My twin brother Cole is in town this weekend! I thought that it would be a great idea to bring him to my phenology spot to see if my tree has made an progress in blooming. We walked around the muddy paths to get to my spot (mud season woo!). There were clear skies today and I only needed to wear a fleece! Signs of spring are not only evident in the temperature but also in the nature in Centennial Woods. We noticed that the ferns were beginning to pop up on the forest floor again. Many species of birds could be heard in the distance but I was still unable identify which species specifically they were. Small shoots of wildflowers and ground berries sprouted in the dirt throughout the woods as well. When we got to my spot the first thing that I noticed was that the moss was a bright green color. Soon the green from the floor will spread to the budding trees, but my American Beech was yet to bloom.

I inspected more of the tree today and found that my tree is possibly infected with beech bark disease. There are small bumps forming beneath the surface of the tree which lead me to my hypothesis. This diseases is very common in beeches and can have harmful effects on the trees and surrounding organisms life. These bumps grow in size and begin to cut off the nutrient flow throughout the tree, causing the tree to eventually die off. If this is a disease on my tree it could kill the beech in a few years. Luckily there was not infestation on the other beech trees I looked at that were in and around my area.

After visiting my tree Cole and I decided to explore Centennial more. We walked about just over a half a mile deeper into the woods. As we got deeper and deeper in the trees changed from primarily hardwoods to coniferous. The tree coverage got denser with the change in dynamics. Here are some pics from our walk.

Overall a calm and peaceful visit 🙂