Went for a really nice walk in the woods this morning. John, the wood instructor, took a few of us out on a good ramble, showing us one of his favorite paths. The weather was cool, but not cold, overcast but not actively raining - perfect weather for a hike.The woods are filled with these wonderful, gnarled trees with burls, vines (mostly poison ivy) and other damage. I'm sure it's not great for the trees, but it does create some amazing natural shapes. The forests remind me of Missouri - probably because they're primarily deciduous in both places.
While the trees are slowly budding out, the wild flowers are rampant. The trout lilies are already past their prime - we found a couple of late bloomers, but for the most part they're going to seed. They're one of the few flowers we could positively identify. John is quite knowledgeable about the forests, but his home is in New Hampshire.
What I think I love best about wildflowers is the fact that they're tiny, and you have to actively look to see them - they're a wonderful surprise for the observant. Their shapes are incredibly varied, but they're all small.
I've also uploaded additional images to my flickr feed.
I loved the woods photo's - those are "my kind of" woods. :-) And I'm pretty sure the "leaf umbrella" thingy is what we called a May Apple. They bloom in the early spring with white flowers, and at least in Iowa indicate when the time is correct for finding morells.
ReplyDeleteSomeone else also told me they were May Apples. Guess I can change the name on the image now.
ReplyDeleteAnd they're not blooming yet, but several that we saw did have buds.
beautiful pictures. I wish we had the wildflowers dowm below. all we have is the barren trees.
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean about wildflowers. On a ridge near our mailbox there are some very small beautiful pink wildflowers which are easy to miss if you are not looking. These flowere delight my soul every time I see them.
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