Yesterday I wrote about coltsfoot but it’s not the first native wildflower to bloom in western Pennsylvania. That honor goes to snow trillium (Trillium nivale).
I looked for snow trillium last weekend at Raccoon Creek Wildflower Reserve and found the leaves but the deer had eaten all the flowers. 🙁
Dianne and Bob Machesney found these blooming at Cedar Creek Park in Westmoreland County.
Thankfully there are fewer deer at Cedar Creek.
(photo by Dianne Machesney)
At last I’ve found coltsfoot blooming. Spring is officially here.
Coltsfoot is an introduced plant that blooms earlier than most of our native wildflowers. It’s not picky about habitat so you’ll find these dandelion-like flowers by the side of the road and in waste places.
When you see the flower you won’t see the leaves. They’re hidden at the base of the plant right now but will grow into large colts’- foot-shaped leaves after the flowers are gone.
Normally I find coltsfoot blooming around March 25. In last year’s hot weather it appeared on March 14. You can see why I’m impatient.
At last!
(photos by Marcy Cunkelman)
Easter is early, winter is late. Few flowers are blooming in western Pennsylvania.
This weekend my surviving crocuses opened fully to receive a visit from a honeybee. He emerged with pollen pantaloons just like this bee in Marcy Cunkelman’s garden.
The bees are happy to find flowers this Easter Day.
(photo by Marcy Cunkelman)
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25 March 2013: Snow again! We are so ready for spring here in Pittsburgh.
The crocuses bloomed early last week but were slammed shut on Wednesday by a low of 200F. Daffodil leaves emerged and paused. Don’t even ask about tulips.
But Spring is south of us and it’s on its way. There’s a rule of thumb that says Spring moves north 13 miles a day.
Here’s an easy way to watch its progress.
Journey North has a Tulip Test Garden website where observers report when leaves emerge and flowers bloom from the tulip bulbs they planted last fall. Many of the tulip gardens are student projects at elementary schools such as Della Kurtzhals’ class at Clarion Area Elementary School in Clarion, PA.
So how far away is spring? At Providence Day School in Charlotte, NC the first tulip bloomed on March 18. Using the rule of thumb, here’s my guess at blooming times in Pittsburgh and Clarion:
This is just an estimate. Actual blooming times may vary. I won’t be charged like Punxsutawney Phil was for “misrepresenting spring.” (Click here to read about the charges made against him in Hamilton, Ohio. The comments are hilarious.)
So while your garden is covered in snow, rest assured that spring is moving north. You can see it approaching on the Tulip Test Garden map.
(photo from Wikimedia Commons. Click on the image to see the original)
Just in time for St. Patrick’s Day…
The first plant to open leaves in my neighborhood is always the invasive bush honeysuckle across the street. Though I’m not fond of the species I’m always happy to see these particular bushes green up. They’re one of my signs of Spring.
Yesterday, March 15, was the first time the leaves were green enough to see at a distance.
A year ago the hot weather put us well beyond honeysuckle leaves and into magnolia flowers by this date.
Here’s a picture from March 16,2012.
Frankly, I’m quite happy we’re having a normal spring.
(photos by Kate St. John)
18 December 2012
It’s poinsettia time so I went online to look for a pretty picture. That’s when I got into trouble.
I searched Wikimedia Commons for poinsetta and found only four pictures. Huh? Only 4? That cannot be possible.
One of the photos pointed to another view of the same plant and I finally got the hint. I was spelling it the way I pronounce it — poin SET ah — without the second “i.” I was spelling it wrong.
Poinsettias are native to Mexico where they are very leggy plants in the wild. They were named for Joel Roberts Poinsett, first U.S. Minister to Mexico, who brought them to the U.S. in 1825.
The plant became popular as a Christmas decoration when Albert Ecke became fascinated by them, his son learned to make them into bushier, more beautiful plants, and his grandson promoted them on television in the 1960’s. The rest is history.
Meanwhile, I was shocked — shocked! — to discover that there are two i’s in poinsettia and the second “i” should (or could) be pronounced. I have never pronounced that second “i” and I wondered if this was a ‘Burgh thing (we have a notoriously vowel poor accent) so I conducted an informal poll.
How do you say the name of this plant?
So far, everyone I’ve asked says poin-SET-ah (no second “i”). Two people knew about the extra “i” and one of them changed her pronunciation after she learned about it — but she didn’t start out that way.
I’ve heard that in some parts of the U.S. people say poin-SET-tee-ah, but if you’re from the Pittsburgh, well… Poinsetta.
Hah! No wonder I misspelled it.
(photo by André Karwath on Wikimedia Commons. Click on the image to see the original)
Pretty berries, right?
Wrong. You don’t want them! These are the fruits of mile-a-minute weed (Persicaria perfoliata), an invasive species that earned its name because it grows really fast — up to 25 feet in a single growing season.
Mile-a-minute arrived in Stewartstown, PA from Japan in the late 1930’s and spread from there. Because birds and animals eat the berries, the plant spreads easily to new and remote locations. I’ve seen it growing on top of Laurel Mountain; Dianne Machesney photographed these berries at Green Cove Wetlands.
Mile-a-minute can take over a sunny spot very quickly and choke out every plant that underlies it. You can recognize it by its triangular leaves, barbed stems (it’s called a “tearthumb”) and cup-shaped shield leaves at the stem joints.
Because mile-a-minute is an annual with shallow roots you can eradicate it if you’re vigilant. Put on stout gloves and pull it out. If it’s gone to seed — as it has by now — collect the seeds first, then pull.
Here’s what to do in a fun video from the Home and Garden Information Center at the University of Maryland Extension.
(photo of fruit by Dianne Machesney, photo of leaves in the public domain from Wikimedia Commons, video from University of Maryland Extension)
Sometimes seed pods are just as interesting as the flowers that produce them.
These many-faceted globes are Wingstem (Verbesina alternifolia) gone to seed.
(photo by Kate St. John)
Are you collecting fall foliage to dress up a flower arrangement?
Don’t touch this plant!
Poison ivy is putting on quite a show as it turns beautiful shades of red and orange that highlight its white berries. Birds love the berries but most humans develop a rash — or worse — from touching the plant.
If you’re not sure how to identify poison ivy, click here for the clues that will spare you an itchy experience.
Leaves of three, let them be! … even when they’re red.
(photo of poison ivy in Schenley Park this week, by Kate St. John)
These beautiful fall crocuses are blooming today near the back entrance of Carnegie Museum and Library.
What a treat to see this vision of spring in September.
(photo by Kate St. John)