Jax Stumpes: Nature in Shaker Heights, OH (8/2013)

Thursday, August 22, 2013
Actually I am starting in Woodmere, OH, where Eton Place seems to have overdone the landscaping. But I do appreciate that they label the plants!
A bicycle rickshaw in the plantings:

Hanging baskets, mounds of color:

Saturday, August 25, 2013
A walk around Horseshoe Lake, starting with a boardwalk through wetlands.
Calystegia sepium/Bindweed:

Probably the invasive Typha angustifolia/Narrow-leaved Cattail:

Doan Brook Middle Branch:

Steps down into the brook?

Hedera helix/English Ivy has invaded the woods:

A peek at the southern arm of the horseshoe:

Eutrochium fistulosum/Hollow Joe Pye Weed:

Eutrochium purpureum/Sweet Joe Pye Weed:

Eupatorium sp:

Iris pods:

Pond muck:

Empty snail shells:

View across the southern arm of the lake:

Impatiens capensis/Jewelweed:

Arctium minus/Burdock:

There were a variety of Prunus sp. trees in an area marked "Cherry Tree Planting:"

The dam at the bend of the horseshoe:

Residents of the North Union Shaker Community built the dam in 1852 to harness water power to operate a woolen mill. The Shaker community disbanded in 1889.
Horseshoe Lake:

See the dragonfly?

The dam's overflow outlet:

On the north side of the lake, the ground cover is Toxicodendron radicans/Poison Ivy:

A weeping little oak tree:

Doan Brook Upper Branch:

An odd little marker along the road:

Lythrum salicaria/Purple Loosestrife:

Hibiscus sp:

Bathing Anas platyrhynchos/Mallard Ducks:

In the inner center of the horseshoe is a picnic terrace:

Looking across to the dam:

Horseshoe Lake Park fireplace:

A sculpture installation called "Arachne Weaves Her Web:"

By Debbie Apple-Presser using recycled objects.
A closer look at the spider:

A treehouse:

With a barrel vault:

A large group was using a picnic shelter, while little boys climbed this rock in order to jump off:

An artistically installed dead tree:

The Fossil Discover Area (really?):

Some foam and plastic tree trunks:

Saturday, August 31, 2013
Today's visit was to the Shaker Heights Nature Center at Shaker Lakes:

The Visitors Center is geared towards school field trips.
In the back are numerous bird feeders:

KSS

Carduelis tristis/American Goldfinch:

We followed the Stearns Trail, starting in the forest area:

KSS

Lots of funghi, like the Armillaria tabescens/Ringless Honey Mushroom in various stages:

KSS

These might be Lactarius volemus/Tawny Milkcap Mushrooms:

KSS

Some kind of shelf lichen?

KSS

Two kinds of fungus for one tree:

KSS

Diseased tree with slugs on it:

KSS

Witch hazel cone gall:

KSS

Doan Brook South Branch:

KSS

Who lives here?

Unidentified pink flower:

Hibiscus moscheutos/Rose Mallow (yellow):

KSS

Hibiscus moscheutos/Rose Mallow (pink & white):

KSS

Lobelia cardinalis/Cardinal Flower:

KSS

Cephalanthus occidentalis/Buttonbush:

Tamiko between two large trees:

KSS

Semotilus atromaculatus/Creek chubs:

Bathing Quiscalus quiscula/Common Grackles:

Some sort of evergreen suckers?

KSS

The best we could do to catch a Tamias (Tamias) striatus/Chipmunk:

KSS

At the Friends Pavilion, a rain barrel and a butterfly garden:

KSS

An accessible picnic table:

What happened? A burly tree:

KSS

Echinea Pica Bella:

KSS

A quick stop at the Shaker Historical Museum:

Located in a house donated to the Shaker Heights Historical Society by the elder son of Louis and Blanche Myers. The house was built in 1910 on property that was previously the apple orchard and vegetable garden of the North Union Center Family (Shakers).
A big front door:

With a big key:

Stairwell:

Some Shaker baskets:

Shaker boxes:

The "fingers" allow for expansion and shrinkage so that the thin wood will not crack and break.
Sister Phoebe Litzel's bedroom:

The garden and orchard with apiary:

The first motorized fire engine in Shaker Heights:

A 1917 American La France pumper.

Saturday, October 5, 2013

We returned to the Shaker heights Nature Center to walk the All People's Trail:

The marsh is a bit scrubby looking, as they have been removing invasive plants such as the Typha angustifolia/Narrow-leaved Cattail and Salix fragilis/Crack Willow: