Deerfield Park District and Go Green Deerfield Ephemeral Walk

Spring is finally springing and bringing with it some lovely, delicate ephemeral plants.  This past weekend, the Deerfield Park District and Go Green Deerfield walked with local residents to experience these early treasures of the woodlands right here in Briarwood and Trail Tree Parks.  Even some deer took a walk with the group.

Native spring ephemeral plants don’t last long, but for a few weeks, they feed early emerging pollinators and delight us with their beauty.  Local ecologist and native plant expert Rob Sulski led the walking tour, which included wonderfully blooming spring cress, spring beauty, trout lily, Pennsylvania sedge, cut-leaf toothwort, common violet, marsh marigold, buttercup, and bloodroot.  Also identified were emerging foliage of other native plants like figwort, monarda, wood anemone, mayapple, shooting star, cow parsnip, and budding trees including ironwood, aromatic sumac, oak, and more!

A native plant walk isn’t complete without also identifying (and sometimes pulling!) invasive species such as European Buckthorn, garlic mustard, multiflora rose, and dame’s rocket, which are targets for Deerfield Park District staff to eradicate.  Help these efforts and join Go Green Deerfield for the next volunteer workday on May 21 from 12-2pm.

Go to gogreendeerfield.org and click on ‘Events’ for more information.