Cottonwood Pond: The Rest of Summer: July 15 and August 20, 2016

The Rest of Summer

July 15 and August 20, 2016

July 15

August 20

Summertime is always such a full time. The gardens are in full swing with one kind of harvest or another, and putting up that harvest – canning, freezing, dehydrating, fermenting, etc. Then there is the extra maintenance to do outside while grasses and weeds dare us to keep up with them. Richard had shoulder surgery in mid-July, putting his participation on hold and condensing summer life for both of us. Since I don't tolerate heat well at all, my outdoor work was limited to mornings and evenings. Trips into the woods, even as close as Cottonwood Pond, were almost as rare as diamonds in a Knox County melon field.

July 15

Summer is also a very rich time for the woods, of course, including Cottonwood Pond. Rains come and go, rushing waters sculpting new directions. Caterpillars are busy chewing through leaves in time to fully grow, pupate, and set forth into the world with new wings.

Young mammals are growing up, learning to hunt for themselves. Flowers are blooming, faces up, calling for the help of bees, butterflies, wasps, ants, beetles, flies – whatever will spread their pollen.

Wasp inside a roll of fallen Sycamore bark

Aquatic insect on top of Cottonwood Pond

In the bottoms of ponds and streams, predatory naiads cling flatly to rocks and silt, frogs burrow into mud and pop up to the surface for air, and microscopic beings go about their utterly important business, unseen by most. Birds raise nestlings to fledglings and collect massive amounts of bugs and caterpillars to feed themselves and their young. Salamanders slide under leaf litter and skinks lurk under logs.

Fruit grows fat and juicy.

On the slope, a Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum) fruit ripens

Honewort (Cryptotaenia canadensis) seed is still green in July

Seed ball from a Sycamore tree fallen onto the Creek mud in July

This is a time to be out there watching, listening, looking minutely at small things and largely at the landscape, taking it all in. I hate to miss it, but too often I do.

I had great intentions. On July 15, I collected water and mud samples from Cottonwood Pond, but never had the concentrated stretch of time I needed to examine them under scopes. I didn't even get back down there again until over a month later, on August 20.

But, enough of my summer bemoaning. There was still so much to see on two summer days. There were still some significant changes from one month to the next. So, let's explore those.

Some things were pretty much the same in both months. Heavy rains preceded each visit, though more on one day than another. The sounds of cicadas and crickets surrounded me through the hot, muggy, mosquito-dotted air.

August 20 - old Crawdad holes near the Inlet. On both days, there were many old and new holes and chimneys.

Spider webs and strands were stretched everywhere, glistening in the summer sun.

See if you can spot the orb web here

On August 20, one particularly magnificent strand was stretched from a dry grass seed head at the edge of the pond all the way across the water to its opposite connection on the Root Ball.

Well-fed spiders hung in the middle of fantastic webs, so still.

On both days, I heard a frog or two squeak and plop into the pond water, disappearing into the silty bottom. On July 15, one frog came up for air, then popped back under when it detected my presence. It's just as well that they were so cautious, as there were always plenty of Raccoon prints along the edge.

I also saw a Green Frog inside the Cove.

It's dark in the Cove! Look near the top for the Green Frog. Its eyes are shining.

A white Smartweed on July 15

On August 20

The white, nubby blossoms of a smartweed (species of Polygonum to be determined) graced the pond edge, as well as slender stalks of Virginian Knotweed (Polygonum virginianum), with their tiny white, four-pointed blossoms dotting the stems. In July they were mostly in bud, but were fully opened in August.

Orange Jewelweed (Impatiens capensis) was in bloom, though sparsely, with some green seed pods forming. The force of water entering the pond combined with the very tall growth of the succulent stems caused some clumps to fall onto the pond (mainly onto Mud Pile #2.) Some had become waterlogged and died, while others rejuvenated and bloomed again.

July 15 - Jewelweed plants surviving after dropping into the pond

July 15 - some Jewelweed plants did not survive a drop into the pond

August 20 - revived Jewelweed blooming again

Wood Nettle (Laportea canadensis) was in bloom, too, its filmy mass of “insignificant” blooms above the leaves, more fully in August.

July 15

Wood Nettle blooming on August 20

Grasses had gone to seed, many of the seed heads dry and brown.

August 20

Since heavy rains had preceded each visit, the Creek was full and flowing. Flattened plants and designs in the mud told of that water's path during full rush. The Creek was hardly visible through dense vegetation, primarily Jewelweed.

July 15

August 20

On both days, water in the pond had inched toward the north corner, but no water was over the muddy Isthmus.

July 15 - north corner of pond, toward Isthmus

July 15 - north corner of pond, Isthmus beyond

August 20

The whole area was soggy on both days, but much more so on August 20 when mud squished under my boots, water brimming with each step.

Moss growing thickly on the Young White Ash at pond's edge, due to much moisture

What was so different about the two visits, besides August being soggier?

July 15 was very hot and steamy, but August 20 was not so much, and was breezier.

In August, for the first time, I found some Blue Mistflower (Eupatorium coelestinum) in bloom near the outside of the Inlet. Maybe it had bloomed there in other summers and I missed it, but maybe not. It is a long bloomer.

What of the Square-Stemmed Monkeyflowers (Mimulus ringens)? Did I miss their bloom time? I had seen them in bloom not long before at Ouabache Trails Park.

On August 20, I found the patch … dead and brown.

What happened? It was green on July 15.

I missed the blooming altogether! Why were they dead? Had they been waterlogged by so much heavy rain spilling into the Swampy Spot? Or was it just time for them to be “gone by”? Since my books say that this plant blooms July through September, maybe they were killed early by flooding. How much flooding can water-loving Monkeyflower plants take? I will have to wait until next spring and summer to see what happens.

Where there were green fruits of Elderberry (Sambucus canadensis) in July, fruits were completely gone by August 20. I had missed their ripening to deep purple, but the birds had feasted.

Elderberry on July 15

Elderberry on August 20

Another difference from July to August was the abundance, on July 15, of fungi in the area. There were many different kinds flourishing in the dampness.

Near the pond edge

Tiny mushrooms around a hole on the Root Ball Bottom

Among Jewelweed plants near the pond edge

An odd fungus growing on a root on the Root Ball Bottom

Mushrooms under the Barkless Log, over the Inlet

The pond was more full in August, in some ways.

July 15

August 20

Oddly enough, it was lower at the north corner then. There was water all the way through the Inlet in July, on both sides of the Barkless Log, but in August there was only mud under the log.

July 15

August 20

August 20 - outside the Inlet

August 20 - outside the Inlet, including Crawdad holes in the mud

August 20 - looking down on the Barkless Log (over the Inlet) - pond on right side

The pond water was more silted in July, due to more recent turbulence.

And – the biggest change of all from July 15 to August 20 …

… so much more dirt had dropped from the Root Ball onto Mud Pile #1 and Mud Pile #2, and on top of the Berm (the raised strip of ground in front of the Cove) that it had created Mud Pile #3!

Mud Pile #3 formed in the middle - no more Berm!

In July, there was just the Berm, with water in front of it (Pond edge) and behind it (in the Cove.)

July 15 - light seen through a clear Cove, and water on both sides of the Berm in front of the Cove.

What will happen next?

Will Mud Pile #1, #2, and #3 become one great Mud Pile stretched all across the way, between the Pond and the Root Ball? Will I no longer be able to see into the Cove?

We'll see, maybe next time.