Tag Archives: pines

Wild azaleas and blueberries 2025-03-20

Down the Not A Driveway, over and under the Hurricane Helene deadfalls, following the dog pack, lies an acre of wild azaleas, plus wild blueberries.

[Blondie, Honeybun, Sky, River, over the deadfall into the wild azaleas]
Blondie, Honeybun, Sky, River, over the deadfall into the wild azaleas

Some of these Rhododendron canescens are already blooming. Many more are just budding.

[Wild azaleas, pine deadfall, and dog on Not A Driveway]
Wild azaleas, pine deadfall, and dog on Not A Driveway

[Wild azaleas and loblolly pine cones]
Wild azaleas and loblolly pine cones

[Closeup red wild azaleas]
Closeup red wild azaleas

[Wild Blueberries]
Wild Blueberries

[Pink wild azaleas]
Pink wild azaleas

[Pale wild azaleas]
Pale wild azaleas

[Wild azalea beneath oak deadfall]
Wild azalea beneath oak deadfall

[Closeup wild azalea beneath oak deadfall]
Closeup wild azalea beneath oak deadfall

“Here Spring was already busy about them: fronds pierced moss and mould, … small flowers were opening in the turf, birds were singing. Ithilien, the garden of Gondor now desolate kept still a dishevelled dryad loveliness.”
—Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit, The Two Towers, JRR Tolkien

-jsq

Little House Survived Hurricane Helene 2024-10-20

A bright spot. It survived Hurricane Helene: the Little House the Three Stooges Built in the Woods.

[Beyond tree roots]
Beyond tree roots

Trees north and south of it blew west and missed it. Continue reading →

Hurricane Helene 2024-09-27

Howling and bumping from about 11:30 PM to 2 AM. Hurricane Helene made Debby and Idalia sound like nothing.

And the morning light showed it was worse than that.

When we moved back here in 2007, old timers told us they remembered this oak on the back driveway from when they were young, early in the 20th century.

[Ancient oak]
Ancient oak

This other oak just missed the red-iron building we were in. Continue reading →

Pine pollen and yellow jessamine 2021-03-06

Spring has sprung, with yellow jessamine in full bloom, and the pines producing plenty of pollen.

[Yellow jessamine, loblolly, longleaf]
Yellow jessamine, loblolly, longleaf

It was 35 degrees this morning, but freezes seem to be over. Continue reading →

Dogs in pine straw

Smile, dogs:

Picture of Gretchen taking a picture of dogs.

Picture by John S. Quarterman for Okra Paradise Farms, Lowndes County, Georgia, 19 October 2012.

The tree behind the dogs on their right is a longleaf four years old; the rest are loblolly five years old.

-jsq

Double rainbow in the okra field

Left (north) Top (east) Right (south)

Movie: Here we are in the okra field, the rainbow (40M):

Movie: Second rainbow is bright and getting brighter (42M):

Continue reading →

Old Road

This is a road, at least a hundred years old, after a prescribed burn:



John S. Quarterman, Gretchen Quarterman,
Brown Dog, Yellow Dog,
Lowndes County, Georgia, 4 March 2012.
Pictures by John S. Quarterman

Those are mostly slash pines (Pinus elliottii), with one or two longleaf and some oaks.

-jsq

 

 

Burning some piney woods 2012 01 31

Why to burn more frequently: vines grow up trees and form ladder fuels


Prescribed burn of some piney woods at Okra Paradise Farms, Lowndes County, Georgia.
Pictures and videos by John S. Quarterman and Gretchen Quarterman, 31 January 2012.

Fortunately these vines were mostly in invasive exotics anyway (chinaberry, mimosa, Japanese privet) that had grown up along the field edge. After a few minutes, here’s the result.

Most of the rest of the woods burned much more evenly, with flames only a foot or two above the ground.

A flickr slideshow: Continue reading →