Today the air smelled sweet of cut grass, and there was some good sun – but not too hot. A wonderful day to get out and do some weeding, and to see what all nature’s been up to. It feels like full spring most of the time, but the temperatures still get down to the 30s sometimes – and though the date I have for last frost in 8a is just one day away, I am cautious about moving things outside
Animalia
Have seen a couple bumblebees, wasps, cottontail rabbits, and mallard ducks.
Fungi & friends
I found a Nitrous Bonnet! It’s a member of the Mycenaeceae family, and it is very small. I have yet to observe many fungi out in my walks, so was very excited to find this one.
I’m not able to identify many mosses or lichens. But around here, Sunburst lichen grows on so many stone surfaces. Right now I think most of what I’ve seen is yellowish-green. When the right season happens, they turn a neat shade of orange, and put out what I like to call ‘little pancakes.’
Weed Watch
I haven’t seen my favorite early edible, nipplewort ( aster family), since moving. I would guess that it’s around, though. It’s not very flavorful, and it’s fuzzy which will put some off of eating it. (But I am the type to eat kiwi fruit with the skin on, so that’s fine by me.) The yellow flowers resemble dandelions a little, and it grtows well in the shade. While it disappears during sunny summer, plenty can be found in the shady areas until at least fall.
Herb Robert (geranium family) is starting to line the trails again. It’s another of the non-native weeds that is very pretty to me.
The dandelions (Aster family) are putting out large blooms now, and I’ve seen some have nice healthy leaves. Dock plants (Buckwheat family) h ave also been growing nice and large. Bull thistle (Aster family) is also getting some healthy growth, but has a long way to go before it reaches the full state of its obnoxiousness.
Hairy bittercress (Brassicas) has been showing up everywhere. It’s still going strong and putting out oodles of flowers, but with a little less green color. Meanwhile, the red deadnettle is in its element, with that lovely green to purple gradient that makes me so happy. I’ve seen wall lettuce and other various lettuce/brassica weeds with similar variation – so I wonder whether the cooler temperatures bring this on or if there are different varieties?
English Ivy (Ginseng family) is thriving as well, putting out vigorous growth, berries, and flowers all at once. I still don’t know why some leaves are rounded while others have the classic shape that English ivy is known for. It’s a beautiful plant and I wish that I could love it here, but careless people have let it spread so much that generally it just irritates me to see – especially now when it is putting out fruit that will likely further spread the growth.
There is a local patch of Japanese knotweed (Buckwheat family) that I’ve been keeping an eye on the past year. It’s no longer in a spot I regularly pass, so I’ll have to make a special point to go out there soon. I want to get some photos of it when it’s young to help identify it before it has a chance to be a problem; I also want a chance to message the city about it before it grows.
Himalayan blackberry is not putting out any special new growth, as far as I’ve seen. The same mix of green, red, and yellowed leaves stay all through winter. I don’t recall when it flowers, but the berries become ripe sometime between June & August, and I think they stick around for about 1 – 2 months.
One thing that fascinates me about Himalayan blackberry that you might keep an eye out for – when the end of a cane touches the ground, it begins tok put out roots. The canes can grow quite tall, so that enables Himalayan blackberry to climb over all sorts of things, and to take up big patches of space by shading everything out. (And the fact that Japanese knotweed can even shade out blackberry should make it seem just a little more terrifying.)
Native Plants
Oso berry (Rosaeceae family) has been putting out leaves for at least a few weeks, and is now putting out lovely white flowers. I have been told that the leaves are edible before flowering, and when picked they smell similar to cucumber. I haven’t managed to actually get any home and remember that I’ve picked it, so haven’t tasted it – but I have enjoyed picking a leaf and tearing it so I can smell the lovely scent.
I finally saw a salmon berry (Rubus family) plant! These put out magenta colored flowers, which I feel are the loveliest of all the rubus plants I know of. Have never gone looking for them before they put out flowers, and only just learned to identify the flowers before they fruit last year. They do resemble blackberry a little, but without the big thick canes. They are a little more delicate.
Maples (Poplar family) are beginning to flower. I have seen an introduced ornamental variety that iSeek suggests is Norway Maple dropping flowers already. Meanwhile, Vine Maples are starting to put out leaves.
Snowberry (Honeysuckle family) have been putting out leaves for quite a while. Along with a lot of Ericaceae plants (Heath family – aka blueberries), snowberry really seems to enjoy the early spring. The leaves are small and delicate. No sign of flwoers yet, bu t I assume they will show soon because I have always noticed their small white berries throughout the year even before I started learning the growth cycles of local plant life.
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