It's spring wildflower time!

The last few weeks have been increasingly busy, so I am behind in my blog production. 

I know there are at least some who get this blog, who aren't able to get out and enjoy the spring wildflowers like they used to. So I try and do at least one post to feature many of the spring wildflowers. 

This first one is what I thought was suitable considering the cold winter we just came through. It is one I took at Fish Point Prov Nature Reserve a few years ago, but with the verse I came across recently, it just seemed to fit.

The forest floor is covered with Dutchman's Breeches, a close-up of which is shown next.

So many flowers are becoming quite visible, at least for a short time until the canopy of the forest fills out and the forest floor becomes heavily shaded and harder for the wildflowers to peak.

Bloodroot is one of the earlier ones, and it is always a treat to see a profusion of them. 

Flowers are also occurring on trees and shrubs, such as the Choke Cherry, shown next.

Common Blue Violet

Cut-leaved Toothwort

If you look high enough, you may see flowers of a type on trees. This first one features the female catkins of an Eastern Cottonwood....

....and these are the male catkins of the same species.

Round-lobed Hepatica

Jack-in-the-pulpit

Large-flowered Bellwort

Long-spurred Violet

There is a nice woodlot not far from where I grew up and I have always been fascinated with the extensive array of Marsh Marigolds that are very abundant in the wetter sections.

Prairie Buttercup

Next is one that always attracts attention. It is Red Columbine. On rare occasion, one may even find a white version of this!

Red Trillium

Smooth Yellow Violet

Another shrub in flower right now is Spicebush, very abundant at Rondeau.

Spring Beauty

Some of the White Trilliums are still in the tight bud condition....

...but there is an increasing abundance of them in their fullness.

Yellow Trout Lily is always attractive....

...especially when they are fully open on a bright sunny day and you get a closer look.

The deer exclosures at Rondeau are always a treat to visit. Inside, the greenery is abundant, as they have not been browsed by deer at all since 1978 when they were constructed. However the flora inside is still recovering from decades of heavy browsing. This next particular photo actually does not show the abundance of Bloodroot, which was past its best when I took this. But the Large-flowered Bellwort is the current dominant.

I turned around 180 degrees and got this photo immediately adjacent to the exclosure. The wildflowers are there, but really small and scattered by comparison, as they are still being browsed by enough deer in spite of the annual deer culls over the last few years. So without regular control of the deer, the spring wildflower display just won't be what it should/could be. The fairly extensive greenery at the back is actually Japanese Barberry, a very aggressive non-native species.

However in some parts of the park, Mayapple is growing well and becoming its usual fairly dominant self.

 Here are a few other wildflowers, some native. One that is not all that common across the woodland landscape is Virginia Bluebells. I have seen it in several places, but it doesn't occur in Chatham-Kent. However in visiting a woodland where it is quite abundant, the landowner gave me several plants, which I planted in our partially forested yard, and I enjoy watching them flourish.

Another native species, but does not occur in C-K but in some sandy woodland conditions farther east is this next one: Moss Phlox. It is a very low growing plant, only a few centimetres tall.

I will finish this post with a favourite spring flower that occurs in prairie, but not in Ontario, at least not naturally. It is in the prairie patch in my yard, and is always a highlight to see! There is a pink variety as well.

Eastern Shooting-star

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April showers.....

...and you likely know the rest of the saying. While it is a cute little saying that has been around forever, it isn't entirely true. After all, there were lots of flowers in April...what stimulated them? And it is fortunate they are present in April. Since at times the birding is a bit slower than most birders would like, why not take a few moments to diversify one's interest and check out other things?

Some of my fellow bloggers have already highlighted wildflowers they have come across, which is great. Allow me to share some of the things I've encountered in various woodland settings over the past few days.

One of the earliest species is the Hepatica, either Sharp-lobed or Round-lobed. The difference is in the subtle shape of the tips of their leaves, which often are not all that visible when the first flowers appear. The flowers can be quite white....

Hepatica

 ...or an attractive shade of purplish blue.

 Cut-leaved Toothwort can be fairly abundant in places.

Lots of Cut-leaved Toothwort

Cut-leaved Toothwort

Blue Cohosh can occur in two species: the earliest one being Giant Blue Cohosh (Caulophyllum giganteum) with its purplish leaves, and the slightly later one being Blue Cohosh (C. thalictroides), with its greener leaves.

Giant Blue Cohosh

Blue Cohosh

 Purple Spring Cress is an attractive purplish flowered plant, usually growing in wet woods.

Purple Spring Cress

Dutchman's Breeches is often fairly abundant, and easily identified by the spray of white flowers resembling pants hung upside down.

Dutchman's Breeches

Similar in some ways to Dutchman's Breeches but not nearly as abundant, is Squirrel Corn. The dissected leaves are similar but the flowers are more heart-shaped.

Squirrel Corn

While I was busy photographing this Squirrel Corn, I had an audience. This Raccoon was watching me, enjoying the warm, sunny day from its tree limb perch.

Spring Beauty is just that...a very attractive pinkish flower with darker purple lines.

Spring Beauty

 A very abundant spring flower is Trout Lily (a.k.a. American Dog-toothed Violet). Its mottled leaves are extremely abundant on the forest floor of rich woods. However only a very small per cent of plants will have flowers, and even then, they will only be fully out on a bright sunny day. If the sun disappears behind a cloud for a few hours, the petals close up.

Trout Lily

Trilliums are just beginning to appear in flower. White Trillium, Ontario's provincial flower, is by far the most abundant.

White Trillium

Red Trillium (a.k.a. Stinking Benjamin since the flowers have a stinky smell to attract flies, which transfer the pollen) is far less common. The red flowers usually hang down and are less noticeable than the more upright flowers of the White Trillium.

Red Trillium

A very rare colour form of the Red Trillium is sometimes found, although in several decades of exploring woodlands, I have only seen it on a couple of occasions. I will be checking a known spot for it in a couple of weeks, where one plant has appeared for the last three successive years.

An undesirable wildflower just beginning to appear is Garlic Mustard. It is highly invasive, and produces massive amounts of seed. The seed can be transferred from one location to another on the mud of one's boots, so be careful when you are tramping around an area with this species!

Garlic Mustard

Spring flowers are not limited to herbaceous plants. Spicebush, a very common shrub in southern Ontario's wet woods, is in flower before the leaves appear.

Spicebush

Eastern Cottonwood also has its flowers appear before the leaves. This next image shows the male flowers of this species.

Eastern Cottonwood

Other trees are beginning to flower, and will continue for the next several weeks. Some are distinctive and can be told easily before the leaves or flowers emerge, such as this next one.

Bitternut Hickory

The bright mustard yellow leaf buds, visible all winter, are just beginning to expand into new leaves. This is a distinctive characteristic of Bitternut Hickory, an uncommon but widespread tree in southern Ontario deciduous woodland.