Oh man, it's already week 5 (week of April 20th, 2026) at West Leechburg Native Plant Preserve! The redbuds and toothworts are done blooming, except for a few two-leaved toothworts here and there. The red trillium is in severe decline, and there shouldn't be any good blooms left by next week. This is still peak bloom for the white trillium, but they're starting to turn pink. Wild geranium has appeared this week for the first time. The foamflower is blooming for the first time this week and looks amazing. The bluets, jack-in-the-pulpit, and Solomon's seal are all still blooming. There are also some new plants that are starting to bud that I have no idea what they are. Next week, I'll be able to at least make an educated guess. This week and last week I've also started to see tiny jewelweed leaves. Those won't bloom until later in the summer. Next week will for sure bring blooms to the mayapples.
An additional note for this week: the actual Kiski Watershed property does not extend completely to the waterfall at the end of the foot trail. The watershed put up new signs on the trail since my visit last week specifying the property boundary and to hike at your own risk. The boundary stops where the waterfall becomes visible in the distance. The rest of the worn trail to the waterfall and lookout are on private property. I'm not sure if they have received complaints from the landowner or are just being proactive. Either way, if you choose to follow the rest of the path off of public property, that's on you.
Further up the path off the property is an area that people burn fires at. There were people there starting a fire when I was walking. I can only assume these were not the owners as their truck was in the parking lot. This is a prime reason why people keep property private. Most people can successfully make a small fire without starting a wildfire, but if it isn't allowed, you are destroying other people's property, and the ashes entice others to start fires where they aren't allowed as well.
Invasive Roundup
Periwinkle/Creeping myrtle (Vinca minor)
I'm done reporting on this for a while until something else happens. I'm tired of posting the same pictures, just know it's still blooming, and it seems like it will for forever.
Garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata)
The garlic mustard is still thriving. More of it has popped up, and it looks like the predominantly flowering plant at West Leechburg right now after the trilliums.
Purple flowers
There are lots of purple blooms from invasive and nonnative ground covers like dead nettle and bugleherb that tend to grow in shady lawn like areas near the beginning of the trail. I'm just mentioning these in passing. They were blooming last week as well. This is just an informative "hey, these purple things aren't anything special" note in case you see them and wonder. As I mentioned in a previous post, if I continuously stop to ID, take picture, and write about all of these, I would exhaust myself before I got to the actual native wildflowers.
Trilliums
This week, the purple/red (Trillium erectum) are really starting to wither away. They did not look as bad as the ones at Tubmill though. This will be the last week to see any that aren't completely brown and shriveled up. The white/large (Trillium grandiflorum) still look great. About half are now pink, but half are still beautiful white full blooms. They should still look good next week, but this should be the last really good peak week for them.
Toothworts (Cardamine)
The only toothwort remaining is two-leaved toothwort (Cardamine diphylla). There were only a few of these scattered around. They won't last into next week.
Solomon's seal (Polygonatum)
The Solomon's seal is beginning to bloom. This is all over the property. I always take a million pictures of all of them because it's super hard to get a good picture of the bud/flower. You have to crawl on the ground and stick your phone up under them. Most of the time the buds/blooms are out of focus because they are so small. I believe next week should be another good one for the Solomon's seal as these were all just beginning to bloom. And no, there are no bellworts to be found here, quit asking.
Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum)
The mayapples are thriving. Based on the buds, I think they will be blooming next week. Tubmill already had one or two blooming this week already.
Jack-in-the-pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum)
There were a few more jack-in-the-pulpit patches. I still can't believe how many there are here considering I've never actually seen them here before. I must have been blind or walking too quickly. They are hard to see though since they are mostly green and blend in. The ones from last week were turning black on the top. The new ones should still be here next week, and maybe more will appear.
Bluets/Quaker ladies (Houstonia caerulea)
These were still blooming though there weren't as many as last week. I imagine this is it for them.
Foamflower (Tiarella stolonifera)
I was really excited to see these blooming! I was pretty surprised to see how quickly they went from a little grape stick to beautiful blooms. These are so pretty. With their delicate puffiness, you can certainly see why they're called foamflowers.
Violets (Viola)
Both the yellow and purple colored violets are still blooming along the trail. I'm not sure if they will still be blooming next week. Tubmill had significantly less, and they looked really worn. Here at West Leechburg though, they don't look bad. They'll definitely outlast the Tubmill violets, but I'm not sure by how long.
Kidneyleaf buttercup (Ranunculus abortivus)
I admitted in my Tubmill posts that these are starting to annoy me, well more so bore me. They are starting to fruit now though, so I might not have to look at them for much longer. There are two visible fruits in this picture. They're hard to see because my phone had a hard time focusing on the little fruits with all of the other leaves and plants in the background.
Wild geranium (Geranium maculatum)
There are a handful of wild geraniums popping up here and there along the trail. I'm not sure if any more will appear next week since this is the first time I've seen them.
Viburnum
There are a million different types of viburnum, and several of them look very similar to me. One of the older planted viburnum shrubs in the parking area is blooming beautifully. I know they planted nannyberries (Viburnum lentago) more recently, and I believe this is a nannyberry as well.
Jewelweed (Impatiens)
Right now the jewelweed are just tiny leaves, but they are popping up everywhere. Again, these are one of my favorite plants. If I continue my weekly reports well into the end of summer, I will report back on them when they bloom.
Mystery buds
Here are the plants that have popped up and are starting to bloom. They are too non-descript for me to start looking them up now. I'll wait until next week.
Other Interesting Finds:
American bullfrog (Lithobates catesbeianus)
There was a large bullfrog hanging out in one of the pools from the seep area. I'm glad I got a picture of him zoomed in because he wanted nothing to do with me and quickly jumped into the pool as I approached him to get a good picture.
Waterfall
I did walk back to the waterfall to take my pictures, but I only quickly stopped because people were making a campfire a little past the overlook. I didn't want to associate with them. The water level is super low.
If you liked this post, here's the background for the wildflower project and all posts for the West Leechburg location:
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