May 16, 2013

Notes and Changes since last report

• It was 70°F and partly cloudy with light winds at 3:15 PM on May 16, 2013.
• I've been slowly returning to my usual Wed afternoon schedule: Thur at 3 is closer than Fri at 5...
• Butterfly arrivals were ramping up with pearl crescent and silver-spotted skipper.
• Swamp azalea almost came and went unnoticed, but large yellow lady's-slipper was just starting.

The Trails

• Behind the Carriage House, the peculiar buckeye was now in bloom.
• So too were fothergilla and sweet shrub or calycanthus. Somewhere there is a red variety...
• Honeysuckle bushes were starting to bloom everywhere - some in pink as well as yellow highlights.
• Well before dusk in the Fern Glen this week, I tried for better looks at Jacob's ladder and starry false Soloman's-seal.
• Golden ragwort was just on the other side of the path.
• Near the bench, the presumed Asian Solomon's seal was blooming.
• Past the fen in the acid cobble was columbine.
• At its feet was a small forest of narrow beech fern.
• Canada violet was on the other side of the path.
• Hiding among the brambles, maple-leaved viburnum was budding up.
• A fortuitous phone call caused me to linger at the edge of the fen where my first s came by to sip moisture.
• In the shrub swamp, our native limber honeysuckle vine was getting ready to bloom.
• In a quiet corner, swamp saxifrage was preparing to flower for the first time to my knowledge.
• In the farthest corner, easily dismissed as an ash seedling, wild sasparilla was offering its inconspicuous ball of flowers.
• Near the deck, truly a perennial favorite, large yellow lady's-slipper was just opening its deceitful flowers - they contain no nectar.
• Again, looking better in the daylight, gaywings was/were blooming in a number of spots in the Glen and on the trails.
• Starflower too could be found in a number of locations.
• Indian cucumber root looked like it was going to have a good year.
• I'd forgotten last week to look at the mayapple, but I did not miss the bloom.
• Choke cherry, budding up last week, was now in bloom near the kiosk.
• By the pond, golden Alexanders was just beginning.
• Across the road, the swamp azalea was already past its prime.
• Out in the back Old Hayfield, golden Alexanders was further along than in the Glen. Small, black flies were numerous on the umbels.
• Blooming by the bench at the edge of the field was common barberry, a relative of the more familiar Japanese barberry; both are alien.
• In numerous locations today, our native wild geranium could be found.
• And it was time for me to get lost.