Walk at Garbry Big Woods Sanctuary, Friday, April 13

Last Friday afternoon, three friends, Tom and I walked at Garbry Big Woods Sanctuary. It was the first time the five of us have been together this spring. The weather was perfect, sunny and in the sixties. (Fahrenheit). We came especially to see the Large-flowered trillium ( Trillium grandiflorum) which are abundant in this wet woods. We saw them in all stages, ready to bloom, blooming, and pink from age. They are one of the white flowers that turn pink just before the petals wither and fall. Tom took all the photos in this blog.

The Large-Flowered trillium have been blooming for over a week. The Drooping trillium (Trillium flexipes) blooms a little later. We saw buds and also open flowers. These trillium blossoms hang beneath the leaves.

To me, the most visible flower interspersed with the large-flowered trillium was the Wild Blue Phlox Phlox divaricata). The woodland was a bridal bouquet for Spring.

Here are some of the other flowers we saw. Goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis)...

Did you notice the bee on the left flower? There was Wild Ginger (Asarum canadense) blooming on a decaying tree stump at eye level so we didn't have to stoop to see the flower.

Sometimes the flowers were so close together, more than one variety were in the photo. Here are a yellow violet and a Sessile trillium (Trillium sessile) which is sometimes called Toadshade. I don't try to identify the violets except by color. The Sessile trillium is as open as it gets.

Jack-in-the-Pulpits (Arisaema) were easy to find. This is another plant that has several similar species. you can see a Large-flowered trillium and Wild blue phlox in the photo also.

Among the Spring beauties (Claytonia virginica) which crowded in among the Large-flowered trillium and also had large areas mostly to themselves, Tom found Rue Anemone (Anemonella thalictroides).

Most of the Blue Cohosh flowers (Caulophyllum thalictroides) were gone. Tom found a few.

When one flower is finished blooming, another one is ready to bloom. Here is a Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum) with a bud.