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.

• White redbud (Cercis canadensis f. alba) at Frick Park, the only place I’ve ever seen this cultivar.
• By 18 April bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) has gone to seed; its leaves have grown.
• Star chickweed (Stellaria pubera)
• Large-flowered trillium (Trillium grandiflorum) in bloom
• Nodding trillium (Trillium cernuum)
• Squirrel corn (Dicentra canadensis)
• Yellow violets … which I did not key out.
• When jewelweed (Impatiens sp.) leafs out it produces two leaf shapes. The first two leaves are round. The next two leaves, and all that follow, are toothed.

(photos by Kate St. John)