Riparian Plants at Riparius

A sunny day, at last!  Yeah, it rained (as usual!) by early afternoon this past Monday, but we did have a blue-sky morning. And my friend Sue Pierce and I had a truly gorgeous place to spend it: the banks of the Hudson River at Riparius, a hamlet in the upper Hudson River Valley of Warren County. And we had  some great company, too.

We had come to Riparius, a former Methodist-affiliated cottage encampment now open to residents of any (or no) denomination, at the invitation of our friend Chris Kreussling, seen here photographing one of his favorite subjects, the insect visitors to riverside plants.  Chris is a naturalist and native-plant gardener from Brooklyn who posts a blog called Flatbush Gardener, and he became our friend through our mutual Facebook connections.  We try to get together for some botanizing each time Chris comes north to visit relatives.  And this was our lucky day! I know Chris got some terrific shots of some truly beautiful bugs, so be sure to check his blog to find out if he posted the photos there.

The Hudson River this far north is shallow, rocky, and turbulent, features that contribute to large deposits of ice along the shore in the winter.  These icy deposits help to create a habitat that supports  the growth of many interesting plants, and we were here to see what might be blooming this late in the summer. And also just to enjoy some spectacular views of a rushing river and surrounding mountains.

The sounds of rushing water added to our pleasure, as we teetered along, carefully stepping from rock to rock as we explored the riverbank and its inhabitants.

Yes, we were there to see what flowers might be blooming, but the fauna was just as interesting to us as the flora was. If you follow the direction toward which Sue's camera is pointed, you will see the small Green Frog looking back at her from its watery perch.

It was froggy heaven the day we walked there, with every footstep producing numerous plop-plops! as the frogs leapt from the riverside grasses into the water.  They then would many times turn right around to look back at us, maintaining a frozen posture as if they assumed that their speckled camouflage would prevent our seeing them.

And yes, there were some beautiful plants.  We found Water Smartweed (Persicaria amphibia) growing both on the banks and also floating out in the water,  holding tight clusters of pretty pink florets erect.

Further up on the shore, many fluffy white tufts of Canandian Burnet blooms (Sanguisorba canadensis) were either waving in the breeze atop long slender stems, or (as these three were) resting where the wind had toppled them into the grass.

Numerous small white asters formed a lovely foil for the spectacular red blooms of Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis).

Purple-stemmed Asters (Symphyotrichum punicium) also contributed their evidence that aster season was truly upon us.  This tall species, with its large pale-purple flowers and more-reddish-than-purplish stems, is sometimes called Swamp Aster, due to its preference for dampish habitats.

From our previous visits to other similar northern Hudson shores, we expected to find some Kalm's Lobelia (Lobelia kalmii) tucked in among the rocks.  And so we did.  What surprised us, though, was that we found only solitary blooms of these pretty blue flowers.  We usually see them growing in many-flowered clumps.

That was true as well for the occasional Marsh Bellflower bloom (Campanula aparinoides) we encountered: just a single solitary miniature flower, instead of numerous blooms to a plant, sprawling on slender stems.

The most abundant wildflowers we found were numerous patches of Ladies' Tresses (Spiranthes sp.), a pretty little multi-flowered white orchid that is native to New York State.  A couple of years ago, I could have asserted that the ones we found this day were the species called Nodding Ladies' Tresses (S. cernua), but taxonomists have since informed us that that species does not grow this far north.  The Ladies' Tress orchids likely to be found blooming this late in August in Warren County could be either Spiranthes incurva (Sphinx Ladies' Tresses) or S. arcisepala (Appalachian Ladies' Tresses).  I'm afraid that even if these florets were open wide enough to warrant accurate ID, I would have no confidence in my ability to distinguish them. So simply Ladies' Tresses will have to do. But wow, did we find a LOT of them!

After a couple of hours testing our balance out on the riverbank rocks, we made our way back to Chris's place via the lane that passes along the string of small riverside cottages that make up this settlement.   Of course, we stopped to note what dry-land flowers grew along the lane.  There was lots of yellow goldenrod, certainly, but I was struck by this generous clump of the white-flowered goldenrod called (what else?) SILVERrod (Solidago bicolor).

Sprawling in the roadside grass was another plant that caught my eye, thanks to its clusters of pretty pink florets and its vining habit.  Called Groundnut (Apios americana) because of its edible underground tubers, this plant usually climbs high on any adjacent structure, so it was unusual to view its flower clusters from above.  

The convoluted structure of the Groundnut's florets deserved a closer look, so I lifted one of the clusters for a better view.  And also the better to breathe its heady fragrance.

I had seen many White Baneberry plants (Actaea pachypoda) bearing fruits this past week or so, but none had produced a berry cluster as spectacularly gorgeous as this one, which was growing close to the road.

Not only was this berry cluster twice the length of those I'd seen previously, but the chalk-white  unblemished berries were held on the most vividly colorful pedicels of any I have ever seen. Could there be something special in the soil?  Perhaps the Hudson's spring floods had delivered extra nutrients.  Or maybe all those Methodists, during all their years of singing and praying here, had cast special blessings on this particular plot of earth.  There certainly DID seem something especially marvelous about this lovely place.