Tag Archives: Okra Paradise Farms

Passion flower

Now that it’s the dead of winter, let’s look at a summer flower:

Passion flower, Passiflora incarnata
Okra Paradise Farms, Lowndes County, Georgia
Picture by John S. Quarterman, 5 July 2010.

Here it is on its vine:

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Longleaf sprouts

Found in the gutter:

Picture of Gretchen Quarterman holding longleaf sprouts at Okra Paradise Farms
by John S. Quarterman, 19 December 2011.

I found them in the gutter while cleaning oak leaves out of it. Longleaf seeds had sprouted in that wet place. Gretchen stuck them in some dirt in these seedling containers. In a week or so we’ll need to transplant them into something bigger. Their taproots are already almost as deep as these boxes.

We’re also finding quite a few fresh longleaf sprouts in the ground, so apparently we got a pretty good seedfall this year.

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Burning planted longleaf, 16 December 2011

We planted these longleaf three years ago, in 31 January 2009: 12,000 trees we dibbled in by hand. Not even three years old and some of them are 12 feet tall! Every few years they need burning to reduce the weeds like dog fennel and to encourage the native warm season grasses (NWSG). The NWSG burn well: low to the ground, moving right along. The dog fennel not so much, but they do sometimes flare up and make a good show, like this:

Burning planted longleaf, Okra Paradise Farms, Lowndes County, Georgia.
Pictures by Gretchen Quarterman, 16 December 2011.

The longleaf themselves are the most fire-resistant of trees. Almost all of these longleaf will survive the fire and thrive. The volunteer loblolly and slash, not so much, and any oaks or other trees even less, so fire favors the longleaf. We had perfect burning conditions: 5-8 MPH wind from the northwest, blowing towards the road.

Some of the subdivision neighbors who are not familiar with prescribed burns called the county fire department. They came out, took one look at the firebreak, and filed a report saying all was OK.