Green scenes
Thursday, 1 June 2006
Last week was just about the perfect time to visit southern Michigan, except for the heat, as it was in the throes of the green season. Recent rain changed the palette and brought the verdancy nearly to its peak. John and I walked along Sycamore Creek, and the woods floor was damp and smelled of the best of shadiness, as the canopy leaves are full out. In the spots where we came out into old fields we found happy spring growth, unfortunately especially of PI (my friend and yours: poison ivy).
Here you can see the typical Michigan non-winter landscape mosaic of field and forest, sewn together by fencelines—with or without fences—sometimes with exotic species, like these flowers, that make dramatic visual borders.
Do not expect it to look quite like this in Ohio, BTW, as down there they pretty much plow right up to the blacktop, unless there are steep drainage ditches. Either way, colorful fencelines are absent.