The weather has finally cooled off, but in the middle of this past week spring violets were blooming in the front yard. And not far away from them a big burning bush (Euonymus alatus), a shrub originally from northeast Asia that doesn’t show red until the fall, was also blooming.
Burning bushes normally turn red at this time of the year, but the violets were reacting to abnormal fall warmth.
There are lots of full-sized burning bushes in gardens and wild areas but not all of them were planted by current property owners or homeowners. They germinate easily from seeds dropped by birds or other animals that eat their fruits, which is why some states — including Pennsylvania — have outlawed them as new plantings. They form big patches that prevent native plants from growing.
There’s another plant with bright red flowers that’s just now opening its nectar-filled blossoms, but if you’re not someone who hopes to attract late-migrating hummingbirds you probably don’t know about it. Pineapple sage is an herb, a salvia that’s usually sold in the spring with all the other herbs.
Most people buy it for its citrusy smelling leaves that are often used in tea or other foods. But birders know it as a plant that sometimes brings wayward western hummingbirds out in the open. However, more often than not in our geographic area it gets hit with frost before it blooms.
As more color is showing up in yards and wild places, oftentimes from reddish smartweeds, a lot of trees are beginning to turn color. It seems early, but apparently most meteorologists are predicting our local fall tree colors will arrive relatively soon.
A sassafras tree along our front roadside is already showing lots of color. Known for their different shaped leaves, sassafras trees also have different leaf colors in the fall — a mix of orange, red, purple, and yellow. And these colors sometimes stay on the tree a long time, extending fall’s brilliance.
Next to our kitchen walkway there’s another shrub that’s currently covered with bright orange berries. Like many other non-native plants I planted before realizing the importance of native species, this pyracantha or firethorn shrub has been instrumental in attracting winter birds to its berries. Pollinators also come to its flowers all summer even though it’s an exotic member of the rose family from Europe and Asia.
Recently as I was walking along next to the pyracantha bush, underneath which was a common milkweed plant covered with open seed pods showing white fluffy floss, I looked down and saw that there was a woolly bear caterpillar next to my foot. So I of course stepped away, not wanting to kill this caterpillar that will survive winter and become an Isabella tiger moth.
Most people don’t pay much attention to caterpillars, but this is one they know about because of the folklore surrounding it. This folklore isn’t true, but it’s been around since Dr. Curran published an article about woolly bear caterpillars’ colors and the weather back in 1948.
The amount of its black or brown colors points to its age and species, not whether or not we’ll have a cold winter. But people still believe that.
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