2020 Spring Wildflowers

Trail Running and seeing Wildflowers already
(and Snakes? on Glade Creek Trail on  March 12, 2020

Trout Lilly- March 9, 2020 Camp Creek 

Spring Beauty March 12, 2020 Glade Creek 

Spring Beauty

Hepatica March 12, 2020 Glade Creek

Hepatica March 12, 2020 Glade Creek

Hepatica March 12, 2020 Glade Creek

Sedge- March 12, 2020 Glade Creek

Spice Bush March 16, 2020 Glade Creek

Cutleaf Toothwort March 16, 2020 Glade Creek

Trillium almost in Bloom   March 16, 2020 Glade Creek

Early April Trip to Camp Creek State Park

Today, I got out on my first lengthy outing, heading to Camp Creek State Park to see if the Trout Lilies were accompanied by any other wild flowers. It was chilly and had rained a lot the previous days, but the park was busy. I found many Trout Lilies but also found the first of the year Hepatica, Spicebush and sedge in bloom. I could not find the Rue Anemone that I've seen in the past nor Cut Leaf Toothwort.
It was a great afternoon and the first of many outings.

The first of the several color variations of Hepatica

Pink Variation of Hepatica

Light Blue Hepatica

White Hepatica

I tried some macro shots and was not real pleased but could get a better look at the blooms on Spicebush and Sedge

Trout Lily

Trout Lily 

Trout Lily; All Yellow.
I keep a close watch for color variations on most Wildflowers so this all yellow caught my attention,
 but I suppose it could be because it has just opened

Mash Fork Falls 

1st Trip to Brush Creek

A Great Spring Day

I started the day on a hike with my dad to Brush Creek Nature Preserve . It is one of my favorite Spring wildflower areas. Today was the day I thought the flowers would be nearing peak bloom because of data I keep from past years. But there was almost nothing. I found a few Trillium peaking above the leaf litter and finally a couple of Hepatica on a cliff. I had to do the Paparazzi shot; camera over the head and clicking off the shots trying to get it.

I also found a really pretty sedge

 hanging on another cliff that cascaded down. 

Next weekend should be the start of the best two weeks in Brush Creek.

I spent the rest of the day with grandkids and a T-Ball game then home to till and plant part of the salad garden that I keep near the house. Onions, lettuce and sugar peas are all for now. Then I left the house and went on a 1.4 mile hike around the farm and neighbor hood forest looking for Morels, Wildflowers or Turkey sign. But found no morels, no turkeys and only a couple of flowers. One stood out thought; it was the winter leaf of Puttyroot, an Orchid that I had not found in close proximity to home. So, a great Spring day with many more to come, despite the low 20 degree temperatures predicted later this week. 

A Sedge

Yesterday, I was traveling to be with students at a state competition and stopped near Charleston, WV at a roadside waterfall. I was really looking for a geocache because it still is a little early for any wildflowers (woke up to a couple of inches of new snow today). But, as usual I was scanning the area for any possibility. The elevation was only 850 feet as oppose to the 3000+ where I live and Daffodils were blooming in the area. On a wet cliff below the waterfall, I saw the following Sedge; I thought it it may be Long Stalked Sedge, but after  the owner of the blog , "The Natural Treasures of Ohio" chimed in, I believe he is correct in identifying it as Plantain-leaf sedge, Carex plantaginea , an early blooming Sedge with the unusual lower fringes that I had not seen before. So, I continue to photograph and identify as many of West Virginians wildflowers as possible. Last year, I found 308; all in one calendar year, so this Sedge makes # 309 for this blog.

                                                      # 309-  Plantain-leaf sedge, Carex plantaginea

Another view that better shows those wide, deeply veined leaves.