I Don't See Many Wildflowers Any More

If you've been with me a few years, you'll remember that I often enjoyed a long walk in the woods.  Even from my childhood, a walk in the woods has been special to me, I think because it was one of my mother's favourite things to do.  But there's one place where I see two nice spring wildflowers at this time of year.

Down at the west end of Nelson St. West, in front of an old home, this is, believe it or not, the largest patch of Bloodroot I've ever seen.  And it's right here in town too!

Bloodroot is a favourite spring wildflower, one of the earliest to bloom, while most others, like Trillium, bloom in mid-May.

I've cropped this in a long ways, so you can see the unusual shaped leaf in the centre.  You can also see, on the right hand side, how the leaf curls around the stem holding the bloom, like a protective sheath.  In fact it is designed that way, protecting the plant from frost.

This is the old home, with a huge old Sugar maple out front that was at this stage still providing a lot of shade (the leaves haven't emerged yet).  That pile of fresh shavings at the base of the tree is fresh shavings from a woodpecker excavating bugs, and you can see some Bloodroot blooms on the far left.

The same big old tree after the Bloodroot have faded but now the May-apple are unfolding.

The May-apple are like little trees.  They hold a circle of narrow leaves horizontally, and a small (Chickpea sized) 'apple' underneath.  In this picture you can see a small patch of lighter green Bloodroot leaves in the foreground, though the blooms have totally faded.

So those are my woodland wildflowers for the year.  I will return in a couple of weeks to see if I can get a picture of this year's May-apple (though the pavement on that stretch of road is so bad I have to screw up my courage first!).  And needless to say, the old maple was cut down a year or too back, so the shade isn't quite as dense anymore.