Swamp...well, not so much a secret as much as just off the beaten path. We went down to Schoharie Crossing yesterday morning, birding, but nothing was stirring but a few crows and a man walking his dog.
So we drove over to the bit of Bear Swamp that we call Lyker's Pond. I am sure that it is not its official name, be we all know where we mean when we talk about it.
There was a little grebe noodling around in the water when we got there, but the light was bad and once he saw us he was nothing but a splash and a vanish. Cool to see him though.
And then there was the Winterberry Holly. How I love to see it out there flaming in the woods, bright as a dozen flocks of cardinals, and as merry as Christmas against the greys and browns.
It is one of those things I tend to forget about, rather than anticipating each season like the scent of the River Bank Grapes in June, so it comes as a sort of a surprise each winter.
Kind of like a Christmas present that shows up every year. I wonder if it would grow along the Long Lawn, where its feet would be good and wet....how cool would that be?
Beautiful. You bring heart-warming color into a late November day.
ReplyDeleteThank you :)
WOW! We don't have anything as seductive as that beautiful plant. I think you need to try it at home, it is just stunning!
ReplyDeleteLinda
Cathy, thanks for your kind words. I am wondering if I can grab some berries in some swamp and seed down the place where a contractor tore through a blind ditch and routed a little stream across the lawn....lol
ReplyDeleteLinda, I love them as much for the annual surprise against November's drabness as for anything else.
Gorgeous photos of the winterberry swamp. If you have some dampish spots and maybe some pine trees nearby, you could grow Winterberry there.
ReplyDeleteJacqueline, thanks! I hope we can. They are so lovely, like lamps against the darkness
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