Wildflowers at Brukner on March 1, 2017...Spring is here.

Not only is this plant blooming.  Dozens of them are blooming.  The Hepatica are not yet carpeting the woodland floor but they are off to a good start.

The day was windy, gusts up to forty miles per hour earlier in the day. I could hear dead branches falling from the trees. I decided to cut my hike short.

I had really hoped to find a Snow Trillium.

The Hepatica are blooming where I usually find the Snow Trillium. But this winter and early spring have been unusually warm.  I wonder...Do Snow Trillium respond to the length of the days and Hepatica to the warmth of the weather?  

Anyway, I was pleased to see the Hepatica. As I headed back up toward the parking lot, I kept looking.  There is a hillside along the return trail where more and more Snow Trillium have been showing up in recent years and there I found a bud.  I wouldn't have seen it if I hadn't been searching.

A little further up the trail, I found the Purple Cress I had found on February 24, the last day I had hiked this trail.  Its buds were still tightly closed.

I just happened to glance on the other side of the trail.  In a spot of sunlight, I found this.

Purple Cress is blooming.  Hooray!