Author: Phil Huhn

  • The Pond in Spring

    The pond in Winter

    The Pond in spring …


  • Mayapples

    Mayapples

    Mayapples are woodland plants, typically growing in colonies derived from a single root. The plants produce several stems from a creeping underground rhizome. Mayapple stems bear a single leaf and do not produce any flower or fruit, while flowering stems produce a pair or more leaves with 1–8 flowers in the axil between the apical…


  • Trillium

    Trillium

    Trillium is a plant seen in Mitchell Scarlett Woods in the spring. It is a perennial herb growing from rhizomes. There are three large green leaves and three petals in shades of white, pink, red, purple, yellow, or green. At the center of the flower there are six stamens and three stigmas.


  • Poison ivy

    Poison ivy

    Poison ivy versus Virginia Creeper, know the difference Poison ivy come in many forms. It is commonly having 3 leaf clusters hence the common expression “leaves of three, let it be” and has 3 lobs to the leaf. Virginia Creeper is known for its 5 leaves.


  • Vernal pools

    Vernal pool in summer

    Vernal pools are seasonal pools of water that provide habitat for distinctive plants and animals (“vernal” meaning: “of, in, or appropriate to spring”).  Vernal pools are a type of wetland usually devoid of fish, and forms a great habitat for amphibians, especially frogs and insect species.  Most pools are dry for at least part of…


  • Spring Beauty Bees and Spring Beauty Wildflowers

    Flying honey bee

    Read Spring Beauties: Bee + Bloom by Jo Brichetto an article from Sidewalk Nature


  • Jack-in-the-Pulpit and Its Tricky Pollination Method

    Jack-in-the-pulpit

    Read the Jack-in-the-Pulpit and Its Tricky Pollination Method article from Backyard Ecology.


  • FSMW Organizational Meeting #5 (Aug 2022)

    Scarlett Mitchell Woods entrance sign

    Online Zoom Meeting Aug 18 7:30, Thursday To explore the creation of an on-going organization of community members to help manage and care for Mitchell-Scarlett Woods, the central 40 acres of the Scarlett-Mitchell Nature Area. This area contains the heart of the woods and the pond, which was dredged in 1982. It is owned by…


  • AADL Summer Game Badge

    Summer Game Explorer Badges

    Ann Arbor District Library (AADL) has an amazing variation on the summer book reading challenge called Summer Game. The Summer Game is composed of categories of badges. The badges ask the player to search the card catalog or the internet or visit the branch Libraries or get out in the area to find the solutions…