but more likely purpurea. My bet is purpurea based on your comment of a bigger rounder receptacle.

The "soft green things that looked like a cross between deer antlers and stapeliad" sounds an awful lot like a club moss or rather Lycopodiella spp. Those things are awesome and there are some that do look like fuzzy green antlers.

I'll take a stab at this one and guess you might have seen Drosera filiformis that has begun to form hibernacula? You got me on the marble deal- "really wierd plant that looked like it came from outer space. there was a round bulb, a little bigger than a marble. It had these long fuzzy things sticking out of it". Did it look anything like this by any chance-

http://bestcarnivorousplants.com/CP_Photos/Drosera_filiformis_tracyi_Copyright_P_Dzik_02.jpg

I feel so ignorant when I go out there as I have no idea what I am looking at or looking for. Equilib has been a great teacher from afar.

Here are some more photos from yesterday but it is pretty much the same type of plants. I failed to get more than two pictures today as I was busy looking where I was standing/walking.

the grasses are dying back now so the cover up a lot of the plants and unless you see a pitcher standing high above the grass you miss out on a lot of the plants growing underneath. I can't wait till spring when everything is blooming, including the native orchids that I found at this site earlier this year.

This is the one Rylaff is referring to in her post above. Some of them had blood red hoods and half way down the tube. They are fairly small getting to a height of above 4-5 inches high. Dwarfs in comparison to some of the larger leucos that were 2 1/2 - 3' tall.

This message was edited Nov 5, 2005 5:51 PM

this picture was taken today.. try as we might Rylaff and I couldn't manage to get through the thicket of brambles and branches and across a stream to get a closer view. This patch is growing on the southside of the lake

I think you are right as usual. The one plant is some type of dewthread, a decent size one. The other plant is some type of clubmoss. The bromeliad looking thing with the globe flowers I have no idea. Trish had her camera, but spent so much time crawling out of the much on her hands and knees that she didnt get a pic of everything we saw. (smirk). I was okay until the muck sucked my boots off me. Then I fell into the middle of it too.

I know we tried. You could tell there we a huge thick tall patch of them too.

I think, not positive... "This is the one Rylaff is referring to in her post above. Some of them had blood red hoods and half way down the tube. They are fairly small getting to a height of above 4-5 inches high" Sarracenia rubra ssp. gulfensis.

I am jealous that you guys were out there. I am also scared to death of getting bitten by anything that might be poisonous so that sort of negates my jealousy. You ladies need to come up and stay with me where there are no gators or poisonous snakes. We have some incredibly nice bogs up this way.

Say, I'm learning about these plants as I go. They are incredibly interesting aren't they? Just when I think I've learned something a twist smacks me right up the side of the head and undermines everything I thought I might have learned.

I hate to say it but I'm just really glad this forum is staying afloat. I was worried there for a bit that there wouldn't be enough interest because I've seen forums disappear. So far we have one heavy hitter here and maybe someday we'll lure in a few more so we're not all totally dependent on him.

I am just loving these photos! I want to come and visit you both and go bogging! This is the coolest thread I've been on in a long time. Now get thee out there with hip boots and your camera!
I think we all know you are still learning, Lauren, but you must admit that you are further along on the learning spectrum than most of us. And this is good. I would never have known yet to ask about the peachy feel on the S. purpurea, but I won't forget it now!

Man, I should have stuck with animal behavior and ecology as a career field. I would never have made much of a living, but I might have had a lot of fun and had lots of opportunity to get dirty!

If I had it to do all over again I think I'd skip a higher education all together and go for being a garbage truck driver. Do you have any idea the pots and plant stands and aquariums and other goodies that people throw out? Granted my home probably wouldn't be as clean and orderly as it is now if I had become a waste management engineer but I'm thinking I could have grown accustomed to the Sanford & Son look real quick. Oh, forgot to mention our garbage truck drivers around here work four 10-hour days which means one entire day to go out into the world and explore. Did I mention that the drivers on our route get to pick up from not one... but 4 county and state preserves?

Too funny.
FYI. We saw not one snake. Of course, we were making lots of noise to scare them off just in case. In between the deliberate snake scaring noises and the giggling when we got stuck, I imagine the snakes left for the next county.

Oh my... I see possibilities for that box of New Year's Eve noise makers that I bought so the kids could stay up and embrace the New Year. I could bring my box (kids fell asleep and never made it to midnight so everything is new and unused) and share the contents with anyone who wants to go bogging with you two. We could enter the bogs by clinking, clanking,.whizzing, whistling, and drumming. I knew there was a reason I kept all those noise makers. Snakes be afraid... be very afraid!

I dont worry too much about rattlesnakes. But some cottonmouth/moccasins are high strung and a bit aggressive. dont want to tick them off.

Cottonmouths and Water Moccasins? How lovely.

The more I think of this the more I think that chain mail might be in order for bogging in your neck of the woods or better yet... a full set of armor-
http://www.lazydragon.com/images/suit-of-armor-6007.jpg

And then a helicopter to fly in from above and haul my happy rear out when I sink and can't unmuck myself.

I agree, Rylaff. I never did worry much about rattlesnakes. What's a rattle for if it's not a warning device? But I never saw a cottonmouth/moccasin that I liked. They can definitely be nasty. And I've seen way more cottonmouths than I have rattlers. Though I live in the land of 'no poisonous animals', I didn't grow up here. My folks were both from east Texas and we moved all over the U.S. when I was a kid. They taught me well about watching out for snakes. They had to teach me, as I was always trying to catch them and bring them home! LOL
True story: a few years ago we were at Reelfoot Lake in Tennessee taking in the boardwalk in the shallows. This lake was formed by an earthquake late in the 19th century, I think. It's very shallow all the way across and has lots of cypress trees. Great bass fishing, I hear tell. Anyway, there had been a terrific storm the previous day. The storm must have disturbed the animals, plus it was spring and mating time. We're walking along peering down into the clear water, etc, just enjoying nature when I suddenly realize (close your eyes for this part, Lauren, LOL) that there are literally hundreds of snakes everywhere! I am not kidding! They were huge snakes and they were just everwhere! Swimming in the water, laying on the logs, lurking in the tall grass, you name it! Many of them were the really big water snakes that live around those parts, but the rest were cottonmouths. I have never seen anything like in my life. Too many snakes, even for me! I shudder when I realize I had just put my hand down into the water to snatch up a baby red eared slider for the kids to see. I had looked for snakes before snatching, and there weren't any there. Just 20 feet down the walk, however, woo hooo! It ws a snake party!

If I'm ever in Florida, I'm giving you a call so I can go bogging!

Shudder! That sounds like a bad dream I used to have.

I think... not positive... that I would have begun hyperventilating and would have begun to move very slowly toward the car or the closest tree so I could climb up it if I had ever seen that many Cottonmouths. Now mind you I am not afraid of snakes but I have a healthy respect for anything that is poisonous. The scene you described sounds incomprehensible. Reelfoot Lake does not sound like my idea of an ideal vacation destination.

I've got to say that it was definitly surreal. I'm not afraid of snakes at all, but I do have the proverbial 'respect' for poisonous anything! I have been to Reelfoot lake many times. Not exactly my kind of vacation destination, as you say, but since we've never been on vacation when we've been there, just visiting DH's family, that's okay. This was a very unusual thing that had even the locals there amazed. The storm system that had passed through had spawned several tornadoes, which I'm more afraid of than any snake. I think it was the intensity of the storms that had stirred them up.
Also, we were on a boardwalk above the water. No one was trying to interfere with the snakes, both human and snake were minding their own business. So unless some snake got a wild hair and decide to jump up on the boardwalk, we were safe. I think I was simply too amazed to be hyperventilating. It was so incredible that I just kept staring and pointing. I was not alone. Everyone there was staring and pointing. What really got me aside from the sheer number of creatures, was their size! Good LORD! I have never seen snakes this big outside of a zoo. I understand the watersnakes can get very large, and they, too, can be aggressive.
As I said, I've been there many times over the 23 years of my marriage, and I've seen only a few snakes. These were always sunning on a big log in the water or something and I felt lucky to see them since we're lucky to see a garter snake up here. My cup runneth over on this occasion!
A cool thing I learned there was how turtles arrange themselves on the logs. There were many, many snapping turtles out of the water sunning. Whenever there were several together on a log, they always arranged themselves in order of size. It was uncanny.
My MIL, ever the southern understated lady, was walking with us. She was married, until his recent death, to a biology professor who specialized in herptology. She's not afraid to muck around anywhere. But her words as we walked away from the lake were, "Well, I think I could have done without that.". LOL

MzMunchken, where might this "little Paradise" be? My husband and I are heading to Florida this weekend and always looking for new places to 'explore'. We'll eventually end up in Naples, but we're up for some side trips if we can find places like this!