Wake Robin Hunt

That Jane Bourquin is really something.  We were on The Island - and off to the left of the (Yellow 12) trail there was a pretty good patch of White Trillium (Trillium grandiflorum) but no Trillium erectum,  which is referred to as Red Trillium, Purple Trillium, Blue Trillium, or Wake Robin.  Well at least it was obvious to everyone but Jane that all the flowers were white.   Nonetheless Jane went tramping through the Trillium, careful not to step on any plant, and kept searching.   In time she spotted a plant with a tiny bud, which was sort of dark.  Jane announced that this bud would become a Blue Trillium.  We marked the location with two crossed sticks (X marks the spot).  We expect that Jane is right and that we'll see the Wake Robin next week.

The photo of the Red Trillium was taken by Jane a few years ago.  The photo on the right of a patch of White Trillium was taken by Maggie today. -- click it to see it bigger.   Jane explained that May Apple flowers always occur in the notch between two leaves at the top of the plant.  If there's only one leaf, the plant is sterile.

click pic to see it large

Also in bloom: Lesser Celendine, High Bush Blueberry, Spring Beauty, Trout Lily, Dead Nettles, Ground Ivy (Gill Over the Ground) 

Each of the links above goes to the flower's page on mlra.org -
For comparison, here is the page for the Marsh Marigold, which we did not see.   We also saw a small white flower, the size of a Spring Beauty, but with six petals, not five.  It looked somewhat like the photo of the Star of Bethlehem, but I doubt that's what it was.  We also saw both yellow and purple violets.  This page has the six varieties of violets which were identified by Rudy Salati.  I think what we saw were the common yellow violet and the marsh violet.  There may have also been field pansies.

 Pebble Run Bridge, l to r: Jane, Cecile, Ro.  Milly behind Ro

Lumberton Trails - April 18

Ferry Tale 

Art Hartwig was our leader and he had so much to tell us about the work of the trail committee past, present and future.   I have added captions to the PHOTOS IN THIS ALBUM but they don't begin to tell the story.   I think we should have a slideshow with a narrative by Art in one of our community meetings.  Herb thinks there should be a photo essay in the Lumberton Campus Chronicle.  Art thinks we should have have more small-group walks -- two or three persons with a leader.    Art has a long story about the past and future of this raft.  I can't begin to do it justice, so I won't even try.   Do go through the photos slowly and read the captions.

Master Gardeners - Philadelphia Inquirer

ARTICLE IN TODAY'S INQUIRER about Master Gardeners at Medford Leas - and weeds. There were many more photos -- big ones in the paper-- front page of the Home and Design section.

Wildflowers Walk on April 8

We took Yellow Trail 12 to the Island looking for Trillium.   Not yet, but plenty of Skunk Cabbage.  It was a cloudy day so the Lesser Celendine was not open.   We saw Spring Beauty buds but not full flower - which we had seen on Tuesday on Trail 13.      The photo  from the walk shows Jane pointing to the "State Champion"  Butternut Hickory which was struck by lightning in 1997.  CLICK HERE to see it big and read the sign insert.

Before the walk we spent some time learning to use Newcomb's Wildflower Guide.   Irregular flower, opposite leaves, lobed = locator key 143.   ahh- ground ivy - Gill on the Ground   On another weed Jane showed us the long pointy seedpods which identify it as belonging to the mustard family.   Herb Minkus had told us on Monday that it was Bittercress. --  CLICK HERE - look familiar? scroll down for a photo of the weed growing out of gravel.  We saw plenty of both weeds on our walk.

Trail Walk on April 6

Click here to START THE SLIDESHOW WITH THE 7 PHOTOS from the walk on Trail 13, led by Steve Denham.   I never saw such large trees growing out of a fallen nurse log, and the culverts under the RR embankment were HUGE.    Great views of the Sharp's Run floodplain at this time of year.   We started the walk near the guest cottage at Bridge 6 - I thought that's where Herb said there was a Beaver Dam.  No dam there, however.

Court Walk on April 5

Click here for THE FIRST 19 PHOTOS IN THIS ALBUM which are from the  April 5 Court walk with Herb Minkus.   Next time I'll take notes - Herb please provide info to label the photos that have "Dunno" in them.    I do remember a couple of things -- we have 600,000 daffodils,  80% (is that right?) of the pachysandra died last winter, and there was some sort of scientific experiment with residents wearing heart-rate monitors going thru the courts and sitting for a few minutes at various courts.  Court seven was the most relaxing.   I probably have that story completely jumbled.  Herb, please explain.

Trail Maps and Aerial Views

Lumberton Campus Trails - Aerial View

A couple of these have been posted before. I'm reposting because post titles are important in locating stuff. In fact that's why I'm going to be posting separately for each of the 3 walks this past week. A reminder: if you click on the pic it gets bigger. On some computers a 2nd click makes it bigger yet -- or to increase the size of pics or font use Control + on PCs and Command + on Macs.

Medford Campus Trails

Medford Campus - Aerial View