It was a beautiful Sunday so my wife and I made a quick trip down to The Pocket at Pigeon Mountain after church to check on the status of the wildflowers.  Pretty close to the same plants blooming this time as it was on 02/16, with the primary difference being much more abundant Hepatica, and – the exciting part – a number of Bloodroot just starting to bloom!

Bloodroot Blooming at The Pocket at Pigeon Mountain 02/24/2013

• Several Virginia Bluebell have flower buds; much foliage.
• Several Blue Cohosh with flower buds; lots of foliage showing up.
• Hepatica blooming everywhere, not peak but getting closer.  Saw many blue ones.
  

  Hepatica – Hepatica nobilis

• Cutleaf Toothwort blooming; not peak yet.
• Carolina Spring Beauties starting to bloom; several fully open, but certainly not peak yet.
• Chickweed continuing to increase in number.
• I didn’t see the single Foamflower that I saw 8 days ago.  I thought I checked the right spot, where we found it last year on Feb 29.  I wonder if the intervening cold weather did it in.  Or did someone pick it?
• A single  Violet.  I still think it was Viola blanda.
• The Trailing Trillium are everywhere, but not blooming.  Buds are forming.
• I saw several Toadshade Trilliums starting to push up above the ground.
• My wife pointed out several Bent White Trilliums with leaves just starting to unfurl; tiny little flower buds enclosed.
• And shown above is one of nearly a dozen Bloodroot that were blooming, most with leaves still wrapped up pretty tightly.
• While not a wildflower, I want to mention the Walking Fern – Asplenium rhizophyllum  – that is growing on a rock near the falls.  This is a cool plant; more on that at a later date.  Photo below.

Walking Fern – Asplenium rhizophyllum

We’ve continued to have a wet late winter, so I want to close out with a photo of the falls.  That’s my wife with the camera in front of her face.  🙂

Pocket Creek Falls