Who would expect Hepatica to be blooming in January? Today my wife and I wanted to enjoy a beautiful day with some time outside, so we decided to go down to The Pocket for a walk on the boardwalk. The earliest I’ve seen Harbinger of Spring blooming down there previously was Feb 9 (back in 2009), but as warm as it’s been I wasn’t going to be surprised if we found that early bloomer with flowers. But I wasn’t expecting this:

Sharplobe Hepatica – Anemone acutiloba

That’s right, Hepatica! Blooming in January! It wasn’t just this pair of flowers, we saw more than a dozen plants with flowers, either open or in bud, as we walked the boardwalk. There was also foliage of other plants – Wood Poppy and Toothwort as two examples. With flowers already blooming (very limited, of course) and the foliage as far along as it is now, I’m not going to make any guesses as to when we’ll really start to see some action at The Pocket. We might still have some winter in front of us.

Oh, by the way, we found some Harbinger of Spring blooming as well:

Harbinger of Spring – Erigenia bulbosa