Montgomery Park
Harlingen Road, Montgomery Township, Somerset County, NJ

Directions:

Heading south on Route 206, turn left onto Maple Street and make immediate left onto Harlingen Road (the road bears left up to the first parking area on the right and then right to the next two parking areas on the right).

Geology:

part of the Beden Brook watershed

Facilities:

playground, picnic tables, huge open areas with ball fields and soccer fields

Trails:

November 1, 2003. There are three different parking areas off Harlingen Road. We parked at the second parking area adjacent to the Montgomery Arboretum of Native Flora (a purple martin sanctuary). The paths (part of the system of Montgomery Pathways) are of asphalt. Crossed a bridge over a stream and turned right at a sign saying "Future Site of Veterans Memorial" to follow the main path. The area is mostly open fields but with a great many red cedar trees. We passed over three bridges in all before getting to the end of the park at Mill Pond Road. Turn right on the road and walk a short distance to Mill Pond Park with its many soccer fields (passing Mill Pond itself on the left).

http://twp.montgomery.nj.us/mont.pdf

PLANT LIST:
Drs. Patrick and Rosemary Cooney
* = blooming on 11/01/03

Trees:
Acer negundo (box elder)
Cornus florida (flowering dogwood)
Fraxinus americana (white ash)
Juniperus virginiana (red cedar) all over the fields
Liriodendron tulipifera (tulip tree)
Maclura pomifera (osage orange)
Magnolia virginiana (sweetbay magnolia)
Pinus strobus "pendula" (weeping white pine) planted
Platanus occidentalis (American sycamore)
Pyrus sp. (crab apple)
Quercus coccinea (scarlet oak) planted
Quercus palustris (pin oak)
Quercus rubra (red oak)
Tsuga canadensis (weeping eastern hemlock)

Shrubs:
Clethra alnifolia (sweet pepper bush)
Cornus amomum (swamp dogwood)
Elaeagnus umbellata (autumn olive)
Lonicera morrowii (Morrow's honeysuckle)
Rhus sp. (sumac)
Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose)
Rosa sp. (huge rose hips)
Rubus occidentalis (black raspberry)
Rubus sp. (blackberry)

Vines:
Calystegia sepium (hedge bindweed)
Clematis virginiana (virgin's bower)
Lonicera japonica (Japanese honeysuckle)
Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy)

Herbs:
Achillea millefolium (common yarrow)
Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard)
Allium vineale (field garlic)
Artemisia vulgaris (common mugwort)
Aster novae-angliae (New England aster) *
Aster spp. (heath type aster) *
Bidens sp. (beggar ticks)
Cirsium arvense (Canada thistle)
Cirsium sp. (thistle)
Daucus carota (Queen Anne's lace)
Euthamia graminifolia (grass-leaved goldenrod)
Fragaria virginiana (wild strawberry)
Leonurus cardiaca (motherwort)
Lepidium virginicum (poor man's pepper)
Linaria vulgaris (butter and eggs)
Oenothera biennis (common evening primrose)
Phytolacca americana (pokeweed)
Plantago lanceolata (English plantain)
Rumex obtusifolius (broad dock)
Solidago spp. (goldenrod)
Taraxacum officinale (common dandelion) *
Trifolium repens (white clover) *
Verbascum thapsus (common mullein)
Vernonia noveboracensis (New York ironweed)

Grasses:
Bromus sp. (brome grass)
Elymus sp. (wild rye grass)
Panicum clandestinum (deer-tongue grass)
Schizachyrium scoparium (little blue stem grass)
Setaria faberi (nodding foxtail grass)
Tridens flavus (purple top grass)