(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . The Daily Bucket - winter green [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-01-16 Northwest winter green: mosses, ferns, salal, dewberry January 2023 Salish Sea, Pacific Northwest Winter is a time of plant dormancy in the maritime PNW. Nothing is actively growing, but we have quite a lot of greenery in these parts even so. Until branches bud and flowers bloom, these varied winter greens (and a few reds) are our color palette. Here in the PNW islands we have a variety of evergreens. The most common are these four: Clockwise from upper left: Grand Fir (Abies grandis), Shore Pine (Pinus contorta), Western Redcedar (Thuja plicata), Douglas Fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) Other conifers include Western Hemlock, Pacific Yew, Sitka Spruce and Maritime Juniper (recently branched off from Rocky Mountain Juniper) which are more localized, the first two in deep woods, the second two right on the shore. On the mainland there are quite a few other species that grow at higher elevations as well as in wetter and drier habitats. We have one evergreen broadleaf tree, the glorious Pacific Madrona (Arbutus menziesii). Madrona bark glows in shades of red. These trees stand out at any time of year but in winter they are especially splendid, with so little color around besides greens and greys. Madrona in the rain, with Robin. Our understory is dominated in winter by salal, a relative of the Madronas in the family Ericaceae. Come spring and summer, salal will share the woods and roadsides with deciduous shrubs like Nootka rose, Baldhip rose, Salmonberry, Snowberry, Elderberry, Blackberries, Soapberry and others. Those are all bare sticks or underground right now. In spring salal will grow fresh foliage and produce sprays of white flowers which turn into purple berries in fall. Sword ferns are vigorous and healthy in the islands, unlike some other regions of western Washington (Sword Fern Die-off). This is last year’s foliage. Truck FernTM thrives in winter rain. (aka Licorice fern, Polypodium glycyrrhiza) Tall Oregon grape foliage persists over winter. Mahonia aquifolium Moss and several greenish lichens The ocean has shades of green too. At this season there’s no plankton growth producing intense murky color, but the sea does appear subtly clear green due to dissolved substances in the water. Harlequin ducks are winter birds, enjoying our rough green seas A rainy day in the Salish Sea, green on land and sea Now that days are getting slightly longer, there are hints of very early spring plant activity, like hazel catkins puffing up and red-flowering currant buds getting pink. It’ll be a while before spring really gets going though. Meanwhile, we in the Pacific Northwest can enjoy our winter color, shades of green. 💧 THE DAILY BUCKET IS A NATURE REFUGE. WE AMICABLY DISCUSS ANIMALS, WEATHER, CLIMATE, SOIL, PLANTS, WATERS AND NOTE LIFE’S PATTERNS. WE INVITE YOU TO NOTE WHAT YOU ARE SEEING AROUND YOU IN YOUR OWN PART OF THE WORLD, AND TO SHARE YOUR OBSERVATIONS IN THE COMMENTS BELOW. FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE PURPOSE AND HISTORY OF THE DAILY BUCKET FEATURE, CHECK OUT THIS DIARY: DAILY BUCKET PHENOLOGY: 11 YEARS OF RECORDING EARTH'S VITAL SIGNS IN OUR NEIGHBORHOODS [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/1/16/2147448/-The-Daily-Bucket-winter-green Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/