Brewster Gardens, Plymouth, Mass: Entry 3
Monday, July 4, 2022: 77°F 2:09 PM sunny with a few clouds, slightly windy.
I found a big leaf on the ground. It’s about a foot long, maybe 10-11 inches across. The left side of the midrib is a darker green than the right. The left side is also a bit wet. I looked up and there was a tree with the same sort of leaves. The tree’s trunk appears to have branched off into two trunks that sort of twisted back together. I wonder how biologically this sort of thing happens. The other tree trunks in the area don’t have this ‘twist.’ Was there a disturbance that just affected this tree? Along the elevation line, it appeared that there were several trees of the same species as the ‘twist’ trunk. How does this kind of tree reproduce? What canopy requirements does it have? Is this species of tree an eco-indicator? Between the tree line and the brook, there was a patch of grass, plants, and other trees. There was a fair amount of moss in the grass. The soil of the grass was quite muddy. Was it wet because the land slopes towards the brook? Maybe it was especially muddy today because there have been a couple of big thunderstorms the past few days. There was a small bird amongst the muddier grass. Next to the bird, there was a patch of grass that was especially muddy, with lightly colored flowers scattered in it. The flowers were about half of a centimeter in diameter and appeared to have fallen off from the plant above. The plant above it seemed to have had a couple of these flowers still growing on it. I heard a decent number of birds, including what sounded like a crow. I also heard a couple of people in their nearby backyards. As I wrote this entry in my field journal, a pair of brown bunnies chased each other all around the park.
I decided to identify and research the tree with the big leaves. Using a combination of a leaf identifying website, a couple google searches, and iNaturalist, I came to the conclusion that the tree is an American Sycamore, plantanus occidentalis. They require moist well-drained soil and commonly grow on riverbanks, so it makes sense that there was a lot of them growing along Town Brook. They thrive in full sun, so these trees may have outcompeted other trees that require shadier areas. Although, these trees do not indicate much about the ecosystem, because they are generalists and will survive in most conditions.
https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=ploc
Photographs:
- City Underneath the Leaves: This first picture was taken underneath the leaves of what looked like a patch of rhubarb plants. Every time I visit my Wonder spot, I am always drawn to the thick patch of these plants, with their over a foot long leaves. The patch is so lush that the ground underneath the leaves is hidden. I always imagine a little community of insects and small mammals live underneath the cover of the gigantic leaves.
2. Tectonic Bark: This is a photograph of the bark of a tree that I could not identify. I was drawn to this bark by the little ring it seemed to make in some spots. It reminded me of two tectonic plates converging and forming a mountain range.
3. Lush River Lawn: Something that made me choose Brewster Gardens as my Wonder Spot was the lush aquatic grass that grows the whole length of Town Brook. It looks so soft and beautiful, and I love watching it sway in the current. I took this photograph to try and capture the softness.
4. Abstract Aquatics: When I was taking the picture above, I noticed that the current on the water distorts the shapes of the objects in the river. I was drawn in by the vibrant shade of green this strand of aquatic grass was in the sun.
5. Eastern Black Walnut Pt. 2: After sketching the eastern black walnut tree last week, I was drawn back to the same tree. I love the way that the compound leaves look against the blue sky. The visual looks textured and trippy in a way.
When I sketched on site, I noticed tiny details while I was there. When I took photographs, I noticed these tiny details only after I had left and was editing the pictures. Sketching made me reflect more there, while photography made me reflect afterwards. The mediums are similar in that you make reality how you want it to look. In photography, you use different angles, lens, and editing to portray your point of view. In sketching, you can use different points of view and subject selection to portray your ideas. Photography made me consider more of how the objects in the space were arranged. When I was trying to frame my pictures and find interesting subjects, I was looking at the lines in the landscape. This made me consider how each element of Brewster Gardens connects.
Photographing the site was a helpful way to view the area at different angles. I got to know the space not just from eye level, but from ground level and other angles I used while photographing.