It is week 3 (April 6th, 2026) at West Leechburg Native Plant Preserve already! This week the bumblebees, flies, and butterflies were extra noticeable with the warm temperatures, bringing with them a true spring feel that was mostly missing the last two weeks. This is not normally something I would observe, but paying extra attention to nature every week has really brought a new awareness for the changing of seasons. It seems cliche, but I feel it, and I like it.
As with last week, there is an increase in new plants and growth on the trees and shrubs. This week will probably be the start of me becoming extra confused with what I'm witnessing. Each year I get better, but I am still most common with flowering plants only during the actual bloom. Leaves are rapidly appearing, and it is a challenge to ID them before the blooms start. I'll do my best. Again, this is a good place for a reminder that this is just an observational blog to share what is happening and how the area changes from week to week. I will focus on things that I think are neat or that will be a flower.
This was probably the final week to see blooming yellow trout lily, bloodroot, and early/giant blue cohosh. This was the best week for dutchman's breeches, cutleaf toothwort, and the start of some nice trillium blooms. Mayapples and two-leaved toothwort were really the only notable new arrivals.
Invasives are getting bigger
I don't wish to keep tabs on the invasives, but I have included some of the common ones that are either big or overwhelming. There are a few other smaller or less prevalent invasive flowers that I've skipped over.
Periwinkle/Creeping myrtle (Vinca minor)
The periwinkle is outdoing itself somehow and has more flowers each week.
Knotweed (Fallopia)
I want to include knotweed now and probably later when it gets really big because it is a big problem in the Kiski watershed. The knotweed has really been sprouting up everywhere. Invasive knotweeds in PA are usually Japanese (F. japonica), Giant (F. sachalinensis), or a hybrid between the two called Bohemian (F. xbohemica). I don't get bogged down with knotweed ID because they are basically all the same to me: large bamboo-like plants that engulf everything and are extremely hard to manage.
Pretty soon this whole area will be full of it. It will be present in many of my pictures in the background. It amazes me that so many wildflowers and other native plants thrive here even though there is extensive knotweed. Most of these flowers are spring ephemerals that take advantage of the time right before the trees leaf out to bloom. They also end up beating the knotweed in this aspect.
Garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata)
The garlic mustard is budding this week, and they will be in full bloom by next week. I mentioned last week about how they get confused by both people and pollinators for cutleaf toothwort or other similar cress species. Next week should be a good blooming week for all to show them side by side.
Eastern redbud (Cercis canadensis)
The redbud buds are beginning to open in full bloom. There aren't too many buds on the trees at the site. I think in a year or so they will really flourish.
Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis)
The bloodroot is towards the end of its bloom. There are still several flowers left, but this should be the last good week for them.
Skunk cabbage (Symplocarpos foetidus)
This is my last week for skunk cabbage. The leaves are still getting larger, but it has fully grown into what many of us know too well. I still don't think it gets the credit it deserves, but 3 weeks of skunk cabbage is more than most people care to see. I hope I did it some justice by showing the blooms the first week.
Dutchman's breeches (Dicenta cucullaria)
This is prime Dutchman's breeches time! Last week's tiny pants became large pants this week! Sections of the hillside were completely full of blooming Dutchman's breeches.
Blue cohosh (Caulophyllum)
This week was a solid mix of frumpled flowering early/giant blue cohosh and green vegetation after flowering. It should be done flowering this week. You can see the entire hillside in the one picture full of the green plant.
Yellow trout Lily (Erythronium americanum)
Some areas were still filled with blooming yellow trout lily. They're starting to look ragged though, and this will most likely be the last week to see them bloom. It's a shame because I am always delighted to see them blooming.
Trilliums
This was a great week for trilliums. The purple/red (Trillium erectum) were mostly fully blooming and all over the place but appeared to be extremely droopy, especially for a plant that has "erect" in its name. I noticed this at Tubmill as well. I don't think I've ever seen them so floppy in my life, and it was the majority of them too. I wonder if it got too hot too quickly for them. About half of the white/large (Trillium grandiflorum) were blooming, and the others were just beginning to bloom. They looked fine. Next week will be great for them.
Toothworts (Cardamine)
This was also a great week for cutleaf toothwort, (Cardamine concatenata) seen in the first two pictures. In addition to cutleaf toothwort, West Leechburg also has two-leaved toothwort (Cardamine diphylla). I saw a few just starting to grow for the first time this week (last picture). They might be blooming next week as the cutleaf toothwort flowers start to die back.
Solomon's seal (Polygonatum)
Last week I thought this might be bellwort. I typically see more bellwort, but this appears to be Solomon's seal due to the buds. Bellworts have a single flower at the end, and Solomon's seal have multiple flowers. All of the plants I found were either just sprouting or starting to bud with multiple buds. These guys are actually all over this property. I have never paid attention to them before. Maybe something will end up eventually being bellwort. Time will tell.
Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum)
Mayapples have finally started to pop up at West Leechburg! I love how they look when they have freshy pushed up through the ground.
American elderberry (Sambucus canadensis)
I found a small lonesome elderberry shrub growing up near the waterfall. Aside from silky dogwood, I haven't seen many native shrubs here that haven't been planted. I was delighted for this surprise. I hope he thrives.
Other Interesting Finds:
Waterfall
Here are my obligatory waterfall pictures from below and above the falls. The water looks slightly lower than last week.
Ferns
The ferns are starting to sprout. Fiddleheads are the tightly coiled top part of the fern before they unfurl. I think they're cute, but I can't ID a fern to save my life. Foragers eat certain types of fiddleheads. I would never dare because 1. I don't really have an interest in eating a fern and 2. I wouldn't be certain that I picked a nontoxic fern instead of a toxic one due to my forementioned lack of fern knowledge.
If you liked this post, here's the background for the wildflower project and all posts for the West Leechburg location:
(Links active once published)Week 3 - April 6, 2026 (current page)Week 5 - April 20, 2026Week 6 - April 27, 2026Week 7 - May 4, 2026Week 8 - May 11, 2026Week 9 - May 18, 2026
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