26 March 2022
This week the elms, maples, ornamental cherries and northern magnolias began to bloom in Pittsburgh. Their flowers have not yet reached their peak and that’s a good thing. Tomorrow night the low will be 19 degrees F and will devastate the tender petals.
Above, an ornamental cherry shows off its delicate pink-white blossoms in the sun on Thursday 24 March. Below, a northern magnolia flower peeks out of its winter coat in Schenley Park on Tuesday 22 March.
Red maple flowers are either male or female. These female pistils are waiting for pollen from the male flowers. Pollen season is coming soon!
Cornelian cherry (Cornus mas), one of the earliest shrubs to bloom in western Pennsylvania, is a Eurasian member of the dogwood family. It can also look like an understory tree.
Also blooming in yellow this week, forsythia is putting out tentative flowers.
And at Frick Park the hellebore planted near the Environmental Education Center is in full bloom (probably Hellebore odorus). I wonder if these nodding flowers will survive the cold.
Meanwhile I’m not worried about the new leaves on these hardy invasive plants. I doubt they’ll be damaged by the cold.
Take a look at flowers today. They’ll be gone tomorrow night.
(photos by Kate St. John)