Three Views

Posted on March 1, 2015 by elizabeth

This February has been one of the coldest on record, with temperatures in the DC region about 5 degrees F below average. It’s been snowing more often, too, but without much accumulation. Makes for some pretty pictures.

Don’t forget to go to the Three Views page to see the same views in January and December.

February 27, 2015
30 degrees F, mostly clear

12:33 pm EST 18mm f/10.0 1/200sec ISO 100

Billy Goat B trail, east end, looking southeast across a narrow channel toward Vaso Island

1:01pm EST 18mm f/8.0 1/250 sec ISO 100

Billy Goat B, mid-way between trailheads, looking upstream (more or less northwest) with Hermit Island on the left.

1:54pm EST 18mm f/8.0 1/250 sec ISO 100

boat launch ramp near Old Angers Inn, looking downstream and more or less south

Winter Interest: Sycamore

Posted on February 21, 2015 by elizabeth

Platanus occidentalis; Platanaceae

Have you ever looked at a riverbank in the winter and wondered “what’s wrong with all those trees”? The ones that looks like ghost trees are sycamores. They are among the largest trees in the eastern US, growing to 140 feet tall and as much as 12 feet in diameter! They prefer the moist soils of bottomlands but in parts of their range can be found colonizing old field uplands. The bark exfoliates,

leaving much of the tree white, and giving the impression that it’s dead. But it isn’t. Just a little more naked than most, and patiently waiting for spring to get its green back.

a lovely old tree frames the Great Falls Tavern, C&O Canal NHP.

sycamore reflected in the canal

(All images from December, 2014)

What’s Green Now? Partridgeberry

Posted on February 20, 2015 by elizabeth

Mitchella repens; Rubiaceae

Last one for the “what’s green now’ feature. Growing in tiny pockets of soil, cascading along rocks, never more than an inch tall (but often many feet long), partridgeberry is one of my favorites. Look for the twin blossoms