In Our Woods

March 17 2012 The first wildflower showing here in our woods was Round-lobed Hepatica that I transferred from my parents property about 6 years ago.  When I was young I remember this plant would come up in the "lawn" and all through the woods.  I remember picking the flowers to put in little vases and I remember eating the petals of the hepatica.  After my parents died and we sold the property,  I dug up a big clump of the hepatica and they have done very well here on our property 3 miles down the road from my homestead.  And a funny thing is we live in the woods, mostly dry woods, quite like the woods where I grew up, but our woods have no hepatica, except for this clump that I planted, why? 
It's been hot here in west Michigan, record breaking temperatures, too hot, but there is nothing you can do about it except go with the flow and don't sweat it.  Ha that's all I have been doing is sweating!  Anyway, back to the wildflowers.  

Round-lobed Hepatica

 Round-lobed Hepatica just opening

Hepatica can be purple, blue, pink, or white, this group is always a deep purple.  
An exciting find I made a few years ago, here in our woods  (actually in the woods of my brother-in-law, who lives next door to us), is Trailing Arbutus (Epigaea repens)!   Trailing Arbutus has flowers that are pink, fading to nearly white and very fragrant.  The leaves are leathery and are green year round.

Trailing Arbutus

Well that's all for now, time for a walk.