Fallen leaves at the Botany Hall fountain, Phipps Conservatory, 30 Sept 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
Signs of fall increased this week as late September gave way to October.
Fallen leaves floated on the bubbling fountain at Botany Hall, Phipps Conservatory. Leaves on Joe-Pye weed (Eutrochium purpureum) began turning yellow.
Joe-Pye weed, Lower Nine Mile Run, Frick Park, 2 October 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
Poison ivy, Ferncliff Peninsula, Ohiopyle, 28 Sept 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
Queen Anne’s lace (Darcus carota) now holds its seed capsules in a bundle, each one with tiny spines that cling to passing animals, including humans.
Queen Anne’s lace seed head, 30 Sept 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
And finally, parasites take advantage of late season leaves. The red oak leaf below has two kinds of parasites: tiny galls and (I think) a fungus.
Oak leaf with galls and fungus, 29 Sept 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
The weather is beautiful … after today’s fog burns off. Don’t forget to get outdoors!
(photos by Kate St. John)
(*) The fountain in front of Botany Hall is my very favorite because it invites me to lay my hands flat on the water’s surface. It bubbles up gently from a central pump and drips over the edge.
Woolly aphids that didn’t move, Frick Park, 25 Sept 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
26 September 2020
Yesterday at Frick Park I found woolly aphids that wouldn’t move. This was a disappointment because I expected them to boogie woogie (like this!). They had all the right characteristics. They were:
White and fluffy,
Clinging to narrow branches, in this case shrub-like tree trunks,
There was a black substance on the trunk below their colony, sooty mold that grows on their accumulated honeydew.
Bees and yellowjackets were feeding on the honeydew seep.
Here are two more photos showing them individually and collectively.
Woolly aphids that didn’t move, Frick Park, 25 Sept 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)Woolly aphids that didn’t move, Frick Park, 25 Sept 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
I tried to get them to dance but they refused. I believe they were on alders so that would make them woolly alder aphids.
If you’d like to see them for yourself, look below eye level on slender trunks of shrubs next to Nine Mile Run about 20 steps to the left of the park bench that views the creek. Approximately here: 40.427685, -79.901373.
Sun rays on a misty morning in Schenley Park, 8 Sept 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
20 September 2020
Fall is in the air in Pittsburgh as sun rays peek through autumn mist in Schenley Park.
Below, though the large ash trees have died of emerald ash borer the small ones still put out leaves that turn unique colors. These are on their way from yellow to lavender.
White ash leaves turn a variety of colors in fall, Schenley Park, 18 Sept 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
All summer we noticed curly dock (Rumex crispus) leaves and not the flowers. Now our attention is reversed because the seeds have turned a rich brown. The stalk is ugly, however the seeds are fascinating up close, each one surrounded by the calyx that produced them. The papery wings allow them to float on water and fly a bit in the wind.
Curly dock, gone to seed, Schenley Park, 17 Sept 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
The most obvious sign of fall is the temperature. 43 degrees F at dawn today. Speaking of gloves, you’ll need them when you go birding in the morning.
Photo#1: Is this poison ivy? (photo by Kate St. John)
On a walk last week I encountered two plants with poison ivy’s telltale three-leaf arrangement including a long stem on the middle leaf. One was poison ivy, the other was not.
Here they are, shown at top and below. Which one is poison ivy?
Photo#2: Is this poison ivy? (photo by Kate St. John)
Here’s another clue in two more photos — leaves and fruit. One is poison ivy, one is not.
Photo#3: Is this poison ivy? (photo by Kate St. John)Photo#4: One of the plants has samaras (photo by Kate St. John)
Porcelain berry, Three Rivers Heritage Trail, 7 Sep 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
In September porcelain berry’s (Ampelopsis glandulosa) beautiful porcelain-like fruits show why the plant was imported as an ornamental.
Porcelainberry, 3 Rivers Heritage Trail in Pittsburgh, 7 Sep 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
Unfortunately this Asian vine is terribly invasive, engulfing small trees and draping itself over large ones.
Porcelain berry drapes a hillside in Schenley Park (photo by Kate St. John)
Some people call it “wild grape” but you’ll never see grapes on it. Just porcelain berries.
This month you’ll find common evening primrose (Oenothera biennis) blooming in meadows, along roads and bike trails. The name implies that it opens only in the evening but I photographed these at midday. The flowers are 1-2 inches wide. The plants are hard to miss at six feet tall.
Common evening primrose, Eliza Furnace Trail, 7 Sept 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
Common evening primrose buds, Eliza Furnace Trail, 7 Sept 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
Meanwhile, bug love continues. This pair of goldenrod soldier beetles (also called Pennsylvania leatherwing (Chauliognathus pensylvanicus)) are perched on a flower in the Aster family while working to continue their species.
Spend time outdoors this week while the weather is good. Autumn is beautiful and all too short.
p.s. Thank you to Monica Miller and John English for correcting my bug identification mistake!
p.p.s. Did you notice that Pennsylvania is misspelled in the bug’s scientific name (only 1 ‘n’). This is not the only species with this misspelling. Can you name another?
Wild senna (Senna hebecarpa) flowers grow in bunches on a tall stem.
Each flower holds the secret to the bean. In the closeup below you see irregular yellow petals, stamens with brown anthers, and a tiny green stem with fuzzy white edges — the pistil. Instead of a single ovary at the base of the pistil there’s apparently a row of ovaries inside.
When the flower is fertilized, the yellow petals fall off. The stamens and pistil remain.
As the fuzzy green pistil grows the anthers fall off
Though still fuzzy, the former pistil begins to look like a bean pod.
The remaining twigs fall off, the bean pods lose their fuzz and Ta Dah!
Spicebush hints at autumn, Schenley Park, 26 Aug 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
29 August 2020
It’s beginning to look like fall is coming though it hasn’t felt that way. This past week was hot and muggy yet spicebush leaves are starting to turn yellow and many flowers have gone to seed.
Meanwhile at Frick Park the goats and their guard donkey are back in the large enclosure at Clayton East, munching away at invasive plants. The black goat at the fence is eating mile-a-minute weed on the fencing. Yay!
The goats are back! Frick Park, 28 Aug 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
Tansy at the meadow at Frick Park, 14 Aug 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
This week brought a profusion of August flowers and very localized rain.
Above, tansy’s rayless flower heads look like daisies without petals. Tansy (Tanacetum vulgare) has only one kind of flower — the small yellow ones in the central disk. Daisies have two kinds — the central disk plus white flower rays.
Below, cup plant (Silphium perfoliatum) is blooming in Schenley Park showing off the cupped leaves that give it its name.
Cup plant, Schenley Park, 10 Aug 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
Leaves join at the stem to make a cup on cup plant, Schenley Park, 10 Aug 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
Spotted knapweed (Centaurea stoebe) is invasive but the flower sure is pretty.
Spotted knapweed, Frick Park meadow, 14 Aug 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
Asiatic dayflower (Commelina communis) can be invasive, too, though the flower lasts only a day.
Asiatic dayflower, Duck Hollow, 8 Aug 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
This week brought rain to our new home north of Schenley Park and continuing drought just south of here. At home on 11 August it rained so hard that a bug took shelter on our window. Its location 70 feet off the ground explains why chimney swifts fly so high.
A bug took shelter from the rain at our new home north of Schenley, 11 Aug 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
While the bug was avoiding rain north of Schenley, no rain fell in the park just a mile away.
There’s still a drought in Schenley Park, 12 Aug 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
Jewelweed browsed by deer, Schenley Park, Aug 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
Seven years ago yellow (Impatiens pallida) and orange (Impatiens capensis) jewelweed were so plentiful in Schenley Park that their flowers attracted bumblebees, hummingbirds and my own curiosity. I often blogged about them as in this August 2013 article: Experiments with Jewelweed.
But all that has changed. In the last seven years the deer population in Schenley Park has exploded. Without predators deer can double their population in just two to three years. Two deer became 16 … and Schenley started with more than 2.
Meanwhile, edible plants have not increased exponentially and they can’t keep up with the heavy browsing. Jewelweed is a deer favorite so it’s routinely “mowed” to ankle height.
A large patch of jewelweed ‘mowed’ by deer, Schenley Park, Aug 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
A few individuals are able to sprout new leaves while the deer consume other areas but these recovering plants are few and far between.
This summer it’s hard to find a complete plant.
Jewelweed sprouts after deer browsing, Aug 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
The situation bothers me but has posed real problems for Andrea Fetters of the University of Pittsburgh who is studying pollen-associated viruses in Impatiens capensis and Impatiens pallida. She has so few study objects in Schenley Park that she’s had to add study sites north of Pittsburgh where jewelweed thrives because deer aren’t so plentiful.
Unfortunately the number of deer in Schenley Park is not going down any time soon. Predators, other than cars, would solve the problem. My friend Andrea Boykowycz suggests cougars, the “Pitt panther” mascot. It would be fitting to have two in Panther Hollow. Well, we already do but they’re frozen in place.
