Wildflower Watch!

This has been such a long winter. I've been feeling so weary of winter's landscapes. It has been interesting to look back at my photos from last year at this time, and see how green it was.


But, there is hope. Yesterday, it snowed, but the day before, I found this at Fontenelle Forest:

Dutchmen's Breeches. Spring wildflowers!!!


Last year, I saw these flowering about three weeks earlier. I am so glad to see them again. I was also looking for Bloodroot and Spring Beauty, but didn't see them on the trails I checked.


We also saw Ruby-Crowned Kinglets flitting through some bare branches, and saw a duel between a Red Admiral and a Comma butterfly. They flew at each other and tumbled about.


I've always had a special love for wildflowers. My parents have a photo of me from when I was five years old, sitting in a fig tree, holding a handful of Oxalis violacea. Not much has changed, except that I now take photos or paint the flowers instead of picking them.


Do you have a favorite spring wildflower where you live?