bald cypress Archives - NorthStarNature

Be Like the Wolf Flower

March 6, 2022 by Denise Brake 5 Comments

We are a part of Nature. In light of all that is going on in the world around us, my last post from our Christmas Texas trip reminds me just how strong, tough, scrappy, and resilient the creations of Nature are, including us.

We were introduced to the Texas Sotol plant, used as a drought tolerant landscape plant with its wheel of wondrous spikey green leaves. We saw it in the wild at Pedernales Falls State Park, sitting atop the limestone boulders and sandy soil. But we learned about the history and utility of the plant when we went to Desert Door Texas Sotol distillery on New Year’s Eve in Driftwood, Texas. First off, what an absolutely beautiful place Desert Door is! Stylish southwestern building, captivating landscape and decorating, and beautiful cobalt blue glass bottles holding the premium liquor made from the ‘heart’ of the Sotol plant. Like tequila made from Blue Agaves, the Sotol plant has a pineapple-looking core that stores moisture and carbohydrates. Traditionally, the Sotol hearts were baked in earth ovens for 36-48 hours, and the pulp was formed into patties and dried. It was an important food staple for native peoples. Sotol plants grow by the millions in west Texas and are wild-harvested for Desert Door. They steam cook the Sotol hearts, and the pulp is pressed to release the molasses-like juice. It is fermented with yeast to a Sotol beer, then distilled to make the Sotol liquor.

The tough, toothed leaves were also used by native peoples for woven mats, baskets, rope, thatching, and paper. The tall (10′-15′) flower spikes that attract hummingbirds when blooming were used like wood poles for building—a very utilitarian plant!

Prickly Pear cactus grows in the harshest hot and dry conditions and was also used as a food source. None of the plants offer an easy meal, however. It takes determined, tough people to extract food and drink from these tough, resilient plants.

Ashe Juniper driftwood by the Pedernales River

After leaving Pedernales Falls, we drove to another part of the 5200-acre park. Twin Falls nature trail was rugged over limestone cliffs and through Ashe Juniper forests. I wondered how one would ever ride a horse through this country….Luckily the park has cut miles and miles of equestrian trails through the rough terrain.

Another thorny, scrappy plant is the Tasajillo or Pencil cactus. The beautiful red fruits and the slender green stems are a visual reminder of Christmas, another one of its common names. It is also known as Jumping cactus, because the brittle stems break away from the plant easily when brushed slightly or even by the wind.

We hiked down to Trammell’s crossing where one would have to get wet feet in order to continue on the hiking trail. Time did not permit further hiking for us, so we explored the river bank lined with Bald Cypress trees. Their roots created a barrier to the rushing water of the Pedernales River when flash flooding occurs—stalwart soldiers in the fight against erosion.

Most every plant and tree in the state park and in this area of Texas are tough, resilient creations. They live in arid soil, in drought conditions, in high heat, and in areas where flash flooding tends to wipe things away. But in the heart of Winter grows a delicate looking plant—the Texas Bluebonnet. It goes from seed to flower to seed in one year. The cool season of winter establishes its roots for the growing / blooming season. The Bluebonnet is the state flower of Texas and symbolizes the bravery and sacrifice of the pioneer women (the flowers resemble the bonnets worn by them). The genus name Lupinus is derived from ‘lupus,’ meaning wolf. So the delicate looking foliage belies the true nature of the hardy wildflower—it is beautiful and tough.

Pedernales Falls State Park is a wild tapestry of tough, resilient Ashe Junipers, cacti, sand, limestone boulders, Sotols, Bald Cypresses, and even Bluebonnets. The environmental conditions are rough and tumble. Each has qualities that enable them to live and thrive in such conditions. The Ukrainian people have shown their tenacity and toughness in the face of Russia’s callous war—the conditions are harsh and cruel and feel untenable. And yet, they fight on for their country and for democracy. The human spirit is strong, tough, and scrappy—whether living from the land like the native people did, whether traveling and homesteading on the land like the pioneers did, or enduring a pandemic and fighting or witnessing a brutal war like the modern world has been doing. We are brave. We are tough. We are resilient. We are a part of Nature.

Refresh Your Soul

February 13, 2022 by Denise Brake 6 Comments

How did you welcome in the New Year last month? It was another pandemic year that the collective community of the world was glad to let go of to pursue high hopes for a better 2022. Austin, Texas held its 42nd annual Polar Bear Plunge on New Year’s Day…and we were there! Calling it a Polar Bear Plunge is a misnomer to me, coming from a state where they actually cut holes in the thick ice for people to plunge into truly frigid water! But that’s okay—it’s all relative. Austin’s Polar Bear Plunge is held at Barton Springs Municipal Pool, a natural, spring-fed pool with limestone walls, green grassy banks, and clear, turquoise water. The spring-fed water stays at a very respectable 68 to 70 degrees year round. On this New Year’s Day, the air temperature was in the 70’s (a common summer’s day temp in Minnesota) and hundreds, if not thousands of people were out jumping into the New Year and washing off the old.

After my family swam and played in the tepid waters, we walked along the well-used trail that follows Barton Creek from the pool to Lady Bird Lake. There were people running, walking, strolling, biking, etc. on one side of us, and on the other side, creatures of all sorts were swimming, sunning, resting, and plunging into their new year also. Turtles were everywhere! A group of turtles is called a ‘bale’—we saw many bales of turtles!

All along the Creek and Lady Bird Lake were huge Bald Cypress trees who love to have their feet in the water. The slow-growing, long-lived trees help prevent erosion along the banks during flash floods. The knobby protrusions at the base of the tree are called cypress ‘knees.’ They grow from horizontal roots and are theorized to transport air to the water-laden roots, along with anchoring the tree in its often precarious waterside position.

Aaron, our ever-vigilant snake guy, was the one to notice the big reptile lounging on a fallen tree branch. The Diamondback Watersnake is the largest nonvenomous water snake in North America. They like to lazily dine on fish and amphibians by dipping their heads into the water from their tree branch perches.

On another tree branch overhanging the water was a white Muscovy duck, a unique waterfowl originating in South America. They prefer to spend time in trees and less time swimming, compared to other ducks. They are more sensitive to cold than Mallard-related ducks, and they hiss instead of quack!

As Barton Creek merged into Lady Bird Lake, we saw many kayakers, paddleboarders, and rowers, along with a commotion of American Coots.

Blooming water plants floated on the Lake along with the humans in watercrafts and all sorts of waterfowl. A gorgeous, exquisitely-feathered Wood Duck greeted the New Year in his winter home.

It is a legitimate human tendency to want to wash away an old year, especially ones that were as confounding as the previous two. We want to be done with the virus, the death, the masks, the rules, and the uncertainty. We want life to be ‘normal’ again. Yet, there is something to be said by having a hardship be the experience of everyone. It helps to level the playing field, because truth be told, large numbers of people experience disease, death, unfair rules, and ongoing uncertainty even in their ‘normal’ lives. There are always ideas, habits, and behaviors we need to let go of in our lives, and the New Year is a favored time to do so. We can pursue our high hopes with renewed vigor. Matt Curtis of the Friends of Barton Springs Pool Polar Bear Plunge said, “This is an exciting opportunity to refresh your soul in the waters of Austin.” Refresh your soul. Perhaps that is the anchor we need in our lives in order to navigate the difficult times and to reach for our dreams.

Art in Nature

January 6, 2019 by Denise Brake 1 Comment

There are two people in my life that know Art (with a capital A) in a way that my ignorant and scientific mind will never be able to fathom. I don’t ‘know’ it or ‘get’ it, but I try, by association, to appreciate it at some level. One of those people is my sister-in-law Julie. She has worked as a docent at the Nelson Art Museum in Kansas City for decades, and her home is full of amazing art that is strange and foreign to my untraveled, untrained mind and eye. But there is something that links me to her taste and ability in the arts—Nature. She is also a skillful gardener, talented designer, and Nature-lover. Her whole backyard is a garden of delights with unique plant material, beautiful design, interesting sculptures and urns, and unprecedented plant pairings, yet looks natural and artfully wild all at the same time. We were fortunate to spend a couple of days with Chris’ brother and Julie, and they took us to the Overland Park Arboretum and Botanical Gardens on the western outskirts of Kansas City. The day was warm with a crisp breeze—warm compared to the snow we had left in Minnesota, and crisp enough to need a jacket and hat.

The first wonder that greeted us was the strange, unique protuberances under a Bald Cypress tree. Thanks to Chris, our intrepid tree man, we learned these were cypress knees. The knees grow up from the roots of the Bald Cypress tree and have been the wonder of botanists for centuries. Bald Cypress trees are deciduous conifers (like our Northern Larch or Tamarack) that typically grow in swamps where the roots are waterlogged for at least part of the year. Some have theorized the knees provide the roots with air for gas exchange; others proclaim them to be structural to keep the shallow root system strong, and the tree upright. They are one of Nature’s wondrous mysteries!

Our next surprise was Monet painting at the edge of the pond! The French Impressionist painter Claude Monet was an advocate for plein air painting—in the open air—in order to capture the lighting at different times of the day and the colors during different seasons of the year.

We encountered a trio of Lacebarks as we strolled along the winter paths—Lacebark Elm, Lacebark Oak, and Lacebark Pine—all with interesting, exfoliating works-of-art bark.

Alight and rest for a moment on a dragonfly bench!

High in a Sycamore tree sat a hawk who seemed unconcerned with the passersby below. The American Sycamore grows stately and tall and holds its seed clusters most of the winter, like tiny balls decorating the bare tree for the holidays.

We walked through a tall, metal gate that fenced the deer out of the Gardens and entered the dry, wooded swales, a low-lying area by Wolf Creek where Cottonwood and Sycamore trees grew into giants. Flooded creek waters had washed the soil away from the roots of nearby trees creating tangled works of art.

One common workhorse of a tree in the mid-plains is the Osage Orange or Hedge Apple tree. The Osage Indians made superior bows from the tough, flexible wood. The yellow wood resists rot, burns hot, and is used for fence posts and railroad ties. The trees themselves were used for living fences before barbed wire was widely available and less expensive—the low branching trees with strong, sharp thorns grew ‘horse-high, bull-strong, and pig-tight’ as a hedge. The yellow wood extends into the roots…

…and the large yellow-green hedge ball or fruit ball contains a messy, milky sap that is supposed to repel insects and spiders.

We returned to the Gardens through another high gate after our hike through the woods and found ourselves on the Sculpture Garden trail. Elaborately pieced fairy houses—miniature natural architecture with colorful trinkets and stones—were placed at intervals along the trail.

Beautiful sculptures were tucked into the trees along the paved path, a melding of Art and Nature.

Like Monet, I appreciated the colors of the winter season at the Arboretum and Botanical Gardens—the muted green grass, the rusty oak leaves, the ice-blue sky and water, and the honey-colored hydrangea blooms. A painting in the making. I love how Mother Nature is the ultimate artist—the color and form in the feathers of a bird, the patterns and designs in the bark of a tree, the making and dispersal of seeds, and the color and contour of the inner characteristics of a tree. I liked the juxtaposition of whimsical, woodsy fairy houses made from the materials that surrounded them with the bold concrete and metal sculptures that had found their new homes among the trees. I am thankful for the time we had with family and friends on our trip south. There is something sacred and life-giving in sharing space, time, food, laughter, perspective, ideas, and talents. It’s what links us together on the wondrous, mysterious journey of Life.

Hiking with the Newlyweds

November 19, 2015 by Denise Brake 2 Comments

It is not what we have that will make us a great nation; it is the way in which we use it. –Teddy Roosevelt

Cultural remains dating back over 8,000 years have been recovered at an oasis in the Texas Hill Country called Hamilton Pool. A small canyon surrounded by limestone cliffs is home to a jade green pool of water fed by a small creek that tumbles over the natural grotto cliff in a fifty-foot waterfall. Before the 1800’s it was home to Tonkawa and Lipan Apaches. In the mid 1860’s, Morgan Hamilton owned the property and twenty years later sold it to the Reimers, an immigrant family from Germany, who operated a sheep and cattle ranch. They opened the pool to the public, and by the 1960’s and 70’s, it was a popular destination. With grazing and extreme use, the native habitat was suffering, so in 1985, Travis County purchased 232 acres and began an intensive restoration of the area now known as Hamilton Pool Preserve.

We were fortunate to have a few days after the wedding to explore some of the Texas Hill Country. The countryside is arid and hilly with many unfamiliar trees and plants. We began the short hike to Hamilton Pool amidst prickly pear cacti and limestone rocks.

The holly-like leaves of this shrub caught my attention–along with the spider web. After some research, I discovered the shrub is called Agarita (Mahonia trifoliolata). It flowers yellow in the spring and produces red berries that are desirable to birds and small animals and also make a tasty jelly.

We descended the trail with limestone cliffs to our right and towering trees to our left.

We were surprised to see they were bald cypress–deciduous conifers that like their ‘feet’ in water!

Aaron spotted an inhabitant of the cypress grove–a green anole lizard!

The canyon walls rose around us…

we crossed a wooden bridge, skirted over some rocks, and there was the pool! People were swimming and wading in the clear, green water.

Mosses and maidenhair ferns grew on the grotto ceiling, and the constant dripping water created stalactite fountains that cascaded into the pool.

Sunlight reflected off the water onto the rock ceiling, creating a subtle dance of light.

At the back of the shady grotto, on the rocky trail, a shrub grew. It had striking red flowers that resembled a tropical hibiscus, though they were smaller and unopened. The stamen protruded from the petals–a telephone pole for the silky webs of a spider. This shady shrub has common names of red mallow, Turk’s cap, and sleeping hibiscus. It produces an edible fruit that tastes like an apple, thus its Spanish name-Manzanilla (little apple.)

We followed the trail around the pool, then dipped our feet in the cool water while Aaron went for a swim. It was an amazing, lush oasis in the middle of an arid land. It was full of contrasts–from maidenhair ferns to prickly pear cacti, from water-loving cypress trees to desert-like agarita bushes. No wonder it has been a destination of wonder and rest for thousands of years.

We drove a few miles to another part of the old Reimers Ranch that has been turned over to the County for public use. It is a world-class rock climbing destination, has miles of mountain bike trails, and fishing in the Pedernales River. We hiked to one of the rock climbing places, slipping down a rocky stream bed to a large limestone cliff and cave.

Dripping water had formed an ancient stalagmite with an apron of moss and ferns.

I ducked into a cave for an insider’s look.

Spiny gray airplants clung to many of the trees in Texas. Ball Moss is a Bromeliad, closely related to pineapples, that uses the tree for support only. They feed off nutrients and moisture in the air.

We finished our hiking as the sun sank in the western sky, illuminating tall, thin pencil cacti and the spiny edges of pancake-flat prickly pear. What an interesting land here in Central Texas!

The above quote from Teddy Roosevelt was at the bottom of the signage at Hamilton Pool Preserve. The history of that place is humbling–this Oasis in the arid land has been a place of shelter, rest, and wonder for tens of thousands of hiking feet through the eons. As we walked back from the grottoed pool through the towering cypress trees, I felt like I had just received a gift. I was happy the newlyweds and Travis County parks system had shared this place with us.

So what if the Reimer family had kept this natural treasure all to themselves?

I think Roosevelt’s quote also applies to each of us–it’s not what we have that makes us great people–it is the way in which we use it. How do we share our gifts with others?

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