I can't stay out of the woods in May!

The woods are magical at this time of year before the canopy fills in, sunlight dappled and the ground thick with wild leeks and spring ephemerals. Notice the love affair of trillium and bellwort, loving woodland companions.

Trillium blooms are at their peak this week, the beautiful grandiflora species especially bountiful. A few weeks ago I was puzzled by something mysterious. What is this strange flower?

The mystery was revealed when I spied a trillium clearly infected with a parasitic mycoplasma or phytoplasma (latter is the newer nomenclature). Compare the photo below to the one above with its flower sporting bacterial green.

As for other wildflowers, Dutchman's breeches are just about finished blooming, with Solomon's seal yet to come. Violets are flowering both in the woods and the garden both, deep purple ones around my house and the lovely little yellow downy violets in the woods. But we never tire of trillium, do we? Its season is all too brief.

Look up through the tops of the trees, too, and see how much light comes in before the canopy fills with summer leaves. 

Back on the ground are beauties other than flowers, such as this charming group of mossy rocks hidden deep among the trees. 

And oh, those lovely, luscious ferns!

Last Sunday in April: Spring Ephemerals

  

Black cherry on creekside bank at woods' edge....

What will be found deeper in the woods today?

Season's first trout lily (a.k.a. dogtooth violet)

Dutchman's breeches (photo from previous post)

From this morning

Beautiful, shy bellwort

And there will be more.

Is this what you were waiting for?

Come closer.

This one excited me: Hepatica!

P.S. (I am a slow thinker.) If you have a favorite among today's photos, tell me in a comment below which one it is and why it's your #1. Thanks. 😊 

Trillium Hill, In All Its Glory

It’s hard to say which is most charming — a single flower beaded with raindrops, the wider view of many flowering plants, or an entire hillside of trees with the spring ephemerals blooming on the ground below. 

And then, which is the more enchanting flower, the pure white trillium or the blazing yellow cowslip, a.k.a., marsh marigold? Both flowers, blooming by the hundreds, together in one scene, are unforgettable.

Three by Three by May

Spring Woods at Ground Level