End of Summer Fun- Panther creek

The last weekend of summer vacation we had a visit from Aunt Tabitha and Uncle James. We took them to one of our favorite places to play Panther creek.


Panther creek is actually just a scenic spot along Big Reed Island Creek. The road we take to get out there is called Panther creek rd. and so we have always called it Panther creek.


Beautiful views up here!


We enjoyed a picnic lunch on the rocks next to the water. While we were hanging out, this tiny butterfly landed on my boy.



It seemed very curious and stayed for a few minutes, the fluttered away.



We took Aunt Tabitha on a hike up throw the rocks along this smaller creek. It's actually kind of a difficult hike. It's very rocky, steep and slippery. The kids were having such a great time, we went a bit farther than we usually hike. We found this beautiful little waterfall. The kids really wanted to keep going, but we had the boys behind (they were afraid of the poison ivy) so we turned around and went back. The climb down (rocky, steep and slippery) is a lot more difficult than it was going up.


i had to get pictures of all the lovely wildflowers. This is a native wildflower called Cardinal flower. i would have loved to bring one home to transplant in my native wildflower garden, but only saw the one while we were hiking so i left it alone.


One of the cliffs was covered in Wild bleeding hearts. We found some of these earlier in the spring, so i was surprised to find them now.


i also spotted these, and had no idea what they were. They are called Pale Corydalis.



After we had left Panther creek, we drove down a dirt road to look at an area where there had been a pretty significant rock slides a couple years ago. i caught a glimse of these pink/purple flowers and made my husband stop the car so i could go back and see what they were. From my first glass i thought they might be a wild rose. However when i took a look at the plant, i was really surprised at what i saw. The leaves look almost like grape leaves, and there are no thorns on the stems. The flowers look like raspberries, although they are larger and purple. The seed/fruit pods are fuzzy red, similar to the wineberry.


i was even more surprised to find fruit! The berries look like raspberries!! i brought home a leaf and flower to help me identify it. i have never seen anything like it!!

So what is this mystery plant?? It's a Purple flowering raspberry or Virginia raspberry. Seriously, how have i never heard of this?!? It's a native flower, and in all my researching of local native flowers i have never ever come across this. It makes no sense at all.

These were just growing on the side of dirt road, not far from my house. i'll be heading back to get a clipping of it, so i can get it established on my land. i absolutely love wild berries, and native wildflowers and this is has the best of both worlds. It's an absolutely beautiful plant and the berries are edible, and good for the wildlife.