{"id":1643,"date":"2012-03-20T11:47:47","date_gmt":"2012-03-20T15:47:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/glenprovidencepark.org\/?p=1643"},"modified":"2012-03-20T11:50:26","modified_gmt":"2012-03-20T15:50:26","slug":"a-lovely-spring-ephemerals-walk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glenprovidencepark.org\/2012\/03\/20\/a-lovely-spring-ephemerals-walk\/","title":{"rendered":"A Lovely Spring Ephemerals Walk"},"content":{"rendered":"

We were lucky on our St. Patrick’s Day Spring Ephemerals Walk in Glen Providence Park…<\/strong>\u00a0starting with the glorious weather!\u00a0 Joining us were 19 adults, 7 children, and 2 beguiling dogs.<\/strong>\u00a0 While we didn’t find any leprechauns, we did find this patch of native ephemeral Bloodroot<\/strong>, and mating Pickerel Frogs!<\/strong><\/p>\n

We had a brief historical introduction to show off our 1930’s postcard of the park’s main entrance <\/strong>(shown below), and the 1960’s Red Arrow Trolley brochure<\/a> that encourages people to picnic at the park’s “Bandstand Dell”<\/strong>– known as the Sledding Hill today!<\/p>\n

We started our fun and informative tour with Marcia Tate<\/a>\u00a0by noting the distinctive buds of our native Flowering Dogwood on the Sledding Hill<\/strong>.\u00a0 We then found lots of our native Spicebush covered in yellow buds and flowers<\/strong>. This native plant is common in the park, and has a spicy smell. Luckily for the Spicebush, the deer don’t like it!<\/p>\n

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Spicebush buds<\/p><\/div>\n

We proceeded to the Mountain Laurel Trail<\/strong>, where we admired the not-yet-blooming… Mountain Laurel!\u00a0 The state flower of Pennsylvania, Mountain Laurel usually blooms around May<\/strong>, but its structure makes it beautiful year-round. Marcia compared samples of Mountain Laurel and Rhododendron buds-\u00a0the Rhododendron along the Ice House Trail usually blooms in mid-June<\/strong>.\u00a0 Of course with this year’s warm temperatures, many things could bloom early…
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\n<\/em>Most of the Skunk Cabbage<\/a> is past the flowering stage, but we found some remaining flowers along the Shingle Mill Trail<\/strong>.\u00a0 While the lovely native ephemeral\u00a0Trout Lily has not yet emerged<\/strong>, we were thrilled when we found a patch of the native ephemeral Bloodroot, Sanguinaria canadensis<\/em>!\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Pickerel Frogs<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/strong>The underground stems have red juice- thus the name. \u00a0Of course\u00a0we also found plentiful invasives<\/strong>, including Celandine<\/strong>, pretty Periwinkle<\/strong>, and the pervasive Multiflora Rose<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

To top it all off, we found mating Pickerel Frogs!\u00a0<\/strong> They’re the only frog species in this region that call underwater. We just happened to have a hydrophone<\/strong> on loan from Dr. Mac Given, enabling us to listen underwater at the pond<\/strong>… and we did hear something, but I’m not sure whether it was the Pickerel call.\u00a0 However a low croaking call (above water) is what led us to find this pair<\/strong>– you can listen to the Pickerel’s call here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

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It was a wonderful morning- thank you so much to Marcia Tate for her engaging tour, and to everyone who attended!<\/p>\n

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