• Wednesday-What'sUP October 31 - 12:44 am

Melanie Hakala Rossi and her friend Melody were out exploring around Thayer's Lake near Gay, when they spotted some bright red bushes. Upon closer inspection, they found them to be loaded with berries... Michigan Holly is what they had found, so Melody began to gather some together, while Melanie did what she does best, gathered a few pictures. What a peaceful looking spot.

Their next stop was the Tobacco River, to see what it is up to this fall. What a pretty scene, no matter what the season, this river seems to always carve a path of beauty along her route to Lake Superior.

Thanks for taking us along on your U.P. autumn adventure.

Great pics.

love the pictures.;O)

todays Detroit Free Press has a story....Senator targets 2 Michigan Parks as among the most 'wasteful' U.S. expense.

Nice outing.

What a fun time! We took a picture of the Tobacco while on our drive to Mt Bohemia when we were there. It's such a peaceful setting. We could have sat there all day, but there were things to see.

Thanks for sharing your day with us!

So that plant is not bittersweet? I saw some growing downstate and thought that's what it was. Guess it's time to google!

We planted a holly bush many years ago and wondered why it just had green berries instead of the red ones ~ turns out there has to be 'male' and 'female' bushes planted together for the red berries to develop. Who knew?:<
One thing we did find out ~ the bushes do get BIG!

Bittersweet is more of a vine and has a hard shell
or husk around the berry.

Pretty Shots melanie..love the red berries and
tobacco shots... and the little devil too....

Nice pictures, also a great area for deer hunting.

They look more like Winterberries. But whatever it is, it's pretty and would make nice decorating.

That's what I was thinking, Janie, since there are no leaves. My holly bush has leaves year round.

But I'm not real positive but I think the Winterberry is one of the many varieties of the Holly....If I remember my Grandma Ada telling me. She had the greenest of green thumbs!

My googling tells me that Michigan holly and winterberry are the same thing. So much we learn here!

In that case it's evident that my holly bush isn't a Michigan holly ~ has green leaves and green berries now ~ must be an Ohio holly.;)

Searching found, some Holly hold their leaves (the better known one) some don't. These that don't are the more winter hardy variety.
Since Bittersweet was mention. There are two common and niether should become a seasonal decor. The native one is becoming rare so it should be left to re-seed where it is growing. The other is invasive and drops it's seeds too easy so should not be moved.

I love all the pictures...but, my favorites are the third and last one. ;O)