Virginia Bluebells

Virginia Bluebells, originally uploaded by donnallong.

These Virginia Bluebells (Mertensia virginica) grow in the shaded place under by back porch. I planted them last year. They are native to the Philadelphia region.

I bought a pot of the Bluebells last year at the Bowman's Hill Plant Sale. Twice each year the reserve has a plants sale where they sell native plants for the SE Pennsylvania region.

The Bluebells are truly lovely. The pink-violet color of the young buds will become a heavenly lavender-blue. The mature open flowers are trumpet shaped. I'll post a photo when they bloom.

They grow in colonies in rich woodlands. Bluebells carpet the woodland floor and  light up the understory in the woods of the Bowman's Hill Reserve in New Hope, PA.

Trout Lilly leaves

Trout Lilly leaves, originally uploaded by donnallong.

The Trout Lilly (Erythronium americanum)leaves are peaking out among the leaf litter. The beautiful blooms can't be far behind. By the brown mottling on the leaves I think that this is the yellow flowered Trout Lilly. The white Trout Lilly are less mottled. But, I could be wrong. Well the blossom will tell.

The flower is a pretty yellow trumpet-shaped blossom.

What I can't understand sometimes is why humans look to far away lands for garden flowers, when we have so many beautiful ones right here close to home.

I guess it is novelty. Or a need to mimic the rich Europeans of centuries past who flaunted their wealth by planting their gardens with evermore exotic flowers. Or is it simply discontentment. And not appreciating what we have?

The Skunk Cabbage are in bloom

In wet marshy woodlands and swamps a curious plant is peaking up from the wet, moist soil. The Skunk Cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus) sprouts so early in spring that the heat of the plant’s cellular respiration from its rapid growth actually melts the surrounding ice and snow.

The large egg-shaped leaves rise not from a stalk but directly from the soil. The leaves unfurl and shade the odd-looking flower beneath it. You can just see the small purplish-brown flower in the photo above.

The purplish-brown flower blooms from February to May. The purplish-brown hood is the spathe. The pale yellow knobby thing in the flower is the spadix. The spadix is covered with tiny flowers.

The Common Yellowthroat Warbler sometimes nest in the central hollows of the large leaves. Sowbugs and millipedes are often seen on the decaying spathes.

Wood ducks, Ruffled Grouse, Ring-necked Pheasants and Northern Bobwhites feed on the seeds. The Skunk Cabbage is the first pollen source in spring for honeybees.