Turf War

Like so many lawns in the Mid-Atlantic, my back yard has become a war zone - albeit an aesthetically pleasing one.  Some previous occupant of my house planted spring bulbs years ago, and Kali and I continue to enjoy the vernal exuberance of grape hyacinths, daffodils, crocuses, and the delicate blue flowers picture above, chionodoxa or glory-of-the-snow (Chionodoxa siehei).

More recently, the extremely aggressive non-native buttercup lesser celandine (Ficaria verna) managed to get a foothold in the lawn.  Lesser celandine prefers moist riparian areas, but once it gets established, it will grow in just about any situation.  (Naive visitors used to ask me if they could dig up a few plants to add to their garden; I assented, but always warned the folks that the plant would take over anywhere it was planted.  I suspect that most people now recognize the plant's aggressiveness because I almost never get such requests any more.)

It will be interesting to see if one or the other of these plants will win this slow-motion combat.  I once asked Pennsylvania's premier botanist if celandine really does exclude other plants because it is only a obvious player on the ecological stage for about a month, after which it disappears until next spring.  The botanist assured me that celandine definitely excludes other plants.  Perhaps there's an unseen, subsurface front in this war as well. 

April Fool's Day Field Trip

Exploring a stand of old-growth American beech before spring bud break

Every other year, my colleague and renowned restoration ecologist Steven Handel brings a group of upper-level undergraduates from Rutgers University in New Jersey to visit "my" preserve for a field trip to review ecological restoration strategies in a suburban context.  This year, he scheduled the trip for April Fool's Day, which was sunny and reasonably warm.  Chris, one of my land stewards, and I accompanied Dr. Handel and 20 students on a 2-hour walk through the preserve.

Chris (second from right) and Handel (third from right) discoursing on planting trees

Steven Handel lending his support to a large, old beech

On the floodplain

There are certainly no shortage of non-native, invasive plants growing in the preserve, but for some reason Dr. Handel has a special hatred for lesser celandine (Ranunculus ficaria), an introduced buttercup that carpets any land where it gets established.  Since the plant favors (though is in no way restricted to) moist soils along floodplains, Handel really got revved up when we finally got to the stream bank.

Examining celandine up close and personal

Lesser celandine can reproduce three ways: by seed (not commonly), by tiny bulbs, and by aerial tubers that form on the stems.  The plant is especially successful on floodplains because flood waters can disturb or even uproot the plant and distribute the bulbs and tubers further downstream.  It's a lovely plant and I've seen people digging it up, presumably to plant in their gardens, though I warn people when I see them.  They have no idea about the monster they're inviting into their midst. 

I wish I could fish on a Monday afternoon

Before we completed our walk in the riparian area along the creek and headed back uphill, we came across several fishers trying their hand at landing a trout.  The state's Fish and Boat Commission won't stock trout in stream reaches that flow through private land like "my" preserve, but the local Trout Unlimited chapter meets monthly in our visitor center and stocks the creek themselves each year with about 200 brown trout.  Though any- and everyone is invited to fish, the club asks anglers to catch-and release.  Our creek is decidedly not a cold-water fishery, but some of the trout seem to overwinter.  Brown trout are pretty hardy; they're a European import that will take to most any water.