Nature Through the Seasons Near the Towson Y

Since last week there is a ragweed plant growing up at the edge of a rough garden near the playing field, incase anyone wants to point out ragweed.  The purple flower nearby is one of the thistles.  The leaves of one of the maples have a yellow pattern interspersed with green.  The author of "How Plants Work" says this may be an indication of abnormal minerals in the soil.  Or another suggestion is too much phosphate around the roots.  Every leaf has a story. There is a hearty little mulberry tree trying to grow up through the pavement .  At the far northeast corner we missed a unusual tree which is mentioned here, probably a paper bark maple.  It is not a native but in an overgrown area (poison ivy) so not in the recent plantings at the time of building the Y. One ragweed plant so far, not a hazard, just an example Something going on with this maple, possible chlorosis indicating abnormal minerals or too much phosphate in soil? One of the thistles in ...

This is a smaller group just to the north of the last parking lot pavement.  On the right side near the lot is an oak, behind that two redbud trees ( one more like a bush).  Behind the redbuds are two more white pines and behind the pines is a large old hickory of unknown type.  East of the hickory is a small lonely oak with leaves unlike the other oaks we have seen.  It is a little like the blackjack oak in the Maryland Tree Key. Oak with a little different leaf The hickory would normally be my favorite if tree but it is covered with poison ivy. View of north area with the large hickory left Hickory nut, unknown type, This may be one of the oldest trees on the property The Linden or Lime Tree at the north end. This may be the only tree with this pattern of seeds. Large heart shaped leaves. Linden or Lime Tree Leaves of the redbud at the north end In the middle of this north group, near the parking lot is a linden.  Comments are often about its other name "lime ...

This covers the area from the group at the southeast corner already listed, all the way to the northeast corner of the main parking lot where there is a grassy plot.  There is no obvious order,  hard to map specific trees but there are only a few varieties, elms, maples, oaks, locust, tulip poplar, sycamore , white pine, cryptomeria ,  arbor vitae, scattered bushes of serviceberry and more fringe tree.  So we will try to show one of each and let you extend it to the other similar trees.  The last tree in the previous group was the small elm next to the parking lot, there is a grassy gap and then this next group.  Standing on the first light pole on the east side, there is a maple to your right, and two maples near the pavement to your left.  Up the hill is a group of five white pines.  Their needles come in groups of five which equals the letters in "white".  You may be able to see the life cycle close up, male and female flowers, before the ...

There is a dense group of trees between the chain link fence and the road, southwest corner of the parking lot. This is just a few of the more obvious or interesting trees.  On the road side there is a Tree of Heaven, beginning to produce a plethora of seeds.  This is part of the reason it is so invasive.  There are large compound leaves, crush one of the leaflets and take a whiff.  There are more of these east of the other exit.  When the seeds are ready to drop they can be compared with the maple and ash seeds to see how they flutter down.  Another tree that sometimes plethoras seeds is the box elder, but they differ close up. There is Virginia creeper on the ground and growing up the maple tree. Something you will see on most walks around Baltimore. There is the large example of poison ivy which we already mentioned, can grow up the tree and get you from overhead.  Note the hairy vine, and maybe look up the poems that warn about poison ivy.  " ...