Woodland Walk: May

I finished my latest work project yesterday and celebrated by taking my camera and the dog out for a prolonged wander in the woods. It's the height of wildflower season, and magical little beauties are everywhere. It's amazing how different one season is from the next; last year, the hobblebush (viburnum) was in riot mode, with abundant bloom like I've never seen before, and the Pink Lady's Slippers were shy and scarce. This year, I found one single bloom on a hobblebush by the creek, but the Lady's Slippers are prolific. Perhaps the hobblebush needs an extended period of cold to initiate bloom – and we certainly didn't get that this year.

I'm still learning my woodland plants, and have identified those I know in the photographs. If any of you can help identify the unknowns, feel free to school me in the comments. Pictures galore after the jump...

I have no idea what this little white spike* is, but the plant on the right is Wood Sorrel. I sometimes pluck a few leaves and chew on them as I walk – they have a tart lemony flavor, just like the sorrel you'd grow in your garden. They'd be a nice addition to a salad mix. (*Ed. note 5/22: the little white balls opened up into sprays of fairy stars, and I was able to find it in the book: Canada Mayflower.)

I never thought of violets as being a woodland native, but they're all over the place. There are some tiny little white ones, and then these larger purple ones, which I assumed were just Common Blue Violets, but according to my (wholly inadequate) wildflower guide, the flower form isn't quite right. I'm pretty sure they're Northern Blue Violets.

There are many different Tiny White Flowers, some that I know, some not. Below, top to bottom: Foamflower, Starflower, and one I've never seen before (5/22: Rue Anemone). There are hundreds of the others out there; this is the only one of this variety along my walk, and the only one I've ever seen.

Miss Macy was out exploring ahead of me, and at one point I came around a bend and found her standing perfectly still and staring intently at the ground just in front of her, ears pricked up. When a bit of breeze jostled the leaves around her, she jumped straight up in the air. I had to look hard to find what she was so enthralled (and terrified) by.

Common garter snake, I'm pretty sure. I see a lot of them around, especially wiggling in and out of all the piles of stone in the yard. I'm not particularly afraid of them (but you won't catch me picking one up, either).

The Red Trillum have come and gone already, but the Painted Trillium are still in bloom (though starting to fade a bit).

The Lady's Slippers are all sending up flower spikes, but not quite ready to bloom. It's quite a show when they do, especially when there are as many as there are this year.

And Jack-in-the-Pulpit coming up where I've never seen them before:

I'm trying to take full advantage of all the free time I have right now, as it will be coming to an end very soon. In addition to the projects gearing up with Jaguar Land Rover (for which I have worked on a contract basis for over 20 years), I am currently negotiating to take on some work for Porsche, as well. My posting frequency may diminish considerably...

Comments

[Carolyn]

Thanks - that made for a nice calming break in my work day, if only vicariously.