A Website about Urban Environmental Restoration in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia
Today I saw the first bloom of the Mayapple here in West Philadelphia’s Fairmount Park, near the Recycling Center on the bike trail leading to the Strawberry Mansion Bridge.
It is a bit later this year than years in the recent past. The Trout Lilies that were in full bloom last week on the Boxers Trail? Just like that in a flash: Boom! Totally not blooming anymore. Spring is moving along at a fast clip!
The traffic on the way home this Friday afternoon here in Philadelphia is unpleasant. Not for me, because I am on my bicycle. I just breezed past all of the stuck cars and zoomed home, even taking some mountain bike trails through the park. The two pictures below are taken just minutes apart and are two completely different worlds. Both taken in the midst of the city of Philadelphia. A startling contrast!
The Schuylkill expressway hardly moving.
Just hundreds of feet away and two minutes away from the first picture in this post of the woods of Fairmount Park.
I found a Tulip Poplar flower on the trail! This is the brief part of the year to celebrate this tree to its fullest!
Liriodendron tulipifera
Back to the urban planning aspect of this post:
It is great that I can bike from point A to point B in some cases in Philly and always take advantage of the opportunity when I can! It is a such a pleasure to go bicycling especially when the weather is fair. I wish everyone commuting in Philly this afternoon could have the same experience I had. It would help in the political process of collectively re-imagining and re-engineering our cities to be more pleasant and more environmentally intelligent. This post is part two of the Sanguine Root call for the total elimination of the Schuylkill Expressway.
Today, April 11, 2023 on a late afternoon walk. We lamented on how quickly the spring ephemerals will wither away. Seeing them so vibrant and fresh is almost heartbreaking knowing that they will be gone so soon.
