April 23, 2014

Notes and Changes since last report

• It was 58°F with occasional sprinkles at 2:00 PM on April 23, 2014.
• The walk started in the Fern Glen.
• New things were still blooming or coming up every day now.
• Birds were quiet today.

The Trails

• In the Howard Roeller Bed, wild ginger was blooming while the leaves were unfurling.
• A little deeper in, an alien corydalis was blooming .
• Farther uphill, false rue anemone was up and starting to bud.
• At the top of the bed, hobblebush flower clusters were forming.
• Its new leaves looked like some sort of creature from another planet.
• In spite of the fence around this bed over the winter, deer still got at a young hemlock.
• And this poor striped maple barely survived being used as a "deer rub" the year before only to get chewed up this winter.
• Along the limestone cobble, rue anemone had come up and started blooming.
• Everywhere maidenhair fern fiddleheads were rising from between the rocks.
• Twinleaf was coming up along side with buds that should be opening in a couple days.
• Already opening was large-flowered bellwort .
• Along the edge of the pond was a large-flowered trillium being enjoyed by a practicioner of both yoga and photography.
• All around the pond and back in the fens, spicebush blossoms were beginning to open.
• Behind the kiosk, false hellebore was getting big.
• There too was one of the many patches of trout lily or dogtooth violet that was doing so well this year.
• At the edge, wood anemone was up, but with few if any buds yet.
• Mayapple is so much fun at every stage.
• Back by the deck, yellow lady's-slipper shoots were poking up; those in the cobble were still hiding.
• Across the road, azalea showed surprisingly little deer browse damage.
• The American hazelnut, on the other hand, had been clobbered.
• Higher branches, out of the nibble zone, were sporting male catkins just beginning to open. I didn't see any female flowers.
• Because of their absence in the 'Glen, I was surprised to find the carpet of Canada mayflower coming up in its usual spot on the Cary Pines Trail.
• Another surprise was the invasive Japanese primrose in the flood plane of the Wappinger Creek Trail.
• The wet soils they prefer allows one to extract the extensive root system intact.
• I had noticed their bright green lettuce-like leaves while getting an angle on a cut-leaved toothwort.
• And just past that was another favorite plant to hate: narrow-leaved bittercress.
• This seems to prefer moist, (calcium) rich soils, but will grow most anywhere; its roots make for a satisfying pull.
• Lesser celendine was mentioned as flowering last week. But its spread along both sides of the trail was very obvious this week.
• It was nice to see numerous patches and individuals of bloodroot as the trail rose higher and dryer.
• Just before the rise to the bluff, tufts of Pennsylvania sedge were gracing the sides of the trail.
• We don't often think of grasses as flowering plants - even less so of sedges. One needs only to get down on their knees to find a tiny marvel. Getting up may be another matter.
• Up top in the Old Pasture, a little cherry stood out of the crowd with the first Eastern tent caterpillar nest of the season.
• On the Sedge Meadow Trail, violets were popping up.
• Along side was the alien creeping Charlie or ground ivy. Fun to pull up in long strings from the leaf litter, not so much fun from turf...
• The familiar garlic mustard already had buds. Both have history in culinary and medicinal arts.
• In the back of the back Old Hayfield, burning bush was budding up.
• A surprise was a cocoon, just like those I usually find in spicebush. I still don't know who's inside.
• Behind the Carriage House, the magnolia finally had some fully open blossoms.
• This is usually the end of the trail, but having started in the Fern Glen, there was still the Old Gravel Pit to traverse. The bottom was still holding water.
• I hope the next report will not be talking about mosquitos...