There was a big change for week four (week of April 13, 2026) at Tubmill Run Trolley Trail. Last Friday and this Monday, Peoples Gas volunteers cleared the trail, making it more of an established trail than an overgrown footpath. They also connected the trail to the top of the hill at the end, which connects via an alley to Ford Cliff. They did a great job. There was little disturbance to the wildflowers and surrounding vegetation.
The native and invasive wildflowers are really thriving this week. The spicebush blooms unfortunately did not carry over to this week, and the cutleaf toothworts looks like they died. I think with more light reaching the path, those near the path had too much sun and heat from the hot weather and died. This was another great week for the trillium and dwarf ginseng as well as for the newly blooming two-leaved toothwort. New arrivals included two-leaved toothwort, chickweed, phlox, and the super exciting Jack-in-the-pulpit! I have never seen this here, so this was totally unexpected and neat. I also found Jack-in-the-pulpit at the West Leechburg property for the first time this week. I believe next week might be the best for blooming Solomon's seal.
Yellow trout lily (Erythronium americanum)
The Yellow trout lilies were all finally done blooming this week. All that is left are yellowing leaves and some fruits. Goodbye until next year.
Spring beauties (Claytonia)
A few of the spring beauties are still hanging out. I'm thinking this will be the last week for them, but I'm not sure.
Cutleaf toothwort (Cardamine concatenata)
All of the cutleaf toothwort looked really rough this week. I'm not sure if they were just done blooming naturally or if the extra canopy light from clearing the trail and hot weather burnt them. Either way, I don't expect any more blooms from them this year.
Two-leaved toothwort (Cardamine diphylla)
I found a couple two-leaved toothwort plants blooming. They looked great. Because they bloom at the same time as garlic mustard, there are problems for native pollinators that use two-leaved toothwort as their host plant. I talked about this in the West Leechburg Week 4 post. The Western PA Conservancy has a good article on this here.
Garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata)
Compare the blooming garlic mustard flowers with those of the two-leaved toothwort in the previous section. There is not very much Garlic mustard at the Tubmill trail, but unless we start hand pulling, it might outcompete the wildflowers eventually.
Northern spicebush (Lindera benzoin)
The spicebush are done blooming, and the leaves are budding out.
Dwarf ginseng (Panax trifolius)
The dwarf ginseng is really going to town! I love it! There's just something about that perfectly round little ball of flowers that just does it for me. I think this will be the last week that they'll look this good.
Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum)
This week the mayapples look fully grown. They are really starting to take over the place with the decline of the yellow trout lilies and some of the other flowers. Soon they will be starting to bloom.
Box turtles are the main seed disperser of mayapples, taking advantage of the ripe fruit when it falls in the summer. Whenever I see forests like Tubmill with a vast carpet of mayapples, I'm always on the lookout for them. Sadly, I almost never encounter a wild box turtle.
Kidneyleaf buttercup (Ranunculus abortivus)
Okay, I'll admit it. I'm getting tired of these. They look the exact same every week. Maybe they'll look different next week.
Trilliums
It's a great week for the trilliums, this week is the best so far at Tubmill. Lots of the purple/red (Trillium erectum) were flowering. I found only one white/large (Trillium grandiflorum) blooming. There were lots of the white trillium blooming on the surrounding hillsides next to the property, but interestingly, just the one at the Tubmill property. Next week will probably be the last good week for them. I'll see if there are more white trillium or if for some reason this hillside is better for the red trillium. In the past I remember seeing predominantly red trillium here.
Solomon's seal (Polygonatum)
It seems like all of the Solomon's seal are now budding. Again, nothing appears to be a bellwort. Perhaps next week they will bloom.
Violets (Viola)
The violets are still blooming all over the property. I expect them to still be blooming all over the place next week.
Jack-in-the-pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum)
While I was looking in a wet area near a seep to see if there were any frogs or salamanders hiding, my focus shifted, and I saw a blooming jack-in-the-pulpit right next to it! I have never seen any here and was super excited to see them. I saw two or three right there in the ditch. Like skunk cabbage, spathes cover the flowers and create a really unique looking bloom. I didn't see any others along the trail.
Chickweed (Stellaria)
I cannot tell the difference between types of chickweed well enough to know what types of chickweed are present at Tubmill. At various points throughout the trail there are chickweed plants that could be native or nonnative species.
Wild blue phlox (Phlox divaricata)
Phlox are one of those plants that can never remember if they're native or not. Sometimes I get confused because the similar but taller Dame's rocket is super invasive. Another reason for my confusion is that there are lots of other non native ornamental phlox that people have in their gardens. Wild phlox is usually a native plant, and is in this case.
Other Interesting Finds:
Waterfall
The water level is significantly lower than previous weeks.
Scary elf
RIP scary elf. He did not make it through the trail clearing.
If you liked this post, here's the background for the wildflower project and all posts for the Tubmill Run location:
(Links active once published)
Week 4 - April 13, 2026 (current page)
Week 5 - April 20, 2026
Week 6 - April 27, 2026
Week 7 - May 4, 2026
Week 8 - May 11, 2026
Week 9 - May 18, 2026
Comments
Post a Comment