The small cluster of Hepatica buds which I had so carefully marked on Sunday was gone yesterday, probably consumed by one of my wild woodland kin - the truncated furry stems and liver shaped leaves of the plant remained, but the tiny delicate buds had been carefully nibbled away. A little further along the trail and into the woods, I discovered another small clump of white Hepatica and a solitary brilliant blue specimen, both blooming in a grove of dazzling sunlight. The leaves were clearly visible, and both plants were Round-lobed Hepatica (Hepatica americana) rather than Sharp-lobed Hepatica (Hepatica acutiloba).
There were wonders to be discovered in the woods, and I rambled for hours and miles, drinking in the warm Spring light and the unfolding "greenness" around me. There are Wild Leeks (Allium tricoccum) near the stream in the hollow which were not there last year, and yesterday I discovered healthy clumps of Sweet Flags (Acorus americanus) and Blue Flags (Iris versicolor) growing deep in the woods. Both the Pink Lady's Slipper (Cypripedium acaule) and the Yellow Lady's Slipper (Cypripedium calceolus) are sending up their first leaves.
These are not earth shaking events by any means, but coming after a long cold winter, they made me feel like dancing, and oh the light and the patterns everywhere. . . .
3 comments:
Oh yes! love walking with you through your woods... love dancing in the light :)
I am happy to see the little blue and white hepatica flowers - I had associated 'hepatica' in my mind with a jaundiced yellow - assuming that colour was the connection with the root of the word - but instead it is named for the liver-like lobes! I have not seen it in our westcoast rainforest, but I shall watch for it. Mostly what I see on my own walks are seas of swordferns, dense and hearty and bright green, the new growth still fuzzy brown and not yet unfurled, and carpets of spongy moist moss. The deer eat almost anything that blooms ...
Thank you for the hepatica!
These are beautiful - both the flowers and plants you have photos of, and those you describe. I feel I've had that ramble in dappled sunlight.
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