Sunday, May 18, 2014

Wildflowers in the Rain

The wildflower walk I was to lead on Thursday was cancelled after it rained most of the day.  But I went over to the meeting point to make sure no-one showed up and wondered what had happened.  Before leaving I walked a short stretch of the trail to the north.  It was wet!  But the wildflowers are blooming!

One of the first things I noticed was some trillium that were out.  They hadn't been out a week earlier, but they were certainly blooming now.

I just walked a short stretch of the Bruce Trail northwards from the Old Baldy parking lot; it's an easy walk through a nicely wooded area, with the cliff off to the left here.


Looking into the interior of the woods, you could see the patches of trillium flowering.  Most of out trillium are the standard large white trillium, Trillium grandiflorum.

I don't know the violets yet, but there were both blue and yellow ones in bloom.

 
As well as the fiddlehead of a bracken fern unfolding.

Driving home I stopped at a wet area down in the bottom of the valley to photograph the marsh marigolds, a carpet of bright yellow and green.  This isn't a close-up, but this is how you actually see them when driving along the road at this time of year.  

I'm leading the same walk with a photography group on Tuesday; hopefully that one won't get rained out!


12 comments:

  1. That's so pretty! I like all the bright yellows and greens!

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  2. Beautiful shots! The trilliums look lovely.

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  3. What a beautiful little walking path!!

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  4. Love the trilliums! They bloom here in April.

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  5. If you don't walk in the rain you're missing half the weather! Lets hope you get the other half next time.

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    1. You're right; I love the rain. But I don't lead large groups of people on a hike in the rain.

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  6. Great spring flowers - we don't get a big spring flush like that here - out woodlands are not deciduous.

    Cheers - Stewart M - Melbourne

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  7. Looks like a great rich woods for wildflowers. Your blue violet is Long-spurred Violet (Viola rostrata), a species that likes a limey soil. Same for your yellow violet, which is either of two varieties (depending on hairiness) of V. pubescens.

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    1. Thanks very much Jacqui. I really must buckle down and sort those out, 'cause we see several types around here in the spring.

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  8. Beautiful photos of the marsh marigolds. I've never seen them here! I hope you get out on your hike tomorrow and get pictures to share.

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    1. Forecast is promising - no rain til afternoon. But with the photography group I might go anyway; rain is often great for close-ups.

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  9. Is there anything quite so splendid as a trillium in the spring forest?

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