Vegetation
My phenology spot, being a part of the Intervale and alongside the Winooski river, is very much a disturbed site. In the past, the land that makes up the Intervale has been used as an informal junkyard, and before that the land was home to dairy farms that were far from practicing sustainable farming practices. The Winooski River, which borders my phenology spot, also brings along its own boatload of health issues. While the river helps foster new growth in the area, the river itself is not the healthiest. The Winooski River faces a handful of ecological issues, such as erosion, construction, and dozens of dangerous pathogens and pollutants. Because of this, my phenology spot has several species that thrive in disturbed spots, such as Pennsylvania smartweed, common cocklebur, and panicled aster. The large majority of trees in the overstory were silver maples, while the few that I documented in the understory were mostly green ash. My phenology area has a large amount of jewelweed throughout the area, and this provides the majority of the herbaceous ground cover.
Types of Woody Plants + Herbaceous Ground Cover
- Silver maple (Acer saccharinum)
- Eastern cottonwood (Populus deltoides)
- Pinkweed or Pennsylvania smartweed (Persicaria pensylvanica)
- Devil’s beggarticks (Bidens frondosa)
- Spotted Joe-pyeweed (Eutrochium maculatum)
- Panicled aster (Symphyotrichum lanceolatum)
- Green ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica)
- White goosefoot (Chenopodium album)
- Canada wildrye (Elymus canadensis)
- Giant goldenrod (Solidago gigantea)
- Orange jewelweed (Impatiens capensis)
- Rough cocklebur (Xanthium strumarium)
- Common cocklebur (Xanthium orientale)
- Slippery elm (Ulmus rubra)
- Boxelder (Acer negundo)
- Canada goldenrod (Solidago canadensis)
