Spring wildflowers

It's spring wildflower time in the Eastern U.S.

In our (relatively undisturbed) woodlands (rich cove forests, acidic cove forests, oak-hickory forests, alluvial forests, and others), spring empherals are striking this time of year from late February through May.

It's a peak time in the Woodland Wildflower Garden (at the South Carolina Botanical Garden, where I work).  It's a lovely tapestry of Trillium spp., Hexastylis spp. (wild ginger), Podophyllum peltatum (Mayapple), foam flower (Tiarella cordifolia), a variety of ferns, and Atamasco lily.

Cinnamon fern (Osmunda cinnamomea)

Spring is definitely here

We now have Oconee Bells (Shortia galacifolia), Trout Lily (Erythronium umbilicatum), and Hepatica flowering in the Woodland Wildflower Garden at the South Carolina Botanical Garden (where I work). Wow.

It's early for the Oconee Bells and Erythronium, but on time for the Hepatica americana, which is usually the first native spring emphemeral to flower in our rich cove forest communities.

At the Garden, these were transplanted as rescued plants many years ago.

They've struggled in the hot, exceptionally dry summers that we've had in the last decade, as we don't have an source of water there, except for proximity to the stream.

They're a wonderful reminder to get out and look for spring wildflowers in our natural areas, state parks, and reserves.

Oconee Bells

Going up in elevation pushes back the spring time clock.

Oconee Bells (Shortia galacifolia) were flowering in mid-March in the Piedmont, but in the Botanical Gardens of Asheville, these plants were in full flower on Easter Sunday.

Lovely.

Bloodroot flowers

Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) is a lovely spring wildflower in deciduous forests in the Eastern U.S.

The common name reflects its reddish sap, when the underground parts are bruised. The sap contains active phytochemicals, some potentially effective against less desirable bacteria and possibly some cancer cells.

Its flowers tell me that spring is definitely here.

This plant, transplanted from the side garden, is flourishing along the front pathway. (And note the young, seed-derived, plant on the left!)

Spring wildflowers

It was cool and rainy today, but spring's pace is steady. The early spring wildflowers are out at Station Cove, a premier wildflower site in Upstate South Carolina.

The latest include Trillium cuneatum (Little Sweet Betsy), Thalictrum thalictroides (Rue Anemone), and Podophyllum peltatum (Mayapple).

Hepatica flowers are already developing fruits and new leaves emerging.

The fiddleheads of one of the common ferns were also striking. It was a nice spring outing.

First spring wildflowers (and photo considerations)

After Hepatica, trout lilies (Erythronium spp.), violets (Viola spp.), and in our region, a rare and endangered wildflower, Oconee bells (Shortia galacifolia) are often the next to flower.

Photos by Tim Spira (copyrights reserved)


Foamflower (Tiarella cordifolia) and trillium (Trillium spp.) and all the rest aren't far behind.

I've been spending a lot of time in the digital darkroom this week, making sure the printed photo proofs of my gardening companion's excellent wildflower photos match what we see on the screen.

It's not actually as easy as you'd hope. The translation from digital image to printed image requires more of a universal language than his iMac speaks (with its bright, glossy extra-large screen) and the RGB to CMYK conversion, I'm leaving to the publications folks.

I've been using Adobe Lightroom 2 to standardize what we see, translating the bright screen images to similar print versions. So far, it's been fabulous, and it looks like the printed version (even on a home inkjet printer) are excellent. Tomorrow, we'll test them on a professional photographic image-setter printer.

I'm crossing my fingers -- these photos reflect SO many, many hours of work, getting to the places at the right times to take them, taking multiple shots of many species, and now making sure they reflect what Tim (my gardening companion aka my husband) saw... we want them to look right.

These are (reduced in size) images of Oconee bell and trout lily that will appear in his book.