Lettuce Lake Park Boardwalk “field trip”

Bald Cypress knees, duck weed, and water lettuce.

This Minecraft world was built at the playground by one of my kids. I love love this alternate form of sketching of the Cypress knees!

Observation Tower. There were plenty of Gators in this fresh water!! Other cool creatures we spotted include: Yellow crowned night heron, Red shouldered hawk, Great white egret, Tri colored heron, and White ibis.

Water lettuce is a “gray area” invasive plant. It’s beautiful, but can quickly choke the oxygen out of a water body, block sunlight from reaching the water bottom, and prevent the proper navigation of boats. The park was named “Lettuce Lake” after this aquatic plant.

If you do not already have it, download the Seek app onto your phone. I had my kids identifying all the plants they found interesting.

This is our first time seeing Bald Cypress cones. They are round! Since it’s a deciduous tree, the leaves have turned brown.

Air plants are everywhere. It’s nice to see these in the wild places. Even at the playground the kids were spotting them. Great opportunity for an iSpy game!

Other epiphytes include lichen. Since it’s Christmas time, it’s also wonderful to see Christmas wreath lichen on the trees. look out for bright red circle patches on the bark. They love fresh air!