Open Pond

Open Pond. . From the deck you see several important shallow water plants. Most visible is the broad leaved cattail with its brown, cigar-like top. In the spring, there is a yellow top above the brown. The thin, tall native plant with the pinkish-purple flowers is Swamp Loosestrife which is a native and different specie than the invasive species sold in garden centers. During the late summer you can see a brilliant crimsoned spike of the Cardinal Flower, one of the brightest wetland plant. The small white bouquet-like flowers on the vines all around the other plants are Climbing Boneset (or Climbing Hemp Weed). There is another yellow stemmed vine called Dodder, sometime difficult to view in this area of the pond. A flowering parasite, it is unable to make its own food and therefore may will injure or kill the plants it grows on. Luckily, one of its favorite hosts is poison ivy.