Ladies Day Out...Garbry Sanctuary, April 22

Pat, Sarah and I went out to eat and then we decided to walk at Garbry Big Woods Sanctuary.  Both of them like walking out in the woods as much as I do.

Wild Ginger leaves were everywhere.

I took my usual photo of the Putty Roots leaves. The Putty Root leaves are the ones with the many lengthwise whitish lines on them. There are a lot of lengthwise dark veins. The leaves are drying up at the tips. The leaves will be gone when the flowers appear. Other leaves are already beginning to cover the Putty Root leaves.  Since the flower stalks are short compared to the greenery around them when they bloom in May, they are hard to find unless a person have some sort of reference point to remember exactly where to look. 

Judy, one of the county parks' part-time staff and also a volunteer, puts up signs like these as the flowers bloom. I always read them because she has interesting bits of information on them.

 Goldenseal flowers are very small.  They are barely visible at the bottom of the sign stake.  Here is a closer view.  The flowers consist of only stamens and pistils.

                          

There were very few  Bloodroot flowers but the leaves were becoming more and more noticable as they grow larger.

Spring Beauties were everywhere although most of them were closed because the day was overcast and rain was expected at any time.

Lots of Sessile Trilliums were blooming, some of the flowers poking up through dead leaves. In this photo, one of the Sessile Trillium's spotted  leaves is visible to the right of the dead leaf encircling the flower and its sepals
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Sarah noticed that the leaves of the Drooping Trillium were broad,  broader than those of the Large-flowered Trillium.

This is a very small cluster of Large-flowered Trillium. There were thousands of them blooming throughout the entire woods. Once the Drooping Trilliums bloom, too, the sight is even more spectacular. The Drooping Trillium is also a good sized white flower.

The Blue Cohosh has a blue tinge to its leaves. The purplish flower is more maroon than it appears in this photo.

Sometimes the Blue Cohosh has yellow flowers. The white flowers are Rue Anemone.

Although the Large-flowered Bellworts were not as noticable as some of the  flowers, there were  a lot of them sprinkled throughout the wet woods.

Most of the yellow Trout Lilies had dropped their petals. Their seed pods were developing. Another name for Trout Lily is Dogtooth Violet.

Two species of Waterleaf are found at Garbry.. The first leaves of both plants are spotted, the way varnished wooden furniture spots if water is dropped on it.  Later on, the leaves are shaped somewhat differently and are not spotted.  In the midst of the Waterleaf with the leaves that look a bit like maple tree leaves is a Bedstraw plant.  The leaves are in whorls around the stem.

Before we left, we sat on one of the benches conveniently placed along the boardwalk and rested, not speaking, just soaking in the peace and quiet and beauty.

Our timing was perfect.  Just as I drove out of the parking lot, rain began falling.