Rich colors and intersecting trails inspired me to photograph this ecotonal view of the high marsh in 2012. A cloud-strewn February sky reflected in a lingering high tide was an especially nice complement to the warm tones and patterns of the surrounding landscape. In this view, variations in marsh species not only create artistic compositions between the hammocks, but they also indicate minor changes in elevation and degrees of salinity in the soil. Salt grass and glasswort in the salt panne in the foreground can tolerate the extra salinity that precipitates out of seawater during lengthy periods of evaporation between tidal inundation in the high marsh. Nearby drifts of gray-colored needle rush indicate a rapid change to the sweeter soils they prefer, where rainwater runoff from the adjacent “uplands” plays a greater role. In the low marsh, just barely visible in the distance, the ubiquitous salt meadow cordgrass prefers the more even salinity of constant tidal flushing.
Completed in 2016, South End Junction now hangs in LSSI’s Cedar House.
The viewpoint of the painting is located where Wish Bone Trail meets South End Road. (Google Maps: 31.234870, -81.308800)
