The tides on Cape Cod have been exceptionally high lately. They were really high the other day at the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary.
If you hike out on the Goose Pond Trail, there are markers that were placed there a few years ago to show people what climate change might look like if the ocean waters rise. You pass these on the way out to the beach.
We were so surprised to see how high the water was the other day when we were hiking there. It was gushing through the culvert at Goose Pond, filling up the pond, and you could see it rising along the trail on the way out to the beach. It was about an hour until high tide and the water was already up to the 2050 marker. We’ve never seen it that high; have you?
The pretty Jewelweed wildflowers, also known as “Spotted Touch-Me-Not” wildflowers are such a unique wildflower. They have tubular orange flowers that dangle like pendants. (Click on blog link for other photo.)
The flowers are small, only 1 inch, while the plants grow from 3-5 feet in wet and shady places. I saw this Jewelweed on the Silver Spring Trail Loop at the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary.
Interesting Fact: It got its name “Spotted-Touch-Me-Not” because if a ripe pod is touched, it splits open and shoots seeds four to six feet away from the plant.
The pretty pink Swamp Rose-Mallow wildflowers are blooming along the beaches and salt marshes. I took this photograph from the bridge on the Silver Spring Loop Trail at the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary. (Click on blog link for other photo.)
The Swamp Rose-Mallow wildflowers are a large, showy flower that are usually pink, but sometimes white. The plant is fairly large with flowers that are 4-7″ while the plant grows to 7 feet tall.
Have you ever seen a Swamp Rose-Mallow wildflower? So Pretty!
The red Cardinal Flowers are so pretty by the side of the pond on the Silver Spring Trail at the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary . We were amazed at how many different kinds of wildflowers we saw along the trail. (Click on blog link for other photo.)
“Cardinal flower is a brilliant scarlet-colored native wildflower that grows in marshes, stream banks and low woods. Its extremely showy blossoms can be recognized at considerable distance. Few native plants have flowers of such intense color as this common herbaceous perennial. The Cardinal flower is a member of the Bluebell Family.”
The Water-Willow wildflowers are blooming on the Cape near the swamps and ponds. They are an aquatic shrub with magenta flowers that grow in whorls. (Click on blog link to see the interesting whorls.)
The flowers are only 1/2 to 1 inch while the plants grow up to 9 feet tall. I’ve seen Water-Willows on the boardwalk on the Red Maple Swamp Trail at Fort Hill and along the banks of the Silver Spring Trail at the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary.
Such a pretty and delicate little flower…
Cape Cod daily articles on the wonderful Cape Cod places to hike, experience and photograph. A Cape Cod Outdoor Adventure Series.
