Cherry Lane Park
Near intersection of Cherry Lane and Banks Drive, Wilton, Connecticut
50.5 acres

Directions:

Sprain Brook Parkway north to US 287 east; get off for the exit for the Merritt Parkway; get off at exit 39 for Route 7 north; at the end of the parkway extension, turn right at the light; turn left onto US 7 north; at the T-intersection turn right onto Westport Road (Route 33); drive 0.6 of a mile and turn left onto Cherry Lane; drive 0.3 of a mile and turn right into the park entrance.   

Facilities:

trails, a pond and picnicking.

9/09/2005.  On a beautiful morning, Ceferino Santana, dog Sonar and I parked in the somewhat circular parking area of the park.  There are two trail entrances here, one straight forward and the other on the right side of the parking area.  The kiosk presents a map of the trails.  The main trail is the orange trail.  The trail heads from the parking lot all the way over to Banks Drive.  Or one can follow the orange trail in a loop walk. 

In the southeast part of the park, off the orange trail,  there is a yellow side trail with a small circular loop at its end. 

We were not interested in walking the entire trail system.  We just wanted to walk down to the small pond on the property.  We followed the orange trail off the trail entrance way and walked slightly uphill then slightly downhill, and then over a bridge across a now dried-up stream.  We turned right to follow the blue blazed eastern shoreline of the pond.  A lot of the pond area is marsh with lots of rice cut grass covering the area.  A great deal of the pond was also dried up. 

We crossed over the dam area with no water overflowing and the stream below pretty much dried up.  We turned the bend to the west side of the pond still following the blue blazes and walked back to the orange trail.  We turned left and went back to the parking area.  It was a short walk. 

We did see a picnic table by the pond and a bench. 

A shorter way to approach the pond is to pass by the orange trail and keep walking over to the western side of the pond.  Dr. Patrick L. Cooney.

PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick L. Cooney

*  =  plants blooming on field trip, 9/09/2005

Trees:
Acer rubrum (red maple)
Acer saccharum (sugar maple)
Amelanchier arborea (shadbush)
Betula alleghaniensis (yellow birch)
Betula lenta (black birch)
Carpinus caroliniana (musclewood)
Fagus grandifolia (American beech)
Fraxinus americana (white ash)
Pinus strobus (white pine)
Quercus alba (white oak)
Quercus rubra (red oak)
Sassafras albidum (sassafras)
Tsuga canadensis (eastern hemlock)
Ulmus rubra (slippery elm)

Shrubs:
Alnus serrulata (smooth alder)
Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry)
Chimaphila maculata (striped wintergreen)
Clethra alnifolia (sweet pepperbush)
Cornus amomum (swamp dogwood)
Euonymus alatus (winged euonymus)
Hamamelis virginiana (witch hazel)
Ilex verticillata (winterberry holly)
Lindera benzoin (spicebush)
Rhododendron periclymenoides (pinxter flower)
Rubus flagellaris (northern dewberry)
Rubus phoenicolasius (wineberry)
Vaccinium corymbosum (highbush blueberry)
Vaccinium pallidum (hillside blueberry)
Viburnum acerifolium (maple-leaf viburnum)
Vinca minor (periwinkle)

Vines:
Celastrus orbiculatus (Asiatic bittersweet)
Euonymus fortunii (Fortune's euonymus)
Parthenocissus quinquefolia (Virginia creeper)
Smilax rotundifolia (round-leaved greenbrier)
Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy)

Herbs:
Acalypha sp. (three-seeded mercury)
Agrimonia gryposepala (common agrimony)
Amphicarpaea bracteata (hog peanut)
Aster spp. (aster)     *
Bidens connata (swamp beggar tick)     *
Boehmeria cylindrica (false nettle)
Collinsonia canadensis (horsebalm)
Epifagus virginiana (beech drops)
Ludwigia palustris (water purslane)
Maianthemum canadense (Canada mayflower)
Monotropa uniflora (Indian pipe)
Pilea pumila (clearweed)
Polygonum cespitosum (cespitose smartweed)     *
Polygonum sp. (smartweed)     *
Polygonum virginianum (jumpseed)
Thalictrum pubescens (tall meadowrue)

Sedges:
Carex laxiflora type (loose-flowered type sedge)

Grasses:
Echinochloa sp. (barnyard grass)
Leersia oryzoides (rice cut grass)
Leersia virginica (white grass)
Microstegium vimineum (Japanese stilt grass)

Ferns:
Equisetum arvense (field horsetail)
Onoclea sensibilis (sensitive fern)
Osmunda cinnamomea (cinnamon fern)
Osmunda regalis (royal fern)
Polystichum acrostichoides (Christmas fern)
Thelypteris noveboracensis (New York fern)

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