An afternoon drive through the panhandle of FL

Dani

Dani

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Belle and I got out of the house Sunday. Turkey season is over (yes I did get my second bird) and we had no desire to spend such a gorgeous day indoors and no desire to do chores around the house. Soooooo off we went for a drive to see if we could find some pitcherplants. I noticed a huge stand of them off the side of I-10 the last time I was coming home from Pensacola. I have passed by that spot many times now and this is the first time I noticed them, likely because they were blooming. It was such a large stand of them though that I would have thought that I would have seen them before.

Just goes to show that sometimes you miss great things, many times even, just because you aren't paying attention.

We headed out after checking in on our quail. We started out the trip seeing turkeys, black racers and one of the largest bobcats I've ever seen.

Crossing the Ochlocknee River.

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We stopped at one of the boat ramps just to check it out. It was gorgeous. Fish were hitting the surface of the water like crazy. I never saw what they were eating but it would have been some fun fly fishing.

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When we got into the pitcherplants, we also found some orchids

Small spreading pogonia or upland spreading pogonia...I saw these in a relatively small area of the forest and I was super excited to find them. Mostly because they were such a gorgeous orchid AND I recognized them as orchids.

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This one is a Lady Tresses orchid. I didn't know it was an orchid until I looked it up. I already knew that orchids are a HUUUUUUUUUGE family but I don't always recognize them when I see them.

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I was excited to get into the Pitcherplants though. They were blooming (I think I am at the end of the blooming period but perhaps not)

Trumpet Leaf Pitcherplant

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Parrot pitcherplant

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and the Gulf Coast Pitcherplant

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When it began storming on us, we began meandering our way back home but it was a successful hunt overall. I do wish I had found one of those rather large stands of pitcher plants but maybe next time.....
 
Wow, great story and pictures as always. I didn't know there was more than one variety of pitcher plant. And they're quite colorful, I guess to attract a meal. Anything that eats bugs gets my vote. Think they will grow in Maine, and do they eat black flies? [smile]

What's in the river in the first photo behind Belle, is that a low dam or an oil boom?
 
Well, Maine actually does have a native pitcher plant: the purple pitcherplant. It is a fairly wide spread pitcher plant......sooooo you might have to figure out how to grow some all around your property....they like bogs though

I think what you are looking at behind Belle is that concrete railing? If so, it is the edge of the bridge to keep people from driving off it. There is a dock in the river off to the right though....
 
Aw crap, I was looking at the top of the window, cranked half way down to keep Belle safe. Knucklehead.

Purple pitcherplant, eh? Half of Maine is a bog when not frozen, so it must be nearby the house. Die, evil teeth with wings.
 
Dani, thanks for taking us botanizing with you. great photos and story.

I don't believe we have any pitcher plants in Washington State, but I am game to look if you tell me we do. Right now my new pollinator prairie is blooming and I am enjoying the camas and other species that I planted last year.
 
Dani, according to the local experts purple pitcher plant has been introduced to Washington but it?s not native here. There is a native pitcher plant in California and Oregon too but it?s not native here.
 
Those are really spectacular Dani. I love that you can find quantities of serious wildflowers like that. Spectacular photos as well.
 
Interesting about the purple pitcherplant not being native. It is pretty cold hardy from what I have read so I figured that one would have been likely to be found in the bogs up there. Ah well....pooooor Washington....missing out on having its own pitcherplants. BUT they are cold hardy if you wanted to put some in your bogs

Thanks Tod
 
SJ Fairbank said:
Aw crap, I was looking at the top of the window, cranked half way down to keep Belle safe. Knucklehead.

Purple pitcherplant, eh? Half of Maine is a bog when not frozen, so it must be nearby the house. Die, evil teeth with wings.
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Piles of them, Scott. Both the evil things on the wing and the pitcher plants wil be on the shoreline of any boggy Maine pond.
 
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