Author Archives: Brenda Clements Jones

About Brenda Clements Jones

Brenda is a certified Virginia Master Naturalist, a Habitat Defender for Shenandoah National Park, and a devoted fan of Mother Nature. She lives in a cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Shenandoah National Park, and hikes up to the higher elevations of her mountain often to see what nature is up to. Her constant hiking companion is a camera that captures nature as it unfolds through the seasons. It’s her goal to share the natural world around her through her photographs.

Wood Violets

April 3, 2026

I’m always inspired at the yoga studio, both inside, and outside the building. Yesterday morning didn’t let me down. There were little patches of blooming, native Wood Violets (Viola sororia) here and there, but this large gathering of the Violets caught my eye. My camera and I got several pictures, but I like this one in particular, even with the photobombing done by the few sprouts of a non-native, invasive, Purple Deadnettle (Lamium purpureum).

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Yellow Trout Lily

April 2, 2026

So pleased today to come upon a blooming Yellow Trout Lily (Erythronium americanum), native to eastern North America. A plant that grows to 3 to 6 inches tall, with a bloom that is 1 to 3 inches wide. The tiny flower is composed of 6 tepals, which are 3 true petals and 3 petal-like sepals, which bend dramatically backward.

The plant takes 3 to 8 years to mature and produces a flower and 2 leaves. Plants with only 1 leaf are immature or in a crowed environment. Only 1% to 5% of a colony blooms at once.

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Wood Poppies And Rain Drops

April 1, 2026

Wood Poppy (Stylophorum diphyllum)

One of the native plants that bloom in early spring. Native to eastern North America from southwestern Ontario and Pennsylvania, down to Georgia and Alabama, out to Michigan and Missouri.

There are two common names for this plant, Celandine Poppy, and Wood Poppy. There is another Celandine (similar in appearance) that I know of as a highly invasive, non-native plant, Greater Celandine (Chelidonium majus). Since I don’t want that plant with the bad reputation getting confused with the native, I choose to use the common name of Wood Poppy.

Wood Poppy is one of those interesting plants that relies on ants to distribute their seeds in a mutualistic partnership called myrmecochory.

Nature always manages to amaze me.

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Sassafras Blooms

March 31, 2026

In bloom now in the woods, Sassafras (Sassafras albidum). A delightfully fragrant tree in all its parts, roots, bark, leaves, and twigs.

These blooms will create drupes which are small, egg-shaped, shiny, blue-black berries with brilliant red stalks, or pedicels. Maturing in late summer.

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Blooms Of Red Maple

March 30, 2026

Early spring and the Red Maple trees (Acer Rubrum) are taking their place in the roll out of blooms, painting the woods with a blush of many shades of red and red-orange.

These trees produce unpredictable flowers, some with all female flowers, some with all male flowers, and still other trees have a mix, with both male and female flowers. And sometimes during the year a tree will switch from producing one sex to producing the other, or switch to a mix.

Within a few weeks of blooming, samaras or helicopters appear, dispersing at about the same time the trees begin to leaf out.

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Dad’s Birthday

March 29, 2026

Today would have been my Dad’s 101st birthday. This picture is from the first time Mom and Dad got to meet our Granddaughter, and their Great-granddaughter. She is resting on my Mom’s shoulder, and Dad is reaching out to her tiny hand.

So many special memories.

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Phoebe In The Garden

March 28, 2026

An Eastern Phoebe (Sayornis phoebe) in the garden looking for flying insects, which they catch in mid-air. I’ve been watching, within a few days I expect a female Phoebe will begin building a nest at the site she has come to in years past. Under the eaves of the woodshop.

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Pollen Cones Of Virginia Pine

March 27, 2026

Male pollen cones of Virginia Pine (Pinus virginiana).

Compared to the female seed cones that we are more familiar with, male pollen cones are smaller, softer, in larger clusters, than female cones. In central Virginia pollen cones release their yellow pollen into the wind from mid-March through May.

The pollen cones soon turn brown and wither away, after sending their pollen into the air.

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Unpredictable Purple Finches

March 26, 2026

A Purple Finch (Haemorhous purpureus). Here in central Virginia they sometimes come for winter’s nonbreeding season. Sometimes they don’t.

They are said to be irruptive migrants, much like Robins (Turdus migratorius). They may come into your general area and stay for most of the winter season, or they may be just a few miles away enjoying the things they love to eat. Things like seeds from conifers, and seeds from Elms, Maples, Tulip Poplars, and berries of Junipers, Dogwoods, and even Poison Ivy. If you’re feeding the birds, these Finches love black oil Sunflower seeds. They’ll be where they feel they are most well fed.

Soon they’ll be on their way north, heading to their breeding grounds. Hoping I’ll see a few next autumn and winter.

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Virginia Bluebells Emerging

March 25, 2026

Just emerging. So small you need to know where to look to find them. Virginia Bluebells (Mertensia virginica). Soon to be blooming with bright yellow Wood Poppies (Stylophorum diphyllum), both being native to the Eastern and Midwest United States, in rich, moist, deciduous woodlands. You will often find them growing side by side in floodplain forests, along streams, and in ravines.

A yummy sight of spring.

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