The Pink is Up !!!! ....Well....Almost.

Teegate

Administrator
Site Administrator
Sep 17, 2002
25,951
8,695
Swamp Pink ( Helonias bullata)

pink.jpg


 
  • Like
Reactions: John and dogg57

Teegate

Administrator
Site Administrator
Sep 17, 2002
25,951
8,695
TeeGate where? I would love to get some photos of them.


I really would love for everyone to have a chance to take photo's of them, but I did not find this location myself and there are individuals who have been removing Swamp Pink and placing them in places they don't normally grow. So I am going to have to decline unfortunately. However, according to your location mentioned in all of your posts, you have a good chance of finding them by visiting your local swamps and streams and looking for them. They tend to be slightly in a more wet area than the transition from upland to swamp. Possibly next weekend and certainly the next weekend or even the next would be a good time to search them out. I have blooming photo's from 4/25 and 5/1 and with this year being a little colder they may be slightly later.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 46er

46er

Piney
Mar 24, 2004
8,837
2,144
Coastal NJ
It is a tad early; the patches I visit are at about the same state your picture is. But soon, very soon :D
 

Teegate

Administrator
Site Administrator
Sep 17, 2002
25,951
8,695
I visited the location I go every year to check on the Pink Lady Slippers and I found only two so far. By this time in previous years there were many more up and doing well. This was the largest of the two.

IMG_4366a.jpg


We then visited an area on Moores Meadow Road and as we turned off into the woods we came upon a creepy man in full army uniform carrying a rifle. On the way back to our car in the woods a little later I was really concerned we might encounter him again which we didn't.

Guy
 

johnnyb

Explorer
Feb 22, 2013
474
200
96
I used to help Paul Schubert of the Philadelphia Botanical Club monitor some sites for the USDA in Camden County. Here's an excerpt from his recent e-mail to me:

"... David and I monitored Big Timber Creek last year, where it took us awhile to even find that population. You will remember that Mike Hogan showed you and I where that one was/is. Well, it still took us awhile to find it, however.
And this year, just last Saturday, David L and I (plus his girlfriend) took care of both our original site, Slab Bridge - which has but some (as of this year) 5 rosettes (one with 3 blooming plants, none of which are more than a foot high) and Tom's Branch - which may have exploded with growth this season, or so it seemed! We counted some 130 single plants there, many, many rosettes none of which, however, contained more than 6-9 rosettes. And there also, while at this site there were some 10-15 blooming plants, none of these blooms were anything close to the full 2' height of a really healthy helonias bulutta. Please also know that the Slab Bridge site's stream water is currently flowing like a mud-sludge; something really has affected this hydrology there. ..."

So they're blooming now on these tributaries of Timber Creek in Camden County.
It seemed that at the several sites down there that they grew near the waterway's beginning, on land not submerged, but next to running water, often surrounded by Skunk Cabbage.
 

Teegate

Administrator
Site Administrator
Sep 17, 2002
25,951
8,695
I live near Big Timber Creek and if I get a chance Jessica and I may see if we can find them.
 

Teegate

Administrator
Site Administrator
Sep 17, 2002
25,951
8,695
any bloomers yet? I have still had no luck finding one myself so i rely on your pics!


Jessica and I saw a bunch of them last year on the little "islands" along the road leading from Atsion to Lock's Bridge. Walk the road in this area and look around. Or even drive it and look. They can be easily viewed by anyone who goes there. Just watch the heavy sand. The pointer is not at the correct spot, just the general area along the road. They were all up and down it.

http://maps.njpinebarrens.com/#lat=39.73341924513248&lng=-74.71756823333737&z=16&type=hybrid&gpx=

We also saw one a few years ago at the CCC camp near Oswego Lake. Did not see it again last year though.
 

johnnyb

Explorer
Feb 22, 2013
474
200
96
Teegate: if you'll e-mail me ur e-mail address I'll send you coordinates for the spots we checked. One had 100's if not more plants but only dozens of flowers when I was last there in 2012. Incidentally, Camden College campus has some and some other interesting plants.....
My e-mail: <jbornho664@comcast.net>.
 

46er

Piney
Mar 24, 2004
8,837
2,144
Coastal NJ
Lady-slippers in blossom wherever I looked and in good numbers, quite a few just starting to poke thru the leaf clutter. Batsto was packed, must have been something going on. Stopped at the Pic for lunch and heard that the Sweetwater Casino fire has been proven to be lightning started and that it will now be rebuilt.

155704655.jpg
 
  • Like
Reactions: Teegate and John
Top