Hosting (Twigs, Acorns, Moss, Lichens, etc., etc., etc.)
April 22, 2018
I pass this slab of quarried sandstone nearly every time I visit Schoepfle Garden. It never looks the same. The first photograph is from my trip this past Sunday, April 14. The second is from about a year ago, April 18, 2017, and the third is from August 26, 2017. I know there are others . . .
Romancing Reality 
I think you’re onto something Linda. Have you ever thought of photographing this slab using the exact same framing over a period of time? That way, the changes from one image to another would be the only variable and make for a fascinating exhibit or printed piece.
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April 23, 2018 at 12:51 AM
I have thought of that with respect to other photographs I’ve taken, but not this one. The trick is to remember exactly how I took the previous one(s). But I’ll start doing that (or trying to) now with this slab. Thanks for the push, Alan.
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April 23, 2018 at 12:46 PM
Having come from a region that has a number of serpentine rock outcroppings, and serpentine coloring the streams, I’m partial to the last photo – it has that same blue-green color I’ve been admiring in Oregon & California. Interesting how the seasons change the lichens on the rocks.
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April 27, 2018 at 10:14 PM
I wasn’t aware of the changing color of the lichens until I put these photographs together. . . . I didn’t know about serpentine rocks, so I had to Google. Interesting.
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April 28, 2018 at 11:54 AM
I don’t know anything about lichens changing colors either – but don’t they, or some of them, have blue-green algae as constituents, or something along those lines? Could that increase/decrease and affect the color? I’m probably way off….
The trip was (as usual for me) a bit of a “Let’s go see this, let’s go see that, rush around” so I didn’t spend time really understanding the habitat, but the bits I saw were interesting. The chemistry/biology of it – what the minerals and other soil characteristics do to the plant life – is fascinating.
We were brought (by a fellow blogger) to an obscure bog, way down a dirt road, where we waded across a shallow creek and found thousands and thousands of pitcher plants! It was a flabbergasting sight. Later on I wished I could have sat down and watched until an insect landed on a plant and disappeared! That would be cool to see. Maybe there’s a serpentine area somewhere near you.
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April 28, 2018 at 1:16 PM
I still don’t know about the changing colors, but you are absolutely right about the blue-green algae (cyanobacteria) being a component of lichen. Look at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lichen. Click on the first photograph, and you can cycle through many photos of lichens, maybe most of which I’ve never seen. Very cool. The Wikipedia page on serpentine soil (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serpentine_soil) says it exists on the eastern slope of the Appalachians, not all that close to us. The things you learn at the prompting of other bloggers . . . I can’t imagine thousands of pitcher plants. I’ve only seen them in greenhouses and botanical gardens, a few at a time.
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April 28, 2018 at 3:24 PM