A fallen hardwood tree branch with dark gray bark striped with pinkish brown has an array of lichen and a few nascent polypores growing on it. The fungi are mostly white with some light tan edges and light gray mottling, and are fairly small. The lichens are mostly blue green and fruticose, commonly called oakmosses or old man's beard, and one foliose green shield lichen. The moss is the common cattail moss. The branch has fallen on a bed of dead brown leaves.

A few white and gray polypores start growing on a fallen lichen and moss covered branch.
#Photography #SeattleWashington #SeattleParks #SeattleWinter #CowenPark #SeattleOlmstedParks #Lichens #FungiFriends

A small cluster of shiny bright red berries hangs down between dark leather brown leaves on slender twigs Off to the side there is one leaf in shades of yellow and russet. I don't often use presets when not doing artsy stuff, but this moody preset with its old fashioned sepia toned and crepuscular light just grabbed my fancy. So perhaps this is artsy stuff! There is a very thin burnt umber border to complement the photo colors.

Hawthorn berries in fall. At some point the birds will come through and strip them off the tree.
#Photography #SeattleWashington #SeattleAutumn #RavennaPark #SeattleOlmstedParks #SeattleParks #EastCoastKin

A photo looking down a shady trail in Cowen Park early in the morning, rendered for a more impressionistic effect: you can see the trail, and highlighted patches of ferns and bushes, while overhead the trees arch in sunrise light, with much shadow and spots of brilliant green light. It feels like a deep dark and cool woods.

I love weather forecasts. Today was supposed to be cooler. It's already hotter. Good thing I watered this morning and walked Monty by 7am!
🥵🌭
Time for a cool rerun
#Photography #CowenPark #SeattleWashington #SeattleSummer #Artsy #SeattleOlmstedParks

A playful and colorful mural, about 40 feet long and 8 feet high, done in a primitive style, decorates a retaining wall by the playground. All the images are in bright colors. From left to right: a huge bright red berry; a blue, yellow and brown bird with a green worm (?) and its feet in bright blue waves; a multi-hued; a dragonfly in primary colors with a body that looks like beads; a blue plant with a yellow flower; a red ladybug above a brown acorn; a strange plant with a flower like a feather duster; a pink and black striped snake; a big blue and red robin (?) with an ice cream cone;another large blue plant with a long yellow and gray flower; a blue eyed cat with a wasp (?) hovering above in rainbow primary colors; and finally an orange monkey hanging off a blue leaved vine. The mural is about 20 years old, and has only a bit of tagging. The wall itself is weathered concrete, overshadowed by large pine trees.

Glenn Case playground mural, Cowen Park, Seattle, Washington. Ravenna Neighborhood
#Photography #SeattleWashington #CowenPark #RavennaNeighborhood #ParkArt #SeattleOlmstedParks

A couple of trusses of pink rhododendron blossoms peek through the Oregon grape and thimbleberry leaves in the upper right quadrant of this photo. The soft pink trumpet-shaped flowers form a pompom of blossoms, a small bouquet. The rhodie leaves which surround the trusses are oval, long and smooth. The Oregon grape leaves are glossy and relatively small, the thimbleberry leaves are large and palmate. There is an abundance of texture contrasts giving a cheerful effect.

Spring refreshment: native rhododendrons (Rhododendron macrophyllum) flopping about in the undergrowth at Ravenna Park along the woodsy trails
#Photography #SeattleWashington #SeattleSpring #RavennaPark #SeattleParks #SeattleOlmstedParks #BloomScrolling #NativePlants

Long clusters of Oregon grape berries ripen amid the leaves. The berries look like grapes along a stem, and are at various stages of ripening, from very green to dusty blue-purple. There are three stems of berries radiating out from the center right. The glossy green leaves surround the berries, most radiating from the same plant, each compound leaf with a set of up to 13 spiny and shiny leaflets. In this photo the berries and leaves are in a dappled sunlight and are growing in a woodsy understory.

Oregon grape (Mahonia or Berberis aquifolium) ripening in Ravenna Park
#Photography #SeattleWashington #SeattleSummer #SeattleOlmstedParks #SeattleParks #NativePlants #NativePlantsOfThePNW

An oceanspray flower raceme droops in the dappled light of the understory. The coarsely dentate green leaves are alternate and a little hairy. The flowers along the raceme are small, creamy white and five petaled. The anthers and wide open petals give a slightly fuzzy effect. Oceanspray shrubs can grow up to 20 feet high, with the flower racemes gracefully arching downward.

An oceanspray (Holodiscus discolor) branch droops along a trail in Seward Park's "Magnificent Forest."
#Photography #SeattleWashington #SeattleOlmstedParks #SeattleSummer #NativePlants #NativePlantsOfThePNW

An afternoon photo over a blue Lake Washington from Seward Park. The shore is grassy with shade from trees . My sister is by the shore looking out. You can see a Seattle suburb across the way. The sky is summer bkue with fluffy clouds.

A propos of nothing, Seward Park by Lake Washington on a lovely day
#Photography #PNW #SeattleWashington #SeattleParks #SeattleOlmstedParks
#SewardPark

A branch of an osoberry shrub is has several stems of osoberries hanging like cherries below the green oval leaves. Their color varies from greenish yellow to apricot yellow to peach pink. They look like miniature apricots at the end of the red stems, which seem even brighter red when the berries turn purple.

Osoberries (Oemleria cerasiformis) in varying stages of ripeness. They turn dark purple when fully ripe. They are edible but don't have much flesh on the pit.
#Photography #SeattleSpring #SeattleParks #SeattleOlmstedParks #NativePlantsOfThePNW #NativePlants #RavennaPark

A couple of five petaled pink roses bloom among the green compound leaves of the cluster rose. The shrubs flourish in the dappled shade along the trail. These are sometimes hard to distinguish from the Nootka rose, but the clusters of buds and flowers are typical, whereas the Nootka has mostly solitary flowers. The stems of cluster roses tend to arch more, the Nootka grows fairly straight for several feet before arching.

Cluster rose or swamp rose (Rosa pisocarpa ) in Ravenna Park. I missed the Nootka rose bloom 😔
##BloomScrolling #SeattleWashington #SeattleSpring #NativePlants #RavennaPark #SeattleOlmstedParks #SeattleSummer #PNWNativePlants

A well trodden foot trail ambles along the wooded side of the Ravenna Creek ravine, with long afternoon shadows streaked across it. The trees, a mix of big leaf maples and redcedar, are tall and slender, covered with moss that glows in the mid afternoon sun. The underbrush is mostly ferns and horsetails, with a few buttercups dotted here and there. If you look up through the trees, you can see half the iron blue footbridge that spans the ravine, the rest on the right hidden by the trees. You can see part of the spanning arch with its many crosslinks. The arch and footbridge are also mostly hidden by the trees on the right side of the trail. The whole scene is cast in a green light filtered through the dense leaves overhead.

Look up
Ravenna Park footbridge over the ravine
#Photography #SeattleWashington #SeattleSpring #RavennaPark #SeattleOlmstedParks

Tightly packed clusters of 5 petaled white flowers grow among the bushes' dark green palmate leaves. The flowers are small and have lots of exserted stamens, which give the clusters a slightly fuzzy look. The anthers are initially pink but are dull brown after the pollen is gone. The leaves have 3 or more lobes and resemble maple leaves.

Pacific ninebark (Physocarpus capitatus) blooms along the park trails. #SeattleWashington #SeattleSpring #BloomScrolling #RavennaPark #NativePlants #SeattleOlmstedParks

A cluster of bright orange honeysuckle flowers looks like a star burst from its green round bract. The.flowers are like long trumpets tipped with 5 petals. The anthers poke out, full of pollen grains. The pistil, growing amidst the anthers, has a green tip. Orange honeysuckle is also called trumpet honeysuckle.

A sunny flower on a sunny day, orange honeysuckle (Lonicera ciliosa) looks like it's about a month early, but the vines are covered with flower buds. Such a glorious spring this year! #Photography #SeattleWashington #SeattleSpring #NativePlants #RavennaPark #SeattleOlmstedParks #BloomScrolling

A cluster of small vine maple flowers blooms above some green and pink new leaves in a woodsy understory. The flowers have 5 red fuzzy sepals, small white petals, yellow anthers and a long greenish pistil. The leaves are slightly fuzzy as well, and are palmately lobed, with 7 to 11 lobes.

Vine maple (Acer circinatum) is closely related to Japanese maple and has similar flowers.
#Photography #SeattleWashington #SeattleSpring #BloomScrolling #NativePlants #RavennaPark #SeattleOlmstedParks

Looking up at the flower panicles on a horse chestnut tree in the park. The tree is full of panicles of white flowers The 5 petaled flowers start out light green, then brighten to white with yellow spots at the base of the top two petals, and later these spots turn bright pink. The green leaves of the tree obscure some of the panicles. The leaves are composite and palmate with 5 to 7 leaflets joined at the top of the leaf stem. In this shot, if you expand it, you can see the trunk of the tree as well as those of a couple of trees behind it. Horse chestnuts are poisonous to most animal except squirrels. Interestingly (to me at least!) horse chestnuts, and their cousin the American buckeye, are related to maples, whereas edible chestnuts are related to oaks.

Looking up at a horse chestnut tree in full bloom in the park
#Photography #SeattleWashington #SeattleSpring #CowenPark #SeattleParks #SeattleOlmstedParks

Thimbleberry plants are thornless. This photo shows two white five petaled flowers with the yellow anthers surrounding the yellow pistils. The petals look like crinkly white sails. There are a couple of fuzzy flower buds getting ready to open. The green palmate leaves surrounding the flowers are large, often bigger than adult hands, and are velvety and soft. The berries that come in fall are small, dark red, very soft and fragile, and exquisitely delicious.

More wild berries! Thimbleberries (Rubus parviflorus), the best wild berries I've ever tasted, look like they'll be abundant this year.
#SeattleWashington #SeattleSpring #NativePlants #RavennaPark #SeattleOlmstedParks #Photography

Female dewberry flowers grow on a tough vine among shrubs. The flowers have 5 white petals and a green heart of pistils that will layer mature into a tasty black berry. The leaves are 3 parted, with each leaflet oval and dentate. This photo has a trio of white flowers among the leaves in a shady spot in the park.

Male dewberry flowers grow on a tough vine among shrubs. The flowers have 5 white petals and a yellow heart of stames ready to disperse pollen. that will layer mature into a tasty black berry. The leaves are 3 parted, each leaflet oval and dentate. This photo has a branch of white flowers among rose shrubs in a shady spot in the park.

Dewberry (Rubus ursinus) vines climb all over the place in dense shrubbery. Female flowers on the left, male on the right.
#Photography #SeattleWashington #SeattleSpring #NativePlants #RavennaPark #SeattleOlmstedParks

Urn-shaped green and pink red huckleberry flowers hang from a leafy stem. The tiny corolla has ruffled edges. The leaves are light green and oval shaped. These grow in light shade on woodsy areas in the PNW.

Red huckleberry (Vaccinium ovatum) blooming in Ravenna Park. I'll keep an eye on it to see if I can beat the critters to any tiny red fruit.
#Photography #SeattleWashington #SeattleSpring #NativePlants #RavennaPark #SeattleOlmstedParks

A small cluster of pink and fuschia flowers are ready to bloom amid lacy leaves.

More native plants in the woods at Ravenna Park: Pacific bleeding heart (Dicentra formosa) is graceful amid its lacy leaves
#Photography #SeattleWashington #SeattleSpring #NativePlants #RavennaPark #SeattleOlmstedParks

An image of a carpet of leaves on the ground from various maple tree species slowly turning different shades of brown, from pale tan to purplish brown (aka puce)

A study in browns
#Photography #SeattleWashington #RavennaParkSeattle #SeattleOlmstedParks #AutumnLeaves

Foliose blue-green lichen cover a fallen branch amid dead leaves on the ground. Hypogymnia spp are often called tube lichen and Platismatia are called ragbag lichen because they look so messy and disheveled There were several trees felled by the windstorms, blocking the main trails. I would guess trees fell in most of the parks because the wind were strong and from an unusual direction.

Some blue-green lichen (possibly Hypogymnia and Platismatia spp) growing on a fallen branch in the park.
#Photography #SeattleWashington #RavennaParkSeattle #SeattleOlmstedParks

You can see about half of Ravenna Footbridge, painted ironworks blue, arching over a hillside trail in Ravenna Park. The trail is lined with mossy trees, a few maples showing a bit of red color. The tree and shrub filled Ravenna Creek ravine is off to the right, with redcedar, Douglas fir and various maples. The photograph is processed for a painting-like effect.

Ravenna Park Footbridge
#Photography #SeattleWashington #Artsy #RavennaPark #SeattleOlmstedParks

Dark green lance-like yew tree (Taxus brevifolia) leaves lay in parallel lines along their green stems. which are also parallel. There are a few red fleshy cones on the stems. The red aril surrounds a dark brown seed. The soft aril is edible but all the other prts of the yew tree are highly toxic.

Yew tree bark detail shows its reddish to brown colors and its shaggy overlapping scales.

Walking along the street to Cowen Park, I chanced upon a fair-sized Pacific yew tree. I usually see shrubby yew hedges, so seeing a tree was interesting. I liked its symmetrical leaves, pretty cones and scaly bark.
#Photography #SeattleWashington #SeattleAutumn #SeattleOlmstedParks #SomeLines 📷

Looking up into a big leaf maple tree you can see a zig-zag flight of leaves turning yellow and brown. The leaves are palmate and heavily dentate. They are backlit by the thin sunlight and the backdrop of dark Douglas fir trees provides a nice contrast.

Big leaf maple trees do not turn a uniform lovely yellow in fall, but instead gradually brown out. But they still glow in autumn colors against the sky.
#Photography #SeattleWashington #SeattleAutumn #CowenPark #SeattleOlmstedParks #NativePlants 📷🌿