Category Archives: Plants & Fungi

plants & fungi

Seen at Enlow Fork, 26 April 2023

Large-flowered trillium, Enlow Fork, 26 April 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

29 April 2023

Tomorrow is the big Enlow Fork Extravaganza at State Gamelands 302 on the border of Washington and Greene Counties. Known for its wildflowers and birds, the site is called “Enlow Fork” because its defining feature is the creek that runs through it, the Enlow Fork of Wheeling Creek.

Though tomorrow’s weather looks like rain, my friend Barb Griffith and I had a nice day there on Wednesday April 26.

At Enlow Fork, 26 April 2023 (photo by Barb Griffith)

We saw 45 species of birds including First of Year gray catbird, Baltimore oriole and American redstarts (checklist is here). We were disappointed not to find any wood thrushes, scarlet tanagers or rose-breasted grosbeaks though we have seen them there in late April in years past.

Spring leafout at Enlow Fork was late compared to the City of Pittsburgh, even though Enlow is 40 miles south of town. The side-by-side photos below show leafout at Schenley Park and at Enlow Fork on virtually the same day. I didn’t expect our urban heat island to make that much difference.

Leafout comparison: Schenley Park 25 April, Enlow Fork 26 April 2023 (photos by Kate St. John)

Lack of leaves and much less deer browse made the wildflowers superb. Here are just a few of those we saw. As always, if I’ve misidentified any, please let me know.

(photos by Barb Griffith and Kate St. John)

Seen This Week, 15-21 April

Virginia bluebells at Harrison Hills Park, 15 April 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

22 April 2023

This week in Pittsburgh began 15 degrees above normal, dipped to freezing (10 degrees below normal), then soared back into the 80s. The flowers and leaves coped.

On Saturday 15 April I visited Harrison Hills Park and found busy insects pollinating Virginia bluebells, golden ragwort, spring beauties and garlic mustard.

Golden ragwort at Harrison Hills Park, 15 April 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)
Ant in a Spring beauty flower at Harrison Hills Park, 15 April 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

Garlic mustard is in bloom everywhere right now but I rarely take a picture of it.

Garlic mustard blooming at Harrison Hills Park, 15 April 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

On Monday 17 April at Schenley Park, jetbead, greater celandine, and common blue violets were in bloom.

Jetbead, Schenley Park, 17 April 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)
Greater celandine blooming at Schenley Park, 17 April 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)
Common blue violet, Schenley Park, 17 April 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

The poison ivy leaves were small on Monday but are much larger now.

Poison ivy leafing out, Schenley Park, 17 April 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

By yesterday, 21 April, the redbud was seriously leafing out in Schenley.

Redbud leafing out, Schenley Park, 21 April 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

These two photos show Schenley’s leafout progress: The first below is a yellow buckeye near Anderson Playground on 17 April. The second is the same yellow buckeye 4 days later! It’s hard to see Panther Hollow Lake through the trees.

Yellow buckeye in Full Leaf near Anderson Playground, Schenley Park, 17 April 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)
Yellow buckeye 4 days later, Schenley Park, 21 April 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

New birds! Yesterday I saw my first of year house wrens and chimney swifts (my Schenley eBird checklist here). Today I’ll dodge the raindrops to find the wood thrush reported by friends near Circuit Drive / Serpentine Road.

Happy Earth Day!

(photos by Kate St. John)

Seen This Week

Bluets, Knob Hill Community Park, 14 April 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

15 April 2023

More flowers bloomed and more trees leafed out as hot summer weather continued this week.

I saw a few bluets (Houstonia) and spring beauty (Claytonia) at Knob Hill Community Park yesterday.

Spring beauty, Knob Hill Community Park, 14 April 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

In Frick Park on Thursday this box elder (Acer negundo) was blooming and leafing out at the same time.

Box elder flowers and leafout, Frick Park, 13 April 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

But many native trees still looked bare, such as the oaks on this hillside.

Progress of leafout at Frick Park, 13 April 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

The slowness of native trees made last weekend the perfect time to see the invasive extent of Callery pears (Pyrus calleryana). Native white-flowering trees, such as serviceberry and wild cherry, were not blooming yet so the only white trees in the landscape were the Callery pears.

On 8 April at the Ridge Road interchange on the Parkway West (I-376) I found thick stands of Callery pears as far as the eye could see (first 2 slides below). The trees gained a foothold in disturbed soil after construction of the Ridge Road interchange in 2006 and Settlers Ridge shopping center in 2009. The third slide shows Callery pears in the woods at Wingfield Pines.

Callery pears were banned in PA in 2021. As you can see, we “locked the barn door after the horse got out.”

p.s. This weekend the downy serviceberries are blooming (white) and the Callery pears are growing leaves (white+green) so it’s no longer possible to pinpoint the invasive species.

(photos by Kate St. John)

Spring Checkup: Where Are We Now?

Red maple flowers are now seeds, leaf buds about to burst, 10 April 2023, North Oakland (photo by Kate St. John)

11 April 2023

During February’s heat wave I was sure Spring would be extremely early this year in Pittsburgh. Then temperatures dropped in March and everything paused. Yesterday the flowers on this red maple were giving way to seeds while the leaf bud was opening. Is this normal for early April? It’s time for a Spring checkup. Where are we now?

Spring’s progress is easy to see in this USA National Phenology Network animation. Leaf out raced northward in February producing dark red-brown in the places with an earliest Spring on record. In mid-March the racing stopped and gave way to paler red across PA and New York state. But what’s the dark blue in Kansas and the Southwest? It’s a very late Spring.

Spring leaf index anomaly animation for 2023 (map from USA National Phenology Network)

[As of 10 April 2023] Spring is 11 days late in Denver, CO, 2 days late in Chicago, IL, and 2 days early in Albany, NY. The West is mostly late. Yakima, WA is 12 days late, Boise, ID is 20 days late.

USA NPN: Status of Spring as of 10 April 2023

Most of Pennsylvania is close to normal compared to baseline years 1981-2015. Pale green is OK. Dark green is not. Southcentral and southeastern PA were off-the-chart early.

Spring leaf index return interval as of 10 April 2023 (map from USA National Phenology Network)

As you can see by the splash of color on the map, bush honeysuckle, the Spring leaf out indicator, has finished in Pennsylvania. You can follow the progress of spring blooms and check on the rest of the country at USA National Phenology Network.

(photo by Kate St. John, maps from USA National Phenology Network)

Seen This Week

Coltsfoot blooming in Schenley Park, 1 April 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

8 April 2023

This week the temperature stayed above freezing (until this morning) and set a record 85ºF on Wednesday. On a walk in Schenley Park last Saturday 1 April I saw coltsfoot in bloom, Virginia bluebells in bud and flowering Norway maples.

Virginia bluebells about to bloom, Schenley Park, 1 April 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

By the end of the week the city’s Norway maples had bloomed enough that their profiles looked like green balls instead of stick trees. You’ll can see this on the slope of Mt Washington as viewed from Downtown or the Bluff.

Norway maples flowering, Schenley Park, 1 April 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

By mid week it was sunny and HOT.

On Wednesday 5 April I visited the Lake Trail at Raccoon Creek State Park to find newly arrived Louisiana waterthrushes (). Near one of the singing birds was a puddle of trilling and mating American toads. I recorded their sound and added a my (lousy) photo of mating toads + a Wikimedia photo of the Louisiana waterthrush when he sings in the recording. You can also hear the wind on the mic.

video by Kate StJohn Birdblog on YouTube

Also at Raccoon: spring beauty () and yellow corydalis (). I wish I could have stayed longer.

Spring beauty, Raccoon Creek State Park, Lake Trail, 5 April 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)
Yellow corydalis, Raccoon Creek State Park Lake Trail, 5 April 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

Remember the yellow buckeyes in Schenley Park from last week? Here’s what they looked like yesterday!

Yellow buckeye leafout progress, Schenley Park, 7 April 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

More Spring to come.

(photos and video by Kate St. John)

Seen This Week

Star magnolia in bloom, Schenley Park, 27 March 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

1 April 2023

Welcome to April! Last month brought flowering trees, frost damage, more flowers and early leaf out.

The star magnolia (Magnolia stellata) above was looking good on 27 March but the one below bloomed too early on Pitt’s campus and sustained frost damage.

Frost damage on a star magnolia, Univ of Pittsburgh campus, 22 March 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

This honeybee didn’t care about the brown petals. She probably flew in from The Porch beehives across the street.

Honeybee at frost-damaged star magnolia, Univ of Pittsburgh, 22 March 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

Non-native flowers are blooming. Eyebright (Euphrasia sp) popped up in the grass at Frick.

Eyebright in Frick Park, 22 March 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

Purple dead-nettle (Lamium purpureum) bloomed before the frost and still looked good on the 29th, here with chickweed (Stellaria media) in a Shadyside front yard.

Purple dead-nettle and chickweed, 29 March 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

Meanwhile leafout is already underway. Bush honeysuckle had leaves on 18 March.

Bush honeysuckle leafout in Schenley Park, 18 March 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

And by the time I noticed this yellow buckeye (Aesculus flava) in Schenley Park, it was already well beyond first leaves. Two photos show the same branch two days apart, 28 and 30 March. Last year, yellow buckeyes were still in bud on this date.


Meanwhile our trees are in for too much excitement today with high winds gusting to 60 mph. We expect downed trees and power outages in our future.

Batten down the hatches, Pittsburgh!

(photos by Kate St. John, maps from @NWSPittsburgh)

Invasive Lesser Celandine

Lesser celandine at Duck Hollow, 23 April 2019 (photo by Kate St. John)

29 March 2023

This is the time of year when invasive plants sprout and bloom before the natives, particularly lesser celandine (Ficaria verna), a member of the Buttercup family with succulent leaves and bright yellow 8-12 petal flowers.

According to invasive.org, lesser celandine prefers sandy soil in low open woods, floodplains, meadows and waste places. It spreads easily through tubers and tiny bulblets so a scouring flood or digging in its vicinity, including digging animals, spreads it to new sites. It also thrives because it’s poisonous and deer don’t eat it.

I usually find lesser celandine blanketing floodplains including those at the Monongahela River at Duck Hollow — where it’s already in bloom — and Chartiers Creek at Boyce Mayview and Wingfield Pines.

Lesser celandine at Boyce Mayview, 15 April 2015 (photo by Kate St. John)

Blanketing is what makes it invasive. Native spring ephemeral flowers need unobstructed sunlight to complete their life cycle but lesser celandine leafs out early, blankets the ground and shades the natives before they can make a start.

When I was learning to identify plants I used to confuse it with the native plant marsh marigold (Caltha palustris).

Lesser celandine (left), Marsh marigold (right, photo from Wikimedia Commons)

Penn State Extension explains the difference between them here but the biggest hint is this: If the plant is carpeting the ground and blooming in March or early April, especially on a floodplain, you can bet it’s lesser celandine.

p.s. Learn more about invasive plants in Pennsylvania at DCNR’s Invasive Plant Fact Sheets at https://www.dcnr.pa.gov/Conservation/WildPlants/InvasivePlants/InvasivePlantFactSheets/Pages/default.aspx

(photos by Kate St. John and from Wikimedia Commons)

In Ecuador, A Tale of Two Flowers

Nasa grandiflora at Yanacocha, Ecuador, 30 Jan 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

12 March 2023

While on the trail in Ecuador at Yanacocha Reserve on 31 Jan 2023, this beautiful native flower attracted my attention. Nasa grandiflora, is a member of the Loasaceae family and endemic to the mountains of Peru, Ecuador, and Columbia.

Nasa grandiflora at Yanacocha, Ecuador, 30 Jan 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

I could not resist looking inside the flower bell so I tipped it up and took two photos, one focused at the opening, the other focused deep inside.

Nasa grandiflora at Yanacocha, Ecuador, 30 Jan 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)
Nasa grandiflora at Yanacocha, Ecuador, 30 Jan 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

Most people don’t touch this plant but I didn’t notice its black spines, including on the sepals (see photo below) that act like stinging nettle when you touch them. It’s a good thing it was so cold that I was wearing gloves.


The second flower that caught my attention was along the back roads in the Mindo area and was hard to miss. Its vines draped over everything at the sunlit openings.

Black-eyed susan vine (Thunbergia alata) is native to eastern Africa but is grown in gardens in many countries. In tropical areas it has become invasive including in Ecuador and Florida.

Black-eyed susan vine, Thunbergia alata. Seen every day in Ecuador (photo by Kate St. John)

Once this vine takes hold it is difficult to eradicate because it grows fast above ground and spreads rapidly via rhizomes. It was sad to see the Ecuadoran equivalent of porcelain berry or kudzu.

Vigorous growth of Thunbergia alata (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

Gardeners don’t realize what they’ve wrought until it’s too late. Here are some examples from the invasives section of Bugwood.org.

Invasive Thunbergia alta (photo by Forest and Kim Starr, Starr Environmental, Bugwood.org)
Invasive Thunbergia alta (photo by Forest and Kim Starr, Starr Environmental, Bugwood.org)

The two flowers have different survival strategies: The native flower has a spiny defense. The alien overcomes the competition.

(photos by Kate St. John and from Bugwood.org, click on bugwood captions to see the originals)

Spring On Pause + Spring Forward

Crocus in Shadyside garden, Pittsburgh, 9 March 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

11 March 2023

After a very warm February, with some days reaching 20° to 26°F above normal, the weather returned to expected March temperatures this week and our Too Early Spring hit the Pause Button.

The city’s Urban Heat Island still prompted non-native ornamental plants to bloom including crocuses above and forsythia below.

Forsythia in bloom, 4 March 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

Garlic mustard came up in Schenley Park.

Garlic mustard, 5 March 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

Native trees, like this sycamore in Schenley Park, waited for warmer weather while non-native willows turned yellow such as the willows at bottom right (perhaps Salix babylonica).

A shadow of the Panther Hollow Bridge bisects this view of a sycamore in Schenley Park (photo by Kate St. John)

But there are better things to look at. Last Sunday the Botanical Society visited the Otto and Magdelen Ackerman Reserve in Westmoreland County where we found yellow corydalis (Corydalis flavula) poking up among the fallen leaves. No flowers yet.

Leaves of yellow corydalis, Ackerman Reserve, 4 March 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

Plus two impressive fungi on fallen trees.

Armallaria formerly hidden under bark, Ackerman Reserve, 4 March 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)
Are these turkey tails? Ackerman Reserve, 4 March 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

By the way, don’t forget that Daylight Saving Time begins tonight in most of the U.S. It’s time to Spring Forward.

(photos by Kate St. John, .gif from Wikimedia Commons)

Too Early Spring: Snow Trillium

9 March 2023

On Monday 6 March 2023, Fran Bungert sent me an email to say that she saw snow trillium blooming at Cedar Creek Park the day before. She added that 5 March is the earliest she’s ever seen it bloom.

In my experience snow trillium (Trillium nivale) is usually the earliest spring ephemeral in southwestern Pennsylvania, traditionally blooming in late March or early April. The flowers persist for about four weeks so my observations circled below are not necessarily first bloom date. Nonetheless Fran’s 5 March observation in red is the earliest ever!

Snow trillium observed blooming at Cedar Creek, Kate St. John’s selected years 2000-2023 (calendar image from timeanddate.com)

Inspired to see the flowers I visited Cedar Creek on Tuesday afternoon. Before I reached the snow trillium hillside, I found evidence of flash floods that cut the creek bank. It was a brown landscape compared to what I see in April.

Cedar Creek and streamside trail, 7 March 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

Snow trillium dotted the hillside but blended into the fallen leaves because the white flowers looked like splashes of sunshine. How many flowers do you see in this photo?

The flowers were at various stages from barely to fully open, at top.

Snow trillium at Cedar Creek, 7 March 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

I found harbinger of spring (Erigenia bulbosa) leaves but no flowers.

As of 7 March only the snow trillium was blooming at Cedar Creek.

(photos by Kate St. John)

p.s. For my own notes, here’s a list of blogs that indicate when I saw snow trillium: