Palmate Coltsfoot: Another Mystery Solved

Palmate Coltsfoot (Petasites palmatus)  has been one of my mystery plants.  I had seen it growing from the shear cliff face on the north shore of Similk Bay.  The first time I went to get a photo, I found that some of the cliff had collapsed.  Only one small, uncharacteristic plant remained.  Last month, I trekked into Similk Bay again and found a large patch.  With better photos, the identification is now obvious to me.  Credit for ID'ing the plant goes to Mike B. at Slugyard.com, who accomplished it even with a very poor sample photo.  It is an impressive native plant with some leaves more than a foot across.  The Quinault Indians of Washington State used the leaves to cover berries and steam them in cooking pits.

There were also flowers blooming this time.  Palmate Coltsfoot plants bear separate male and female flowers tat appear before the leaves.  Both types of plants need to be present in order to produce seeds.  It also goes by the names Petasites frigidis var. palmatus and Sweet Butterbur.

This patch of Coltsfoot included several plants growing out of pure clay from the vertical cliff face.  There was water constantly seeping from the bank.  At the time, they were receiving dappled sunlight.  When the Bigleaf Maples and Red Alders around them are fully leaved, they will be in full shade.  Some plants were growing low to the beach where they will occasionally be splashed with salt water.  They did not appear to be harmed by that.  If you have a wet, shady spot with poor soil, this would make a great addition to the native garden.

For the moment, this is now my only mystery plant.  I have one specimen that has come up wild in the yard.  I sent photos to the Washington Native Plant Society, but they couldn't identify it either.  It is a shrub with small leaves, 2" (5 cm) or less in length.  They are thin with a dry, papery feel.  They are not leathery like Vaccinium.  New shoots are shiny red, but turn grayish and dull as they age.  Leaves emerge a rust-bronze color, later becoming more green.  Deer enjoy browsing on the leaves and twigs.  The plant is now over 6 feet (2 m) tall with a delicate, airy look.  It is growing in poor, glacial till soil in fairly dry conditions.  I would appreciate any help with its identification.

Weather Statistics for April, 2012

Temperature	High 67.9° F	Low 34.6° F	Mean 48.7° F
Rainfall	2.54 inches
Wind	High 27 mph	Average 1.8 mph	Dom Dir SW

Observed at South Fidalgo Island (See Climate page for complete climatological data)

Gardens of Kukutali

For Earth Day, let's look at a very tiny piece of the earth.  I recently paid a return visit to the Kukutali Preserve, now a part of Deception Pass State Park.  Recall that it is a protected area in Skagit Bay that is owned jointly by the State of Washington and the Swinomish Tribal Community.  The Preserve includes Kiket and Flagstaff Islands, a rare pocket estuary, salt marsh and a connected property on Fidalgo Island.

From Fidalgo, visitors access Kiket Island by foot on a roadway over the tombolo.

The road crosses the island through a mature forest of Douglas Fir, Grand Fir, Western Redcedar, Western Hemlock, Bigleaf Maple, Pacific Madrona and Red Alder.  The observant visitor might also spot a rare Pacific Yew (Taxus brevifolia), the original source of the cancer drug Taxol.

In a small meadow on a stone outcrop just off the road, we spotted the sporophytes of Awned Haircap Moss (Polytrichum piliferum).  Unlike many mosses, this one prefers a dry location.  The annual rainfall in the Preserve is only about 20 inches/51 cm.

By the side of the road was this tuft of lichen.  They are difficult to ID, but I think this might be Forking Bone (Hypogymnia inactiva) which likes to grow in the branches of conifers.  This piece probably fell out of a nearby tree.  If someone knows for sure what this is, please let me know.

As we proceeded, the road became more shaded.  This is Dog Lichen (Peltigera praetextata), which is one of the leaf lichens.  It was growing among mosses in forest litter next to the road.

Growing in the shadiest spots, I have tentatively identified Step Moss (Hylocomium splendens).  Again, please correct me if I am wrong.

Also in deep shade, this plant was hard to spot.  These are the emerging shoots of Western Coralroot (Corallorhiza maculata), one of our native orchids.  It does not contain chlorophyll and does not photosynthesize.  Instead, it derives nutrition by parasitizing fungi growing in decaying plant material.  This allows the plant to exploit total shade under forest canopies.  I hope to return in about a month to get a photo of the tiny flowers.  Pacific Northwest soils are relatively devoid of bacteria, but do contain many fungi.  Several native plants have learned to take advantage of these soil organisms.

The road emerges into a clearing with Skagit Bay and South Fidalgo Island visible in the distance.

At road's end is the Dunlap house, no longer occupied.

At the edge of the clearing, drainage from the hillside has created a wet spot.  This makes perfect habitat for Common Horsetail (Equisetum arvense) just coming up.  Notice that there are two types of shoots.  The green shoots are sterile and the brownish ones are fertile.  The strobili or cones on the fertile shoots will produce spores, then die back.  The plant is considered a living fossil.  It has survived the trodding of dinosaurs and everything since.  Even the eruption of Mount St. Helens couldn't kill it.  Horsetail was the first plant to emerge in the wastelands around the mountain.  An interesting discussion of the plant may be found at Susannah Anderson's blog Wanderin' Weeta.

A trail continues past the house to the Flagstaff Island tombolo and a beautiful little bay.  The ruin of a boathouse here was the site of a University of Washington marine biology survey in the 1970's.

Grassy areas along the  trail were flush with purple flowers.  These are called Red or Purple Deadnettle (Lamium purpureum).

Seen up close, the color is from clusters of reddish leaves at the top of stems, and not the tiny, orchid-like flowers.  Despite the name, the plant is not related to Stinging Nettle and does not sting.  In mild climates, it may bloom all winter providing a rare source of nectar for bees.

Oregon Grape (Mahonia aquifolium) begins blooming in March and continues well into April.  This is a very nice, drought-tolerant plant for the native garden.   The berries are relished by birds.  The plant was first described by Europeans in the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

Flagstaff Island is mostly solid rock and off-limits to visitors.  Broad-leaved Stonecrop (Sedum spathulifolium) loves to grow on the stony edges of the island.  It is now putting out new growth which is a rosy color.  In about a month, it will produce large clusters of yellow flowers held above the foliage.  You can find it in nurseries under the name Sedum 'Cape Blanco.'  I have tried to grow it in soil, but it just falls apart.  Apparently, solid rock is more to its liking.

If you click on the photo to enlarge it and look carefully, there are little blue spots here and there.  I believe these are the first signs of Common Camas (Camassia quamash) just starting to bloom.  This is another wildflower I want to catch in full bloom.  At its peak, I am told Flagstaff turns purple.

Back at the Dunlap house, there are several garden plants blooming.  I believe this is Fragrant Snowball (Viburnum x carlcephalum).  Coming around the corner of the house, I smelled the amazing perfume before spotting the shrub.  This is a beautiful and desirable garden plant.  Remember, the cultivated plants here have received little or no care for several years.  They are basically growing wild.  This makes them good ideas for the easy-care garden.

This is Giant Feather Grass (Stipa gigantea).  I have this in my own yard and I can vouch for its beauty, easy care and drought tolerance.  The flowers may grow 6 feet/2 meters tall.  The dried flower heads can be brought into the house in arrangements.

My grandmother had Grape Hyacinth (Muscari armeniacum) in her garden.  It was one of those little flowers that just persisted year after year without much care or concern.

Near the front door, this choice Camellia was in full bloom.  I am not an expert, but it appears to be a beautiful variety of Camellia japonica.  Some of the flowers were 4 inches/10 cm across.  According to the Sunset Western Garden Book, Camellias require moderate to regular watering.  This one is certainly not getting that.  Perhaps like Rhododendrons, once they get established, they require very little care.

The beauty of this flower justified a second photo.  You can see the huge, blooming shrub in the house photo above.  It is to the right of the big Rhododendron next to the front door.

Different varieties of Daffodils were blooming around the front yard.

There were also several blooming Rosemary (Rosmarinus officianalis) all around the house.  This is supposed to be a good seaside plant for dry areas.  I tried to grow it in my yard, but it didn't survive a winter cold snap.  I have to be careful with a couple of spots where cold air will pool.

Finally, I encountered this little fellow while walking back out.  This is the native Banana Slug (Ariolimax columbianus).  Some may have black patches giving them a camo look.  Where I grew up on the west side of Puget Sound, we had the big yellow Banana Slugs.  I include him here to point out that these are not garden pests.  They are valuable detritivores that clean up plant and animal waste and recycle it into organic humus soil.  The gray, red or black slugs that relish our Petunias and Hostas are invaders from Europe, perhaps George III's revenge.  They are also threats to the native species through competition and predation.  When you encounter one of these natives in the woods, remember they are the good guys worthy of your protection.

You can visit the Kukutali Preserve in small guided groups on most Saturdays.  To make reservations to join a group, call 360-661-0682.

For a different look of this visit to Kukutali, check out  "Visiting Old Friends" at Wild Fidalgo.

Skywatch Friday: Finally Spring

After months of La Niña gloom, wet and cold, this is the South Fidalgo Island view I remember.  On the last day of March, the same scene looked like this:

The Gibralter Road Landslide

This run-of-the-mill photo tells a story.  It is a view of Gibralter Road which runs along the south shore of Fidalgo Island.  A story is revealed by the left-tilting power pole, the meandering guard rail, the uneven road surface and possibly the tilting right-turn road sign.  The next power pole down the road tilts to the right which becomes more apparent further around the bend.

On December 30, 1990, I was rousted out of bed at 03:30 in the morning.  I found five members of the Mt. Erie Fire Department on my porch.  They explained that a landslide was underway and that it was urgent that I leave the house immediately.  I was instructed not to waste any time packing or preparing.  Just get dressed and get out.  Wow!

Like many, I presume, I thought a landslide was something that suddenly went ka-woosh.  Luckily, this one didn't.  Instead, it was a very slow and gradual movement of a piece of the earth that lasted several weeks.  It was more of a creep than a plummet.  The hump in the guard rail near the foreground marks the location of a crack that opened up right across the pavement.  The asphalt separated about 8 inches (20 cm) and the far side was displaced up more than a foot (30 cm).  I'm not sure if it was raised up or if the near side dropped.  Maybe both happened.  When I aimed a flashlight down the crack, I could not see the bottom.  The narrow chasm seemed to go down forever.  From here, the area of the slide extended about 1,500 feet (460 m) down the road to the southwest.  On the far end, the slump block dropped about 6 feet (2 m).

The Washington Department of Ecology has mapped slide risk areas along South Fidalgo Island.  The arrow locates the 1990 event.  As a reference, Deception Pass is in the lower left corner.

There are more pieces of the story further down the road.  In spots, a stair-step pattern of terraces is revealed in the profile of the hillside facing Skagit Bay.  Gibralter Drive which climbs to the top of the bluff, appears to cut through one of these terraces.

Downslope from Gibralter Road, the Salmon Beach community appears to sit on another hillside terrace.  These level areas along the bluffs bordering Puget Sound provide stunning views and have become highly coveted home sites.

This diagram from Be Safe Net illustrates the anatomy of the 1990 Gibralter Road landslide.  It also shows how the hillside profile has formed over time.  This was a slump or rotational landslide.  Rather than a piece of the hill moving straight down, a circular section rotates.  A terrace is left at the top and the toe of the slide may rise up out of the ground.  In multiple or successive slide events,  a step pattern forms along the bluff.  It was a real eye-opener when geologists visiting our neighborhood pointed this out to us.  Because they provided fairly level surfaces, both Gibralter and Salmon Beach roads probably run along such terraces.

Excessive rainfall and slope saturation are primary triggers for landslides.  During November, 1990 we received a record 10.67 inches (27 cm) of rain.  This is about half our normal rainfall for an entire year.  Water saturated ground was likely the primary cause leading to the late December slide.

The concept of "earth tides" was also introduced as a possible precipitating factor.  At the time of the event, we were experiencing an alignment of sun, moon and earth that was producing record low tides.  Some geologists speculated that a gravitational pull on the land itself helped initiate the slump of the saturated hillside.  Other experts pooh-poohed the idea, indicating that the force was too weak to make a difference.  Whether true or not, the idea of this theory is interesting.

The most dramatic evidence of South Fidalgo landslide activity may be seen from the beach.  The point in the photo marks the far southwestern end of the event where the slump dropped the most.  Beyond the point is Dewey Beach which curves around to Yokeko Point and Deception Pass.  There is a tilt in the surface of the point where the back side dropped about two meters.  Also, the trees show a noticeable lean to the right which is further evidence of a change in grade.  Over time, the trees will attempt to straighten themselves as they grow.  Their trunks will become curved in the process.

The change in the tilt of the top of the point did not all occur in 1990.  This has been an ongoing process over decades, perhaps centuries.  This photo of the face of the point shows there is also a tilt to the right and reveals the nature of the soil along this part of Fidalgo.  If I have done my homework, this is an example of glacial drift.  The material is called Vashon Till  which is compacted glacial sediment made of sand, rocks and clay.  Some boulders can be seen eroding out of the cliff face.  A thin layer of what passes for topsoil is visible at the top.  Around much of South Fidalgo Island, this is the material in which many of us struggle to garden.  It defies all efforts at soil improvement with organic material.  This Vashon Glaciation material was deposited here between 15,000 and 18,000 years ago.

At the time of the landslide, other signs of the event could be seen.  Sections of the bluff peeled off and fell into the bay, concrete bulkheads heaved and cracked and entire trees were dropped onto the beach.  Over the past 20+ years, much of this evidence has been covered by regrowth of vegetation or cleared away by the tides.  The large rock on the beach may be a glacial erratic either eroded out of the bluff or dropped near the spot by a melting glacier.


Trees can also provide evidence of past landslide activity.  Back home in my own yard, the trunks of many of the big Douglas and Grand Firs are curved.  This is not a normal growth habit.  When the tree was young, the slope of the ground changed and the tree tilted.  As the tree grew over the following decades, it gradually straightened itself leaving a curve in the trunk.  On a slope, the trunk will typically curve into the hillside as the slump mass rotates.  In my yard, some adjacent trees actually curve in different directions.  This indicates that the ground tilted back and forth over the years.  The mature trees are now nice a straight above the curved sections indicating the ground has stabilized for the moment.

When I built the house, I was required to include a geologist's report in the application for a building permit.  The report indicated that unlike areas to the east and west, this property had stabilized.  As predicted, my home was outside the 1990 slide area and the house was unaffected by it.

In the end, only one house in the slide zone was red-tagged and needed to be abandoned.  It was literally split in half by the fault line of the slide.  At another spot, a swimming pool cracked and drained.  One family left ahead of the evacuation when they started hearing wall board nails popping out of the house's frame.  Some of my neighbors reported that they had doors that were jammed shut because the frame had shifted.  Others spoke of how their basement ceilings now had a wavy shape.  It was quite an adventure for all of us.

One of the legacies of the 1990 landslide is several hundred feet of riprap seawall along the shoreline.  Approvals by no less than ten agencies were required to build it.  Shoreline erosion is a natural process that nourishes the beach (.pdf).  It helps create habitat for fish and other marine life.  The process should be disturbed as little as possible, and this kind of shoreline hardening is normally discouraged.  But the slide initiated some alarming and rapid erosion along the beach front.  To protect our homes, we were advised that a loose rock riprap seawall was a preferable (.pdf) alternative to concrete or other solid bulkheads.  Riprap will absorb more wave action and allow beach material to accumulate.  Upland sediments can continue to be delivered to the beach.  It also has a more natural look that blends visually with the environment.

Soft armoring methods and site drainage improvements were also employed.  The bluff was allowed to re-vegetate naturally with native plants.  The accumulation of driftwood is welcomed by homeowners.  These efforts appear to have stabilized the shoreline while preserving the character of the beach.  The county made improvements in surface water management in the slide area.  Open ditches were replaced with closed culverts.  This provided controlled removal of storm water runoff rather than allowing it to soak into the ground.

If nothing else, the 1990 Gibralter Road Landslide was a learning experience.  We became more aware of the ground under our feet and the processes that affect it.  We were taught a little about our local geology and how shorelines work.  We discovered the best ways we humans can fit comfortably, safely and naturally into this environment.  Individual homeowners have become diligent Shore Stewards and remain mindful and informed about activities that can affect bluff stability.  In this regard, the Guide for Shoreline Living (.pdf) is a handy booklet for homeowners.

Some persistent and heavy rainfall over the past month reminded me of this event.  During rainy periods around here, we don't look to the skies any more.  We look to the ground.

If you are like me and curious about these subjects, I can recommend a couple of good blogs to follow.  They were also part of the inspiration for this post:

Gravel Beach
Reading the Washington Landscape




Weather Statistics for March, 2012

Temperature	High 58.4° F	Low 29.1° F	Mean 42.5° F
Rainfall	2.13 inches
Wind	High 33 mph	Average 3.3 mph	Dom Dir S

Observed at South Fidalgo Island (See Climate page for complete climatological data)

Navigating Deception Pass

The Fidalgo Island side of Deception Pass is remarkable for the rocky headlands jutting into the waterway.  One is called Lighthouse Point.  The rock is volcanic, evidence of the fiery origins of many islands in this area.  Both the swift currents and these stony points can make transit a hazard for boaters.  The little navigation light in the upper-left corner of the photo has the job of guiding watercraft safely through the pass.  Lighthouse Point can be visited by following the trail that begins at Bowman Bay in Deception Pass State Park.

The Lighthouse Point trail begins at the Bowman Bay parking lot.  Head south past the fishing dock to find the trail head.  I was seen off by a pair of Canada Geese.  The gander on the right gave me a look that said, "come one step closer and you'll regret it."  The trail begins with a steep climb with switchbacks.  Very soon, it levels off along the cliffside, then descends back down to the beach.  The rest of the way is an easy hike.

Halfway along the trail, the Deception Pass bridge comes into view.  On the left is Lotte Point, another of the Fidalgo headlands at Deception Pass.


Upon reaching the grassy top of Lighthouse Point, I found native wildflowers blooming.  On the left is Douglas' Blue-eyed Grass (Sisyrinchium douglasii) a member of the Iris family.  It made little purple patches all over the grass which announced, "stay on the paths."  It likes the growing conditions here which is basically wet in the spring, and very dry through the summer.

On the right is Red-flowering Currant (Ribes sanguineum) a very attractive shrub which was growing at the forest margins and along the trails.  The same plant is available at nurseries.  It makes a terrific, early-blooming, low-maintenance addition to the wildlife garden.  At home, I have some that have come up wild in the yard.

At Lighthouse Point, the navigation light actually sits on a small island of stone separated by a deep chasm.  It is not possible to walk up to the light.  I have been told there once was a real lighthouse tower here.  I do love lighthouses, but in the case of Deception Pass, its removal may have been for the best.  The little light serves its purpose without detracting from the grandeur of this spectacular setting.

Skywatch Friday: US Navy P-3C Orion

For this Skywatch photo, we leave our usual South Fidalgo camera location.  While visiting the West Beach area in Deception Pass State Park, I grabbed this quick shot.  There wasn't even time to check the camera settings.  This is a US Navy P-3C Orion coming in for a landing at N.A.S. Whidbey Island.  Long range patrol is the aircraft's mission.  I also learned the stunning paint job is a heritage design from the 1960's.  This is part of the Navy's celebration of a century of naval aviation.

Naval aircraft are part of the wildlife around here, a feature many of us enjoy.  You can Google the tail number for more details about this particular plane.