Every year around this time we like to go for woods walks looking for the earliest Spring flowers. The Spring Ephemeral flowers are a bunch of beautiful early Spring flowers that one can see in the Eastern forests of the United States. Early in the Spring season means before the trees leaf out and not on a certain calendar date.
This year seems behind last year by about a week judging by a set of early crocuses that were planted a few years ago. In 2013 they were in full bloom on 27 March and in 2014 the first individuals of the set were blooming yesterday.
thin-petaled early crocuses
Here in South-Central Pennsylvania the Mill Race Trail at Little Buffalo State Park is a convenient place to find early spring wild flowers. It’s practically adjacent to the parking lot and a short 1/2 mile trail.
Here in the Northeastern United States we are coming out of a brutal winter. Spring can’t come fast enough for most of us who are tired of shoveling snow and wearing so many clothes.
We’re promised another snowfall in a day’s time so it looks like we’ll ease into Spring instead of jumping right into warmer weather. It’s almost April so any snow that falls should be light in quantity. The farmer’s wife planted onions and garlic this week so the next snow we get can be called an onion snow.
The sights of robins in the front yard and swans flying due north are welcome sights indeed! Last week saw a number of Spring sightings. Skunks can be seen on the road or smelled from afar as they start moving around looking for mates. Seagulls have lighted upon the Susquehanna River and Juniata River. They seem to avoid the choppy wide-open areas and instead fly upstream and float back down to calmer pool areas. Canada geese made their way north in some really huge V-formations. Sometimes they fly so high that you can hear them long before you can see them as they migrate back home.
Come September the Velvet Leaf greenery is withered to strands, but the seed pods remain. The seed pods are still erect, but they’ve turned from the summertime green to a dark brown color.
The small barbs or spines on the outside of the seedpods helps to disperse the seed by the way of animal traffic and perhaps windy weather. (Photos taken 17Oct2013. Click on images for larger view.)
Velvet Leaf found growing next to ragweed at the edge of cornfield.Spiny and jagged edges give a sticky feel to the seed pods.The lightweight seed pods contain small seeds.
Seeds are nutritive food for even the smallest of creatures. Each seed pod that was investigated had at least one inhabitant, like this small beetle that fell out when the pod was tapped on my hand.
Was this small beetle inside a seedpod for food or shelter?
The seed pods open up at one end to release their seeds. They also break into individual pockets that are likely carried on the wind or animal coats for seed dispersal.
Another case of mistaken identity teaches us about Velvetleaf, Abutilon theophrasti, a foreign invader from Asia and a member of the Mallow Family.
Early on in this gardening season there were several of what looked to be sunflowers growing where none were planted. Having seen volunteer sunflowers before around this garden we decided to just let them keep growing. It made sense for there’s a bird feeder nearby that is usually filled with sunflower seed and visited by many feathered friends.
As the growing season continued it became evident that even though the “sunflowers” grew quickly and had huge heart-shaped leaves, something wasn’t right about them. The plants were soft to the touch! Now, real sunflowers don’t feel soft at all; they’re more stiff or rough to the touch.
One of these plants was allowed to grow on where it started even though it was in the vegetable garden. We were careful to keep our eyes on it as it developed so we could get rid of it before the seeds were allowed to be dispersed.
Velvetleaf is a fast grower and in good soil will attain a height of ten feet or more. The heart-shaped leaves are large and on a tall plant get can a foot across. The sheer size of the plant made us think it would be a sunflower. So wrong.
Ten-foot tall velvet leaf in the garden next to Italian tomato plants.
Simple five-petal flowers are yellow-orange and they appear in the leaf axils of velvet leaf. They are about an inch in diameter. Sunflower blossoms are huge in comparison and composite at that.
Simple flowers are borne in the leaf axils of velvet leaf.Five yellow-orange petals in Velvet Leaf flowers.
Seed heads of velvet leaf are round and spiky-looking, not at all like the disc of seeds in a sunflower. When mature the seed heads turn dark brown to black before they release their seeds.
Spiky seed head of Velvet Leaf
At one time it was thought that Velvetleaf could be used as a source of fiber to make ropes, but that idea didn’t catch on. Even though the seeds are edible and provide oil when pressed, velvetleaf is mostly regarded as a weed in crop fields.
When we see it appear on our land again – after all it’s an annual and the seeds had to come from somewhere – it will be pulled like a weed and tossed onto the compost heap. An identifying feature is that this weed has differently shaped cotyledons – one round and one heart-shaped cotyledon – so it can be recognized very early in the growing season.
There is one useful thing to keep in mind about Velvetleaf once you know what it looks like. The whole plant is soft and velvety to the touch, so those big soft leaves can be used as survival toilet paper. 😉 Good to know!
Northern downy violets and common blue violets were very pretty for the last month. At our location in south-central Pennsylvania the common violet comes into full bloom about a week after the northern violets are peaking in their abundance.
Downy northern violet starts blooming here during the last week of April. As a community they bloom for at least a couple of weeks with new flowers springing up in between the long scalloped leaves of any given plant. Violet plants that receive only morning sun started blooming later than those in the open yard, so our entire blooming season for these pretty purple violets lasts about a month.
Downy leaves of the downy northern violet.Common blue violet in the lawn.
The easiest way to tell the difference between downy northern violet and the common blue violet is to look at their leaves. The downy northern has elongated leaves with scalloped edges and spurs on each side at the base of each leaf. The first leaves of the season are shorter and somewhat rounded and they may be confused with the common blue violet leaves which are heart-shaped leaves with scalloped edges.
Elongated downy northern violet leaves.Common blue violet with heart-shaped leaves.
We appeared to have lost the only two examples of arrow-leaved violets this winter. These plants were different than the much more plentiful common blue and downy northern violets. The leaves were large and the whole plant noticeable from a distance merely due to its size, as compared to the diminutive downy northern violets. The blooms weren’t much different as I remember, but the leaves were more wedge-shaped than the upright and narrow leaves of the downy northern violet.
Arrow-leaved violet.
We decided to hold off on making violet jelly this year. We still have one jar and plenty of other jellies in the pantry, so as Momma would say, “Waste not, want not!” We’ll save the sugar for making blackberry jelly or maybe elderberry jelly in 2 or 3 months.
Skunk Cabbage flowers are not your typical Spring blossoms. Anyone who wasn’t educated about the structure of this strange plant would be hard pressed to recognize the flowers as such, or to find them in the first place. The flowers grow in colonial fashion on a sphere inside a protective hood. One can see these protective structures on a walk through the woods or wetlands, but the flowers are so small that they’re not easily seen unless you get down on their level.
The protective hoods are well camouflaged to blend in with their surroundings. The colorful skunk cabbage hoods are yellow to light green and streaked with slashes and spots of maroon and brown. Most hoods are variegated while a few are mostly one color. It’s surprising how well these bright colors blend into the leaves on the forest floor. Unless you know what you’re looking for they can easily be missed.
Maroon-streaked yellow hood of skunk cabbage.Yellow hood of skunk cabbage with maroon blotches.Yellow-green and maroon hood of skunk cabbage.Purple or maroon hoods of skunk cabbage.Camouflaged hoods of five skunk cabbage plants at the creek.
Flowers may be present for up to a few weeks before the leaves emerge from the wet ground like “rolled-up cigars”. As the leaves grow in size quickly they begin to uncurl and become these mammoth cabbage-like leaves, hence the name “skunk cabbage”.
Flowers inside the hood.Purple sphere with flowers inside hood.Yellow sphere with flowers inside hood.
As I was stooping down to take these pictures it did smell like a skunk had recently passed that way. Of course it was the scent of the flowers that I was detecting. Their skunky smell beckons the flies that pollinate them. A few were buzzing around the area when I stopped by.
If you haven’t seen skunk cabbage before, now is a good time to look for it. The flowers are all but gone and dwarfed by the enormous leaves, but that makes it easier to spot these plants from afar.
Skunk cabbage leaves appearing at the creek.The leaves and colorful hood of skunk cabbage.
Look for skunk cabbage near water sources and in bottom lands. Skunk cabbage leaves grow out while the deciduous trees are still bare. The hooded flowers hide among leaves really well and they won’t be seen from a distance, so it’s much easier to find a patch of skunk cabbage once the leaves have appeared. The plants photographed here were growing next to or in a small stream or creek in the mountains in Central Pennsylvania.
After you’ve found a colony of these perennial plants, make a mental note of the location so you’ll be able to return there next year in early Spring to see the flowers.
Here we are anticipating the arrival of Spring-like weather. Late winter snows have covered the ground, but the sun that is stronger now is having an easier time melting the cold, white stuff. Snow has pulled away from the buildings yet there are still a couple of inches with a hard crust laying all along the ridge tops. Mountain ridges, that is.
Down in town, literally, there’s no snow to be found at the level of the Juniata River in Millerstown about 300-400 ft. in elevation. Mountain ridge tops in the area are typically 800-1200 ft. in elevation so they’re a few degrees colder at this time of year.
Flower blooming, which a lot of us use to judge that it really finally IS spring, may differ by some days when comparing sites with a few hundred feet difference in elevation. The only way to know what’s blooming out there is to go and look.
I was curious to see if skunk cabbage was blooming down near the river so I took a walk at the Millerstown Area Community Park. Photos were taken there on 15 March 2013. Up and down the park I walked but I didn’t spot one little hood poking its head out of the ground.
There’s been a lot of activity with respect to improving this area park, like asphalting walking paths, installing park benches, and erecting an amphitheater. I wondered if the land near the river was groomed because I swear that I saw skunk cabbage there years before. So, that will be a topic for another post. Sycamore trees by the river.
Finally, I did see one of my favorite trees and that was worth the ride. Actually, several American Sycamore trees were standing tall right next to the river.
The American Sycamore, Platanus occidentalis, is a have-to-be-near-water kind of tree. It’s tolerant of poorly draining soil, meaning it can have its roots stay wet. American sycamores are found in the eastern United States, especially near streams and rivers and their flood plains.
Why do I like sycamores? Their angular leaves are huge and immediately identifiable, their seed balls break open to release a whole bunch of seeds that travel on the wind, and they have really funky-looking, unique bark. Looking up a sycamore tree with its light, smooth spotted bark.
The bark of the sycamore peels off in sheets and pieces to reveal white patches of the inner bark. The overall feel and look of this tree’s bark is smooth and it appears splotched with shades of grey. The light-colored bark helps to identify this tree from a distance. Note the half-dozen sycamores in the upper photo. Knowing this little factoid can help one find water because that’s where the sycamore grows – near water.
Spring has sprung! At least the animal activity we’ve been seeing, and hearing, tells us that the old groundhog got it right. Recent snowfall and cold blast aside, the temperatures promise to creep up this month.
We’ve now passed Meteorological Spring, which was on March 1st. Meteorological spring is based on temperature and it follows Meteorological Winter, which is defined as the three coldest months or December, January and February. Meteorological spring is made up of the months March, April and May. Of course there are meteorological summer and meteorological autumn months, too.
The first day of spring that most of us recognize is known as the Vernal Equinox and it starts Astronomical Spring. The vernal equinox is one of two days of the year when the Earth’s axis points neither toward nor away from the sun – the other being the Autumnal Equinox. Both equinoxes produce days with equal minutes of light and dark. Days get longer in during Astronomical Spring, which lasts three months, until the third week in June when Astronomical Summer begins.
We see there are several ways to define Spring, but no matter what terms we use we have only to observe nature for a while to see what’s happening in the real world. Observing animal activity will verify Spring has sprung. Here are some of the activities we’ve seen and heard in central PA:
We’ve seen the seagulls fly up the river and drift back down several times a day. Kind of a lazy way to fish or is it just plain fun? The seagulls can be seen in cornfields picking up seed instead of a Kmart parking lot hoping for popcorn. During winter we don’t see many seagulls, if any.
Snow geese are flying north in big flocks. Sometimes you can hear them and never get a glimpse of them. Their muted honks tell who’s flying home.
Owls can be seen during the dim light of day, perhaps on a cloudy day or in the shade of a mountain. We saw a Barred Owl a couple of weeks ago near the river in an old forest. Prime habitat for this hunter. He didn’t care that we stopped in the middle of the country road to gawk at him hunting for his owlets’ supper.
Took a tick off the dog just yesterday. The first one this year. Sometimes he brings one home in winter, but now it’s definitely time for the tick guard.
Topping off my list of spring animal sightings were a pair of squirrels caught doing the “twirl”. I wasn’t surprised to see these squirrels chasing each other up and down and all over a white oak tree, but I was surprised to see how they eventually hooked up. The female grabbed onto the tree trunk about halfway up the tree with her head pointed toward the ground and the male mounted her from behind. They did this twice that I saw with a lot of chasing and limb running in between attempts. Sorry, no photos!
At our location it’s a little early for much plant activity, so we’re looking and listening for signs of Spring by tuning in to the Animal Kingdom. So, what have you seen in the way of animal activities that show it’s Spring?
