Thursday, July 07, 2016

Thursday Thirteen 421: New Cannonball Extension

Last week I had the chance to walk the new Cannonball Path extension, which was completed late last summer. Part of this section skirts the edge of the Arboretum wetlands, and runs from the Beltline to Fish Hatchery Rd. There was a plethora of flowers, so you know my camera was out along the entire length of this walk. Here is a glimpse of what I saw . . .



Crown Vetch

Black-eyed Susans

Looking south down the path

St. John's Wort

Arboretum Wetlands


Waterlilies -- I could hear frogs along here, but never saw them



Milkweed and bee

Daisies and Black-eyed Susans


There is a small section of this path that runs parallel to railroad tracks
(The entire Cannonball Path is built along former tracks)




LINKING TO: Thursday Thirteen




10 comments:

Lea said...

What a nice place to walk! Lovely photos!

Heather said...

Thanks, Lea-- It was fun to explore this end of the path for the first time.

mittens said...

and what a perfect time of year for it, too. all those flowers are just lovely.

jennifer anderson said...

I always liked black eyed susans, looks like home :)

Alice Audrey said...

Wait. The path is marked off like a road? Last place I saw that was Whistler, Canada. In their case, they substituted paths for actual roads, being a fitness freak type town.

Beth @ PlantPostings said...

I'll have to check out that path. Lovely photos of the flowers! The only one I don't like (here in the Midwest, anyway) is Crown Vetch. It's horribly invasive and so difficult to remove because it spreads by seeding and underground, horizontal rhizomes. It's been used for many years to prevent erosion on hills near roadways, but now we know how invasive it can be. It's fine in its native habitat in Europe, Asia, and Africa, but not here. It's a plant used with good intentions that got out of control. Sorry, but I recently had to weed it out of a garden where I volunteer, and it was not a pleasant experience. ;-)

Heather said...

Mittens: Yes, a good time of year for walking along local bike paths. Except maybe today, as we could see a heat index near 100. :-\

Jennifer: Aren't Black-eyes Susans such a cheerful flower?

Heather said...

Alice: Yes, some of our paved bike paths are divided like a regular street would be. People are supposed to walk/ride on the right and pass on the left, but people don't always do so. I haven't been out along this path since last week's storm, but based on the downed trees at the Arboretum that I can see from the road, I'm betting there were a lot of downed trees or limbs last week.

Beth: Yes, that is the downside to crown vetch. It's pretty, but incredibly invasive, and I have noticed a lot more of it this year than years past. The Cannonball Path now stretches from Fish Hatchery Road (just north of the Town Police Dept) past Seminole Highway. It crosses the Beltline by Culver's/Don's Home Furnishings and then crosses Post Rd, before continuing on to Seminole Hwy (southern edge of Arboretum's Grady Tract). It then continues maybe a quarter mile along the northern edge of Dunn's Marsh to a junction of several different paths, including the Capitol City, Military Ridge, and Badger State Trails. This is one of the newest bike paths in Madison, built along an abandoned rail line of the Union Pacific Railway. It's about five miles in length now.

colleen said...

Crown vetch is such a pretty ground cover. That pink droopy plant is so unusual. Never seen it before.

Heather said...

Colleen: Yes, crown vetch does make a pretty ground cover, but it is extremely invasive.