I have been fortunate not to have been bitten by any deer
ticks so far. One of the actions I am
doing to keep that streak going is to put out homemade tick tubes twice a
year. These are paper tubes with several
(5-8) cotton balls heavily treated with permethrin. The idea is that mice will collect the cotton
and use it in their nests. There the
permethrin will kill the ticks on the mice and break the deer tick life cycle early
on. Check out this link for more information. We also spray our work clothes with a dilute solution of permethrin to deter ticks and especially chiggers.
I usually put out one batch of tubes in Mid-March,
targeting a time when mice begin building nests. I put them near brush piles and other places
where mice might nest. I use an orange
flag to hold them in place and mark the location. If there are still cotton balls left over I
look for a different location to put the tube.
I also put out another set in the fall with the idea that mice will use
them for their winter habitats.
This springtime tube distribution also gets me out in the
woods when the spring wildflowers are going to town. This year has been more exciting than
last. It may have been the cold winter,
or that my wife and I have been removing large quantities of garlic mustard,
but the quantity of native wild flowers appears to be up.
The flowers of Bloodroot only last a couple of days. |
One plant that I missed entirely last year was Blootroot,
Sanginaria canadensis. In fact, I
ordered a few of them to put into the garden, thinking I had none. But an early March walk in the woods revealed
that we have many of these plants. One
possible reason I missed seeing them before is that each plant has a very short
blooming period, maybe 3-4 days, and I just wasn't in the right place at the right time.
The three stem leaves on this Cutleaf Toothwort are easy to see here. |
Another early bloomer is the Cutleaf Toothwort, Dentaria laciniata. The highly dissected leaves are a helpful
clue to identifying this plant. Also
this Toothwort has three leaves on its flowering stalk, unlike its close
relative D. diphylla, which has only two. These species have been moved over to the genus Cardamine and now it appears that the currently accepted name for the Cutleaf Toothwort is Cardamine concatenata.
One of the most common spring wildflowers in our woods is Dutchman's Breeches, Dicentra cucullaria. Its flowers last
longer than those of bloodroot. Most of
them are bright white. However, a few
plants have flowers that are pinkish. Of
the hundreds of plants in our woods I only found one with a pink
coloration.
Mayapples open like little umbrellas on the woodland floor. These leaves will expand to 8 inches or more. |
While they will not be blooming for a month or so, the
leaves of Mayapple, Podophyllum peltatum, are appearing throughout the woodland
areas. Having a healthy layer of native
ground covers like these should help in our battle against invasive species
like garlic mustard and stiltgrass.
I am trying a number of native ground covers like these under some pine trees to replace the Vinca minor. |
The Labrador Violet that I planted last season needed to be
uncovered from a heavy layer of pine needles.
After a couple of days of exposure the leaves expanded and the first
blooms opened up.
I noticed that these blooms open the widest when the sun is at full strength. |
In my last post I noted that there were many Spring Beauties and Spicebush
beginning to bloom in the woodland areas.
I was asked whether these species would do well in full sun. I do know of one or two Spicebushes that are
growing in full sun in rather damp soil.
Then just the other day I noticed some Spring Beauties growing in the
middle of the lawn in full sun. So I
guess the answer is yes; however, full sun is not their preferred habitat.
Needed to use my hat to get the flowers to be visible. |
Last fall I planted several small Yellowroots, Xanthorhiza simplissima. These plants flower just before the leaves
open up. It is very easy to miss these
small maroon colored flowers. The primary landscape use of Yellowroot is as a medium tall, fine textured ground cover.
The pubescent flower stem is an identifying feature of this species of Saxifage |
My newest find while distributing the tick tubes was Early Saxifrage, Micranthes virginensis. These were growing at the base of a Beech tree mixed
in with some white Spring Beauties. The
unique flower growing out of a basal rosette of bluntly lobed leaves stood out as something different from the other flowers in the area.
The last wildflower that I spotted last week was a Dogtooth Violet, Erythronium americanum, growing near our house. I had seen some growing near a stream but I was surprised to find this in an upland area. It may have been planted there by the previous owner. My wife spotted this as she was pulling out Garlic Mustard. It is most easily recognized by the mottled foliage. The flower is only present for a relatively short amount of time.
This Trout Lily started blooming about 2 weeks after the Bloodroot. This flower is on the pale side for E. americanum, it could be different species or a variation. (On looking more carefully, this is E. albidium, based on the spreading tip of the style; it's united in E. americanum.) |