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Winter’s end and emerging Spring in Philadelphia

I went on my 11 mile bike ride around Fairmount Park in Philadelphia today and the first part of the bike ride was warm and balmy and I saw some emerging spring ephemerals. After I crossed the Strawberry mansion bridge the wind started to pick up and clouds started to move in and when I got to Kelly Drive the wind was blowing pretty strong. A typical March day here in Philadelphia! I found a patch of Spring Beauty blooming and emerging Trout Lily’s. ( along the boxers Trail) I also found plenty of blooming spicebush!

Above , blooming spicebush!

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Moving to the final third of summer

Jewelweed on the Boxers trail in East Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania this afternoon. Interestingly, right when the hummingbirds need lots of blooming nectar rich flowers as they prepare for their migration and even begin migrating, the Impatiens are in their top blooming order!

Because of their small size, scientists are not able to track migration patterns of individual hummingbirds like they can for Snowy Owls and other large birds. So there is a gap in knowledge about exactly how they go about their migration.
This is the time of year when they begin migrating.

Impatiens capensis

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BLOOMING MAYAPPLES OF WEST FAIRMOUNT PARK

This is THE Mayapple post of 2023! They have been appearing in previous posts and will most likely make an appearance In future posts this year, but this is the banner post for Mayapples. By the time these Spring Ephemerals are blooming, the season of the Spring Ephemerals is just about over. It’s the grande finale of them.

Podophyllum peltatum