There’s a bumper crop of pea pods on the redbud trees in Schenley Park.
Ten weeks ago the trees had delicate pink flowers and only a hint of leaves.
This month their trunks and branches are dripping with peas.
Normally the pods are hidden by the foliage but this year they’re so prolific you can see them easily. Check the redbud trees on the right as you descend the stairs behind the Visitors’ Center.
It’s a good year for the pea trees.
(photos by Kate St. John)
Yesterday I wrote about a rare butterfly, today a flower that’s rare in Pennsylvania.
Silverweed (Argentina anserina, formerly Potentilla anserina) is a low-growing plant of sandy soil that spreads by runners. It’s called silverweed because the hairs on its leaves give it a silver sheen. In Pennsylvania the only place it grows is Presque Isle State Park because that’s the only location with suitable habitat.
On a worldwide basis silverweed is not rare at all. It occurs in the northern hemisphere in Europe, North America and Asia. It’s as wide-ranging as Iceland and Tibet.
But for us it’s a treat to see. Dianne Machesney found only one plant at Presque Isle last Monday.
(photo by Dianne Machesney)
Lupine is a beautiful blue flower that’s a symbol of summer in northern North America. I used to believe (incorrectly) that it couldn’t grow as far south as Pennsylvania. Here it is blooming at Presque Isle State Park earlier this week.
In a patch of wild lupine we could dream that the endangered Karner Blue butterfly (Lycaeides melissa samuelis) would take up residence here, but it would be an impossible dream.
The Karner Blue (shown below) is totally dependent on native wild lupine for its life cycle. It lays its eggs on lupine. Its larvae eat lupine. It places its chrysalis on lupine. Fortunately the adults feed on many flowers but there would be no adults without lupine.
Native wild lupine is not enough. This butterfly prefers oak savanna or pine barren habitat. Unfortunately many of these places were cut down for farming and development or became forests due to fire suppression or the disappearance of gazing animals (buffalo). When the habitat disappeared, so did the butterfly. It’s now extirpated (locally extinct) through most of its range and listed as endangered.
Efforts have been made to restore the Karner Blue’s habitat and the butterfly itself in Ohio and New Hampshire. These have met with some success but the clock is ticking on this species because it requires one more thing. Where winters are cold it needs snow cover to protect its overwintering eggs, but snow cover is becoming rare too because the climate is changing into volatile extremes of heat and cold that melt the snow, then plunge the ground into a deep freeze.
Dependent on lupine and snow, this rare butterfly is unlikely to take up residence in Pennsylvania … ever.
(photo of wild lupine by Dianne Machesney. Photo of the Karner Blue from Wikimedia Commons; click on the butterfly to see the original photo.)
Here’s another beauty blooming now in western Pennsylvania.
Fringed polygala is only 3 to 6 inches tall so you’ll have to look closely to find it.
Dianne Machesney saw this one along the Butler Freeport Trail near Monroe Road. Today I’m going to go see it.
(photo by Dianne Machesney)
The big splash of spring wildflowers is over but there are some treats out there if you know where to look.
Last weekend Dianne Machesney visited the Butler-Freeport Trail and found wild columbine blooming. It’s also blooming at the Magee Marsh boardwalk in northwestern Ohio, the first time I’ve ever seen it there.
The hot weather in March put the plants ahead of schedule in Ohio just as they are here. Maybe I’ve finally seen what Magee Marsh vegetation looks like just after the warblers — and birders — are gone.
(photo by Dianne Machesney)
Have you ever noticed how many things are yellow in the Spring?
Many warblers are yellow — it helps them hide among yellow-green leaves. Many flowers are yellow — their pollinators are attracted to that color.
Golden ragwort (Packera aurea) is yellow too.
It’s blooming now in western Pennsylvania.
(photo by Dianne Machesney)
Mayapples (Podophyllum peltatum) got their name because they bloom in May.
Last Wednesday, April 25, I found the first ones blooming in Schenley Park. This feels very early but my records on Mayapple blooming times are sparse and unreliable. 
The ones in Schenley may be three weeks ahead of schedule.
Perhaps they should be called April-apples this year.
(flower closeup by Dianne Machesney)
This flower never cares if it rains or snows because it never opens.
Toadshade or Sessile trillium (Trillium sessile) has a stalkless flower of three, small, dark red petals that always remain in the closed position.
Sesslie trillium is usually found in clumps because the plants sprout from rhizomes. Its true leaves are papery coverings on the rhizomes. What we call “leaves” are actually three bracts. Sometimes they are mottled with dark spots as in the photo at this link.
Those in the know say Sessile trillium smells foul to attract its fly and beetle pollinators.
I have never approached close enough to smell it, but I wonder… Do toads wait in the shade beneath sessile trillium to nab an unsuspecting fly? Is that why it’s called toadshade?
(photo by Dianne Machesney)
Here’s a beautiful flower you can find in the wild. It goes by many names — Pale Violet, Cream Violet or Striped Cream Violet — but it has only one scientific name: Viola striata.
Dianne Machesney found it blooming at Buck Run last weekend.
If you live in Pennsylvania go look for it early today. The weather will soon become awful. I heard the word “snow” for tomorrow!
(photo by Dianne Machesney)
p.s. Fill your bird feeders! The birds will need extra energy to wait out the storm.
When Blue-eyed Mary (Collinsia verna) is at its peak the forest is carpeted in snowy blue.
The tops of the flowers are white, the lower lips blue. Up close they’re pretty, too.
These photos were taken last year at Braddock’s Trail Park in Irwin, Pennsylvania. Tomorrow you can go see them with the Wissahickon Nature Club. Judy Stark is leading an outing there on Thursday April 19 at 10:00am. See the details below.
I wish I didn’t have to be at work…
April 19 – Thursday – 10:00am – Braddock’s Trail, Irwin , PA.
Judy Stark – Cell: 412-327-9537
Directions from Pittsburgh : Take 376E to Exit 78A to US 30E/Ardmore Blvd. toward
Forest Hills , go 11.0 miles. Pass Norwin Town Centre. At the next stoplight, take a
sharp Rt. on Robbins Station Rd. Follow it carefully for about 3 miles (it makes several
right and left turns) until it dead ends in the park.
The Blue-eyed Mary’s are spectacular here, as well as other Spring flowers. Bring a
bag lunch and a chair or blanket. There are 2 picnic tables and a porta-john.
The road through the park should be wheelchair accessible under a yellow gate.
(photos by Judy Stark, April 2011)