Summer may have officially ended, but there is still plenty to see in bloom around Nantucket. August through mid-October bring a roster of newly emerging late bloomers, with the fall asters and goldenrods taking center stage. These members of the Aster Family (Asteraceae, or Compositae), have flower heads that are composed of several to many…
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The hot and humid summer season is flying by. Sweltering days spent in social distance are blending together, leaving some of us to scramble for a moment of quiet and peace. We can all use an excuse for a walk on a breezy day, realign our nature connection, and take in the color and diversity…
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There are different ways to go about enjoying mosses: from a distance they form a richly textured background in a forest, or a carpet across an abandoned sandy area, mixed with reindeer lichen. The color spectrum of mosses is heavy in the greens, but you can also find red or coral tinged mosses, or ones…
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While Nantucket can’t usually lay claim to epic snowfalls and frigid temperatures, the colder months bring a chilly dormancy to most plants. Rather than expose their leaves to the freezing temperatures and desiccating salty winds, most of our plants and trees shed their leaves. Conifers such as pitch and Japanese pine, and red cedar with…
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Since beginning to work on the Nantucket Flora Update project, we have discovered more than 60 plants that are established on Nantucket, but were not included in the most recent island flora, Sorrie and Dunwiddie’s The Vascular and Non-Vascular Flora of Nantucket, Tuckernuck, and Muskeget Islands, published in 1996. While many of these “new to…
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by: Karen Beattie, NCF Science and Stewardship Department Director Nantucket has experienced an uncommonly wet growing season so far this year. The abundance of rain has produced lush and verdant vegetation across the island that is persisting into the recent hot and dry weather conditions more typical of summertime on the island. Take a walk…
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The answer to that question might surprise you. Ponds are hotspots for insects, birds, amphibians, and reptiles. The combination of wildlife and ever-changing lush landscapes also attracts the human eye. We are fortunate on Nantucket; while sometimes we have “too much of a good thing” in terms of over-exuberant pond vegetation, most of our aquatic…
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This is a great time of year to take a walk through the winding trails of Squam Swamp and see the season spring to life. This trail loop off Wauwinet Rd. takes visitors through eerily shaped stands of hardwood forest and past freshwater bogs filled with vibrant mats of sphagnum moss. Bunches of Cinnamon Fern…
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As winter brightens into spring and we all suffer through the “spring forward” time change, the trees and shrubs in our landscape are beginning to awaken from their winter dormancy. But until bud burst, you can still get out there and learn to recognize more of our Nantucket Flora in winter condition — let’s hope,…
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During the colder winter months, many of our trees are “closed for the season.” Like island businesses, trees will have an “opening date” sometime in spring when flower buds will pop and leaves will unfurl. Exploring the forest in winter can be a fun way to see another facet of island ecology and learn to…
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