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EARLY SPRING WILDFLOWERS ALONG THE CHESAPEAKE BAY

Dentaria laciniata also known as Cardamine concatenata

The Cut-leaved Toothwort is endangered in New Hampshire and Maine.

We found it growing abundantly on this west facing hillside along the Chesapeake Bay.

 

ELK NECK STATE PARK, MARYLAND
ELK NECK STATE PARK, MARYLAND

What a pleasant surprise on our first Springtime adventure.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAIt was hard to find a blooming one on this chilly spring afternoon.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAThis is the setting.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAClaytonia virginica, the Spring Beauty, growing side-by -side with the Cut-leaved Toothwort, in abundance.

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We are cultivating this species in our garden, where it has been blooming now for over a week.

ELK NECK STATE PARK, MARYLAND
ELK NECK STATE PARK, MARYLAND

One of the first to bloom, and flower after flower on the stalk, this one small native wildflower will be blooming for much of the spring!

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BLOODROOT IN CULTIVATION, April 5, 2013 part III

Isabelle inspects the property and notices that some of our cultivated Bloodroot has jumped the fence into the park where it grows naturally and has established itself amongst the invasive Lesser Celandine.

Bloodroot blooms in the yard, Philadelphia Pennsylvania
Bloodroot blooms in the yard, Philadelphia Pennsylvania

Usually its the other way around- Invasive cultivated plants such as English Ivy, Asian wisteria, Japanese Pachysandra  jump the garden fence from a neighborhood into a natural area. For once its the other way around!

Bloodroot blooms in the yard, Philadelphia Pennsylvania
Bloodroot blooms in the yard, Philadelphia Pennsylvania

Here is the scene in the side yard, in the balmy early afternoon sun, the best time to enjoy the blooming Bloodroot. Each patch is different and the flowers have a different personality, for this is a highly variable species, the Sanguinaria canadensis.

IMG_8818The Patch pictured above has wide petals that curl back at the tips, giving them the look of a Victorian patio chair.

Just a few feet away, another patch has upward pointing petals.

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Today was sunny and much warmer, and out come the pollinating bees!  Today was the ideal day for the early blooming Bloodroot specimens, with temps in the upper 50s to low 60s!

Bloodroot blooms in the yard, Philadelphia Pennsylvania
Bloodroot blooms in the yard, Philadelphia Pennsylvania

This bee was watched going from flower to flower and from patch to patch, spreading the pollen and insuring healthy, viable seed to come as the genetic exchange is diversified.

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