words fail me

I went for a three hour walk with a friend in some nearby woods that are famed for their wildflowers.

The stream in this bed was sometimes above ground, and sometimes below ground. A mystery for another day.

That green haze on the forest floor is a veritable carpet of flowers. Without further ado:


Dutchman’s breeches.

Squirrel corn.

In the above shot alone, there is dutchman’s breeches (lacy leaves at far left, and all over), squirrel corn (flowers at lower right), blue cohosh (tall stem on the left), trillium (self-evident, right?), wild ramp (fat narrow leaves), spring beauty (one eensy flower, right).
There was so much blue cohosh, I didn’t even bother to try to do it justice. The ones here were much further along than those at home, and I’ve found trying to capture cohosh is hard – the lightest, slightest breeze sets them to dancing.

But here’s a nice shot at a cool stage – the structure of the plant is opened up, but the leaves have yet to fully unfold.


The trillium were simply epic. A ton of them. And huge. Oh, and there’s trout lily in the background, and blue cohosh. Sick.

Gaaaaggghhhhh!

Jack-in-the-pulpit – these are the only ones we saw, perched on a rock ledge.

Weep-inducing Columbine.

Heart-stopping wild bleeding heart.

Crowfoot, a miniature early variety. As you can see, this is going to seed at a decent clip.

Trout lily up the wazoo. And a token spring beauty.

False ginseng.

Early saxifrage.

Miterwort.

Wild ginger’s freaky flower – I’ve always pegged this for a carnivore.

Red baneberry.

Multiple flavors of violet. You know you’re on system overload when you can’t even manage to take down enough detail to key out your violet species.
I was wearing chaco sandals, and after having done my 13 mile run yesterday, I’m not sure who got tired first: the soles of my feet, or my wonder-intake-capacity valve. I may need to eat an entire garlic pizza and soak up five episodes of “Eureka” just to recalibrate back to something approaching normal.

you have eight minutes. go.

Pizza’s in the oven. I have eight minutes to goof off in the yard. Let’s see what I can cook up other than whole wheat crust pizza with homemade pesto, an extra fistful of chopped garlic, broccoli, and hot cherry peppers. Oh, and pepperoni and garlic for Sweetpea.

Lilac flowers, otherwise known as the space aliens in their spaceship pod, continue to ripen.

Good news! We have violets in the lawn. A crappy lawn is so much more interesting than one with actual grass.

Let’s get all porno and zoom in on the naughty bits. And yes, I’ve just guaranteed myself more hits on this blog by using the “p” word there. I’m such a whore. Whoa, more blog hits. I think this is a win for all of us today!

Everybody always looks at the daffodils. Few stop to wonder what they’re looking at themselves.

The reclaimed mystery woodland. That’s the GINORMOUS stump of a black cherry tree. I’m not talking the pretty-blossoms-delicate-little-ornamental kind of cherry. I’m talking a freakin’ CHERRY tree, the kind you try to turn into your kitchen cabinets if you have money to burn. No idea when it was taken down – before our watch.

squashed by the rain.

Who keeps EATING these poor things? (Trillium erectum)

I wish that I could tell you that I deliberately created these two differently-focused shots, but really, it was the camera having its own fun. This is that azalea-type shrub. 

Wild ginger (Asarum canadense) flower – the one I think looks carnivorous. Are those squiggly things in there worms? Probably not, huh.

I still have no clue what this is. It is one of many kinds of flowers growing at the base of a huge yellow birch on the edge of the lawn. The flowers have yet to open up.

Here’s where I go all magical and announce that I’ve found the discarded bridal veil of a faery princess.

White walnut, aka butternut (Juglans cinerea) aka monkey-face (see the little monkey-face in the leaf scar?) – anyhoo, it’s just starting to leaf out. This young tree is right in the shadow of the yellow birch and I probably “should” kill it off as part of my Mystery Woodland Maintenance Program, but I don’t have the heart to.

In other news, I heard the thrush (I forget if it’s a hermit, or a wood, thrush – I certainly have never seen it, so that’s not helpful) in the woods for the first time today. A song to bring a smile!

the first day for canada mayflower, sugar maple, chokecherry, primrose

Since yesterday’s post had zero pictures, I’m giving you a double dose today.

ALL the lilac buds seem to have popped – even the laggards.

Sea o’ myrtle (Vinca minor). That’s a forsythia in the background.

The primrose (Primula vulgaris) just bloomed today.

Cheerful little bugger, innit?

The unidentified-pretty-in-pink Playtex tampon applicator flowers are still lovely…

…unlike the wild ginger flower (Asarum canadense), which by the way, is not related to the tasty ginger we eat.

Remember how I thought it looked a little carnivorous? See the insect on the right side? Heh heh! If anything, that guy’s a pollinator.

Ferns continue to open up…

Onwards to the trees. Today, sugar maple (Acer saccharum) buds started to open up.

Isn’t this wild? That’s a leaf, all neatly folded up. Surely some of the buds will have flowers – today, I only noticed leaves.

Beech buds are not yet opening, but they are HUGE. Don’t believe me?

This one’s the size of my thumb.

Chokecherry (Prunus virginiana) buds – boom, open, bam. Some buds are for leaves…

…and some are for flowers.

Witchhazel buds don’t so much open, as unfold. Their buds are naked, meaning, there are no protective scales. You can see those are leaves, right? They just need to fluff out a little. Today, they look green for the first time. And yeah, those are flowers, but not new ones. They flower in the winter.
And now for the gray birch (Betula populifolia) report. Oh, by the way, the reason I stick the scientific names in here is for the hordes of people who find this blog via searches for these species names. It really does happen – I get hits on this blog from all over. Most folks don’t stick around for long – as wonderful as I am, all they want is my flower and bud porn (insert heavy sigh here). Jeez, stick to the topic, Sarah. OK, first up, here’s a bud opening up today – see the wee little leaves?


Those are definitely leaves. I STILL don’t understand what that fuscia red stuff is for. Maybe…maybe it was just an exuberant “get ready, world!”

A wildflower called Canada mayflower (Maianthemum canadense) JUST came up this morning. How do I know? See the specks of soil on the leaf? It was raining yesterday. If this leaf had been here yesterday, it would be clean. You can see a few more of them in the background, on the left.
Remember the blue cohosh (Caulophyllum thalictroides)? How the other day, it was blue, stem to leaf to flower? Yesterday, I noticed the leaves were greenish-blue – today, they’re green. And all the flowers are open!



Somebody’s nibbling on the trillium (Trillium erectum). See the top center? Chomp chomp, nom, nom.



And now for a different kind of fern…the fuzzy ones… I’m lousy at fern ID, maybe that can be a summer project…

This is a willow (Salix something) that I just had to capture, because it just looks all blown to hell – almost like a fistful of clover sprouts. Huh.

And now…

Daffodils! Don’t they look like spectators at an event!