FLOWERS BLOOM IN AN UNDISCLOSED LOCATION

Where could these flowers be blooming?  Mt Cuba Center, in Delaware?  Shenks Ferry wildflower preserve in Lancaster County PA? Bowmans Hill Wildflower preserve in New Hope PA?  Morris Park? Valley Forge National Historical Park along the Schuylkill? Just to name a few places, your guess will win you a FREE Aster while supplies last, or possibly a tall coneflower, or other native wildflower, while supplies last. (details in the comment section)

Guess this and take home a free native plant for your yard!

Trillium flexipes
Trillium flexipes

If this isnt Shenks Ferry Wildflower preserve, than what other planet are we on?  You might as well just make this your guess now and get that free aster for your own yard.

Sanguinaria canadensis and Podophyllum peltatum
Sanguinaria canadensis and Podophyllum peltatum

This is so Morris Park, Philadelphia.  Follow the Sanguine Root for 5 minutes and its all about the bloodroot and the mayapples 24-7, 365, a continuous stream of information about these two plants.  So you might as well guess Morris Park so you can bag a FREE aster.

Mertensia virginica and Acer saccharum
Mertensia virginica and Acer saccharum

This is so much Bowmans Hill, or could it be Valley Forge?  What kind of Maple tree would You associate with Bluebells?

Asarum canadense
Asarum canadense

This wild ginger flower is pointing straight up.  Makes for an easy shot. Usually they are ‘shy’ and lay below the leaves along the forest floor.  Did the word Forest just get used?  Could this be in the Wissahickon or in Pennypack Park?

aquilegia canadensis
Aquilegia canadensis

The Columbine, glowing like lanterns, blooming away as if it were May.

 

YEAR:1012 A.D. LOCATION: WHAT WILL SOMEDAY BE CALLED PHILADELPHIA

Our time machine sputtered as we navigated through West Fairmount Park, along the Belmont Plateau. It was set for 1512 AD, on the exact date, April first.  Our Time machine, built in 1959 and purchased second hand, delivered us to 1012 A.D. instead.  Now, the real issue is if we can go back to 2012!   We had this idea of visiting Fairmount Park before the Europeans arrived and chopped down most of the trees. The old rust bucket took us back 500 years further, but we saw the same plants!

Spring in West Fairmount Park, Philadelphia
Spring in West Fairmount Park, Philadelphia

Check this out. Instead of rowhouses, Philadelphia was full of trees and Mayapples. Sassafrass, Tulip Poplar and Oaks growing. ( Our photographs of the 180 foot tall Chestnut trees were lost during our very rough re-entry to 2012, most likely from electrical problems that erased our digital files.)

Spring in West Fairmount Park, Philadelphia
Spring in West Fairmount Park, Philadelphia

This violet from April 1st 1012 was duly recorded.

Spring in West Fairmount Park, Philadelphia
Spring in West Fairmount Park, Philadelphia

This cut-leaved toothwort was found in magnificent patches in the ancient woods just north of the Belmont Plateau of the 21st century.  After our return to 2012, we revisited the location and found the same plants still growing there!

Spring in West Fairmount Park, Philadelphia
Spring in West Fairmount Park, Philadelphia

This 1012 image of the plant speaks volumes about the geometry of this specimen.  We took notes.

Spring in West Fairmount Park, Philadelphia
Spring in West Fairmount Park, Philadelphia

It was so cool to see what we call today Spring Beauty and Mayapple growing 1000 years ago right here in our fair city, Philadelphia. However, after about an hour in the world of 1012, it started to get dark, and we knew we had to be to work the next day.  We had 1000 years to travel, and we better get started.  So back we went.  The time machine sputtered and backfired on the way back and boom! we were back in 2012!  we decided to go check out the same areas we were in 1000 years ago and here is what we found in this site:  After navigating through a maze of invasives, notably Japanese Knotweed, Lesser Celandine, Norway Maple, Tree of Heaven, Japanese Honeysuckle, we found the old forest still hanging on!  It was a vestige of what we saw in 1012, and it was under assault by the invasives, but it was still there!

Spring in West Fairmount Park, Philadelphia
Spring in West Fairmount Park, Philadelphia

There was a roaring highway that cut through the forest creating a menacing presence.  The Schuykill expressway.

Oh yeah, that thing, and there it is.

The forest was still growing though, what left of it there was.

MAYAPPLES BLANKET HILLSIDES IN WEST FAIRMOUNT PARK

If you like Mayapples, this is the place.  A series of bicycle paths that lead from Belmont Plateau to the Recycling Center reveal a stunning display of Mayapple colonies. If you look closely, there are also some Trout lilies and Cut Leaved Toothwort as well as an abundance of Spring Beauty. Some of the ravines on this walk have big oaks and Beeches, and still retain that feel of an old forest.  The native wildflowers add to the overall effect of a natural area, where one can imagine what it was like to be there hundreds  of years ago. In contrast, the plateau areas are full of disturbance and invasives.  We find this a typical pattern in the northeastern piedmont region.

Mayapples in West Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Mayapples in West Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

An enchanting evening walk nonetheless, with countless Mayapples gracing the forest floor.

Mayapples in West Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Mayapples in West Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Keeba, making sure that noone accidentally steps on a Mayapple or any other wildflower growing right next to the path.

Mayapples in West Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Mayapples in West Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Except for the Schuylkill expressway roaring away in the backround, this pleasant sylvan scene is evocative of an ancient springtime, a place where the natural world we have inherited has evolved, millenia after millenia.  Before us is something of a time capsule, a window into the past, living ancients renewing themselves year after year until this very spring before our eyes.

Mayapples in West Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Mayapples in West Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Within the ecosystem of the Mayapple is the Eastern Box turtle, which also emerges from the forest floor, and finds as part of its diet the Mayapple itself, the fruit of the plant Podophyllum peltatum.  This fruit provides sustenance for the turtle and in return, the seeds are roughed up in the turtles digestive tract , which will help them germinate after the turtle disperses them.

Mayapples in West Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Mayapples in West Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

 

So if you are on the Schuylkill, stuck in a horrible traffic jam, remember you are right next to a beautiful forest where there are all kinds of species interacting, and great old trees and some flowers.  But like the Schuylkill, it is not without its problems.