Bloodroot

The first wildflower on the farm was the Bloodroot. I’m seeing them all along the road.

 

Seen along the Red Cedar Trail

Photos from a walk along the Red Cedar State Trail.

Bloodroot

Pussy Willow

Marsh Marigolds

Sandhill Crane

Cattail

Wild Geranium

Spring Flowers along the Red Cedar Trail

On a beautiful cool morning my wife and I took a walk on the Red Cedar State Trail. There were large numbers of flowers out along the Trail. The Bloodroot and the Pussy Willows were just about done blooming. It was early in the morning and the Bloodroot had not opened yet.

Bloodroot

Pussy Willow

The White Trout Lillie’s were out in some places. When we walked by the first time they were not open yet but when we returned they had opened.

 

The Anemone were out in large numbers along the trail.

 

Wood Anemone

Canada Anenome

There were large groups of Spring Beauty blooming on the side of the trail.

Lots of Common Blue Violets can be found.

Spring Flowers on the Red Cedar Trail

We were out for a walk on this beautiful spring day and noticed a large number of flowers on the Red Cedar Trail.

Marsh Marigolds

Bloodroot

Common Blue Violet

Spring Beauty

More Flowers along the Red Cedar Trail

The wildflowers are really blooming all along the Red Cedar State Trail.

White Trout Lilly

Marsh Marigold

Swamp Buttercup

Common Blue Violet

Canada Anemone

Bloodroot

Rainy Afternoon on the Red Cedar Trail

It rained most of the morning and was still raining in the afternoon. We finally decided we need to get out. I made and purchased some new rain gear and was anxious to try it out so we decided to drive down the the Trail and see what was happening. Things didn’t go well. When I arrived I realized that the plastic cover for the camera that I designed was not in the pack that I brought. It was still in the pack at home. I had purchased a new pair of rain pants that should allow me to put them on without taking my shoes off. I thought I would put them on at the trail head and see how things went. Unfortunately I had grabbed my old rain pants and couldn’t get them on over my boots. So much for testing my rain gear.

We were amazed at the number of flowers out along the trail. Most of them are weeks ahead of schedule.

Marsh Marigold

Common Blue Violet

Bloodroot

White Trout Lily

Cut-leaved Toothwort

 

 

Flowers Blooming around the Farm

Walking through the woods this past week I found a number of flowers blooming in the woods. The last of the Bloodroot can be found on the north facing slopes. The remaining flowers can be found on the southern slopes.

Bloodroot

Large-flowered Trillium

Wild Geranium

Large-flowered Bellwort

Flowers abound at Nerstrand Big Woods State Park

Last week we made our second trip over to Nerstrand Big Woods State Park this spring. Nerstrand is a White Trout Lilly heaven. The woods are carpeted with Trout Lilies. It is also the home to the rare Dwarf Trout Lilly which can only be found in three counties in south eastern Minnesota.

White Trout Lily

The White Trout Lilies were just starting to bloom so this week should be an excellent time to visit the park.

White Trout Lily

The park ranger indicated that a single Dwarf Trout Lilly was in bloom and indicated where we could find it. As expected we walked right past it. Fortunately there were some flower folks ahead of us and they point it out to us. Luckily it was right along the trail but it is so small that it is difficult to see. It’s about a fifth the size of the normal Trout Lilly. It was a popular stopping point on the trail with lots of folks gathered around to look at it.

Dwarf Trout Lily

There were also a lot of other flowers blooming. Spring Beauty, False Rue Anemone, Bloodroot, Downy Yellow Violets, and Common Blue Violets were only a few of the flowers blooming in the park. The park website does an excellent job of identifying the flowers in bloom.

Spring Beauty

False Rue Anemone

Bloodroot

Common Blue Violet

What’s Blooming on the Farm this Week?

Bloodroot

The short answer is not much. After a frantic start to spring where we had 70-80 degree temperatures for almost two weeks in March things have slowed down. Most of the Bloodroot bloomed during those two weeks although there are a few still out. There are lots of flowers growing but we will need some warm weather to bring them along.

Common Blue Violet

Walking through the woods this morning I was able to find a few Common Blue and Downey Yellow violets but they are just starting and it will be a couple of weeks before they can be found in any numbers.

Large-flowered Trillium

The last few days we have had freezing overnight temperatures which has really slowed the flowers down. Normally the Large Flowered Trillium are right behind the Bloodroot but I only found one lonely trillium starting to bloom.

Wild Ginger

The Wild Ginger are starting to bloom on the south facing slopes. They should be in full bloom this next week.

Bloodroot

Bloodroot is usually the first wildflower to bloom on the farm. Generally it doesn’t start blooming until the second week of April. This year they started blooming the third week of March. I first noticed them last week when I went out to pick up litter along my farm road. This week I went out to get some shots and found that many of the Bloodroot on the south facing slopes have already finished blooming. Fortunately the Bloodroot on the top of the hill and on the north facing slopes have yet to bloom so I will have some more chances to photograph it.

This shot shows the Bloodroot in full bloom.

This shot shows a Bloodroot that has lost most of its petals.

This shows a flower that has lost all of its petals.