Photography by Marie Viljoen.
Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx is the largest park in New York City. Whether you drive, or travel by subway and bus, head for Hunter Island, in the northeastern part of the park, north of Orchard Beach.
Early spring beside the water looks a pale, washed out fall.
Early Spring
In the woods the lemony branches of spicebush (Lindera benzoin) are the first to show signs of spring life.
In damp spots eastern skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus) squeezes from the cold soil.
Late in March Dutchman’s breeches (Dicentra cucullaria) begin to appear, like miniature pants pegged on a bowed washing line.
As the weather warms, the flowers of spring beauty (Claytonia virginica) crowd the short grass in open spaces.
April
Japanese knotweed (Polygonum cuspidatum) begins to emerge. If you collect them, you will be contributing to the plant’s mechanical control.
Delicate wood anemones (Anemone quinquefolia) stand no long-term chance against the thuggish progress of plants like Japanese knotweed, or the army of day lilies (Hemerocallis fulva) on the forest floor.
Low on the leaf litter are the earliest shoots of native Solomon’s Seal, Polygonatum biflorum.
The pretty flowers of cutleaf toothwort (Cardamine concatenata) grow in drifts beneath the still-bare deciduous trees.
If you are lucky enough to hit the right week in April, you may find thousands of trout lilies (Erythornium americanum) in bloom.
By May, Orchard Beach has begun to unpack itself. There are sprawling, multifamily picnics emerging from plastic bags and foil trays and there are dozens of portable barbecues.
May
Hightail it to the cool woods.
Common cinquefoil (Potentilla simplex), masquerades as the barren strawberry, with which it is often confused.
Native pinxter azaleas (Rhododendron canescens) are in bloom.
Wood betony, Pedicularis canadensis, is a rare sight in the city.
There are path-side clouds of Geranium maculatum.
Dame’s rocket (Hesperis matronalis), grows in dappled sunlight.
Growing in sheets down to the water is birthwort, the European invasive
Wild sarsaparilla (Aralia nudicaulis) is easily recognized in late summer when its flowers have become glossy black clusters of fruit.
The starburst flowers distinguish the indigenous twiner Smilax herbacea, from its cousin, Smilax rotundifolia (below) – by summer these greenbrairs become harder to tell apart.
The young, growing tips of both Smilax vines are edible and taste a little like grape tendrils.
The tiny bell flowers of wild blueberries (Vaccinium species) open on wiry shrubs scattered beneath the trees.
The swale of the salt marshes is beginning to green, and the island’s trees leaf out. You will be kept company by the cries of hysterical oyster catchers and the aerial entertainment of gulls dropping shellfish onto the rocks to shatter them for their own lunch.
Leaving the May woods is hard, but it is with an infusion of natural beauty which few city residents know is waiting for them. It’s spring: time to catch the 6 train uptown, to the end of the line, then hop a bus.