Questions in my head about identification of the yellow Violet drove me back down to The Pocket today. I’ve decided I’m going with Viola pubescens var. scabriuscula – Smooth Yellow Violet (syn. Viola eriocarpa and Viola pensylvanica among others. ) But there were a couple of noteworthy additional species to last Friday’s list. Firstly, the first of the Wood Poppies (Celandine Poppy) have started to bloom.
Wood Poppy – Stylophorum diphyllum
Today was much cooler than it has been – more normal temps for early March – and last night temps dipped below freezing in parts of the region. Even so, I was expecting more than on 2/21, and certainly got it. 21 species blooming (although in some cases very early in their bloom season.) The big surprise: Dutchman’s Breeches, just starting to bloom (we saw three plants with flowers or developing blossoms.) This is, I believe, the earliest I’ve seen this plant bloom at The Pocket.
Dutchman’s Breeches – Dicentra cucullaria
As expected with this warm weather, we’ve added a few species to what are blooming at The Pocket. As I was hoping, Carolina Spring Beauty are now pretty widespread. While 9 species are a far cry from the 40 that may be blooming at peak, we’ve got to remember, this is mid-February!
Carolina Spring Beauty – Claytonia caroliniana
As expected, the Hepatica were still blooming at the Pocket – they were starting to bloom the last few days of January, but after all, it is just mid-February. Also as expected, Harbinger-of-spring was blooming. Not surprisingly, Star Chickweed was blooming, but I was surprised that with the other plants in bloom, I didn’t find Toothwort in flower (although I did find one with buds.) But there were two other surprises for me, these on the positive side.
Look what was poking up through the leaves along the boardwalk:
Bloodroot at The Pocket – on Feb 12!
My wife and I made a trip down to the Pocket on Tuesday, 1/31/2017. With the warm winter we’ve had, I was not going to be surprised to find something blooming – and it was! There were dozens of Hepatica (Anemone acutiloba) blooming along the boardwalk. I expected to find Harbinger-of-spring (Erigenia bulbosa) blooming as well, but none were to be found.
Here’s a photo of one of the Hepatica:
Hepatica – Anemone acutiloba – blooming at The Pocket on 1/31/2017
This will likely be my last status update on wildflowers at The Pocket this season. The overstory is filling out, and the leafy understory is blocking what sun makes it through the leaves on the trees, so the spring ephemeral season is drawing to a close. From a species count – this time I counted 39 species blooming – it seems to be active, but most of those are in definite decline. This would be a particularly good time to come if you want to catch some of those species in fruit. The massive display of Bent White Trillium (Trillium flexipes) is still on, but it and most other species are past their peak.
White Baneberry – time to be transitioning to the Doll’s Eyes common name – Actaea pachypoda
Another hiatus from The Pocket of almost 2 weeks. Repeating from the last report – “Even more species are blooming now than two weeks ago.” This time I counted 40 species blooming, including one I don’t recall ever seeing down there before – Crossvine (Bignonia capreolata.) But the show is the massive display of Bent White Trillium (Trillium flexipes) – nearly every plant I saw had an open blossom, and the hillside was covered with them in many places.
Bent White Trillium – Trillium flexipes
It’s been nearly 2 weeks since I made it down to The Pocket – my apologies for the paucity of status updates this year. Even more species (38) are blooming now than two weeks ago (28), even though we’ve lost, or nearly lost, a few. I only saw a single Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) bloom, Harbinger-of-Spring is gone, Spicebush (Lindera benzoin) has completed its bloom, there are only a few Trout Lily (Erythronium americanum) still blooming, Dutchman’s Breeches (Dicentra cucullaria) are essentially gone, and I couldn’t find the single Pennywort (Obolaria virginica) I saw two weeks ago.
The only remaining Dutchman’s Breeches flowers I could find.
The warm weather has continued, along with a fair bit of rain. It’s been 10 days since my last trip to The Pocket (3/2), and I was expecting some significant changes in what was blooming. Some news – the Harbinger-of-Spring is almost gone. However, that’s not the only news… Wait for it…
Wood Poppy – Stylophorum diphyllum
Not just the Wood Poppy…
As reported a month back, Hepatica, Harbinger-of-Spring, and a Star Chickweed were blooming at The Pocket at the end of January as a result of our unusually warm winter. We had some cold weather in February, and nothing much had changed in mid-February. My wife and I were out of town for a couple of weeks, so when we returned yesterday, I was anxious to see what had developed in our absence. While the boardwalk itself doesn’t show too much action, there is a lot that is cranking up both on the trail to the bottom of the falls past the end of the boardwalk and on the Pocket Loop Trail (aka the horse trail) up to the top of the falls.
Bloodroot – Sanguinaria canadensis
Yes, Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) is blooming along the horse trail – I haven’t see it this early in four years, implying (as expected) an early spring this year.