Its Bearded Beggartick Season Y'all

New JerseyHikingsourland mountain pres...Hillsborough

Sep 8

For years when my child was in middle school and early high school, the first day of school brought the yellow school bus and yellow flowers at the Sourland Mountain Preserve in Hillsborough.

The first day of school always meant a field trip for me because the wild Bearded Beggar-ticks would be in bloom. This year, I no longer have a high school age kid but my field trip was a must. The recent pandemic has brought a lot of us outdoors and on a Labor Day afternoon, the parking lot was packed. Instead of hiking through the trails and down the slope, this year we went uphill and came down the trails.

My first close up view though, was a bit disappointing. Someone had discarded their mask in the flower beds. Please resist the temptation to make yourself lighter this way. Once I got over it, we decided to find bumble bees (there were plenty honey bees on the Beggartick but bumblebees were only found on the few Ragweed blossoms).

The vast expanse of yellow is broken with occasional Milkthistle. It is stunning. It wont last for too long so go check it out this week if you can.