29 March 2025

This week saw the real beginning of flower and leaf activity at Schenley Park, Aspinwall Riverfront Park, Barking Slopes and Raccoon Wildflower Reserve.

Flowers and …

Weather makes all the difference for spring wildflowers. They show off on sunny days.

The best weather by far was on 25 March at Barking Slopes where I found a single blooming sharp-lobed hepatica (Hepatica acutiloba), lots of harbinger of spring (Erigenia bulbosa), cutleaf toothwort (Cardamine concatenata) in the bud, and coltsfoot (Tussilago farfara) opening to the sun.

The ramps (Allium tricoccum) are up.

Yesterday it rained while I visited Raccoon Wildflower Reserve, though it was sunny for half an hour at the start. These spring beauties (Claytonia virginica) were open early on … before I got wet.

Speedwell (Veronica persica) was hiding in the grass at Aspinwall Riverfront Park last Monday. Beautiful color.

Trees: A Hint of Green and First Leaf Out

Leaf out begins in the City long before the outlying areas. On 27 March at Schenley Park the willows gave a hint of spring and native buckeyes were already leafing out.

At this time of year a tree that looks red at the top is a probably a flowering red maple (Acer rubrum) — like this one in Schenley Park.

I always search for low hanging branches to photograph the flowers. On 19 March this female red maple flower was easy to reach. The male flowers are yellowish because of pollen.

Also on 19 March, yellow buckeyes (Aesculus flava) were already leafing out.

By 27 March the bottlebrush buckeyes (Aesculus parviflora) had sizable leaves.

For the next three days it will be very cloudy in Pittsburgh but the temperature in the city will range from 59°F to 78°F — basically 60-80°.

I expect more flower and leaf activity before it turns cold on April Fools Day. Cold. No kidding.