Warren Woods, Kesling Nature Preserve, Southwest Michigan

 Wild Geranium (Geranium maculatum)  Geranium family

My sister, Marie, and I started the month of May 2014 with a visit to southwest Michigan.  Warren Woods State Park, we were here in 2009 (before the blog began).

 We saw many old friends!  Wild Geramium, Large-flowered Trillium, Large-Flowered Bellwort, hepatica, violets, Spring Beauty, Marsh Marigold, buttercup, ferns, Prairie Trillium, Dwarf Ginseng, Squirrel Corn, Dutchman's Breeches, Wild Ginger.  I look forward to finding these spring wildflowers each year. 

Warren Woods State Park - Michigan

Legally dedicated natural area, Nation Natural Landmark

Size: 312 acres  Located in southwestern Berrien County, Michigan - 3 miles north of Three Oaks

"Warren Woods is a virgin beech-maple forest, the last of its type known in Michigan. There are outstanding individual trees of several species, including many greater than five feet in diameter and more than 125 feet in height. Spectacular displays of wildflowers are best viewed in April and early May." 

Large-Flowered Bellwort (Uvularia grandiflora)  Lily family Most interesting part of the plant is how the leaf and stem come together. The base of each leaf is perfoliate – it completely surrounds the stem.

 

 

 Dwarf Ginseng (Panax trifolius) Ginseng family

 Prairie Trillium (Trillium recurvatum) Lily family

 

 

 



The footbridge at Warren Woods, over the Galien River.  A beautiful place to take a walk in the woods.
Then to Kesling Nature Preserve, Southwest Michigan Land Conservancy, along the south branch of the Galien River.
http://www.swmlc.org/content/kesling-nature-preserve

          Another interesting place to visit! 

 

Looking down into the ~40 foot ravine at Kesling Nature Preserve.

            Spring Beauty

 

          Marsh Marigold

We were just a mile from Indiana, so we drove across the Michigan - Indiana state line.  Then north to the town of Three Oaks, Michigan.
Harbor Country, website http://www.harborcountry.org/  We have used this site before to research parks and places in SW Michigan.  We actually came across the Harbor Country Chamber of Commerce 15311 Three Oaks Road Three Oaks, MI 49128. 

We had another day with perfect weather.  Fun!

Six Parks in 12 hours in Michigan - Part 1

2013 04 29  What a day we had in southwest Michigan!  It started off rather foggy, but quickly cleared up.  Along the way going south on U.S. 31, the trees and grasses were mostly brown, then slowly we were seeing more green (grass and small leaves on trees), red (maple tree flowers), and yellow (willows and Marsh Marigold).

We drove to Buchanan with the intention of visiting Trillium Ravine Plant Preserve, but since we started out at 7 a.m.  I suggested going to a few other nearby places so the trillium had time to wake up .  I got out my David Brown - Michigan County Atlas, and searched around the Buchanan area in Berrien County, Michigan.  We don't usually visit city parks, or playgrounds but we do like somewhere with a trail and hopefully water.

   Buchanan, Michigan  Redbud City... Notice the swan on a nest near the sign.

On the map I found Redbud Park, Spafford-Lark Woods, McCoy Creek Rec. Area, Bakertown Fen Preserve, and down the road a few miles west of Buchanan is Mud Lake Bog.  I did some research on Bing maps trying to find addresses for the GPS. 

The first place we found was called Riverfront Park.  Mostly a large, grassy, pull off, high above the St. Joseph River.  A very beautiful view and right off we saw wildflowers, lots of wildflowers!  We poked around a bit at this place then headed down the road to find Spafford-Lark Woods.  We did see a sign along the road with the name of that place but there was no parking available. 

 St. Joseph River at Riverfront Park

        Dutchman's Breeches

So we turned a corner and found McCoy's Creek Trail / E.B. Clark Woods.  Nice place, hills, creek, trails.  Wildflowers, too.  We talked to a guy who was walking a dog, and he said he was finding Black Morels.  All day long we were out with our noses to the ground, and never saw one morel.

                    McCoy Creek in Buchanan, Michigan
Our next stop, not counting the gas station for ice cream bars, was Bakertown Fen Preserve.  Like I said earlier, I was able to get addresses from searching on Bing maps, we saw the sign, again no parking.  So around another corner we go, we found the entrance and a place to park along the road. 

There were wildflowers blooming here too, and I got a good
up-close look at Marsh Marigold, which is a favorite of mine. The yellow color of this flower is so deep and rich, and they usually grow right in the black mud at the edge of the water or even in the water.

There was a solid bridge here over the McCoy Creek,  I saw some very bumpy amphibians...hugging.  

 McCoy Creek at Bakertown Fen Preserve

Then we came to a spot where the water was deep and fast with only a log across to reach the other side.  We wisely turned back to the car. 

There is a place called Mud Lake Bog about 4 miles from Buchanan.  Marie and I visited there in 2009 (before this blog started) and at that time it was very flooded, so much that I didn't dare go on the boardwalk like Marie did.  We drove to Mud Lake Bog and this time it wasn't flooded. 

First we went up on the observation deck.  Painted Turtles, seven on one log and several more around the small pond! 

                                                 Purple Dead Nettle (Lamium Purpureum)

We climbed down and started around the boardwalk through the bog.  Leatherleaf (Chamaedaphne calculata) Heath Family, was blooming everywhere.  A bogful of Leatherleaf.

Pitcher Plant were busy catching insects, and I saw what I think is a liverwort. 

     Some sort of liverwort?  Maybe Bog Liverwort, we were in a bog!

 Mud Lake Bog is an interesting place.

Well that was the first half of our day, and in the next post I will tell about the last half of the day.

Spring Wildflowers in Ottawa and Allegan Counties 2014

This post will be several adventures combined.  I hope to give you an idea what is blooming in West Michigan, places in Ottawa County and Allegan County.

Riverside Park at Max Lake

         Bloodroot

                      Bloodroot

 Along the trail at Riverside Park in Ottawa County, Michigan
Then a stop at Connor Bayou, another Ottawa County park.

 Connor Bayou on a rainy evening.

 Along the Grand River at Connor Bayou Park, Hepatica was blooming but it was closed up due to the cloudiness.

A trip to Minnie Skwarek Nature Preserve in Spring Lake Township revealed no wildflowers blooming except for Skunk Cabbage.

Then the next day Marie and I went to Allegan County, Silver Creek County Park, and Happy Boots Corner.  Silver Creek County Park, (3900 - 134th Ave., Hamilton, MI)   is primarily an equestrian park and has both day use facilities and a primitive campground. Silver Creek is 320 acres in size and connects to over 25 miles of horseback riding trails. There are 75 campsites in the park, 65 of which are available for horse camping. Silver Creek also has 450 feet of frontage on Silver Creek, which is a spring fed trout stream. You will also find picnic tables and grills available in the day use area. The most beautiful and unique thing about Silver Creek is that the entire park is primarily wooded, providing for plenty of shade in the hot summer months and some spectacular foliage color in the fall. In keeping with the primitive setting, there are no modern restrooms or running water, but there are hand pumps and vault toilets. Silver Creek Park is open year round and has some spectacular fall and winter camping available.
We went here to see if the Trailing Arbutus was blooming. 

      Trailing Arbutus

     Trailing Arbutus

 Silver Creek in Allegan County

Along the road to Happy Boots Corner, we saw a fair amount of snow in the ditches, this was April 22, this is late in the spring to still find snow here.

 Happy Boots.  No, you won't find that name on a map.  We named this place.  There were several plants blooming here.

                                        Spring Beauty

 Spring Beauty

 Spring beauty, some are almost white, these were shouting pink!

 And we found more Golden Saxifrage!  This time I put a quarter by it to compare for size.  The flower is tiny.

 This is a photo of our bench, which we rested upon and listened to frogs!

 We saw Marsh Marigold blooming!

 Skunk Cabbage
We enjoyed Happy Boots for a few hours, then moved on to another special place with warm, sunny, south facing hills to see Trout Lily, the white variety.

                   Squirrel Corn

And one Large-flowered Trillium that was really blooming.  When we got back to my house I checked on my very own Round-lobed Hepatica.  It was blooming too.

It was a fun day with great weather.  The wildflowers are coming along just fine, if a bit slow.