#Red Trillium

[greycatbird]

Showing you all my favorite Red, Painted, and White Trillium pictures I've taken over the past few years like a kid at recess with a fat stack of pokemon cards. The first photo is a Red Trillium (Trillium erectum) which is one of my favorite spring wildflowers.

The photo on the top right is the fruit that develops as the flower dies back and contains seeds that are dispersed by ants. The process is actually really interesting, the seeds have these fatty, protein-rich structures attached to them called elaiosomes that ants love to eat, and when they harvest the seeds for the elaiosomes they help the plant reproduce itself. Everyone wins👍

The third photo is (I'm fairly certain) not a separate species, but actually a naturally ocurring pale color morph of the Red Trillium. This guy pops up year after year in the same spot, a lone yellow-green bloom in a patch of deep red.

Painted (Trillium undulatum, fourth photo) and White (Trillium grandiflorum, last two photos) aren't as common where I am, but I stumble onto them occasionally! All of these species are slow-growing plants—it can take nearly a decade for one to start producing flowers—so getting to see them out in the wild is a treat, and they're always best left in the ground💖

[vandaliatraveler]

The spring ephemerals, making the most of the warm weather and rain before the canopy closes in May, are pushing hard in the lower elevation woodlands around here. One of the best spots locally to enjoy the spring wildflower bounty is Toms Run Preserve, owned by the West Virginia Land Trust.

From top: Elizabeth's Woods showing a bit of early spring green; sharp-lobed hepatica (Anemone acutiloba, Hepatica acutiloba or Hepatica nobilis var. acuta) and foliage, whose leathery, thrice-lobed leaves give it the common names of liverwort and liverleaf; a scarlet cup fungus (Sarcoscypha coccinea or Sarcoscypha dudleyi), whose luminous fruiting body appears in late winter through early spring; smooth yellow violet (Viola eriocarpa), distinguished from downy yellow violet (Viola pubescens) by smooth stalks and the presence of one or more heart-shaped, basal (base) leaves; early blue cohosh (Caulophyllum giganteum) and foliage, whose herbacious, shrub-like habit is one of the most beautiful sights in Appalachia's spring forests; bluntleaf waterleaf (Hydrophyllum canadense), whose mottled, early spring foliage illuminates the dull leaf litter of the forest floor; cutleaf toothwort (Cardamine concatenata) with pink-tinged rather than pure white petals; yellow trout lily (Erythronium americanum), whose sprawling colonies in the preserve, spread by clonal reproduction, could be hundreds of years old; azure bluet (Houstonia caerulea), also known as Quaker ladies, whose delicate clumps bounce in the wind along trail edges and in open meadows; bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis), a member of the poppy family with red, poisonous sap; Toms Run at full flow from recent rains; great white trillium (Trillium grandiflorum), which forms vast clonal colonies on moist hillsides and along streams; red trillium (Trillium erectum), also known as purple trillium, wake robin, and stinking Benjamin, the latter beause it draws in its primary pollinators - carrion flies and beetles - with the odor of rotting flesh; and rue anemone (Anemonella thalictroides orThalictrum thalictroides), a member of the buttercup family and closely related to hepatica, wood anemone, eastern red columbine, tall thimbleweed, golden seal, and the meadow rues.

[faguscarolinensis]

Trillium sessile / Toadshade Trillium at the Sarah P. Duke Gardens at Duke University in Durham, NC

[scotthussey]

Red Trilliums. I didn't get back to the woods near our house until later in the season last year, and there wasn't much to see. I have been back there every morning this week, and I am glad to see more red trilliums than I have seen in the last few years. There are a lot of immature plants too, so here is hoping there will be more in the future.

There used to be hundreds of trilliums, but a storm took out a lot of the canopy, one year, which killed off a lot of the wildflowers. The canopy has been recovering, and the flower population seems to be coming back in a new part of the woods.

[nature-noodes]

[cricketchirp]

Somewhere Under The Rainbow

Somehow we thought the rain wouldn’t fall upon our hike today, until it did. And so we sat in the truck for about 15-20 minutes, waiting for the drops to slow down, which they did. The rain, however, enhanced everything. And as the sun came out, the water and warmth combined to create a Black Fly Festival, one which will last for several more weeks. But, April/May showers do bring May flowers,…

[quinnfrankephotography]

Some photos from the last couple of days ago. Spring continues to provide lots of excitement for me.

[amynagi]

I'm making art for a children's book! It's called Fox Went Searching. I am drawing so many foxes!

[whiskeyote]

Garden 2024 Pt. 1 (Early May)

[free-queer-books]

Death & Red Trilliums by R.C. Hannah

Cory Thomas has never fit in. He quietly works on his art, and goes through the motions of his job. He tolerates his small town life, but dreams of more. He's never been on a date, he's never had a first kiss, and he's never had a boyfriend. When the world comes crashing down, and undead ravage society, he will be tested in ways he never could have imagined. Cory finds an unexpected ally in Jake Tannery, a single father and his former high school bully. As they navigate the dangers of the undead and struggle to survive, Cory and Jake discover a bond that transcends their past. Together, they confront their deepest fears and heal their scars, finding solace and strength in each other. But in a world where death lurks around every corner, can love truly conquer all?

Promotion length: Until July 5th, 2025

Markets available: Amazon

Link to book: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0D565HXTK/

[zalaznyart]

Ontario Wildlife

a set of little art cards I made for a charity auction next weekend

[greycatbird]

Red Trillium starting to bloom :)

[vandaliatraveler]

Bald Knob Trail at Canaan Valley Resort State Park offers breathtaking panoramic views from two spruce-clad summits, Bald Knob and Weiss Knob. Bald Knob overlooks Canaan Valley to the west (top photos), while Weiss Knob overlooks the Red Creek Valley to the south. I take the manual route up the trail (a strenuous vertical climb of 800 to 900 feet in about half a mile) but you can also opt for the ski lift on Weiss Knob, when it's operating. This time of year, a walk through the red spruce forest on Weiss Knob is a real treat for wildflower nerds like me, with various beauties, such as yellow clintonia (Clintonia borealis), the gorgeous and delicate starflower (Lysimachia borealis), painted trillium (Trillium undulatum), Canada Mayflower (Maianthemum canadense), and mountain-loving red elderberry (Sambucus racemosa), in bloom.

[bigoldeels]

shade garden coming in great this year!

[coffeenuts]

[cricketchirp]

A Smile of a Mondate

In case you are missing snow, I thought I’d bring you some today. But only because about a month ago, the day after Palm Sunday and a major snowstorm here in the north country, My Guy and I went to Diana’s Baths in Bartlett, New Hampshire, to hike. It was the first of two storms in a matter of less than two weeks that dropped almost two feet of snow each and transformed Lucy Brook into a winter…