A quick post to let you all know that the native rhododendron, Rhododendron maximum is now blooming. This is just the beginning stages of the blooming season here in Ohio, so the next few weeks should provide good viewing. The best shrub now in bloom is located along the exit drive between the parking area and the road. TS

A beautiful day with some beautiful new flowers in bloom. Here is this week’s list:

Sundrops
Smooth Penstemon
Purple Meadow Rue
White Clover
Wahoo (native)
Ghost Pipe
Orange Butterflyweed
Elderberry
Silky Dogwood
Smartweed
Honewort
Enchanter’s Nightshade

That’s what spring always is. Just a race to try and enjoy the spring wildflowers before they fade. As we progress into summer, things become a little longer lasting and we don’t have to hurry as much to see our favorite blooms. We are also entering the time when we have many kinds of flowering shrubs in bloom. These are nice too – they tend to be closer to your face so you don’t have to bend down as much!

Next week we will see our last school group for the spring season. I am hopeful that with some more time freed up I will be able to provide you with a post that has a little more “meat” to it. So stay tuned.

To conclude this week’s post here is the new list of flowers and a few pics to go with. Have a safe and enjoyable holiday weekend!

Yellow Iris
Blue-eyed grass
Mock Orange
Multiflora Rose
Rhododendron (cultivated)
Day Lily
Hawkweed spp.
Cynthia
Rattlesnake Weed
Twayblade Orchid
Shasta Daisy
Spiderwort
Foxglove (cultivated)
American Holly
Arrowwood Viburnum
Black Raspberry
Blackberry
Hop Tree
Sweet Scented Waterlily

We are going to continue with our list and pictures theme this week. Here is the list:

Highbush Cranberry (cultivated)
Star of Bethlehem
Indian Cucumber Root
Canada Mayflower
Common Cinquefoil
Dewberry
Sweetflag
Solomon’s Plume
Wild Comfrey
Yellow Iris
Maple-leaved Viburnum

First up in our picture line-up is Pink Lady’s Slipper, in case you haven’t been able to see one in person yet.

Showy Orchis is still in bloom, along with Puttyroot. Pictured below is the former. Both are small, but really pretty.

Growing in the wet meadow at the beginning of the boardwalk is a cool plant called Sweetflag. The leaves are long and might remind you of cattail or iris leaves. In the first picture, the yellow colored spiky thing is where the flowers are. In the second picture, you can see the individual flowers.

Moving back into the woods, here is Common Cinquefoil. Often confused with indian strawberry, cinquefoil has 5 leaves, indian strawberry has 3.

Our first Rubus to bloom is Dewberry. Rubus is the genus to which things like raspberry and blackberry belong to. Dewberry doesn’t have the long, arching canes like raspberry or blackberry.  Instead, this guy trails along the ground making weak attempts at growing up onto other plants.

This next guy is so very small. Canada Mayflower or Wild Lily-of-the-Valley grows in patches of mostly non-flowering plants. Those few that do bloom, send up a second tier of one leaf and then the flowers. Otherwise, this plant is just a single, glossy green leaf growing out of the forest floor.

This little forest of star shaped plants is Indian Cucumber Root. Can you guess what the root might be like? This one is often like the Canada Mayflower in that there can be many plants in the area but very few with flowers. It also sends up a second tier of leaves when there is going to be a blossom. The second picture shows a close up of the very unusual looking bloom.

Coming into bloom a little later that its cousin Solomon’s Seal, is Solomon’s Plume. Often referred to in field guides as False Solomon’s Seal, we like the “Plume” name better. It certainly is more descriptive of how the plant looks when in flower. Once again the second photo shows the flowers up close.

Lastly, here is a possible remnant from Carmen. Japanese Primrose pops out at you along the shelter trail. Not invasive, but definitely looks out of place back in the woods!

Hey gang, the Flame Azaleas are in bloom! They are looking gorgeous as usual and nice and orange-y.

Also, I have an orchid update for you. Sadly, there will be no Pink Lady Slipper blooms for your viewing pleasure this year. I know, it is disappointing  This just seems to be a resting year for all of our populations. Clear Creek is probably the closest place that also has these guys. On a happier note, a flower stalk has arisen from the Puttyroot leaf that was mentioned in the winter orchids post. It is in bloom now. Yes, a little early perhaps, but that’s okay because it will make up for (sort of) the lack of PLS blooms. There should still be Showy Orchis in bloom (it’s Wed. morning so I haven’t checked on it for this week yet) and we will look forward to the next native orchid to bloom which will be Twayblade.

Keep an eye out for the next “in bloom” list!

Bugle or Aguga is a non native garden plant that belongs to the mint family. These purple flowers seem to attract butterflies and hummingbird moths, so we don’t mow them down until they are done blooming.

Creeping Phlox is named for the foliage which creates a blanket of leaves along the ground. A taller flower stalk will shoot up with the blossoms at the top.

Visitors often ask us about the weird pine cone looking things they saw in the woods. Well, it’s actually a native wildflower! It is called Squawroot. In the photo above, there are a few of the flowers in bloom. They are the white parts of the plant. Notice anything different about this plant? Yep, it doesn’t have any green parts to it! This flower cannot make its own food so it is parasitic on the roots of oak trees.

Our official state tree is the Ohio Buckeye. We don’t have any here, but we do have lots of Yellow Buckeye. Here is an up close look at the flowers. They seem sort of reminiscent of snap dragon flowers, yes?

Dwarf Crested Iris is in bloom now. Individual flowers don’t bloom for very long, but they sure are nice while they last!

Finally, lots of butterflies are our and about now, including the Harvester butterfly. The larval form (i.e. caterpillar) of this particular species does not eat plants like most other caterpillars. It eats aphids!

Well, May is finally here and with it are all the beautiful but brief wildflowers that we all love. Our intrepid intern has diligently been tracking down all the flowers currently in bloom. I thought this might be a good time to reset the flower lists. So far I have been listing only the new flowers that come into bloom, but since we’re about half way through the season I’m starting with a list of all the flowers in bloom. So on this list you might see some species that have been previously listed. Please note though, that any following list of flowers will be only new things in bloom.

Many of you have been asking about orchids, and I am happy to report the orchid season has begun! Our first native orchid is in bloom – the Showy Orchis. We have one plant close to the trail for you to see. We have it flagged and we will give you directions when you get here. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Ohio’s native orchids, you may be a bit disappointed  The plant is quite small, only a few inches high, and while the flowers are pretty, they do need a close look to be truly appreciated.

Several of our azaleas are ready to burst, including the one that smells oh, so wonderful! It looks like the Flame Azaleas are still a little way off though.

Here are a few of the flowers you might come across when walking the trails!

That’s the way this spring has been so far, hasn’t it? The bloom schedule seems to be pretty normal this year though, which is kind of nice. I for one have been a little thankful for the cool spells because I feel that it helps prolong the bloom time for some of our spring flowers.

I really love this point in spring. Everything is flush with that new light green color and it can look so vibrant! Another thing that I love about this time of year are the pink crab apple trees that bloom in folk’s yards. We have one here just outside the Nature Center that grows in between a couple of redbud trees. They often bloom at the same time (like this year) and the effect is spectacular. Check it out!

Other spring surprises await the keen observer. This one is hard to find even if you know where and what to look for! Pennywort is in the Gentian family. It is very small, but very pretty. What do you think?

We have 10 different species of violets that bloom in the spring and one of the easiest to identify is the long-spur violet. Can you guess why it’s called that? The spur on this flower is so long that you can see it without bending over. It even shows up in this picture. You can see this violet at the “junction” of the Shelter Trail. This is the center of the figure eight shape that the trail makes.

A new yellow flower has just come into bloom. This is a buttercup. Our lists have it as swamp buttercup, but these things can be tricky. I took a photo of this flower because of how shiny it looked. I was very pleased that it showed up so well in the picture. This really is how my eye saw it. These guys grow in the Deer Meadow and by Bridge 7.

So here is your complete list of new flowers in bloom:

Redbud
Dogwood
Forget-me-not
Pennywort
Early Saxifrage
Swamp Buttercup
Crabapple – pink and white
Long-spur Violet
Three-lobed Violet
Jack-in-the-Pulpit
Wild Ginger
Bugle
Spring Cress
Forget-me-not

Hope to see you out here soon, the trails are waiting!