Happy Earth Day photos: blooming this week
By Daniel Barringer, Preserve Manager.
Happy Earth Day! I hope you get out to enjoy nature wherever you are. Crow’s Nest is a good place to explore—we’re open every day, dawn to dusk, free of charge!
Above and below, two photos taken by the late Denis Manchon at Crow’s Nest in April of 2009. I can’t do any better for photos of these and other wildflowers and I’m so grateful he took them. Above, Dutchman’s breeches (Dicentra cucullaria) is blooming along Piersol Road near Hopewell Road. If anything, the population has expanded in the last 12 years, despite it competing for space with Japanese honeysuckle and other invasive plants. Below, trailing arbutus (Epigaea repens) is found on mossy banks at the base of Monocacy Hill along Piersol Road.
Looking out from our porch yesterday, you can see the redbud blooming by our garden. In the distance, some red maples are still blooming, while others have finished. The land is also blessed with a shade of green that we only see at this time of year.
Small white flowered trees you see along the forest edge are shadbush (Amelanchier); we also have a few pear trees that are flowering right now (these are descendants of old orchard plantings, and fortunately not the invasive ornamental callery pear—Pyrus calleryana—that you see spreading all over the east coast).
Many of the spring ephemeral wildflowers that were blooming last week are still in flower, such as trout-lily, rue anemone, and hepatica. Violets (Viola sp.) are also blooming throughout our woods (and lawns and gardens).
Earth Day isn’t always about planting new trees and wildflowers. Sometimes it’s about protecting what we already have. Below, at Warwick Woods where the buildings are being demolished, we’ve protected a couple white oak trees from the equipment that will be used to haul away debris. The scrap lumber and safety fencing are a temporary measure; long term we will be doing forest restoration here and we will try to keep as many of the existing trees as we can.
