Walk With Me

Just a few I-phone photos from my morning walk.

The sky was pretty and blue this morning. I left before it got blazing hot.

The Beautyberries are full of berries. A nice fuchsia color.

The berries are a last resort food for birds and can actually be eaten by humans but are extremely astringent! They are occasionally made into wines and jellies though.

As a result of last year's horrible drought there are many trees of varying sizes along the pathway that have died.

They are identified then tagged for removal. Because of the sheer number of dead trees, some are marked for months before they are removed.

Whenever feasible the trees are cut and left to decay in their native habitat. This returns nutrients to  the soil and provides habitat for insects and other small wildlife.

Sometimes the dead trees simply break off and fall and some of the limbs must be removed from the walkway or private areas.

I noticed that the holly bushes and the yaupons are both putting on berries. A sure sign that we are approaching the end of summer.

Both types of berries will eventually be a brilliant red to reddish-orange.

Thankfully there are still tons of beautiful trees to enjoy.

Kind of blurry, but damage this extensive to the bark of a pine tree many times spells doom for the tree. Wounds like this allow all kinds of pests into the tree making it especially susceptible to things like Pine Bark Beetles.

There are still a few wildflowers hanging on this late in the season. Most have already released their seed pods and completed their brief life cycles.

The pond by my house is gloriously full right now. A stark contrast to the low water level this time last year.

This shot is a little blurry too, but I thought it almost looked like a watercolor...

Here's my Daddy's tree. It was planted by my most wonderful girlfriends (Hey Lady B's!) in his memory after he passed away last summer. It struggled to survive the first few months, but I think it's doing much better now.

He would like it.


Thanks for joining me on my walk! Aren't you glad we got some exercise?


Lu