poison hemlock (Conium maculatum) is just a ground cover now, but will grow fast once the weather warms up; there’s some ground ivy in there, too

As a rule, if it’s green in winter it’s alien.  In this area.  Other than needled and broadleaf evergreens, of course.  Walking along the towpath and the Billy Goat trails, I see assorted grasses, garlic mustard, henbit, ground ivy, English ivy, lesser celandine, poison hemlock, perwinkle… but there are native forbs hiding somewhere (I mentioned some in an earlier post).

I’ve been searching for them on recent walks.  Since Flower of the Day is currently dormant, I’ll be posting about these quasi-evergreen plants during the month of February.

poison hemlock gets big, at least 7 feet; this one isn’t full-grown yet…

…but the flowers sure are pretty

(iPhone pictures from May, 2013)