May 14, 2021

Lots of things have been happening at Fort Ridgely since I last did an update over a month ago. More birds have arrived or passed through. Many more flowers are now blooming and some have bloomed and are done. The trees are blooming their spring blossoms and some have already opened their leaves. Some fruit trees and berry bushes are blooming as well. Pollinators are busy on all the blooms.

Wildflowers.

Let's start with the flowers. The most prevalent flower in the woods right now are the violets. There are many types and colors but all have the swirly flowers that characterize them. . If you do not use herbicide in your lawn you may see them blooming in the grass. I have seen all colors I include here in my yard except the prairie one.

Common blue violets are the easiest to find. Notice the heart shaped leaves below the flowers.



Prairie violet flowers are the same color and almost the same shape as common blue violet. The leaves are much more complex with lots of small lobes. This violet is only found in a few places in the park.

For more information: Viola palmata var. pedatifida (Prairie Violet): Minnesota Wildflowers


The downy yellow violet has very similar leaves but a bright yellow flower.

For more information: Viola pubescens (Downy Yellow Violet): Minnesota Wildflowers



I have seen white and purple violets in the park and in my yard. I am not sure if these are hybridized violets that escaped from someone's garden or if they are natural variations of the common blue violet.




A few flowers that bloomed in April and are no longer blooming are bloodroots, wild ginger, hepaticas and the Dutchman’s breeches (you may see a few late bloomers). False rue anemone is still blooming in the park but past it’s peak. I thought for quite a while that these were hepaticas. They are in large patches near the campground and across the creek.

The swampy area near the southern walking bridge over the creek has lots of marsh marigolds in full bloom right now.


We used to call largeflower bellwort yellow bells when we were kids. It is found in the park but not as common as other places.

For more information: Uvularia grandiflora (Large-flowered Bellwort): Minnesota Wildflowers


Blue phlox is found all over the park right now. It is mainly seen along the edge of the woods.

For more information: Phlox divaricata (Wild Blue Phlox): Minnesota Wildflowers


Jack in the pulpits have unfurled their 2 stems with 3 leaves and very interesting flowers in wetter parts of the woods. Jack is the appendage that sticks up inside the pulpit and he has a nice pointed awning to shade him from the sun.

For more information: Arisaema triphyllum (Jack-in-the-Pulpit): Minnesota Wildflowers


Some prairie flowers that are just starting to bloom on several open hillsides are prairie false dandelion,

For more information: Agoseris glauca (False Dandelion): Minnesota Wildflowers



Hoary puccoon and blue-eyed grass. Both of these can be seen in the picture. Blue-eyed grass is actually a member of the lily family.

For more information: Lithospermum canescens (Hoary Puccoon): Minnesota Wildflowers

For more information: Sisyrinchium montanum (Mountain Blue-eyed Grass): Minnesota Wildflowers



Here are a few flowers that I have found in the area but not at the park. The first is trout or fawn lilies (we called them dog toothed violets growing up).

For more information: Erythronium albidum (White Trout Lily): Minnesota Wildflowers



Snow trillium (a very uncommon flower that I saw in the wild for the first time this year in a wooded valley across the river and a few miles west from Fort Ridgely).

For more information: Trillium nivale (Snow Trillium): Minnesota Wildflowers


And prairie smoke. If anyone has seen these flowers at Fort Ridgely please let me know when and where.

For more information: https://www.minnesotawildflowers.info/flower/prairie-smoke


Prairie burn

Parts of the prairie north of the museum were burned recently. This is a natural part of the life of a prairie and happened long before European settlers came to America. Lightning strikes usually started the fires that swept across the prairie. Sometimes native Americans started them too as they saw how they increased the growth of many native plants. Prairie grasses and plants have deep root systems that easily survive a fire and come back stronger with the nutrients left behind by the burn. Prairie workers today sometimes burn the prairie to get rid of invasive plants that do not survive due to surface root systems,







Tree blossoms and Seeds

Spring flowers in the woods are called spring ephemerals because they don't usually last very long and mostly come before the trees are leafed, They thus get more light before the tree canopy filters most of the light. During this time some trees are either dormant or flowering and forming seeds.

We are all familiar with the fruit and ornamental trees blossoming in the spring before they can form fruit for the summer and fall. Not too many of us pay attention to the other trees' flowers or seeds unless they clutter our yard or sidewalks and we feel we have to clean them up. The flowers on other trees are not as showy but have a variety of shapes and colors. The same is true of their fruit, nuts or seeds.

Keep in mind too that pollinators need to come to most of these flowers to produce the fruit and seeds of normal trees and not just fruit trees. Look up too if you want to see bees this time of year. Some of the best honey comes from fruit and other trees. Before COVID I tasted some very delicious honey from bees that pollinated linden trees. There are a few trees that pollinate through the air and need no insect to come to them. These trees are the ones that create spring allergy problems for many people due to the huge amount of pollen they put in the air.

I am going to give a few examples and then concentrate on the Ohio buckeye tree and what happens around its flowers blooming. The wild plums are almost done with their blossoms. Gooseberries have interesting blossoms hanging down from their prickly stems. It is interesting to see big bumblebees hanging from these blossoms as they pollinate them.

Gooseberry


Honeysuckle bushes are starting to bloom and you can see in the picture below a bumblebee hanging from its blossoms


Prickly ash bushes are found throughout the park. Your clothes can get snagged on its prickles if you walk through a stand of them. They have an interesting flower.


An interesting flower is found on oak trees and various other trees like aspens and cottonwoods. It hangs down from the branch like tassels. These flowers have the interesting name of catkins. How these form into an acorn is beyond me!


Maple and elm seeds which are forming now are as different as can be. The elms have flat green disks.


Maples have the two winged seeds that twirl like a helicopter in their descent to the ground when dry.


My favorite tree blossom is on the Ohio buckeye tree. It is a 5-7 inch tall Christmas tree shaped series of white to yellow flowers. Their blooming is a harbinger for us that orioles and hummingbirds are here. This year we saw both before the buckeye blossoms were open. They are in full bloom now and orioles are flitting in and out of them. So are hummingbirds.





The trees near the parking lot by the cemetery are also buzzing with the honey and bumblebees..





Wood Ticks

No surprise – wood ticks are out. Make sure you dress properly and do a tick check after taking a walk through Fort Ridgely State Park. For more information: https://www.health.state.mn.us/diseases/tickborne/prevention.html