Last year I spent most of the spring and summer collecting plant pictures. As spring flowers start opening this year, I am again going out with my camera.
Dent County Flora
There are so many plants growing wild in Dent County. I keep trying to track all of them down. Last year I added fifty plus new plants and completed nearly as many more.
Still, I’m only around four hundred plants completed out of nearly two thousand. I have a long way to go.
Time Constraints
For several reasons last year, I abandoned nearly every writing project to work on the plants. I don’t plan to do that again this year. It’s tempting as the plants are straight forward to do.
First I spot a plant. Then I take pictures of the flower, the back of the flower, the leaf, the stem and the plant. For most plants I have to come back to get pictures of the fruit or seed pod which is when I have problems.
Finding Plants a Second Time
Once spring flowers start opening, all plants start growing. Even a week can make an area look very different.
The plant which was so obvious is now tucked under other plants. Its flowers are gone. Even if I mark the plant, I sometimes can’t find it again.
Adding Plants
The pictures are transferred to my computer. The plants are identified. Pictures are selected and put on the Dent County Flora page. The plant is marked as completed.
That is how it is supposed to work. Sometimes the pictures aren’t good enough. Some plants are difficult for me to identify and I must seek help from guidebooks, the internet and iNaturalist. And there are those plants I don’t get all of the pictures for.
Spring Flowers Start Opening
Already I’ve missed one flower I needed. There are a few more I know how to find. I have a list of plants with missing pictures.
The hills are calling. So are my writing projects. So are the goats and garden. It will be a busy spring and summer.
