Weed Beach
off Nearwater Lane, Darien, Fairfield County, Connecticut
22 acres
Open to Darien residents from Memorial Day through Labor Day. No dogs, even in car.
Directions:
US 95 north to Exit 10; turn right onto Noroton Avenue; turn right onto Boston Post Road; take the next left to get onto Nearwater Lane. Drive 0.8 of a mile to end of the road to the private housing entrance. Beach driveway is on the right.
History:
1953 -- the park now owned by the Town.
Facilities:
Launching area for wind surfing, ultra-light sailing craft, and motorized jet skis, picnic grove, summer bandstand, playgrounds. Bathing area, 6 tennis courts, 5 paddle tennis courts, a bathhouse, concession stand, and the Darien Junior Sailing Program. Junior sailing area, informal walking paths, paddle
Habitats:
beach, woods behind the tennis and paddle courts.
Trails:
10/29/2005. There are no official trails here. But there are some sandy and oak woods with many mowed and informal paths. We went back and forth behind the sandy beach looking at the woods. And because there are woods here, it is a better place for botanizing.
PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick Cooney, Sarah-David Rosenbaum, Rosemary Cooney
* = plant blooming on date of field trip, 10/29/2005
Trees:
Acer negundo (ash-leaf maple)
Acer platanoides (Norway maple)
Acer saccharum (sugar maple)
Ailanthus altissima (tree-of-heaven)
Amelanchier arborea (shadbush)
Carya tomentosa (mockernut hickory)
Gleditsia triacanthos (honey locust)
Juniperus virginiana (red cedar)
Liquidambar styraciflua (sweetgum)
Morus alba (white mulberry)
Pinus thunbergii (Japanese black pine)
Prunus serotina (black cherry)
Pyrus sp. (crab apple)
Quercus alba (white oak)
Quercus palustris (pin oak)
Quercus rubra (red oak)
Quercus stellata (post oak)
Quercus velutina (black oak)
Rhamnus cathartica (common buckthorn)
Robinia pseudoacacia (black locust)
Sassafras albidum (sassafras)
Taxus sp. (yew)
Shrubs:
Elaeagnus umbellata (autumn olive)
Euonymus alatus (winged euonymus)
Forsythia sp. (golden bells)
Hudsonia tomentosa (beach heather)
Hypericum gentianoides (orange grass)
Iva frutescens (marsh elder)
Juniperus sp. (juniper)
Lonicera morrowii (Morrow's honeysuckle)
Myrica pensylvanica (bayberry)
Rosa rugosa (wrinkled rose)
Rubus flagellaris (northern dewberry)
Rubus phoenicolasius (wineberry)
Rubus sp. (blackberry)
Viburnum dentatum (arrowwood viburnum)
Vines:
Ampelopsis brevipedunculata (porcelainberry)
Celastrus orbiculatus (Asiatic bittersweet) lots of it; even forms shrubs
on the beach
Euonymus fortunii (Fortune's euonymus)
Hedera helix (English ivy)
Lonicera japonica (Japanese honeysuckle)
Parthenocissus quinquefolia (Virginia creeper)
Smilax rotundifolia (round-leaved greenbrier)
Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy)
Vitis sp. (grape)
Herbs:
Acalypha sp. (three-seeded mercury)
Achillea millefolium (common yarrow)
Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard)
Allium vineale (field garlic)
Artemisia stelleriana (dusty miller) planted
Artemisia vulgaris (common mugwort)
Asclepias syriaca (common milkweed)
Aster cordifolius (heart-leaved aster) *
Aster spp. (aster) *
Atriplex hastata (halberd-leaved orach)
Atriplex patula (orach)
Commelina communis (Asiatic dayflower)
Daucus carota (Queen Anne's lace)
Geum canadense (white avens)
Gnaphalium obtusifolium (sweet everlasting)
Lechea sp. (pinweed)
Lepidium virginicum (poor man's pepper)
Linaria vulgaris (butter and eggs) *
Medicago lupulina (black medick)
Oenothera biennis (common evening primrose) *
Polygonum cuspidatum (Japanese knotweed)
Rumex acetosella (sheep sorrel)
Rumex crispus (curled dock)
Solidago sempervirens (seaside goldenrod) *
Taraxacum officinale (common dandelion)
Verbascum thapsus (common mullein)
Yucca filamentosa (Adam's needle)
Sedges:
Carex sp. ovales type (ovales type sedge)
Grasses:
Ammophila breviligulata (beech grass)
Digitaria sp. (crab grass)
Elymus sp. (wild rye grass)
Panicum clandestinum (deer-tongue grass)
Panicum virgatum (switch grass)
Phragmites australis (giant reed grass)
Schizachyrium scoparium (little blue stem grass)
Setaria glauca (yellow foxtail grass)
Spartina alterniflora (salt marsh cord grass)
Spartina patens (salt meadow cord grass)
Tridens flavus (purple top grass)
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