March 25, 2017
A sort of quick review of the progress of spring in the Philadelphia area following the end of a snow storm and week-long cold snap that froze things in progress. Photos are from a walk along the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia and in Ridley Creek State Park, which is about fifteen miles west of Philadelphia.
The Siberian Squill come up and bloom right after the Snow Drops. And in the same area.
Found some Snow Drops with snow amidst a patch of Pachysandra along the paved trail in Ridley Creek.
The Daily Bucket is a regular feature of the Backyard Science group. It is a place to note any observations you have made of the world around you. Insects, weather, meteorites, climate, birds and/or flowers. All are worthy additions to the bucket. Please let us know what is going on around you in a comment. Include, as close as is comfortable for you, where you are located. Each note is a record that we can refer to in the future as we try to understand the patterns that are quietly unwinding around us.
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Flowers aside the primary color to be found right now is still brown. Followed by the muted green of over-wintering plants. With the warmer weather you see the trees starting to bud, bulb plants sprouting, and a number of small early bloomers going about flowering and seeding before the grasses get going and cover them up.
If you look in the right places however, there are blooming plants to be found.
The number of naturalized non-native plants in this area is really not that surprising since there has been European settlement in this area since the early 18th century.
A note on blooming trees. Right before the snow storm and period of below freezing temperatures the large number of Calley (Bradford) Pear planted along the streets in Philadelphia were just starting their rather profuse bloom. The storm stopped the bloom in its tracks. Afterwards it looks like the various trees lost between 25%-75% of their blooms depending on location. The various cherries seem to have weathered the freeze much better.
Right now large patches of Red Dead-nettle are visible in a lot of areas; median strips on highways, along trails, and single plants or small patches in all sorts of places.
Henbit is a relative that is also good at finding small niches to grow in and produce small flowers.
I have seen a very profuse and very green (for early spring) ground cover in a few places. It’s not English Ivy or Periwinkle (Vinca), so I made sure to take some pictures so that I could ID it. I was pretty sure it was a non-native since it was mainly growing near houses — which implied it had been deliberately introduced.
Not many observations to make in terms of birds. The Ring-billed gulls along the Schuylkill River appear to not be in mating plumage yet. The Canada Goose are moving around in pairs. And I was mainly hearing birds (Cardinal, Blue Jay, Chickadee, Crows, etc.) rather than seeing them.
I also checked out the location that was a vernal pond last year with Wood Frogs mating in it. Right now the spot is marshy, but there is no standing water in it. This might be that there needs to be more rain.* Or it might be that repairs and culvert work on the nearby paved trail/road now causes the area to drain better and maybe the pond will not form at all.
* — As I type this on a Monday morning it is pouring rain outside.
And we end our tour of non-native blooming plants. I expect things to go heavily green in the next month or so as it gets warm and stays warm.
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Now It's Your Turn
What have you noted happening in your area or travels? As usual post your observations as well as their general location in the comments.