The Wrack

Fourteen enthusiastic participants traversed field, forest, and bog to discover late spring wildflowers. 

Dragon's mouth is a perennial herb in the orchid family that blooms in the bog along the Muskie Trail.

Twenty chestnut trees arrived at the reserve in May for planting in the Yankee Woodlot.

The Reserve recently received 12 trees from a nursery in midcoast Maine, thanks to the Maine Forest Service's "Project Canopy." This week, Charles, volunteer Mark Klys, and the AmeriCorps team planted them along the entry road, where they will serve as a wind break and visual buffer.

A naturalist turns up early coralroot under a skunk cabbage leaf.

While marking fields for mowing on the newly acquired Lord Parcel this past August, Reserve Manager Paul Dest was thrilled to discover two stems of the showy yet threatened native plant, the Northern Blazing Star. Paul made sure the lonely stalks were well marked to avoid being mowed over.

On a recent walk to the upper meadow off the Saw Whet Trial, I came across an old friend. A pretty, frilly little flower called Ragged Robin.

The shadbush bloom can be a natural signal that shad are running in local rivers.

Some say it's a copper beech, but the family that planted it and watched it grow for decades called it a purple beech. Who's right?

Appearing as wide as it is tall, the Wells Reserve's copper beech tree is a dominant presence. As befits a tree with such stature, the Reserve's beech has an interesting cultural and natural history.