Almanac Excerpt

December River Birch is most commonly found in moist areas. It is a fast-growing, medium-sized tree with a single or multiple stems that grows to be 50 to 70 feet

November Witch-Hazel is a multi-stemmed shrub with a bowing, graceful form that grows eight to 15 feet high and wide. “Hamamelis” means the flower and fruit mature at the same

October The Eastern Screech Owl is a year-round inhabitant of Newton. It comes in two colors, red or gray. You’ll rarely see it during daylight hours unless you’re lucky enough

September The Great Spangled Fritillary is the most common fritillary butterfly in the northeastern U.S. It is relatively large, up to four inches, with orange to tawny brown wings that

August In past years one could often see and hear the common nighthawk as it circled in the glow of streetlights, picking off moths and other insects attracted by the

July The American Chestnut was once the most common tree in the eastern woods. Chestnut is in the beech family and is related to the oaks that replaced it as

June Eastern Comma butterfly got its name from a white comma-shaped marking under its wing. The commas identify it as one of the “anglewing” butterflies. The margins of their wings

May Trout Lily is also known as dogtooth violet or yellow adder’s tongue. It grows in colonies in moist woods. Yellow, nodding flowers are carried singly above the basal mottled

April Shadbush is a multi-stemmed, vase-shaped shrub, the smallest of the many serviceberry species, which grows to be 10 to 20 feet high and five to 10 feet wide. Shadbush

March The American Woodcock is most noticeable during its remarkable mating display, beginning in March as snow clears from overgrown fields. Check the meadows in Nahanton Park. At dusk, the

February Common Hair Cap Moss forms lush green carpets on moist, slightly acid soils in the woodlands of Newton. This moss gets its name from the hairs that cover the

January Unlikely as it may seem, some ferns are easy to find despite a several-inch blanket of snow. Most ferns emerge in April, grow spores under their fronds in the