September 12

Monday, Remi and I traveled 13 miles south to hike the Jailhouse Trail, located in Ithaca’s 164-acre, McNabb Park, south of town. The early morning weather was sunny with a temperature of 52 degrees and no wind. We left the car and followed the trail west into a dense woodland of mixed hardwoods and conifers where several dead, leafless ash trees opened up the canopy to reveal a clear, blue sky. Following the perimeter “orange” trail, I came upon a patch of lovely, but highly invasive Japanese Knotweed as well as a patch of Heath Aster. As the trail began to circle around the property, I was greeted by morning sunbeams along with clumps of an unfamiliar plant with huge basal leaves (one was about 18 inches long) and dried up flower heads on tall stems that turned out to be Great Coneflower. A little further ahead, I came upon a Wild Rose bush with an unusual reddish growth called Robin’s Pincushion or Bedeguar Gall. This growth occurs after eggs are laid on a stem by a tiny female Cynipid Wasp. When the eggs hatch into larvae, they feed on the plant tissue that prompts the growth of the gall. These tiny grubs will remain in the gall as pupae through the winter and become adult wasps next spring. Next, I continued to loop back to the beginning where I spotted some colorful berries including: white Dogwood, blue Virginia Creeper, green Chinese Privet and black Buckthorn. Finally, we returned to the car and headed home.

Swan song of summer

Nature has her way

Swallows are swarming

Wish they could stay

Queen Anne’s Lace

Fold up their flowers

Meadow shines golden

In daylight hours

Fungi are frequent

Berries abound

Frogs of the marsh

Surrender their sound

D. DeGraaf