A beautiful sunny day with temps near 70 drew Cindy and I down to The Pocket for a quick look around. As anticipated, the Bloodroot has burst forth in all its glory.
Bloodroot from 03/19/2010
In addition to the Bloodroot, which had shown up with leaf-wrapped buds last week, Hepatica is continuing to bloom. Carolina Spring Beauty has started blooming, and much to our surprise since all we saw last week was tiny leaves, Trout Lily has started blooming. Nearly all the Virginia Bluebell plants have buds on them, but we found none open. Foliage for some of the violets has appeared since our last trip. Due to time constraints we only walked the boardwalk.
On the downside, I’m doubtful that we’ll see blooming Dutchman’s Breeches or Celandine Poppy by next weekend, and I’m not seeing much sign from phlox, phacelia, or columbine yet either.
Check out our page on The Pocket at Pigeon Mountain which includes wildflower identification guides for the spring season.
Blooming now:
- Harbinger of Spring – Still around, but on its way out.
- Sharp-lobed Hepatica – Still abundant but in decline
- Cutleaf Toothwort – Abundantly blooming now; only one plant was found blooming last week.
- Chickweed – This has become pretty common. Stellaria pubera, I think.
- Bloodroot – Beautiful and abundant.
- Carolina Spring Beauty – A few of these have started blooming; only one or two found fully open.
- Trout lily – One patch of many blossoms, a few isolated here and there. From appearances they only opened within the last day or two.