Post by calen on Dec 2, 2015 23:08:57 GMT -5
These pictures are from my visit to SH with Trey, Kinjie, Phil, Donny, and Rayner on July 1 2015. We had a good old time reconning this extensive and beautiful place. Trey and I were stoked to have more time than last year to fully explore! These pictures were taken 54 weeks after the pics in the 2014 trip post. What was very interesting was that the bog looked completely different despite it being essentially the same time of year according to the calendar. As you can see below, the field had many fewer pitchers in good condition this year and it wasn't the sea of white that it was in 2014. Two pics looking at the same part of the field:
2014:
2015:
The difference, we surmise, was in the burning regime. SH was burned in 2014, but not in 2015. At many sites we visited in multiple counties (Liberty, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa, Baldwin), including many flava-dominant bogs, sites burned the preceding winter/spring were in an earlier stage of growth than unburned bogs and the Sarracenias appeared fresher and more appealing. That is, it appeared the burning caused a delay in the plants growth that made them appear in mid-summer as they would in spring. Last year, Trey and I completely lucked out and caught the SH plants in peak spring growth at a time when the bog otherwise would not look like that. This year with no burn the bog looked exactly how a leuco bog would normally look in mid summer: not that much going on! That said, there were countless stunning traps all around and I set about getting some portrait shots. These are mid-summer traps; no doubt the fall pitchers would be even more impressive. Enjoy!
We spotted this stunning alba almost immediately!
Sarracenia clones are like people - no two look exactly alike!
Crazy cray pink clone!
Look at this goofball!
And look at these goofballs!
Moments after taking that picture, we got chased out of the bog by this monster thunderhead - this thing was not messing around so we got the hell outta there!
2014:
2015:
The difference, we surmise, was in the burning regime. SH was burned in 2014, but not in 2015. At many sites we visited in multiple counties (Liberty, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa, Baldwin), including many flava-dominant bogs, sites burned the preceding winter/spring were in an earlier stage of growth than unburned bogs and the Sarracenias appeared fresher and more appealing. That is, it appeared the burning caused a delay in the plants growth that made them appear in mid-summer as they would in spring. Last year, Trey and I completely lucked out and caught the SH plants in peak spring growth at a time when the bog otherwise would not look like that. This year with no burn the bog looked exactly how a leuco bog would normally look in mid summer: not that much going on! That said, there were countless stunning traps all around and I set about getting some portrait shots. These are mid-summer traps; no doubt the fall pitchers would be even more impressive. Enjoy!
We spotted this stunning alba almost immediately!
Sarracenia clones are like people - no two look exactly alike!
Crazy cray pink clone!
Look at this goofball!
And look at these goofballs!
Moments after taking that picture, we got chased out of the bog by this monster thunderhead - this thing was not messing around so we got the hell outta there!