My grandson Philip and I made a run down to The Pocket yesterday, Feb 8. With the warm winter I had been planning on getting down there for a couple of weeks, and then I saw Richard Ware’s reports of Hepatica and Harbinger-of-Spring blooming on Feb 4, so with the beautiful weather yesterday (high of 80 degrees!), we headed down in the early afternoon. While these flowers are blooming earlier than “normal”, I have photographed Hepatica earlier – Feb 4, 2009, and Feb 7, 2013.
Anemone acutiloba” class=”size-medium” /> Sharp-lobed Hepatica – Anemone acutiloba
As the photos show, we found Hepatica (Anemone americana), Harbinger-of-Spring (Erigenia bulbosa), and Star Chickweed (Stellaria pubera) blooming, and Cutleaf Toothwort (Cardamine concatenata) almost blooming. We also noted non-native Hoary BIttercress (Cardamine hirsuta) blooming along the driveway down to the boardwalk.
It should be noted that the boardwalk has suffered significant damage in multiple locations from fallen trees, and both the trail to the campground area and the boardwalk extension past the loop are closed for now. Management of the Crockford-Pigeon Mountain Wildlife Management Area report that they do not have an estimated date when they will be reopened. Remember that this is a Fee Area. See prior years’ wildflower status reports for The Pocket here.
Harbinger-of-Spring, Pepper and Salt – Erigenia bulbosa
Star Chickweed – Stellaria pubera
Cutleaf Toothwort – Cardamine concatenata
I live just north of the Pocket, and reported the destruction of the boardwalk near the end of it by trees to the GWRD back at Thanksgiving time when I first discovered it. I’ve called again since that time, but to no avail. It may be up to volunteers to actually fix the boardwalk if GWRD doesn’t do something soon. Wildflower season sees many visitors to this area, including myself, and folks will simply “detour around” that busted boardwalk to get further down the trail if it’s not fixed.