Back in May 2014 I mused about Jack in the Pulpit in Schenley Park and his amazing story. For starters, Jack can be both male and female, but not simultaneously. Click to learn more at Jack Explains Himself.
(photo by Kate St. John)
9 May 2021
Have you ever seen these long black ropes draped on a fallen log? They were hidden under the bark before the tree died, and they’re the reason the tree died. These are mycelial cords or rhizomorphs of Armillaria, a genus of fungi that ultimately kills trees. It attacks the trees from underground.
Armillaria consists of 10 species which are easiest to identify by their mushrooms, the reproductive stage of the fungus. Honey mushrooms appear near the base of an infected tree but the spores rarely cause infection in other trees.
Instead, Armillaria spreads by the rhizomorphs shown at top which travel only eight inches below the soil surface, advancing about 3.3 ft (1 m) per year. As they make contact with another tree they invade the roots and then the trunk. If a tree is already infected it will spread the fungus via root grafts.
Armillaria spreads so far and lives so long that a single Armillaria ostoyae in the Malheur National Forest in Oregon was found to be 2,400 years old and the largest living organism on earth.
As the infection takes hold, the fungus invades more deeply via white mycelium sheets that damage the roots or girdle the tree. Here a fallen black cherry reveals its cause of death.
Schenley Park is riddled with Armillaria but we have no hint that a tree is invaded until it topples, sometimes at the roots.
Trees are so stoic. No matter what attacks them, they just have to stand there and take it.
(photos by Kate St. John and from Wikimedia Commons)
8 May 2021
Now that leaves are on the trees the bluest birds have shown up.
Charity Kheshgi photographed an indigo bunting (Passerina cyanea) at Homewood Cemetery on Wednesday 5 May …
… and a cerulean warbler (Setophaga cerulea) at Frick Park on 4 May.
Click the white arrows on the right side of photos to see more views.
By the way, today is Migratory Bird Day. Don’t miss this opportunity to get outdoors.
(photos by Charity Kheshgi via Instagram)
1 May 2021
This week April’s wildflowers faded, May flowers began to bloom, and the trees in Schenley Park leafed out.
On 26 April I found golden ragwort, wild geranium and white violets along the Lake Trail at Raccoon Creek State Park in Beaver County.
The city’s heat island effect was evident among the trees. The redbuds in Schenley Park leafed out while those in Beaver County were a week behind, still flowering.
We have so many leaves that they almost obscured an eastern screech-owl on the last day of April.
Welcome to the month of May.
(photos by Kate St. John)
24 April 2021
Spring weather was up and down this week with highs in the mid 60s on Tuesday and a low below freezing yesterday morning. Most discouraging, though, was Wednesday morning’s snow.
Long before the snow, I visited Barking Slopes to see spring wildflowers and paused to admire white redbuds at Frick Park as shown in the slideshow. Here’s a little bit more about the photos.
(photos by Kate St. John)
17 April 2021
Though it didn’t rain a lot this week April showers and chilly weather put a damper on outdoor plans.
On Monday 12 April we dodged the raindrops at Jennings to find ruby-crowned kinglets, field sparrows and a palm warbler. Rain beaded up on the trout lily leaves and rolled right off the dog violets. We got wet at the end of our walk. It poured on my way home.
In Schenley Park …
Redbud (Cercis canadensis) was in full bloom by Tuesday 13 April.
This jetbead (Rhodotypos scandens) flower was fading by Thursday 15 April. Native to China and Korea, jetbead was planted as an ornamental but became invasive in eastern North America.
Squawroot (Conopholis americana), a native parasitic plant, is now emerging at the base of oaks and beeches. Alternative names include American cancer-root, bumeh or bear corn.
As the leaves come out so do the insects. Even though these hackberry leaves are not fully open yet, tiny winged insects are crawling in the crevices. When the warblers arrive they will eat the bugs. This tree can hardly wait!
After Friday’s chilly drizzle I hope for warm dry weather soon.
(photos by Kate St. John)
12 April 2021
As soon as the trees leaf out the ground will be shady in Pennsylvania’s woodlands so our spring wildflowers are timed to bloom in April. I went to see them on Sunday at Braddock’s Trail Park in Westmoreland County, a place famous for blue-eyed Mary.
The captions identify each flower in the slideshow. Here’s a little more information:
If you live in Pittsburgh Braddock’s Trail Park is worth a visit for April wildflowers. More are coming soon. As of Sunday the trillium hadn’t bloomed yet.
(photos by Kate St. John)
10 April 2021
This week Pittsburgh’s sugar maples are clothed in spring green flowers while the oaks remain bare. Most trees bloom long before leaf out so their leaves won’t block the pollinators. These flowers take full advantage of the wind.
Did your allergies kick in this week? The trees are throwing off lots of pollen with little rain to lay the dust.
Insect-pollinated flowers will follow soon. On 3 April pawpaw flowers (Asimina triloba) were still tiny buds in Schenley Park but by the time they bloom the stems will be long and flexible. The dark maroon fetid-smelling flowers will hang like bells to attract flies and beetles. Click here to see a pawpaw flower.
Eastern redbud flowers (Cercis canadensis) had not opened in Schenley as of 7 April, but they showed promise.
Spring cress (Cardamine bulbosa) was blooming at Raccoon Wildflower Reserve on Easter Day.
And Virginia bluebells (Mertensia virginica) were open in Schenley Park on 9 April.
This winter I noticed that when moss grows up the base of saplings it looks like leggings on the trees. At Raccoon Wildflower Reserve I found an entire group of saplings wearing mossy leggings. Click here to see the whole group. (Anyone know what this mossy phenomenon is?)
Spring green will continue in the coming weeks as tiny leaves pop open and more trees bloom.
(photos by Kate St. John)
8 April 2021
About once a week I look back seven years to highlight an old blog post that is still interesting today. This morning when I looked back, I was stunned at how different spring is now in southwestern PA compared to April 2014. A lot has changed in seven years. Migrating ducks, singing frogs and flowers are showing up earlier in 2021. For instance …
Have you seen a lot of ruddy ducks lately? Seven years ago the bulk of their migration through Moraine State Park began on 5 April 2014. This year it started almost a month earlier on 11 March 2021 and is basically over now. Here’s the 2014 blog post that caught my attention: Ruddy Bubbles. Click on the hotspot icons here to see this year’s ruddy duck activity at Moraine.
Have you heard spring peepers or wood frogs calling lately? Seven years ago they were loud on 6 April 2014 (Jeepers Creepers) but this year their peak was on 12 March 2021 at Racooon Wildflower Reserve: Sights and Sounds of Early Spring. When I returned to Raccoon twelve days later the frogs were quieter. They were silent on 4 April 2021.
On 31 March 2021 I found bloodroot and hepatica blooming at Cedar Creek: Before The Freeze. Seven years ago they bloomed a couple of weeks later on 12 April 2014: It Was Fun While It Lasted.
What’s changed in seven years? The climate is warmer. Nature is responding.
It will be interesting to see what happens next.
(photos from Wikimdeia Commons and by Kate St. John)
3 April 2021
As I mentioned five days ago we had lovely warm weather in late March but now it has snowed on April Fools’ Day and dipped well below freezing in early April. Before the freeze I walked in Schenley Park and at Cedar Creek in Westmoreland County to see the flowers.
Above, the delicate pink flowers on this non-native ornamental tree won’t survive the frost. Fortunately most native wildflowers will do just fine.
Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) blooms early in the spring but is naturally cautious about exposing itself until sun shines on the plant. In these three photos, taken 31 March at Cedar Creek, you can see how the flowers are tightly closed in the morning (10:26am), begin to open as the sun hits them (11:12am) and are fully open in full sun (11:35am). The Botanical Society of Western PA schedules their walks for 1:00pm to take advantage of this behavior. They will be at Cedar Creek today.
Sharp-lobed hepatica (Hepatica acutiloba) also closes at night and opens in full sun. The flower stands tall but it takes effort to find the sharp-lobed leaves.
Cedar Creek is famous for snow trillium (Trillium nivale), a very hardy plant. Its flowers remain open after they bloom.
On the last day of March I found box elder leafing out in Schenley Park.
And then it snowed and I was out there in it. The last snow of the winter is not as much fun as the first one.
Soon we’ll see what the cold has wrought.
(photos by Kate St. John)
