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…

Of the 50 species on my checklist for The Pocket, we found 28 blooming today! It was beautiful! Here is my list, in no particular order, except starting with what was blooming last week:

• Harbinger-of-Spring (Erigenia bulbosa) – Almost gone.
• Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) – Another “peak” – we saw quite a few that had already lost their flowers, and a few that were not quite yet open.
  

  Bloodroot – Sanguinaria canadensis

• Hepatica (Anemone acutiloba) – Plentiful, but definitely in decline.
• Cutleaf Toothwort (Cardamine concatenata) – I think I’ll call it “peak” today on these plants.
• Rue Anemone (Thalictrum thalictroides) – Many of these; almost as plentiful as the Hepatica.
• Long-spurred Violet (Viola rostrata) – Many blooming, probably not quite peak, but getting close.
• Star Chickweed (Stellaria pubera) – Another “peak”.
• Carolina Spring Beauty (Claytonia caroliniana) – Yet again, “peak.” These are just beautiful little flowers.
  

  Carolina Spring Beauty – Claytonia caroliniana

• Purple Phacelia (Phacelia bipinnatifida) – Still a ways to go until peak, but many are blooming.
• Field Pansies (Viola bicolor) are still blooming along the driveway between the ford thru the creek and the parking lot.

Added these this week, more or less starting on the boardwalk, then the trail to the falls, then along The Pocket Loop Trail from the top of the falls back to the parking lot:

• Spicebush (Lindera benzoin) – Another one probably at peak this week.
• Wood Poppy (Stylophorum diphyllum) – These are just beginning to bloom along the boardwalk.
• Trout Lily (Erythronium americanum) – These are abundant and, as always, beautiful.
• Blue Cohosh (Caulophyllum thalictroides) – A few plants had most of their blossoms open, but most plants only had a few blossoms open.
• Virginia Bluebell (Mertensia virginica) – Most plants are just in bud, but several had a few flowers open. This is the plant that had some buds showing 10 days ago.
  

  Virginia Bluebells – Mertensia virginica

• Canada Violet (Viola canadensis) – Just a few of these are open
• Downy Yellow Violet (Viola pubescens) – A single plant with a few blossoms by the second rest area.
• Wild Geranium (Geranium maculatum) – One plant with a single blossom along the boardwalk near the second rest stop; another blooming along the horse trail in a bunch of Bloodroot.
  

  Wild Geranium – Geranium maculatum

• Dutchman’s Breeches (Dicentra cucullaria) – Several plants had a number of fully-open blossoms; many had small, forming blossoms.
• Trailing Trillium (Trillium decumbens) – Just a few very small plants had opened.
  

  Trailing Trillium – Trillium decumbens

• Heartleaf Foamflower (Tiarella cordifolia) – One plant with only buds, but another plant with the lower blossoms open. Both of these were along the trail to the falls, getting fairly close to the falls.
• Robin’s Plantain (Erigeron pulchellus) – Several are blooming on the rock wall along the horse trail (Pocket Loop Trail.) The most beautiful of Georgia’s fleabanes.
  

  Robin’s Plantain – Erigeron pulchellus

• Wild Blue Phlox (Phlox divaricata) – A big surprise for me this week; a small colony and a lone plant growing on opposite sides of the horse trail.
• Cumberland Spurge (Euphorbia mercurialina) – Several of these unobtrusive plants in bloom along the horse trail.
• Pennywort (Obolaria virginica) – Two plants along the horse trail.
• Common Blue Violet (Viola sororia) – Quite a number blooming near the bottom of the horse trail, and scattered elsewhere.
• False Garlic (Nothoscordum bivalve) – One plant along the road into The Pocket, nearing the pavement.
• Redbud (Cercis canadensis) – The Redbuds are starting to bloom along the driveway down to the boardwalk. These are planted trees; the wild ones along the creek near the parking lot were not yet blooming.

Noteworthy, coming soon…

• Woodland Stonecrop (Sedum ternatum) – These are starting to show some white, but they are interminable in forming flowers.
• Trillium flexipes and T. cuneatum both have buds, but none that we saw open yet.
• Jack-in-the-Pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum) – Along the boardwalk there was a single plant with the pulpit starting to form. This is almost always the earliest one I see at The Pocket.
  

  Jack-in-the-Pulpit – Arisaema triphyllum