Happy Northern Solstice! Summer officially begins today in Pittsburgh at 6:07am, 21 June 2018.
We call it the Beginning of Summer but in Europe it’s “Midsummer.”
On Throw Back Thursday, learn about today’s name and traditions in this June 2012 article: Midsummer
(photo from Shutterstock)
In the spring I often see large pleated leaves in the same damp places where skunk cabbage grows. For years I didn’t know what they were and I was lazy. I couldn’t see any flowers and I wouldn’t wade into the swamp to key it out with my Newcomb’s Guide.
This week Dianne Machesney put me straight. This is false hellebore (Veratrum viride).
False hellebore is blooming this month and now I know why I never saw the flowers from a distance. They’re completely green! Six hairy green tepals (petal-sepals) and six stamens with yellow anthers.
The leaves spiral up the stem. The entire plant, up to six feet tall, resembles hellebore so it’s called false hellebore.
Like all plants in the Veratrum genus viride is highly poisonous. Deer leave it alone but cattle are sometimes fooled.
Amazingly, some Native American tribes used it as an initiation test. Like Arthur pulling the sword from the stone, candidates to be the next leader would ingest false hellebore. According to Wikipedia, the one to start vomiting last would become the new leader. (Ick!)
Look for false hellebore’s flowers from May to July. After it blooms, the leaves fade.
(photos by Dianne Machesney)
Here are two flowers that couldn’t be more different but they have the same common name: Goat’s Beard.
The Goat’s Beard flower above is Tragopogon dubius, introduced from Eurasia and named for its huge fluffy seed head. It loves full sun and thrives in poor, disturbed soil so I often see it in former waste places planted with wildflower seed mix. The flower above was at Lower Nine Mile Run on June 1.
The Goat’s Beard below, Aruncus dioicus, is a native of North America named for its fluffy male flowers. Four to six feet tall, it requires moist rich soil so I usually find it in the forest where a splash of sun breaks through. Dianne Machesney found this one last week.
The flower in her photo doesn’t look very fluffy. Here’s a possible explanation.
Aruncus dioicus is dioecius — some plants are male, others female. The male flowers are the showy ones. This showy flower from Wikimedia Commons may be male.
Be careful if you tell a butterfly enthusiast that you’ve found Goat’s Beard. The yellow-flowered Eurasian species is nothing to get excited about but Aruncus dioicus is the host plant for the rare Dusky Azure butterfly (Celastrina nigra).
Two “Goat’s Beards.” Perhaps even more.
(photo credits:
yellow Goat’s Beard flower by Kate St. John
white Goat’s Beard flower by Dianne Machesney
fluffy white Goat’s Beard flower from Wikimedia Commons; click on the image to see the original)
American Fringetree (Chionanthus virginicus) is blooming this week in Schenley Park.
On Throw Back Thursday read more in this 2011 post: Fringetree.
April showers bring May flowers. Here’s a taste of what’s blooming now in southwestern Pennsylvania.
Fire pink (Silene virginica) was blooming in Harrison Hills Park on May 12, above. When I went back to take its picture someone had picked most of it. 🙁
Jack in the pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum) is blooming in Schenley Park. At first you’ll notice it’s large three-part leaves, then you’ll see the pulpit where Jack lives. Some of the pulpits have stripes inside, some do not. Lift the lid to see.
Squawroot (Conopholis americana) isn’t green because it has no chlorophyll. Instead it coexists with oak trees, taking nourishment from their roots. Though it’s parasitic it rarely hurts the trees. This month squawroot’s “bear corn” flowers are everywhere in Schenley Park.
Squawroot, Schenley Park, 18 May 2018 (photo by Kate St. John)
Horse chestnuts (Aesculus hippocastanum), an imported tree, are blooming too. Did you know the flowers are color coded for bees? After pollination they’ll produce the nuts that we call “buckeyes.” It’s a confusing name! Click here for the difference between a chestnut, a horse chestnut and our native Ohio buckeye.
Get outdoors and see what’s blooming in late May.
(photos by Kate St. John)
This week the air in my neighborhood smells so sweet. The black locust trees are in bloom.
Black locusts (Robinia pseudoacacia) are common in Pittsburgh because they’re one of the first trees to grow in poor, disturbed soil. Our area has a lot of habitat for them, generated by people and nature — bulldozers and landslides.
Black locusts are ugly in winter with gnarly bark and twisted branches but they are sweet in May. The trees are in the pea family and it is evident in their flowers. Here’s what they look like in bloom.
The flowers are attractive to bees and birds. I’ve seen rose-breasted grosbeaks use their large beaks to grab the base of the flowers, then twirl to make the petals fall off. They swallow the nectar end.
Black locusts usually reach their peak on May 12 but they’re late this year. Look for these beautifully scented trees before the flowers fade in about 10 days.
Enjoy the sweet smell of trees.
(photos by Kate St. John)
While Eurasian lilies-of-the-valley (Convallaria majalis) are blooming in my garden, these “false lilies of the valley” are blooming in the Laurel Highlands.
Maianthemum canadense are woodland plants that range from the Yukon to Newfoundland to northern Pennsylvania and in the Appalachian Mountains to Georgia. Their preference for cooler temperatures makes them abundant in Canada and they bloom in late May, hence their common name: Canada mayflower.
When you find a patch of Canada mayflowers you’ve found a single organism that spread through its rhizomes. The flowers do produce a few berries but the plant’s most successful propagation is underground.
Lilies-of-the-valley spread underground, too, and have taken over half my garden. The difference between the two is that lilies-of-the-valley are poisonous to wildlife while Canada mayflowers are not.
Watch for them blooming this month in southwestern Pennsylvania. It’s Mayflower time.
(photo by Dianne Machesney)
At last the trees have flowers and leaves! It happened in less than a week.
Last Sunday was so cold we wore winter coats in Schenley Park. By midweek it was 80 degrees every day. In the heat, the trees responded. Their buds burst into flowers and leaves.
As soon as the buds burst, the insects responded. Most are too small to notice but the tentworms stand out. When I see these tents I know there are lots of bugs in the trees.
And with the bugs came migrating birds. Here are the new arrivals in Schenley Park, Wednesday May 2 to Friday May 4:
UPDATE: additional species on Saturday May 5:
I can hardly wait for an indigo bunting. I’ll be out there again today.
I love leaves!
(photos by Kate St. John)
Spring has finally sprung! Here are just a few of the new flowers and leaves in western Pennsylvania.
The week began with spectacular saucer magnolia trees, above. Relentless cold temperatures had kept all the buds closed until they simultaneously burst into an aromatic pink display. Today the petals coat our sidewalks.
Twinleaf (Jeffersonia diphylla) is an early native wildflower that fades so quickly you have to be on the spot to see it bloom. Thursday morning at Enlow Fork we found the twin leaves open and the buds closed.
By early afternoon the flowers had been open for several hours. How soon they will fade!
Blue-eyed Mary (Collinsia verna) is a later flower with a longer life on the stem. It’s just started blooming at Enlow Fork.
The trees are blooming, too. On Monday redbud (Cercis canadensis) flowers began to appear at Schenley Park …
… hophornbeam (Ostrya virginiana) unfurled its yellow catkins …
… and the first tuliptree (Liriodendron tulipifera) leaf emerged.
The Ohio buckeyes (Aesculus glabra) made a big splash of green.
The flowers and trees are much further along and the redbuds are in full bloom today.
Get outdoors to see them fast before they go to seed.
(photos by Kate St. John)
A group of us went to Cedar Creek Park in Westmoreland County last Wednesday, April 11, to look for birds and blooms. Our highlights were six Louisiana waterthrushes and the largest spread of snow trillium we’d ever seen.
The morning was cold and cloudy so the bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) was still closed when we arrived. By the time we left it was fully open (above).
We were surprised to find snow trillium (Trillium nivale) at its peak in mid April. This flower usually blooms in February or March but cold weather must have held it back. So many blooms!
While we lingered near the snow trillium I noticed the smell of burning coal. The site is far from any source so I wondered where the smell came from.
Later I learned that there are many abandoned coal mines in Rostraver Township and there’s a history of abandoned mine and waste pile fires.
Did I smell an old mine fire still burning? Has a new fire just begun? Do any of you know the answer?
(photos by Kate St. John)
p.s. Blooming News: I visited Raccoon Creek Wildflower Reserve on Friday April 13 where I found the flowers far behind Core Arboretum and even behind Cedar Creek. Yes, spring has been slow to come — and it’s trying to leave again. This phenology map from NPN shows our delayed spring in blue.
