Spring comes late in my shady New Hampshire woodland - but it is finally here!
Three weeks ago, the land was still half covered in ice. This weekend, the first wildflowers are blooming, and more are on the way!
The sessile bellwort was the first wildflower I saw in bloom:
The first of the painted trillium was also blooming:
And tiny tiny golden saxifrage was flaunting its diminutive flowers. It takes a macro shot to see it properly:
The bluebead lily will be coming soon:
As will the goldthread, also in bud:
The platanthera orchids (Platanthera sp.) are emerging. I'm especially excited about these! From last year's bloom spike and seed pods, I was able to narrow it to something in the Platanthera genus, but I don't yet know which species:
Then there's tons of starflower - only a very few had buds showing:
And I saw the first green false hellebore leaves:
Three weeks ago, the land was still half covered in ice. This weekend, the first wildflowers are blooming, and more are on the way!
The sessile bellwort was the first wildflower I saw in bloom:
That surprised me - I expected the trailing arbutus to be first. But here it is, only in bud:
The first of the painted trillium was also blooming:
And tiny tiny golden saxifrage was flaunting its diminutive flowers. It takes a macro shot to see it properly:
The bluebead lily will be coming soon:
As will the goldthread, also in bud:
The platanthera orchids (Platanthera sp.) are emerging. I'm especially excited about these! From last year's bloom spike and seed pods, I was able to narrow it to something in the Platanthera genus, but I don't yet know which species:
I'm also watching this coralroot orchid (Corallorhiza sp.) - again not sure which species. You can see last year's bloom spike on the left and new growth peeking up on the right:
And a single little pink lady's-slipper poking up:
I can't wait to go back next weekend to see how everything has progressed!