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SIGNS OF SPRING, 2008

All text & photos © Hilton Pond Center

The front porch entry way of the old farmhouse at Hilton Pond Center is framed by two evergreen shrubs planted long before we arrived in 1982. Both are Camellias--apparently Camellia japonica--and as the species names indicates are like many exotic plants in the Piedmont in that they are Japanese in origin. One of the Center's showcase Camellias bears variegated red and white flowers, while the other (above) has petals entirely red. The former starts blooming in December and loses almost all its flowers by mid-March, while the red one begins its flowering period in early January and ends in early April--hence its inclusion in this photo essay. Camellias are controversial among plant taxonomists who can't agree on the number of species (100 to 250) or cultivars and hybrids (perhaps 3,000). Of greater interest to laypeople is that commercial tea is made from an infusion of leaves and buds of Camellia sinensis--the Chinese Tea Bush Camellia.

Another exotic that started blooming back in February but is still making golden-yellow flowers is the almost ubiquitous Forsythia. This semi-woody shrub is also native to east Asia but its taxonomy is even more confusing than that of the Camellias. At Hilton Pond Center we seem to have two types: Forsythia x intermedia (a hybrid form) and F. suspensa. Pictured above is the hybrid, which grows more compactly and has brighter flowers that come a bit later in spring; F. suspensa, a more erect shrub, blooms earlier and has paler blossoms. When we first moved to the Center 26 years ago, F. x intermedia existed here as a single four-foot-wide backyard shrub. These days our Forsythia thicket is perhaps 30 feet by 30 feet, primarily due to the species' ability to produce new plants where its branch tips touch the ground. The resulting jumble of arching branches provides great winter cover for all sorts of ground-feeding birds and in late spring becomes a favored nesting spot for Eastern Towhees and Brown Thrashers.

One of our first native plants to flower each year is the Eastern Redbud, Cercis canadensis, which we traditionally consider to be the true sign of impending spring at Hilton Pond Center. As might be discerned from the shape of its flowers, the redbud is in the Pea Family (Fabaceae); as such, it is a legume. Most leguminous plants host nitrogen-fixing bacteria that, in turn, enrich the soil in which they grow, but Eastern Redbud does not. Although redbuds are indeed native, most specimens at the Center probably arrived thanks to our clandestine fall habit of "stealing" bags of raked leaves from curbside in the City of York and re-distributing their contents on our own property. Many York yards from which we gladly accepted this free mulch had understories of Eastern Redbuds, so seeds from those trees were an added bonus that resulted in dozens of pink-flowered trees around Hilton Pond. (That's also how we got everything from Nandina to Oregon Grape to say nothing of a good number of Flowering Dogwoods.)

Another early spring flower that brightens the landscape at Hilton Pond Center is the Blue Violet, Viola sororia (formerly V. papilionacea). This native perennial typically starts blooming before its serrated, heart-shaped leaves have erupted and continues as the foliage becomes taller, broader, and denser. Contrary to popular misconception, both flowers above are Blue Violets, although color in the lower specimen is limited to veins in the petals. Some homeowners we know consider this plant to be a "weed" and pull it up with a vengeance, replacing it with difficult-to-grow nursery plants. To them we say: "Open your eyes!" and "Use your noggin!"

And speaking of "weeds," botanists and horticulturists have several highly subjective definitions for that word.

• One is that "a weed is a plant that grows where it's not wanted."
• Another states "a weed is a plant, either native or exotic, that grows aggressively."
• E-mail correspondent Guy McGrane suggests "a weed is a GENERALIST that is a SPECIALIST at early succession."
• But our favorite definition is "a weed is plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered."

One non-native plant that is almost universally considered to be a weed is illustrated above: The Common Dandelion, Taraxacum officinale. Despite the revulsion with which many folks view this native of Europe and Asia, some of this plant's virtues are well-known. For example, tender new Dandelion leaves make a fine spring salad, while the plant's taproot can penetrate hard-packed soil--making it usable by other less-aggressive flora. And if you happen to like the three-inch Giant Leopard Moth, Hypercompe scribonia (right), as we do, you'll be pleased to know its caterpillars dine on the foliage of Dandelions--and of Blue Violets, too. Again, beauty is in the beholder's eye, but for us the golden composite flower of Dandelion deserves a second look--not the disdain it almost universally receives from landscapers and lovers of monocultural lawns.

Scientists once believed Ruby-throated Hummingbirds that arrived back in North America in early spring before green-up would perish without the presence of tree sap oozing from holes made by Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers. Although some hummers do make use of these "sapsucker wells," in the Carolina Piedmont there are several spring wildflowers that open just about when the first ruby-throats begin to show up. One of these is Trumpet Honeysuckle, Lonicera sempervirens, a native vine with intensely red blossoms (above). Trumpet Honeysuckle--like many of its relatives--produces sweet nectar that provides instant energy for a hungry hummingbird; in return, the hummer can't help but cross-pollinate when it probes the scarlet floral tube with its long tongue. Anyone who doubts the adaptive relationship between this thin, tubular inflorescence and the long, narrow bill of a ruby-throat doesn't really understand how nature works.

Bird-disseminated native plums are one thing, but how several 25-foot-tall Pear trees, Pyrus communis, originally got to Hilton Pond is a different matter. Pears are not native to the New World, but they're often found in old fields and--in our experience--frequently show up near established farm ponds in the Carolina Piedmont. In our case we think these trees were propagated by people--fishermen or farmers who had a Pear in a lunch box, dined on the fruit, and then casually pitched the uneaten core over a shoulder back in the 1970s. What seeds weren't eaten by Pine Voles or Cotton Rats eventually sprouted, so today the Center has fruit-yielding Pear trees patronized each summer by our ever-larger herds of White-tailed Deer. Incidentally, if you compare the Pear flowers above with one from Chickasaw Plum, it's easy to see why these two woody plants are classified together in the Rose Family.

So there you have it--a hodgepodge of blossoms now on display at Hilton Pond Center. Four are natives that have flowered around these parts for ten thousand springs, while the others followed a similar phenology in their homelands in Europe or Asia. Regardless of how or when they got to the now-disturbed and heavily fragmented Carolina Piedmont, they all appropriately serve as our "Signs of Spring, 2008.

All text & photos © Hilton Pond Center

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Be sure to scroll down for an account of all
birds banded or recaptured during the period,
plus other nature notes of interest.

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