20 April 2024
Do you ever feel frantic in the Spring?
This week in Pittsburgh the highs were always above 60°F and three days were in the low 80s. Migratory birds came in a rush midweek while early-blooming flowers went to seed. Spring came so quickly that I couldn’t keep up. It’s enough to make you frantic.
On Monday we went to Cedar Creek Park in Westmoreland County where we found many of the flowers I’d seen at Barking Slopes. Wild blue phlox (Phlox divaricata) was in full bloom. Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis), that bloomed in Beaver County on 31 March, had gone to seed. There were so many flowers that I had little time for pictures.
There were some stunningly clear days this week but the partly cloudy ones were more interesting, especially at sunrise: Duck Hollow on 15 April and Oakland on 19 April.
On Thursday 18 April Charity Kheshgi and I saw great birds in Frick Park.
The trees in town began the week with tiny pale green leaves; Some ended the week with large dark green leaves. American bladdernut (Staphylea trifolia) was blooming yesterday in Schnley Park.
The pawpaw trees (Asimina triloba) had immature green flowers on Tuesday and mature dark red flowers on Friday. The flowers use their purplish-red color and a fetid smell to attract flies and beetles, not bees.
That frantic feeling will disappear in the next two days when spring slows down. There’s a Freeze Watch tonight and tomorrow morning.
(photos by Kate St. John)