Henbit blooming along Nine Mile Run Trail, Frick Park, 5 April 2026 (photo by Kate St. John)

11 April 2026

Despite temperatures that dipped into the upper 20s on Wednesday, spring is still making progress in Pittsburgh. This week I found more flowers and leaves.

Though they don’t look like flowers these yellow-orange structures are the inflorescence of bear corn (Conopholis americana, formerly squaw root), a underground non-photosynthesizing plant that is parasitic on beech and oak roots. The literature officially says “oak roots” but I always find bear corn under beech trees.

Bear corn in Schenley Park, 10 April 2026 (photo by Kate St. John)

The pawpaw trees (Asimina triloba) are blooming in Schenley Park. Their dark brown flowers have a faintly stinky smell to attract flies and beetles as pollinators. Pawpaw’s success is a good sign for zebra swallowtails (Eurytides marcellus). It is their only host plant.

Pawpaw flowers, Schenley Park, 10 April 2026 (photo by Kate St. John)

This week I finally noticed that the flowers on henbit (Lamium amplexicaule) and purple dead-nettle (Lamium purpureum) are nearly the same unusual shape — like the mouth of a tiny cave with a double landing pad at the opening. Duh! Of course they are similar. Both are in the Lamium genus, native to Eurasia.

In a patch of flowers along the Nine Mile Run Trail I found both plants in close proximity. The first photo has henbit in focus, the second focuses on purple dead-nettle so you can compare them.

Henbit (and purple dead-nettle) blooming along Nine Mile Run Trail, 5 April 2026 (photo by Kate St. John)

(Henbit and) Purple dead-nettle blooming along Nine Mile Run Trail, 5 April 2026 (photo by Kate St. John)

Jetbead (Rhodotypos scandens) has both flowers and leaves this week. Native to China and Japan it was planted in Schenley Park as an ornamental. Unfortunately it is invasive.

Jetbead in bloom, Schenley Park, 10 April 2026 (photo by Kate St. John)

Ohio buckeyes (Aesculus glabra) in Schenley Park have gone from merely leaves to blooming flowers in just one week. This tree had mild frost damage. If you look closely you’ll see a few dark green, shriveled leaves.

Ohio buckeye in bloom, Schenley Park, 8 April 2026 (photo by Kate St. John)

And yet, despite all the greenery the woods are still mostly bare. Sunlight reached the forest floor yesterday prompting woodland wildflowers to bloom.

Shadows and pale green leaves, Schenley Park, 10 April 2026 (photo by Kate St. John)

By 5 May all the trees will be leafed out and the spring wildflowers will have gone to seed.