The Water Willows are in full bloom near the waters and swamps on Cape Cod. You can see them on the boardwalk on The Red Maple Swamps Trail at Fort Hill or going over the bridge on the Silver Spring Trail at the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary. They are so pretty and so unique. (Click on blog link to see other photos.)
The flower is only 1/2′ to 1″ while the plant is quite large growing 3-9 feet. They bloom in late July and August near shallow water.
The first photograph is a closeup of the flower. The 2nd photograph shows how they grow in clusters and the 3rd one is how uniquely they grow on the stem.
Have you ever seen a Water-Willow? So pretty and unique, don’t you think?
I drove up to the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary the other day to see their new wildflower gardens and take some wildflower photographs. The gardens have just started to bloom so there were a few flowers to photograph, but peak season will not be for a few weeks.
After spending some time in the gardens, I decided to hike the Silver Spring Trail which is sometimes closed in the morning for bird banding, and it was now the middle of the afternoon. Maybe there would be something new on the trail.
Wow! I certainly made the right choice! There it was… right on the side of the trail. I have not seen a Jack-in-the Pulpit since I was a little girl, so I was surprised to see one on the Silver Spring Trail. I had never seen one there before and I almost missed it, as you can see looking at the 2nd photograph. It’s hard to see Jack-in-the-Pulpit.
A Jack-in-the-Pulpit gets it name because it looks like a preacher in a pulpit. It has a green and purple striped hooded tube the grows right beneath a large 3-part leaf. Within the tube is “Jack” (the preacher) that will be covered with miniscule flowers that become bright red berries in August. I will have to keep an eye on it this summer. So cool…
Have you ever seen a Jack-in-the Pulpit?
If you haven’t been to the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary at low tide, put it on your list. You can walk all the way out to the beach and you never know what you will see and you’re never disappointed!
I saw this Ruddy Turnstone, and many more, the other day. There were so many on the outer beach scurrying about, it was hard to count.
I love his very distinctive coloring. What do you think?
