Lockdown Learning

Well this post doesn't really fall under my usual categories. We're into our second full week of working from home and the first week of the Columbia shut-down orders. It's amazing how quickly life can change so drastically. I just found out this weekend that they are cancelling our Master Naturalist class this year. We will have the option to take it next spring but I am pretty sad about this. I was really looking forward to learning and sharing my knowledge with you.

Watching people posting online about exploring their neighborhoods and backyards and seeing signs of spring all around, I thought I would share with you some of the sights we saw recently walking on the Timmerman Trail. I took a bunch of pictures and am using them to help myself identify and learn plants and animals. Thankfully, we received our books for the Master Naturalist class so we have been using them to learn the names of the plants we find.

Crab-apple tree

Wisteria (non-native, invasive species but it sure does smell good!)

Common Wild azalea (smells wonderful!)

wild blackberry vine, probably a Sand Blackberry

Yellow or Carolina Jasmine (also spelled jessamine, has a good smell, a vine)

Thistle (not flowering yet but looks pretty cool), possibly a Sandhills Thistle

A yellow flower, possibly a Woolly Ragwort, I'm having difficulty identifying it. The plants were pretty tall.

May-apple (flowers hide under the leaves)
 

New fern growth

Bright blue beetle that flew in front of us. I was surprised he let me take a picture of him!
I believe it's a Six-spotted Tiger Beetle because of the spots on his back.

Box turtles (we saw 2 of them)


Poison ivy (watch out! it's out already)

neat mushrooms on a fallen tree

Vinca Vine (find the hidden frog!)

here he is (possibly a southern toad? hard to see details)

Eastern Rat snake (not poisonous!)

These weren't on the Timmerman Trail but on another trail we hiked,
Coral Honeysuckle vine

red buckeye (they can get pretty tall, we saw some around 6 feet tall)

We also saw a white lily but it was too far away to take a picture of. I think it was an Easter Lily. It isn't like our domestic Easter Lily but it was pretty. Here's a link to a picture of one.

Hope this encourages you to get outside and explore the plants and environment around you!
Location: Timmerman Trail, Cayce, SC 29172, USA

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