Plant Sightings

Have you ever smelled a sassafras flower? They have the yummiest lemony-citrus scent. You might have to wait until next year by now, so put it on your list of things to do next April or whenever the trees are starting to grow their new leaves in your area.

Sassafras, Sassafras albidum, trees live in the Eastern United States. The trees are either male or female, so their flowers have different purposes and therefore different looks. It seems that the male trees out number the females because it took me a while to locate a female tree. It’s been a couple of years since I’ve even seen one.

(Photos taken 22 & 30 April 2016. Click on any image for a larger view.)

The female flowers seem simple compared to the male flowers which look rather bushy due to their nine stamens.

Female flowers appeared more symmetrical having six sterile stamens, which are short and fat compared to the male stamens but of the same golden yellow-orange color. Each stamen lies at the base of a pale yellow petal and they form a circle around the central pistil.

The pistil reminds me of a flower bud vase being bulbous at the base and having a tube that extends upward ending in a circular shape. The tip of the pistil appears white in this photo.

Flowers are held on long stalks that are retained during fruit formation so the fruits are borne on these stalks that measure an inch and a half long.

The flowers themselves are small and measure less than a half inch across.

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In mid-to-late April trillium flowers bloom all over the place at Shenk’s Ferry Wildflower Preserve in Lancaster County, PA.

When approaching the trail and as you drive on the dirt road look to either side and you’ll likely notice the trillium plants by their huge three leaves. The flowers are usually in a dangling way so that you might only see the side or top view of the mostly white flowers.

Near the beginning of the trail look up the slope to the left and you’ll see lots of bluebells and among them the white trilliums. So many flowers in one spot!

Susquehanna Trillium were especially thick on the upper slope about halfway down the trail.

Their red centers weren’t always visible so I’m left wondering were the all-white ones different varieties? They seemed to have a smaller stature, too.

Dangling head of the trillium flower. Three light green sepals situated in between the curled back petals.

A helping hand shows the red interior of the bloom.

The predominant trillium at Shenk’s Ferry is known as the Susquehanna Trillium, Trillium flexipes, which according to Peterson’s Wildflower Guide is also known as Drooping Trillium.

A distinctive feature are its creamy white anthers which differentiates it from a similar species called Nodding Trillium, T. cernuum, which has pink anthers.

Red trilliums, T. erectum, are rare at this location – at least in their red variety – the smaller all-white one above is probably the white variety, but this one was blooming when this photo was taken, 20 April 2016. A fellow photographer indicated where he saw it so I was on the lookout on my return walk down the trail. It was a happy thing to see the single one blooming – even if it was in the shade!

If you’re interested in learning all about Trilliums, including how to garden with trilliums, the book you want is on Amazon: Trilliums.

Trillium, wild phlox and bluebells show off in great numbers at Shenk’s Ferry in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania during early Spring. These plants are quite noticeable due to their pretty blooms and their size. Each one reaches at least a foot tall and their flowers are held high for all to appreciate.

Some other spring-flowering plants aren’t as showy as they’re smaller or they just blend in better with their habitats. They shouldn’t be missed though as they have their own sort of beauty. The violets are low-growing, as are the wild ginger, Dutchman’s breeches and squirrel corn, and some of the “weeds” have tiny flowers that are easy to pass by.

A couple of plants were growing specifically near the rocky areas and they’re easy to miss if you don’t look up. As you drive down the dirt road to the Wildflower Preserve entrance take a few moments to inspect the rocky outcrops and higher rock ledges where you’re likely to see Early Saxifrage and Wild Columbine.

Red Columbine, Aquilegia canadensis, was just beginning to flower when we were at Shenk’s Ferry in late April. There were many more buds to open yet. Just look among the rock faces at either end of the glen. Apparently, the wild red columbine likes to be in the damp or among the minerals as might be associated with rocky areas.

Wild columbine was growing near bluebells and early saxifrage on the road-facing slope near the trail-head. Look for the red and yellow flowers.

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Shenk’s Ferry was spectacular the third week of April. I’m thrilled I made it there this Spring flowering season. It’s a bit of a drive to get there from the mountains, but definitely worth the effort.

I was just as excited to read that the property was transferred from PPL to the Lancaster Conservancy as of 2014. We’re hoping it will remain in its present state for generations to come!

Getting to Shenk’s Ferry has been a little exciting in years past. If you’ve got a truck or another vehicle with a higher clearance that would be the vehicle to take there. The road leading to the entrance of the Wildflower Preserve was in better shape this time than past years where you worried that the car would bottom out on the deep ruts in the dirt road. You could see where somebody had some fun off-roading creating those ruts!

Shenk’s Ferry Road will lead you to Green Hill Road which leads downhill to the preserve. It’s a dirt road that lies at the bottom of several hills that drain Lancaster County as rain water rushes down into the Susquehanna River.

It appeared that recent work had been done on the road, but just go slow and you’ll be fine. Through the tunnel and bear left and keep going to the entrance. Park along the road.

Stop at the sign at the entrance to check the trail map and see some photos of the flora you might be able to see.

The trail is wide enough in most spots for a couple to walk hand-in-hand. Be watchful for

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The first flowers of Jacob’s Ladder sway on the breezes of early Spring. I found a few specimens near the nature center at Wildwood Park in the middle of April and they were just beginning to bloom.

It’s actually a new plant for me. 🙂 I did see one at another park several years ago, but it was past blooming and I just wasn’t sure of the identification back then. I should go back there to take a look around to see if I could find it near that creek.

Wildwood Park is situated on the northern edge of Harrisburg, PA and offers a convenient place to walk in a nature setting. Many dog walkers and mommies with babes in strollers take advantage of the wide trail that runs all along the edge of Wildwood Lake. The boardwalks are wonderful places to see ducks and other waterfowl and migrant birds.

A spillway in the southern end of the lake controls the water level of Paxton Creek which runs through the city. It’s not too far from the spillway where the Jacob’s Ladder grows — look between the spillway and the Nature Center.

Clusters of light blue flowers nodding in the wind caught my attention. The white anthers at the stamen tips were quite noticeable, although you had to bend down to peer into the flowers.

Each bloom on its own little stalk had five rounded petals that were grouped together into a bell shape by the five-pointed calyx at the base of the flower.

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I love that name, Running Pines, so it takes me a minute to recall the real name of these forest-dwelling plants. It’s not a misnomer though, they really do look like little pine trees running through the forest.

And when I say little trees, I mean miniature ones.

Running Pines are a type of Club Moss, which are more closely related to ferns than flowering plants. They reach less than a foot tall. Maybe 6 or 8 inches tall.

We can find two kinds of running pines on our mountain ridge. One kind looks like miniature Christmas trees and the other looks like tiny flat cedars. The Christmas tree type is called Tree Clubmoss, Lycopodium obscurum, and the flat cedars are known as Ground Cedars, L. tristachyum.

Although both species are included in the above photo (tree clubmoss is on the top right and ground cedars are on the left), it’s more usual to find them in separate colonies.

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One plant that might be found blooming very early in Spring, even before Skunk Cabbage according to a fellow garden enthusiast from New York State, is known as Hellebore.

Hellebores are so hardy they may even be found blooming in the middle of winter. Now, I haven’t seen it myself, but others report that hellebores can even bloom when it’s snowing out!

Hellebores, of the genus Helleborus, are native to the Far East. They’re members of the Buttercup Family, Ranunculaceae.

Low-growing palmate leaves overwinter among the leaf litter in this perennial plant. The large basal leaves sustain the plant through winter and help to give the flowers an early start in Spring.

Its blossoms can be missed for they start out life as flower buds with their heads pointing down.

Large sepals hide the colorful petals until the flower finds conditions ready for it to open.

As the flowering stems grow in height, the flower blossoms turn upward, but only partially. They always have a dangling look to them and often need a helping hand to be seen.

I liked the idea of extending the flowering season by having some hellebore flowers in the garden during a time when nothing else might be blooming.

A couple of years ago I planted this maroon-flowering hellebore in a sunny location near some purple coneflowers in a flower bed. The coneflowers are just starting to develop their leaves and have a long way to grow before they flower.

The hellebore isn’t natural to Central Pennsylvania, but it does lend a smile on a cold day in March. 🙂

(Photos taken March 7 to 26, 2016. Click on any small image to see a larger view.)

In the earliest days of Spring we have only a few splotches of color starting the blooming eruption.

Flowers of the spring bulbs and garden plants that we planted are much more visible than the native flowers that are blooming this early. The native ones tend to grow low so they’re not quite as able to be seen as the happy daffodils.

Forsythia blossoms are pushing open. They’re not fully open yet, but yesterday you could start to see the bright yellow. Today more yellow is visible.

Crocuses have come and gone — into the belly of some critter — and the daffodils are shouting in all their happy orange and yellow that Spring is here! They look great in the sunshine, don’t they?

Tulip greenery is up and the Star Magnolia blossoms should open up any day now as they are getting pretty big. You can see the petals getting longer as they grow and soon they’ll finally push their buds to bursting.

One plant that might be found blooming much earlier, even before Skunk Cabbage according to a fellow garden enthusiast from New York State, is known as a hellebore, which is native to the Far East so we had to plant it here in Pennsylvania. Hellebores can take the cold and may even be found blooming in the middle of winter.

As far as native plants go,

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