It’s early for Field Mustard and it usually blooms by the side of the road but sometimes it’s found in very special places.
Dianne Machesney photographed this one blooming alone at Braddock Trail Park last weekend.
It was blooming so early that it caused some confusion. Was it really Field Mustard?
Yes. Spring is just too early this year.
(photo by Dianne Machesney)
It’s a little early for Fire Pink to be blooming but this is an unusual spring.
The Wissahickon Nature Club found it along the Butler-Freeport Trail last Wednesday.
Fire Pink (Silene virginica) is in the Pink or Carnation family of plants. These flowers are called “pinks” not because of their color but because the tips of their petals are notched as if you trimmed them with pinking shears. Look closely and you can almost see the pinking on these petal tips.
Did you know chickweed is also in the Pink family? Check it out with a magnifying glass and you’ll see that what appear to be 10 petals are actually five, cleft nearly to their base.
(photo by Dianne Machesney)
Crowfoot or buttercup? This flower is both.
In my Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide it’s called Small-flowered Crowfoot. An alternate name is Kidney-leaved Buttercup. Its Latin name is Ranunculus abortivus.
This small flower is not spectacular but I’m always happy to see it because it has a crow in its name.
And.. speaking of crows, here’s a new report showing how smart they are: Clever crows can use three tools!
(photo by Dianne Machesney, who calls it Kidney-leaved Buttercup)
It’s a spectacular year for Dwarf Larkspur (Delphinium tricorne).
Its beautiful, deep blue flowers are blooming now in the woods near creeks and rivers in western Pennsylvania. I’ve seen it this spring at Cedar Creek, Enlow Fork and Barking Slopes.
(photo by Chuck Tague)
Bluets (Houstonia caerulea) are one of my favorite flowers. Where they grow well, they form a pale blue carpet. Don’t mow them!
(photo by Dianne Machesney)
Last year, WQED’s Web Department made three videos for me to post on my blog: An April Hike at Raccoon Creek State Park, the Pitt Peregrine Fledge Watch, and a third (not yet edited) film of Marcy Cunkelman’s garden in August.
Though it was filmed last year on April 23, the Web Department had to wait until their summer intern, Christa Majoras, was available to edit it. Christa did a fine job and completed the video in July, but by then these scenes of April were out of season so I saved the video for this week.
My plan was to show you a preview of flowers-to-come but life is full of twists and turns. Who could imagine we’d have a spring so warm that the plants would be two to three weeks ahead of schedule? This video is again out of season — late by two weeks.
Use your imagination as you watch. Go back in time to March 31 and remember what the landscape looked like. Or watch this video for signs of just how far ahead this spring is compared to April 2009.
Sit back and enjoy An April Hike.
(video filmed by Joan Guerin, edited by Christa Majoras)
note\\flashvideo file=”https://www.birdsoutsidemywindow.org/video/april_hike_7-16-09.flv” image=”http://www.birdsoutsidemywindow.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/kate_AprilHike_video3.jpg” /
The wildflowers bloomed and faded so quickly last weekend that it may be difficult to find this one in our area now, but it’s worth a try.
Hepatica is a delicate little white or lavender flower with basal leaves.
The leaves grow directly from the base of the plant instead of on the stem. They often hide under last autumn’s leaf litter but you’ll have to find them to know which variety of Hepatica you’ve found: Sharp-lobed Hepatica or Round-lobed Hepatica.
(photo by Dianne Machesney)
When I took this photo on Saturday, I was excited to see Pittsburgh’s northern magnolias starting to bloom. But now only four days later their flowers are full-blown, the petals are starting to fall, and this picture no longer applies.
Spring is happening too fast this year. The weather is too hot. It will be in the 80’s again today.
I don’t keep an accurate record of blooming times but it seems to me that all the flowers are early this year. Have you noticed it?
Can you tell me how many weeks ahead the blooms are?
(photo by Kate St. John)
Happy Easter. Happy Passover. Happy Spring!
(photo of bloodroot by Marcy Cunkelman)
29 March 2010
I’ve been watching carefully and now I’ve seen them. Our post-winter landscape is dotted with blotches of pale green. The first leaves!
What plants are these that sprout first?
In my neighborhood they’re bush honeysuckle, an invasive woody shrub that thrives almost anywhere. I haven’t bothered to determine the species, there are so many: Amur (Lonerica maackii), Morrow’s (Lonerica morrowii), Tartarian (Lonerica tartarica) and more. All of them, alas, are invasive.
Non-native plants often thrive because they’re out of synch with our seasons. They’re the first to produce leaves and the last to drop them because they’re responding to the amount of daylight in their place of origin. Bush honeysuckles come from Asia, Turkey and southern Russia so they open their leaves just after the spring equinox, at least a week ahead of our wary native plants. They’re not hurt by being early because they’re hardy enough to survive a late frost or snowstorm.
Knowing all this, I should be upset that the bush honeysuckles are leafing out. But I can’t help it.
We have leaves!
(photo by Marcy Cunkelman)