27 Jennie Lane

Eastern Arborvitae Thuja occidentalisHigh confidence

The substantial dense hedge running along the driveway. Flat fan-like sprays of scale leaves, columnar form 15–20+ ft, the most planted privacy hedge in the Northeast.

The name means "Tree of Life" — French explorers were saved from scurvy by Indigenous peoples brewing tea from these leaves. Extraordinarily high in Vitamin C. Don't drink the tea in large quantities (thujone is mildly toxic in concentration), but moderate use is safe and historically significant.

Silver Maple Acer saccharinumMedium — Norway maple alt.

Tall maple with paired V-shaped samaras splaying outward almost horizontally — the diagnostic feature here, and the one that ruled out elm definitively (American elm samaras are single round papery discs, never paired). The wide ~180° wing angle is closer to silver maple than to Norway maple, whose samara wings sit at roughly 120°. The crown silhouette in the wide shot is the tall, slightly arching habit silver maple is known for, not the denser rounded shape of Norway maple, and the pondside siting fits — silver maples thrive in moist ground.

Norway maple (Acer platanoides) is the live alternative. The two are easy to separate once leaves are fully out: silver maple leaves have deep narrow lobes with white-silver undersides; Norway maple leaves are broader, more uniform, and bleed milky sap when the leaf stem is snapped. Worth a follow-up photo of an open leaf to settle it.

Samaras are edible boiled or roasted while still green, like any maple seed — strip the wing, simmer the seed for 10–15 minutes. Wood is comparatively soft and brittle (silver maple is famously prone to limb drop in storms — worth keeping an eye on this tree during high winds) and isn't useful for tools or framing.

Black Locust Robinia pseudoacaciaMedium confidence

Tall tree, very dark deeply rope-twisted bark with shreddy peeling sections. Leafing out late, with small bright yellow-green pinnately compound leaflets visible in the canopy.

One of the hardest, most rot-resistant woods in North America. Burns hot and long. Flowers (May–June) are sweet, fragrant, edible — fritters or syrup. Seeds, bark, and leaves are toxic. Only the flowers are safe.

Red Maple Acer rubrumHigh confidence

Identified from those bright pink-red samaras dangling in clusters as new leaves emerge — Red Maple has the most colorful spring samaras of any tree. Smooth silvery-gray bark on the multi-stem form near water.

Sap is tappable like sugar maple, at lower sugar content (roughly 1.5% vs sugar maple's 2–3%). Note for next year: in southern Connecticut the sap window is February through mid-March; by late April the leaves are out and the run is over. Samaras are good now though — edible boiled or roasted while still green.

Black Willow Salix nigraHigh confidence

The fallen/leaning tree across the pond, vigorously resprouting from its mossy half-submerged trunk. (Initially I misread the resprouts as blueberry — they are willow shoots emerging from the parent tree.) Willow is famous for this behavior; you can drive a live cutting into wet soil and grow a new tree.

Inner bark contains salicin — nature's aspirin. Chew a young twig or simmer bark for tea to relieve fever and pain. The young green resprouts are particularly potent. Flexible branches excellent for basketry.

Spicebush Lindera benzoinMedium-high — scratch test confirmed

Compact bright yellow flower clusters around buds on bare branches before leaves emerge — almost nothing else does this here. Smooth grayish bark with fine speckled lenticels.

The owner ran the scratch test: the snapped twig smelled distinctly spicy and aromatic. That rules out the most plausible look-alikes — Cornelian Cherry Dogwood (Cornus mas) and Corylopsis (Buttercup Winterhazel) are both odorless when cut. Final certainty comes from the fall berries: if they're red and allspice-flavored, the ID is settled completely.

One of the best wild teas in the Northeast. Red berries in fall taste like allspice — used as a Colonial-era spice substitute. A genuine treasure.

Common Lilac Syringa vulgarisHigh confidence

Pyramidal clusters of purple-pink buds about to open. Smooth heart-shaped opposite leaves. Multi-stemmed shrub against a building. Days from peak bloom.

Flowers are edible — floral, slightly bitter, perfumy. Make syrup, jelly, or infused honey. Window for harvest is roughly two weeks once they open. Wood is one of the hardest shrub woods in the Northeast.

Eastern Redbud Cercis canadensisMedium confidence

Identified from last year's persistent flat reddish papery seed pods hanging from bare branches. Confirmation will come in the next 1–2 weeks if magenta-pink flowers emerge directly from the bark in clusters — redbud's signature trait.

Flowers are excellent — slightly sweet, tangy, pea-like flavor (it's in the legume family). Eat raw in salads. Buds can be pickled like capers. Young pods edible cooked. Don't miss the flower window when it comes.

Hydrangea Hydrangea arborescens / paniculataHigh confidence

Identified by those papery dried 4-petaled "flowers" still clinging through winter — hydrangea's persistent sterile ray florets are unmistakable. Coarse opposite veined leaves, multi-stemmed against the foundation.

Contains cyanogenic glycosides — mildly toxic. Hollow dried stems work as tinder.

Azalea Rhododendron sp.High confidence

Tightly spiraled deep crimson buds clustered at branch tips, small leathery elliptical evergreen leaves. About to burst into bloom. Grayanotoxin throughout.

Japanese Andromeda Pieris japonicaHigh confidence

The signature flame-red new growth tips emerging in spring are unmistakable. Older leaves glossy leathery dark green elliptical with finely toothed margins. Foundation planting against a wall.

Drooping Leucothoe Leucothoe fontanesianaHigh confidence

Lance-shaped leathery dark green leaves, reddish arching stems, drooping habit growing along a stone wall in shade. The diagnostic in the photo: the plant is holding mature overwintered leaves alongside fresh new spring growth in late April. Sweetspire — the alternative an earlier draft of this entry hedged on — is deciduous and would have only new pale-green foliage at this date; the simultaneous old + new leaf state is impossible for it. Leucothoe is evergreen and looks exactly like this.

Japanese Barberry Berberis thunbergii (purple cultivar)High confidence

Small spatula-shaped deep burgundy leaves, tiny dangling yellow flowers, sharp spines along stems, dense twiggy arching habit.

Bright red berries in fall are edible, very tart, high in Vitamin C. The plant's berberine — a well-studied antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory now sold as a supplement — is concentrated in the roots and inner bark, not the berries. Listed as invasive in Connecticut; aggressive removal is ecologically virtuous. (The classic "harbors wheat rust" charge is mostly leveled at Berberis vulgaris, the European common barberry; Japanese barberry is a much weaker alternate host but worth uprooting on invasive grounds alone.)

Garlic Mustard Alliaria petiolataHigh confidence

Heart/kidney-shaped scalloped leaves alternating up a single stem, becoming triangular toward the top, topped with tight clusters of tiny 4-petaled white flowers. Crushed leaves smell of garlic. Massive patch present — it spreads aggressively.

Every part edible: leaves raw or cooked, flowers raw, roots taste like horseradish, seeds spicy like mustard. Best before flowering. Harvest guilt-free — it's invasive.

Stinging Nettle Urtica dioicaHigh confidence

Reddish-pink stem with stiff hollow stinging hairs, opposite coarsely serrated heart-based leaves. The stinging hairs are tiny silica syringes injecting formic acid, histamine, and serotonin — boiling for 2–3 minutes completely neutralizes them.

Among the most nutritious wild greens on earth — exceptional iron, calcium, magnesium, A, C, K. Harvest top 4–6 inches with gloves. Boil 2–3 minutes, then use like spinach. Stem fiber comparable to flax for cordage. A genuine survival superstar.

Daffodil Narcissus sp.High confidence

Flat strap-like blue-green glaucous leaves fanning out from a central base, dead papery flower remnants from earlier in the spring.

Bamboo Phyllostachys sp. (Running)High confidence

Smooth hollow segmented green culms with distinct node rings — unmistakable. A massive, dense, fully naturalized grove with bare ground beneath. Almost certainly P. aureosulcata or P. bissetii.

Among the most useful plants on the property. New shoots emerging now in spring are edible — slice and boil 20 minutes (changing water once). Canes incredibly strong for shelter, frames, tools, fishing equipment. Burns hot, splits sharp. Essentially a survival superstore.

Stone-edged Pond & Surroundings

The pond is most likely a natural feature — part of a small wetland system that links to neighboring properties — that's been landscaped over decades and is now slowly returning to a wilder state. Stone bank work, scattered boulders, stepping stones, a bench, and path lighting are additions on top of the water body, not signs of construction. There's no managed inflow or outflow, no liner, no pump. Whether the pond was originally dug or simply a natural low spot in the watershed isn't determinable from photos alone, and the distinction matters less than it sounds — either way, what's there now behaves like a natural pond and is likely subject to Connecticut wetland regulation. A drainage catch basin sits in the lawn upslope; whether it ties to the pond or routes elsewhere isn't visually confirmed.

What's there

• Duckweed (Lemna) covering roughly 40–60% of the surface on the house side, much less on the wild side. Possibly mixed with watermeal (Wolffia) but at photo resolution I can't separate them.
• Filamentous green algae in the water column — probably Spirogyra. The owner pulled some out onto a rock so I could see it; it was suspended in the pond, not stuck to the rocks at the waterline as I first read it.
• Tannin-stained water at the edges — normal blackwater chemistry from leaf litter, not pollution.
• Marginal vegetation establishing on the stone edges. Maybe Buttonbush, maybe Swamp Rose, plus what look like Blue Flag Iris and Broadleaf Plantain shoots. Without flowers I can't separate these.
• Sheet moss thick at the margins; genus probably Thuidium or Hypnum, not separable from photos alone.
• American bullfrogs — at least two large males. Apex-predator presence implies a working food web. Full entry: № 19.

Assessment

Mild, asymmetric eutrophication. The house side is loaded — duckweed coverage is consistent with lawn runoff reaching the pond from upslope, whether via the drainage basin or as sheet flow off the grass. The wild side is markedly cleaner, which tells you the nutrient pressure is geographically biased toward the house. The bullfrogs and the tannin chemistry are healthy signs. This is not a pond in trouble; it's a pond drifting the way any pond next to a lawn drifts.

Confidence: medium. A single afternoon of photos can't separate a transient spring-runoff pulse from a chronic baseline overload — they look identical from above. The actions below are useful either way.

What would resolve it: a water test for nitrogen and phosphorus now, and a second one three weeks out. If phosphorus reads above ~0.05 mg/L on both, this is a chronic input problem and mechanical skimming alone won't keep up. Below that, removing some duckweed plus a buffer strip will probably hold it.

Recommended actions

American Bullfrog Lithobates catesbeianusHigh confidence

At least two large males in residence. The diagnostic features were all clean from the photos: substantial size (5–8 inch body length on these), the bright yellow-green jaw and throat that males develop during breeding season, and tympanums (the round eardrum patches behind the eye) noticeably larger than the eye itself — the classic male-bullfrog tell. Females have tympanums about the same size as the eye.

Their presence is more interesting than it looks. Bullfrogs are apex predators in a small pond — they eat insects, smaller frogs, fish, even ducklings — so a healthy population implies a working food web underneath them. Their breeding call is the deep, resonant jug-o-rum that carries a quarter mile on still nights; if you hear it from the house in May–July, that's them.