{"id":1057,"date":"2007-06-16T02:11:00","date_gmt":"2007-06-16T02:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.somewhereinnj.com\/?p=1057"},"modified":"2014-10-01T03:33:12","modified_gmt":"2014-10-01T03:33:12","slug":"bog-beauties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.somewhereinnj.com\/?p=1057","title":{"rendered":"Bog beauties"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Bogs are unique places; the sphagnum mats (if you\u2019re daring and foolish) allow you the chance to walk on water, you can watch plants eat animals, and you\u2019re offered a view into the past. Bogs that I\u2019ve visited in upstate NY have that primeval sort of feel because they’ve remained untouched and unspoiled since the last ice age. Webb\u2019s Mill Bog in the middle of NJ doesn\u2019t have that same sort of effect because it\u2019s relatively small and next to a major highway, but I\u2019m sure there are similar bogs elsewhere in the Pine Barrens where one can witness this topsy-turvy world without the rush of cars speeding by in the distance.<\/p>\n

At the edge of the water, on the buoyant mats of sphagnum moss, tiny orchids gently nod in the soft breath of a late spring afternoon. These wanderers from a much more lush tropical home rub shoulders with sundews a\"\"<\/a>nd purple-veined pitcher plants, half-filled with rainwater, digesting the days\u2019 catch. The orchids also have their tricks to lure insect pollinators; a colorful lip or beard covered with fleshy hairs that serves as a landing platform for insects. Of the pink orchids that bloom in the Barrens, the Grass Pink Orchid is the one with its beard on the uppermost petal.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t imagine these plants to be rare elsewhere in the country, but for me they\u2019re a colorful reminder of times spent in less urban wildernesses.<\/p>\n

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Bogs are unique places; the sphagnum mats (if you\u2019re daring and foolish) allow you the chance to walk on water, you can watch plants eat animals, and you\u2019re offered a view into the past. Bogs that I\u2019ve visited in upstate NY have that primeval sort of feel because they’ve remained untouched and unspoiled since the … Continue reading Bog beauties<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3531,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.somewhereinnj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1057"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.somewhereinnj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.somewhereinnj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.somewhereinnj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.somewhereinnj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1057"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.somewhereinnj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1057\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.somewhereinnj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.somewhereinnj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.somewhereinnj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.somewhereinnj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}