Muskegon Lake Nature Preserve and Muskegon State Park

2010 September 20.  We met at Muskegon Lake N. P. due to construction on U.S. 31. This is a nice little preserve with lots of boardwalks along Muskegon Lake just near the causeway. 

From the Boardwalk at Muskegon Lake N. P.                    

                              Blue Vervain

                  Bur Marigold

Next we went to a special place at Muskegon State Park, Lost Lake.

                        Cross-leaved Milkwort

                          Sand Jointweed
(noticed the green dots on two of the five petals, how curious! And this flower is tiny 1/8 inch) 

                          Sundew

Yes another great day!

Back to Bass River Rec Area

2010 09 16  We decided on Bass River again because there are open areas here, with Gentians and Ladies' Tresses (Ladies Tresses are orchids).



Fringe-tip Closed Gentian (Gentiana andrewsii)



Nodding Ladies' Tresses



Bass River Rec Area



Yellow Aphids



Turtle Shell Marie Found, Cool!



Inside of the Turtle Shell

Caterpillar Feet

Top side of the caterpillar

 

Monkey Flower Still blooming!

Even though it rained while we were on our adventure it was fun, and still so many plants blooming. Cardinal Flower, Everlasting Pea, Chicory, Gerardia, White Campion, Eyebane, Hoary Vervain, Sleepy Catchfly, Bouncing Bet, and More.

A Surprising Discovery! September is a great month for Wildflowers!

September has been a busy month for me and filled with many fun adventures including a trip to Minnesota! 
Once a week my husband Mike and I go for a walk at Riverside Park in Ottawa County Michigan.  September 2nd we went to Bass River Recreation Area instead.  Bass River Recreation Area (BRRA)) adjoins Riverside Park at one end and has Max Lake right between them. 

Bass River Recreation Area

Mike asked to go to some special places at BRRA with me to look for an interesting wildflower that blooms here only at this time of the year.  We found it blooming!

It is called Fringed-tip Closed Gentian (Gentian andrewsii).  This native perennial plant is 1-2' tall. Multiple stems can emerge from the taproot, usually this plant is unbranched. The central stem is round, hairless, and either light green or purple. The opposite leaves are up to 4½" long and 2" across, and sessile against the stem.

We also walked to another super secret area of BRRA to find Nodding Ladies' Tresses Orchid.  Usually only my sister Marie and I go to this area, and other than an occasional hunter, no one else visits this area (it was mined for gravel), now Mike is in on the secret but I know I can trust him.

One of our secret areas at BRRA.
We found Nodding Ladies' Tresses Orchid blooming.

We also saw these wildflowers that day...

 Purple Gerardia

 Chicory

Cardinal Flower

Frogfruit

The next day (September 3rd) my sister Marie and I went to Bass River Recreation Area.  We had a great surprise on this day!  In mid August we found many gentian plants growing in an area near the Ladies' Tresses but the gentian were not yet blooming.  We had not found any gentian in this area before so we looked forward to seeing these plants bloom.  Marie tied a marker in a tree so we could find this spot next time. 

                                         Gentian plant in August

The next time Marie and I came back to this site was about three weeks after we found the plant (not blooming), we found the exact spot and to our surprise we saw that these gentian flowers were white with no purple!  They were beautiful plants, we had never seen these before.  We tried to make them into a new variety but as it turned out, they are a color variation of  the Fringed-tip Closed Gentian.  It was a very exciting find! 

We have been near here before and I wonder now if these gentian were here for years and we just missed them?  Well we found them now and you can be sure we will check on them every year.

I brought Mike to see them the next week.  There were even more in bloom and Mike was quite impressed.  Marie and I went back to see them September 20th and they were turning slightly brown, but most were still blooming.

A Surprising Discovery!

Bass River with Gentian and a Tree Frog

2011 09 01 September!
This is the time of year to see Closed (Bottle) Gentian at Bass River in Ottawa County Michigan.  Here is what we saw on the first day of September.

 This is where the gentian live.

I'm pretty sure this is a Gray Treefrog.  Check out the book Michigan Frogs, Toads,and Salamanders by James Harding.

                 Nodding Ladies' Tresses

Purple Gerardia (Gerardia purpurea) we saw lots of these, very nice.

Black and Yellow Garden Spider
 (Argiope aurantia)

  Northern Leopard Frog (Rana pipiens) or is it a
                     Pickerel Frog (Rana palustris)?

Aphids, yellow ones.

I kept noticing a ghostly flying insect, I followed it until it landed on a cattail, it was a Praying Mantis.

Red bugs on a swamp Milkweed pod, Eww enough with the bugs!

Cardinal Flower was still blooming, in the photo below the red is all Cardinal Flower.

Swamp Smartweed

This is, I think, Centaury (Centaruium umbellatum) another flower in the Gentain family.

Another fun day a Bass River Rec. Area!