Abraham Nichols Park
Trumbull, Fairfield County, Connecticut
14 acres

Directions:

Merritt Parkway north to exit 51; turn left onto Route 108 (Huntington Turnpike); bear right onto Shelton Road; drive about 0.4 and turn right into the entrance for the Historical Society and the Park. 

History:

The Park is due to the cooperation of the Town of Trumbull, the State of Connecticut, the Land and Water Conservation Fund, and the National Park Service of the Department of the Interior.

(See the brief history of Trumbull on this website Trumbull.)

picnic area; gardens, apple orchard, woods, lawns, plantings, Trumbull Historical Society

Trails:

9/28/2005.  This was the first cool day of autumn.  Ceferino Santana, dog Sonar and I parked near the Nichols house.  The place is a lot like an arboretum except without the labels.  It is very pretty and there are quite a few planted species along with natural ones, a natural woods area, some gardens, lawns, and an orchard. First we explored the small, circular wet area in the "front lawn."  Then we went around the edges along the street.  We then investigated the trees and shrubs on the "front lawn".  It is always a little tricky with arboretums.  The mix of foreign and domestic and southern and northern plants always throws me off a bit. 

We then went up hill to the side lawn and the back yard.  The back yard has a huge lawn, with an apple orchard in the middle. There are woods in the back.  (And there are short trails in the small woods that we explored..)    On the far side of the lawn are the gardens.  They had some really pretty flowers in bloom when we were there, zinnias maybe.  There were also a lot of sunflowers in bloom.  We walked back toward the parking lot, identifying other plant species.  Dr. Patrick L. Cooney.

PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick L. Cooney

*  =  plants blooming on field trip, 9/28/2005

Trees:
Acer platanoides (Norway maple)
Acer rubrum (red maple)
Acer saccharinum (silver maple)
Acer saccharum (sugar maple)
Ailanthus altissima (tree of heaven)
Betula lenta (black birch)
Betula nigra (river birch)     planted
Carya tomentosa (mockernut hickory)
Castanea mollissima (Chinese chestnut)
Cornus florida (flowering dogwood)
Fagus grandifolia (American beech)
Fraxinus americana (white ash)
Ilex aquifolium (English holly)
Liriodendron tulipifera (tulip tree)
Morus alba (white mulberry)
Picea abies (Norway spruce)
Pinus strobus (white pine)
Pinus sylvestris (Scots pine)
Prunus serotina (black cherry)
Pyrus malus (apple tree)
Pyrus sp. (crab apple)
Quercus alba (white oak)
Quercus rubra (red oak)
Robinia pseudoacacia (black locust)
Sassafras albidum (sassafras)
Thuja occidentalis (arbor-vitae)
Tsuga canadensis (eastern hemlock)
(cork tree)                  planted
(dawn redwood)  ?     planted
(Japanese maple)        planted
(Katsura tree)             planted
(magnolia)                   planted

Shrubs:
Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry)
Corylus sp. (hazel)     ?
Euonymus alatus (winged euonymus)
Forsythia sp. (golden bells)     planted
Ilex verticillata (winterberry holly)
Kalmia latifolia (mountain laurel)
Lindera benzoin (spicebush) 
Lonicera morrowii (Morrow's honeysuckle)
Mitchella repens (partridgeberry)
Pachysandra terminalis (pachysandra)
Rhododendron sp. (maximum) ?  (rosebay rhododendron)   ?
Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose)
Rosa sp. (rose)
Rubus occidentalis (black raspberry)
Rubus phoenicolasius (wineberry)
Rubus sp. (blackberry)
Sambucus canadensis (common elderberry)
Spiraea sp. (spiraea)     planted
Taxus sp. (yew)
Vinca minor (periwinkle)

Vines:
Calystegia sepium (hedge bindweed)
Campsis radicans (trumpet radicans)
Celastrus orbiculatus (Asiatic bittersweet)
Euonymus fortunii (Fortune's euonymus)
Hedera helix (English ivy)
Lonicera morrowii (Morrow's honeysuckle)
Parthenocissus quinquefolia (Virginia creeper)
Polygonum scandens (climbing false bindweed)
Smilax rotundifolia (round-leaved greenbrier)
Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy)
Vitis labrusca (fox grape)
Wisteria sp. (wisteria)

Herbs:
Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard)
Ambrosia artemisiifolia (common ragweed)
Artemisia vulgaris (common mugwort)
Asclepias syriaca (common milkweed)
Aster divaricatus (white wood aster)     *
Aster spp. (small white aster)     *
Bidens sp. (beggar ticks)
Chenopodium album (pigweed)
Circaea lutetiana (enchanter's nightshade)    
Cirsium discolor (field thistle)     *
Coronilla varia (crown vetch)
Epilobium sp. (willowherb)
Eupatorium perfoliatum (boneset)
Eupatorium sp. (Joe-Pye weed)
Euthamia graminifolia (grass-leaved goldenrod)
Geum sp. (avens)
Hemerocallis fulva (tawny day lily)
Impatiens capensis (orange jewelweed)     *
Iris sp. (blue or yellow flag)
Lycopus sp. (bugleweed)
Lythrum salicaria (purple loosestrife)     * waning
Maianthemum canadense (Canada mayflower)
Oxalis sp. (yellow wood sorrel)
Phytolacca americana (pokeweed)
Plantago lanceolata (English plantain)
Plantago major (common plantain)
Polygonum cespitosum (cespitose smartweed)     *
Polygonum cuspidatum (Japanese knotweed)
Polygonum lapathifolium (nodding smartweed)     *
Polygonum virginianum (jumpseed)
Prunella vulgaris (self-heal)     *waning
Rumex acetosella (sheep sorrel)
Rumex obtusifolius (broad dock)
Solidago canadensis var. scabra (tall goldenrod)     *
Solidago rugosa (rough-leaved goldenrod)     *
Solidago spp. (goldenrod)     *
Verbascum thapsus (common mullein)
Vernonia noveboracensis (New York ironweed)

Grasses:
Dactylis glomerata (orchard grass)
Digitaria sp. (crab grass)
Echinochloa sp. (barnyard grass)
Panicum clandestinum (deer-tongue grass)
Setaria faberi (nodding foxtail grass)
Setaria glauca (yellow foxtail grass)
Tridens flavus (purple-top grass)

Ferns:
Athyrium filix-femina (lady fern)
Dennstaedtia punctilobula (hay-scented fern)
Polystichum acrostichoides (Christmas fern)

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