In the big parking lot at the end of Alexander Bell Drive (just east of the W&OD trail north of its intersection with Sunrise Valley Drive) is this row of purple-leaf plums (
Prunus cerasifera, see the
Virginia Tech fact sheet), which are widely planted as ornamentals in Reston.
A closer look at the blossoms of the purple-leaf plum; this is from one of the two specimens that flank the entrance to the parking lot of the Access National Bank headquarters at 1800 Robert Fulton Drive. Note the pink petals and the distinctive purple stamens in their midst.
Another widely planted ornamental in Reston is the Bradford pear, a variety of the callery pear (
Pyrus calleryana, see the
Virginia Tech fact sheet).
This pear has proven to be quite invasive and now frequently goes feral, as here in a thicket between the Alexander Bell Drive parking lot and the W&OD trail. As a result, it has earned a place on Reston's list of
eight forbidden species.
Still, one has to admit that the pear flowers are beautiful in their showiness (as well as quite fragrant).
A closer look shows both whitish fringing stamens as well as purple stamens (?) closer to the center; these give a speckled appearance to the blossoms that serve to distinguish them from the Yoshino cherries that are also blooming now.
A look at the underside of the blossoms also shows that the calyx is green rather than pink or red, yet another way to distinguish them from various cherry species.
All across Reston one also sees large trees like this in burgundy or orange-brown, as if colored for the fall. These are red maples (
Acer rubrum).
A closer inspection shows that the red color is imparted by the samaras (winged seeds shaped like propellers).
Each red maple tree now bears thousands upon thousands of these seeds, making them among the first plants to complete their reproductive cycle in the spring in Reston - recall that they were blooming only a couple of weeks ago, as shown in
this posting (which, incidentally, shows only male flowers - at that time I did not realize that red maples generally bear male and female flowers on separate trees).
