Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea). Native to central to southeastern United States. Pollinators love the flowers. Leave the seedheads over the winter for Goldfinches who will gather for a snack of seeds. And then for the math/nature nut there is the Fibonacci spiral of the disk florets that become those seeds.
Wow! She’s about to go into second grade. But even as a toddler, she’s always wanted to help me scatter the Blackberry Lily (Iris domestica) seeds.
Those seeds reveal why this plant has its name. But the name is a bit misleading since Blackberry Lily is not actually a lily at all but a species of iris. And a word of caution, those seeds contain toxins. Beautiful, but don’t eat!
Thomas Jefferson was smart to bring this plant with its striking flowers to his gardens at Monticello. It’s native to eastern Russia, China and Japan.
A well behaved resident not only of Monticello’s gardens, but also my gardens. The plant grows from rhizomes and the seeds that we enjoy scattering together, but it’s not at all aggressive in its growth.
Brown Thrasher (Toxostoma rufum). Quite the handsome bird. It makes me think of a Roadrunner with its very long tail and long curved bill. They’re here during their breeding season but are year round in the deeper Southeast. The feeders here at my cabin don’t tempt them, not even the suet, but they love my blueberries. Down in Florida at my Mom’s feeders they are constantly eating the suet at her feeders. Omnivores, Brown Thrashers eat insects, berries, seeds and nuts, earthworms, snails, and an occasional lizard or frog.
What a special treat just three years ago when I saw my first Rose-breasted Grosbeaks (Pheucticus ludovicianus). They were migrating through but they took their sweet time giving me great opportunities to observe and admire them. They were wonderful models for me too.
Late April until early May is when they’ve arrived. Three years in a row. Making themselves at home at my feeders where they gobble down sunflower seeds. On their own they eat berries, seeds and insects.
The male outfitted in his striking black and white feathers accented with the brilliant crimson bib.
The female reminding me of my favorite hot fudge sundae with not quite enough hot fudge. I hear they’re in the neighborhood right now but I’ve yet to see any. Hoping I will, before they take off on the rest of their journey to their breeding grounds of northern North America or the mountains of the West.
Originally from India. Mock Strawberry (Potentilla indica). It appears very much like Wild Strawberry (Fragaria virginiana).
If you’re looking for the marvelous experience of eating Wild Strawberries more than likely you will be disappointed. The Mock Strawberry has very little flavor and is quite dry. But if you’re feeling adventuresome, it is edible.
You’ll find Mock Strawberries blooming in April. I’ve just wandered looking for blooms but didn’t come up with any flowers to photograph. So, they’ll be blooming soon. Their blooms are striking yellow, while Wild Strawberry blossoms are white with yellow centers. Keep that in mind. Yellow blooms are the Mock Strawberries.
The berries themselves are a bit different. While Wild Strawberries have seeds that are set into dimple like depressions in the fruit, and moist, the Mock Strawberry seeds are set on the surface of the round fruit which is dry. Leaves? Very similar. Each of their leaves is compound, composed of three leaflets. The edges of both leaves are serrated but the tips of those serrations on the Mock Strawberry leaves are more blunt, the serrations of the Wild Strawberry are more sharp. Best of luck with your berry hunting and let me know what you find.
Now blooming in the woods, a native to China.
It’s believed that Hernando de Soto brought the first Peach Trees (Prunus persica) to North America in 1539.
Now innumerable cultivars of those trees populate orchards. Thank goodness for those orchards. Peaches make summer so wonderful. And a tossed seed will eventually result in a random tree adding a spark of sweet pink to the woods.
Another winter has come and gone and no Fox Sparrow (Passerella iliaca). During only two winters I’ve had one come to visit, over the course of perhaps fourteen years. Each of those two winters, just one individual that I saw and captured in pixels.
A large and chunky sparrow. The Fox Sparrow hangs out with other sparrows, so the size difference is easily spotted. That, and the warm reddish brown coloring make one easy to identify. They do a cute little shuffle as they search for seeds in the soil. One hop forward and then a jump back with both feet raking the soil.
I’ve read that they really like to have a brush pile close by. That should be easy to provide. Hoping that will make a difference. Maybe the other birds will like it too.
If you’ll bear with me, I’m going to start calling this plant by its scientific name largely because I had misidentified it and want to make it clear to me what it is. That’s why I’m reposting about this precious little plant. Getting things straight in my mind.
A couple weeks ago as the earliest of the early spring plants were just peeking their noses up out of the earth I noticed one in particular. It had the look of what, maybe Fringed Bleeding Heart (Dicentra eximia)? Something at the back of my head said “yellow flowers” though. Sure enough it is Corydalis flavula.
Today I checked on these guys coming up in the woods. I’m seeing more of the leaves reaching to the sky. They remind me of an intricate Pennsylvania Dutch scherenschnitte. Though they seem to be reaching to the sky, they’re not going to grow much taller. They’ll top out at around ten inches high.
Corydalis flavula is an herbaceous perennial ephemeral native to the eastern United States. It contains many alkaloids that make plants distasteful and can be toxic to livestock and pets. I am truly astounded at how many plants fit into this toxic category.
The lemon yellow flowers have quite an unusual shape and the name, Corydalis, comes from a Greek word that means “crested lark.” I’ve put these flowers on my list of photos to get. I want more close-ups!
The seeds that form in Corydalis flavula’s mini seed pods have that appendage, that some seeds have, called an elaisome. Another one of those plants that get ants to bring the seeds to their larvae. The larvae are fed the elaisomes and the seeds are thrown into the ant’s “trashroom” which is the perfect place for those seeds to grow. Wait for it again in the next growing season and thank those ant farmer’s.
A spring ephemeral, a perennial native to eastern North America. Cutleaf Toothwort (Cardamine concatenata).
The “toothwort” of its name is thanks to the appearance of its rhizome.
The Cutleaf Toothwort likes woods with mesic soils covered with lots of leaf litter. This certainly must be the description of the woods where I live. Many of these plants greet the spring each year up here, including a few spots where colonies have formed.
Buds protected by four pale green sepals open to reveal four barely pale pink petals. At the center of each flower is a style with a sphere topped stigma which are surrounded by stamens with green filaments of varying lengths topped by yellow anthers.
Many different pollinators visit these blooms. Fruit of the Toothwort is a slender pod about an inch long containing a single row of tiny seeds.
When the invasive, Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata), starts growing in the area of a population of Cutleaf Toothwort its numbers soon decline. A good reason to fight those invasives.
I’ve written about Wood Poppy (Stylophorum diphyllum) before but I enjoy the native flower with its happy yellow so much I’d like to tell you more about it.
The deeply lobed green-blue leaves of Wood Poppy are poking up from the surface of the soil here in the Blue Ridge now, as the month of March approaches its midpoint.
By the beginning of April, I expect I’ll be seeing some woolly buds ready to reveal their four golden petals.
As the flower opens the two pale green sepals that protect the bud soon fall away.
The flowers of Wood Poppy provide pollen but not nectar to their visitors. Those flowers have many stamens that are topped with rich yellow anthers surrounding a pistil, style and stigma.
After insect or self pollination a seed capsule is formed which eventually hangs below the leaves.
Many seeds are released from the capsule. Seeds which are distributed in a process called mymecocory, or in simpler terms, seed dispersal by ants. These seeds have nutrient rich appendages called elaisomes. Ants collect the seeds so that their larvae can be fed the elaisomes and the remains of the seeds are tossed away in the ant colony’s “trash room.”
That trash room in an underground ant colony is the perfect place to start growing seeds. Of course the ants aren’t aware of it, but they are perfect little ant farmers. Starting a new cycle of Wood Poppies.
