First Visit To Irma's Woods

Somehow a trip across the valley to view native wildflowers in a totally natural setting seemed like a great way to start this day.  This hillside slopes to the south with no land forms blocking sunlight from warming the ground.  That results in the earliest known location of plants in bloom.  Coltsfoot is not a native plant but it was in widespread use as a medicinal plant in colonial days.  Its early appearance with flowers appearing before leaves earned it a place in this post.  Here it grows only in the ditch adjacent to the road.  Sometimes it is wildly invasive but here it is well behaved as were the students in Irma's classes.

These Spring beauty flowers are newly opened.  The bright pink pollen has never been seen by us before.  We suspect that by late afternoon today it will have completed its job and be gone.  It was a genuine thrill to see something for the very first time especially at our age.

  

This plant remains unidentified so far.  We recognize the Goldenrod emerging to its left but the bud cluster above three leaves will need to be seen again before identification can be made.  Many more visits will be made here.  If we can find it again after it has grown, identification may be possible.

Actually all that was needed for a proper identification was to let some time pass.  We are now certain that this plant is Toothwort or Crinkleroot.

We believe that Hepatica wins the race to be the first native plant to open flowers with Spring Beauty coming in a close second.  The pictured plant has leaves that end in a point and appears in several different forms.  These flowers have nine violet colored petals but both the number and color vary.  Our point and shoot camera does not accurately capture the color of he flowers.  It is much darker than seen here with solid  colored petals from their base to their tip.

These six petaled white flowers are also Sharp lobed hepatica.  Several maroon colored leaves can be seen below the flowers.  Hepatica frequently carries over leaves from last summer.  These leaves are functional supplying nutrition for both the flowers and the newly emerging leaves. 

 This sad looking plant has spent several years in our shade garden.  Two deer hoof prints can be seen too close to the heart of the plant.  These need to be carefully filled in and this plant would benefit from a covering cage.  Somehow welded wire cages detract from the natural look that we are trying for.

April First Native Flowers

For some time we have been considering which native flower opens first.  It does not require a close look to spot these brazen yellow blossoms commonly seen in roadside ditches.  Note the complete lack of leaves which will appear later.  Coltsfoot cannot be in the running for first native flower since it is an European immigrant.

Eagerness to spot early flowers must be tempered with some reason.  Here the leaves are clearly Partridge berry but the flowers are Hepatica.  This presentation brings to mind a favorite story told by our elderly neighbor,  He saw an Arbutus plant apparently bearing purple flowers.  No one will suggest that what he actually saw was Hepatica growing close to Arbutus.  I intend to plant Hepatica close by one of my Arbutus plants in his honor.

Sharp lobed Hepatica presents blossoms of various colors and different petal counts.  This example bears eleven petals each colored a beautiful light violet.  It took me years to appreciate these first native flowers since early garden work kept me from wandering in the woods.

This nearby plant bears only six petals colored a near white blue.  In these woods Sharp lobed Hepatica is the first native plant to present flowers.

This Spring Beauty came in a close second.  Its bud will soon open revealing another early treasure.  Its growth habit makes transplantation nearly impossible.  From a pea sized corm a slender underground shoot travels a considerable distance before sending up its above ground leaves and flowers.  Removing a plant intact is highly unlikely.  As the plant is ending its growth cycle, following the then nearly dead underground shoot back to the corm is no simple task.  These plants grow wild in our back woods but are absent from our wildflower gardens.

Six lightly colored petals presented themselves above the jumble that is characteristic of natural forest floor.  We were unable to find any sign of Bloodroot plants today.  They will appear soon in this location but lost the race for first flower.

Mention must be made of the justification for leaving  the house during these trying times.  Just across the valley from our home is a bedrock ridge that slopes to the south.  Flowers appear first here in response to earlier warming.  Our walk took us along the dirt road that crosses this ridge.  We encountered no road traffic and saw no bikers or hikers while there.  Our outside time here endangered no one.  The land where all of these pictures were taken still carries tattered or fallen  posted signs bearing the name Haller.  A long ago phone call identified the land owner as Irma Haller.  We both taught at the Sidney Junior High School for its last decade of service.  My call was placed in an attempt to gain permission to explore these woods.  What I got was a sincere thank you for respecting her posted signs.  Becky and I frequently walk on this road while looking for flowers.  While there memories of Mrs. Haller always cross my mind.  In keeping with her high standards of expected behavior, we still respect the signs even though Mrs. Haller passed several years ago.

Delights Of Early Spring

Oh wow, spring has finally arrived in the garden.   There are buds forming everywhere but these coltsfoot buds are right next to two bright cheery yellow flowers.  These two flowers are just the beginning.  Leaves will follow the flowers.  Then seed heads resembling dandelions will form.
 

This native plant is a tough customer. We also find it growing from the sometimes worked face of the gravel bank.  It comes up early, grows in ditches and out of cracks in pavement.  These are growing in the stones at the base of the house foundation on the north side.  I was so happy to see them!

Blue Siberian Squill buds are a promise of beauty to come.  The buds are still tight to the ground.   It doesn't take a plant expert to tell the this plant is an alien.  That is fine with me!  I love this plant's little blue flowers with blue pollen!  They are begging to be weeded.

Frequently the first flowers of spring are snow drops.  These were up in February and have been waiting under new snow.  Most of the snow is now gone.  We have had some sun and the buds are opening at last.

Right next door are the winter aconites.  I can actually see these from the house providing I use my binoculars.  After all the white snow, yellow flowers are a delight!

The blossoms look so delicate, but don't be fooled.  Spring ephemerals are tough customers.

Irma's Woods

Across the river valley from us rises a high south facing bedrock ridge.  Numerous small spring fed seasonal streams make their way among the rocks and trees creating a habitat that is very different from our dry woods.  We frequently take a break from spring garden work to see the wild flowers that grow here in great numbers.  All of the land along both sides of the road is posted so our pictures are taken from the roadside ditch.

One section of woods particularly rich with wildflowers was owned by a former teacher that plied her craft in the same school as I.  She taught history while I taught mathematics.  Her health had failed when we first discovered her woods so we were never able to walk with her in these woods.  Still, I remember her each spring when viewing her flowers.

Sharp-lobed Hepatica (Hepatica acutiloba) are the earliest flowers that bloom here.  The flowers push above the leaf litter more easily than the low liver colored leaves.  Soil near neutral in pH is required so we have never acquired this plant.  If time permits perhaps a section of our shade garden could be filled with forest soil taken from under our maple trees.  Then we might be able to grow this plant.

Mixed among the road gravel scrapings pushed up by the snow plow are colt's foot plants.  I once moved some of this common ditch weed into a garden.  Given care it quickly claimed for itself a rather large section of garden.  Now I am content to admire this plant where it grows.  One name for this plant is son before father referring to flowers first, leaves later, growth habit.  This was our first trip to visit Irma's wood's this spring, but it won't be our last.  These earliest of flowers will soon be joined by others.   It would be a shame to miss seeing them.

Spring Ephemerals

I always read WiseAcre's blog for his witty prose and to admire his fantastic photographs. I must thank him for mentioning that the wildflowers are nearly a month earlier than last year. Asleep at the switch, I would have missed seeing some of my favorites. Thanks to him, Ed and I went wildflower hunting today!

Our first picture looks like a dandelion. This flowers' seed pod also looks like it belongs to a dandelion. I remember my surprise when it was pointed out to me that this early spring yellow ray flower is called coltsfoot. I also discovered that coltsfoot should not be introduced to a garden. It spreads by an underground rhizome that has no limit and accepts no barrier. Enjoy this early bright color wherever you see it but leave it in the wild.




Bloodroot flowers are delicate. Opening up in full sun, they close at night. These white and yellow beauties will only last a couple of hot days. A heavy windstorm can blow their delicate petals away. We were lucky to catch these while their stems are still tightly clasped by their leaves.




This picture shows a progression of emerging bloodroot flowers. It begins with a small tightly sheathed leaf, a slightly larger clasped leaf and finally the lovely flowers with the leaves just beginning to release their grasp on the flower's stem. The sap of these beautiful little plants is carmine red and somewhat toxic. Ed has tried without success to introduce bloodroot to our land. One year and gone seems to be its growth habit here. We are anxiously looking for any sign of life from the plants set out last year. Just to be safe new plants have been ordered again this year.