I had not planned on getting back down to The Pocket so soon after Sunday’s trip, but I got an email from Clayton Webster of the Over The Hill Hiking Group on Tuesday inviting me to join them on their visit to The Pocket today. I was really glad I joined them, not only because they are such a fine, fun group of folks, but without them I would have missed a Bloodroot still blooming! With that Bloodroot and all the other early spring flowers except Harbinger-of-Spring making a presence (yes, Dutchman’s Breeches STILL blooming) and so many other species at peak bloom, today might have been the perfect day for a visit to The Pocket. Thanks, Clayton!

Crested Dwarf Iris – One of the new species blooming since Sunday

The full list of what I found blooming, more or less in the date order I expect to find them blooming. (Click on the hyper-linked scientific name to go to the page with more photos/information on that species.)

• Hepatica (Anemone acutiloba) – Getting hard to find.
• Cutleaf Toothwort (Cardamine concatenata) – Almost gone.
• Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) – As mentioned above, we found 1 single plant blooming.
• Carolina Spring Beauty (Claytonia caroliniana) – Still easy to find, but definitely way fewer.
• Star Chickweed (Stellaria pubera) – Still easy to find, but they are starting to decline.
• Blue Cohosh (Caulophyllum thalictroides) – On Sunday I said most plants were finished blooming; that was true, we must be in round two now. A number of beautifully blooming plants.
• Trout Lily (Erythronium americanum) – These seem past peak, but still plentiful.
• Rue Anemone (Thalictrum thalictroides) Plentiful.
• Long-spurred Violet (Viola rostrata) – Plentiful along the “horse trail”.
• Canada Violet (Viola canadensis) – Plentiful, becoming dominant.
• Smooth Yellow Violet (Viola pubescens) – Plentiful.
• Common Blue Violet – Plentiful.
• Virginia Bluebell (Mertensia virginica) – I called peak on 3/17 and 3/26; I was wrong. Let’s call it now…
• Dutchman’s Breeches (Dicentra cucullaria) – Several plants STILL blooming. I suspect the cold spell delayed those that hadn’t started blooming early, effectively giving us two seasons.

Eastern Red Columbine – Aquilegia canadensis

• Heartleaf Foamflower (Tiarella cordifolia) – Plentiful.
• Wood Poppy, aka Celandine Poppy (Stylophorum diphyllum) – Beautiful show. Probably peak
• Wild Geranium (Geranium maculatum) – Plentiful.
• Cumberland Spurge (Euphorbia mercurialina) – Plentiful
• Plantain-leaf Pussytoes (Antennaria plantaginifolia) – I forgot my checklist, and forgot to check for these.
• Trailing Trillium (Trillium decumbens) – Plentiful.
• Bishop’s Cap (Mitella diphylla) – Still blooming.
• Sweet Betsy (Trillium cuneatum) – Quite a number blooming,
• Bellwort (Uvularia grandiflora) – Many plants blooming.
• Redbud (Cercis canadensis) – Both the planted trees along the road and the nearby wild ones are blooming.
• Robin’s Plantain (Erigeron pulchellus) – Full bloom. Several plants in decline.

Violet Wood Sorrel – Oxalis violacea. I’ve never seen one this nearly white before. Under magnification, a trace of color can be seen on the petals.

• Violet Wood Sorrel (Oxalis violacea) – Saw many of these, including a colony with new-to-me almost white flowers. I had to boulder a bluff to photograph them.
• Wild Blue Phlox  (Phlox divaricata) – Plentiful.
• Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis) – Quite a few blooming, not to peak yet.
• Field Pansy (Viola bicolor) – Along the road into the parking lot after the ford, and down to the boardwalk.
• Bent White Trillium (Trillium flexipes) – Plentiful.
• False Garlic (Nothoscordum bivalve) – Plentiful.
• Round-leaved Ragwort – I think! (Packera obovata) Starting to bloom.
• Purple Phacelia (Phacelia bipinnatifida) – Plentiful.

Woodland Stonecrop – Sedum ternatum – finally rewarding us with open blossoms after teasing us for weeks!

New since 3/26/2017:

• Woodland Stonecrop (Sedum ternatum) – Finally!
• Dwarf Iris (Iris cristata) – One of my favorites; my season is never complete until this one blooms.
• Dogwood (Cornus florida) – The earliest of the parking-lot-bordering Dogwoods is blooming.
• Squawroot (Conopholis americana) – Saw one colony of these oddities.
• Wild Hyacinth (Camassia scilloides) – “Blooming” is a bit of an exaggeration. One plant had one blossom open, but many, many plants are very close. These are beautiful.
• Jack-in-the-Pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum) – Several Jacks were fully-formed. I was surprised, because we only saw a few tiny plants just sprouting 4 days earlier.

Jack in the Pulpit – Arisaema triphyllum