Walker Nature Center
A LOOK INSIDE • Calendar 4 • Kids’ Corner 6 • Spring Festival 8
BRANCHING OUT
Nature Notes Fleeting Flowers MARCH By Katie Shaw
•
Bluebirds are building nests.
•
Wood Frogs and Spring Peepers are calling.
•
Hazelnut trees have long, yellow flower clusters.
•
Maple trees have red blossoms.
APRIL •
American Toads are trilling and laying eggs.
•
Spring Azure butterflies are in flight.
•
Virginia Bluebells and Foamflower bloom.
•
Dogwood and Red Bud trees bloom.
MAY •
Eastern Box Turtles lay eggs.
•
Eastern Tiger Swallowtails are in flight.
•
Wild Geranium, Mayapple and Jack-in-the-Pulpit bloom.
•
Tuliptrees have large, light green blossoms.
of Spring By Susan Sims
March and April bring snow melt, longer days and more sunshine. This whisper of warmth triggers the spring ephemerals – flowering plants that last for a brief time – to emerge and begin their rapid cycle of growth. By the time the heat of summer arrives, these flowers will be but a memory, dormant until the next spring. Spring ephemerals are striking early in the season and provide a lovely backdrop to the warming weather, but they’re more than a pretty addition to the forest. They serve an important ecological purpose by supplying food for early pollinating insects including bees, beetles, butterflies and flies.
Early Spring Rainbow
Various ephemerals begin popping up in forests throughout Reston in March bringing a burst of color. One iconic spring ephemeral known for its color is the Virginia Bluebell (Mertensia virginica). These true blue, bellshaped flowers paint swaths throughout woodland areas and are at their peak in late April, the perfect time to ring in spring with a nature hike. Look for their chameleon color change as pink buds open to display blue flowers. Like hydrangeas, the color change is due to pH changes—the more acidic the soil, the deeper the shade of blue. Other ephemerals bring nature’s paintbrush to the woodlands, and some have exciting names!
Springbeauty, Dutchman’s Breeches and Trout Lily are common spring flowers that brighten the forest floor. Delicate Springbeauties grow from small tubers and produce five-petaled white flowers with pink stripes. Its scientific name, Claytonia virginica, is Linnaeus’ homage to the early Williamsburg colonist John Clayton, who co-authored the first Flora of Virginia in 1739 with Johann Friedrich Gronovius of the Netherlands. Dutchman’s Breeches are named for exactly what they sound like – pants! Flowers bloom in March and will disappear by April; with a careful eye you can spot them along the trails at the Nature Center. Look for a fern-like plant with flowers that resemble white, upside down pants with yellow accents.
Continued on page 2
Spring | 19 | Volume Twenty One