Two Weekends of Wildflowers

Everything's changing so quickly outside now! Last weekend, I went into the woods behind our house to check out the wildflowers, and I was pretty well astonished by the variety of blooming plants I found just in this little sloping area. A bunch of these flowers were ones I'd never encountered before!

The Cutleaf Toothworts (Cardamine concatenata) were fully open:

I seemed to have missed the peak blooms on this Blue Cohosh (Caulophyllum thalictroides), which was holding onto only a few flowers:

Twinleaf (Jeffersonia diphylla) flowers danced on long stems next to the plant's strangely shaped leaves:

Patches of Rue Anemone blooms showed up in pale pink and white:

The pink blooms were very pretty:

But I especially liked the white flowers:
 

It seemed like this Spring Beauty was trying to be extra beautiful with its bonus petals:

I haven't been able to identify this small yellow violet that was blooming by a stream, but it was quite a lovely flower, named or not:
 

Speaking of yellow flowers, after seeing tons of Trout Lily leaves, I was happy to find a few plants in bloom! These are some of my favorite spring plants:

Small beetles (Asclera ruficollis, I believe) were also enjoying the Trout Lily blooms, apparently munching on the pollen:

A few other insects were out and about on this sunny day, including this Green Stink Bug:
 

Although most of the Bloodroot blooms in the woods had faded, this amazing patch lit up a corner of the yard:

When I went out exploring again yesterday, I found almost an entirely new cast of characters. Well, the Trout Lilies and Spring Beauties at least are still going strong; our yard is practically carpeted with Spring Beauty blooms, which is quite a lovely thing to see:
 

Jack-in-the-Pulpit leaves and flowers are starting to pop up all over the woods:
 

Big patches of Virginia Bluebells (Mertensia virginica) are just starting to open their bright blue flowers:

And I'm so, so happy to see Large-flowered Trillium (Trillium grandiflorum) with its billowing blooms. These plants are scattered all through the woods, and one gorgeous patch even came up right next to the house:

Spring is in full swing now, and I'm excited to see what creatures and plants will show up next!

First Woodland Flowers!

Yay! I've been watching the woods behind our house for growing things ever since the snow melted a few weeks ago. There's been a lot of eager waiting. Now all of a sudden -- in just the past few days, really -- little plants have started sprouting up all over the forest floor. And while I was wandering in the woods this afternoon I finally got to see my first wildflowers of the year!

These Bloodroot blooms are such a welcome sight, like brilliant beacons among the dead leaves:

Once I noticed one Spring Beauty (Claytonia virginica) plant in bloom, I started seeing these dainty little flowers everywhere:

I love the pale pink veining on these little flowers:

Some of the Spring Beauty flowers were much paler, and still very pretty:

It's so exciting to get to discover the plants that live on this wooded slope. Every new appearance is a surprise! I was happy to see these Mayapple plants pushing their way above ground:

Trout Lily (Erythronium americanum) leaves are now scattered across many areas of the forest floor; these leaves are still some of my favorite spring sights:

This small patch of Ramps was an exciting discovery! I'll be sure to sample a couple of these onion-related plants in the next few weeks:

Big clumps of what I think are Virginia Bluebells (Mertensia virginica) have sprouted up seemingly overnight. I've never encountered these plants before, and I'm very curious to see them when all those blue flower buds open up:

Cutleaf Toothwort (Cardamine concatenata) plants are abundant in these woods, and they're on the brink of blossoming. I really like their jagged silhouettes:

Outside of the woods, a male Yellow-rumped Warbler (the first warbler I've seen this year!) was looking especially fancy among Red Maple blooms yesterday afternoon:

And not quite on the topic of flowers, but still related to the changing seasons, I was happy to meet a singing Brown Thrasher along our driveway:

I plan to check on these woods every few days; updates on the progress of our local flora will certainly appear here. Hooray for spring!