Eight warm days after my last trip by The Pocket I expected more.  I thought I’d see Harbinger of Spring, Hepatica, and Toothwort blooming, and possibly a few other early bloomers – maybe some Chickweed and Spring Beauties.  Well, I guess as far as expectations are concerned two out of three ain’t bad, as the saying goes.  Harbinger of Spring and Hepatica were all that was blooming; very similar to Feb 4 last year, so it looks like we’re nearly 3 weeks behind last year’s early bloom.  I did get to spend some quality time with a few Hepatica.  Start planning your trip to The Pocket – remember it is now a fee area.

Numerous Hepatica – Anemone acutiloba – were blooming.

Check out what else I saw:

Harbinger of Spring – Erigenia bulbosa – usually starts blooming just before Hepatica.

Cutleaf Toothwort – Cardamine concatenata – Almost there!

Trout Lily and Trailing Trillium – Lotsa leaves, but no blooms. Check out the Trout Lilies I saw a few days ago.

Many rocks along the trail to the falls have Woodland Stonecrop – Sedum ternatum – on them.

As I mentioned in the Feb 16 post, I don’t expect to be able to report on the status of wildflowers at The Pocket as often this year as I have the past few.  March 1 through March 9 is being spent in Cincinnati to be near Cincinnati Children’s Hospital.  I’m hoping to get down to The Pocket on March 10; I expect that we’ll see a lot of floral action.  With the late spring this year, my guess is that things will be “compressed” this year – earlier plants blooming alongside some that we normally see later.