EARLY, FARMLAND ROADSIDE PLANTS

     Late in March of 2023, while driving through Lancaster County Pennsylvania farmland, I saw a few kinds of short, flowering plants blooming along rural roadsides, including dandelions, veronicas, purple dead nettles, henbit and whitlow grass, all of which are from Europe, and adapted to disturbed soil.  These are some of the first wild flowers I see blossoming on lawns, fields and along roadsides every spring in this area.  Though these plants are more abundant in lawns and fields, those along public country roadsides are more accessible to many people.  

     These small plants grow close to the ground where they get sunlight, but avoid the cold winds of March and early April.  Their blooms peer out from lush, green jungles of their own foliage, grass and garlic.  

     Lancaster County's extensive fields at that time are barren, with few trees, and fields of bare ground, green shoots of winter rye, or corn stubble from last year's harvest.  Horned larks live in such barren habitats, and doves, geese, crows and other creatures get food from those fields, but little shelter.

     Dandelion flowers are the most familiar of early roadside blooms.  Protruding above their deeply-toothed foliage, dandelion blossoms offer beauty and cheer that are readily noticeable, and inspiring.  Wood chucks and cottontail rabbits consume all parts of dandelions.  And sparrows, finches, horned larks and field mice ingest many dandelion seeds.

     Veronica blossoms form lovely, varying-sized, pale-blue patches of themselves on lawns and along rural roadsides.  These pretty flowers are small, but thousands of them blooming together are easily noticed and enjoyed among grass stems.  

     Purple dead nettles and henbits are related in the same genus of the mint family, complete with square stems, a feature of mints.  These small plants have similarly-shaped, pink blooms, but their leaves and stems are arranged differently.  These false nettles are far more abundant than henbits.  Nettles turn whole fields and roadsides pink.

     Whitlow grass is not a grass at all, but a draba.  It is a tiny plant with teeny, white flowers that are not readily noticed, but bloom along with dandelions, henbits and the other plants discussed here.

     Other, larger, wild plants, including evening lynchis, garlic mustard, field mustard and other species grow and bloom along country roads later in April.  And several other species bloom later in spring, and still others through summer and autumn.  But these small plants of March into early April are the forerunners of all that wild, roadside vegetation.    

             

       

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

SPRING ON THE UPPER CHESAPEAKE

      I visited the Upper Chesapeake Bay at the Community Park of Northeast, Maryland one afternoon about the middle of March a few years ago, as I had several times in different seasons before that day.  This time, I went there to spot migrating water birds of various kinds.        Because of their high numbers, gulls and ducks were the dominant birds on the ice, and strips of open water among the slabs of ice because of the warming weather in March.  Most of the handsome ring-billed, herring and great black-backed gulls stood picturesquely on slabs of ice.        The attractive, adult ring-billed and herring gulls are mostly gray on top, white below, and look much alike, except the herrings are larger and have a red mark on their beaks, whereas each ring-bill has a black "ring" around its bill.  Largest of these gulls, the stately, mature black-backs have black backs and upper wings and are white below, making a striking, attractive plumage pattern.        All three of thos
Read more

DADDY-LONG-LEGS

     During summer, over the years in southeastern Pennsylvania, I've seen many daddy-long-legs on the bark of tree trunks on lawns, and in parks and woods.  They blend into the color of tree bark well and are difficult to see.  Many people never see them at all until those camouflaged little critters are pointed out by people in the know about them.        Daddy-long-legs have eight, really long, thin legs, but they are not spiders.  But they are arachnids, and related to spiders.  These attractive, little creatures, called daddy-long-legs because of their long legs, have quarter-inch, compact bodies raised on stilt-like legs.  They have two dark eyes and feel the vibrations of birds and other predators with their legs.  But these arachnids have no venom, or silk to make webs.        Daddy-long-legs, like all other living beings, are part of several food chains.  They consume tiny invertebrates and decaying plant and animal materials they find on tree bark.  And, in turn, many of
Read more

FATHER FINCHES FEEDING FLEDGINGS

     While sitting on our back deck to enjoy the lovely scenery and weather during the afternoon of July 21, 2023, I noticed a tiny, red speck in our tall Norway spruce tree on our suburban lawn in southeastern Pennsylvania.  Peering at that red spot with 16 power binoculars, I saw it was a beautiful male house finch feeding three fledgling house finches; his offspring.  Those gray and dark-streaked young birds fluttered their wings vigorously while being fed invertebrates and seeds.  And the wild charm of those birds was decidedly enhanced by the deep-green of the needled spruce boughs.        Those four house finches were a lovely, exciting sight to me.  I know that species of small birds raises young in our neighborhood every summer, including a pair of house finches that hatch offspring on a support under an awning over our deck.  But never before had I watched a father house finch feed his young outside their twig and grass cradle.  And when that male finch flew off the spruce lim
Read more