In Morris Park, Philadelphia as well as all along the highways in New Jersey, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Delaware, we have been seeing red. Red trees, or just a hue of red in spots in the forests or whole swaths of a red hue across ponds and streambanks and along the rivers. While the rest of the forest is the usual mass of brownish -grey sticks, the red hue is omni-present and foreshadows spring in the forest while little else color exists.
The red is subtle from a distance, but upon closer inspection is bright and vivid, startlingly so, and the red flowers are intense!
After a pleasant afternoon hiking one mile down through the woods to a deserted beach along the Chesapeake Bay, Isabelle captured the mood of the blooming Acer rubrum pictured above with her I-Phone.
On our hike down the steep hills to the Chesapeake, we saw more of the red haze we had become ensconced with on our travels.
The red hinted at the last time such vivid colors graced this landscape, over  five months ago, when the leaves of these very same trees turned a brilliant fall red.
As we descended into the lower reaches of the hillside forest we were able to get a closer look at the blooms.
ELK NECK STATE PARK, MARYLAND
And to the blooms we got even closer.
ELK NECK STATE PARK, MARYLAND
And finally, we could see up close the vibrant male flower above and the female flower below.
ELK NECK STATE PARK, MARYLAND
And the female flower pictured below is fully matured.
These are considered botanically to be “perfect” flowers because individual flowers only display the one sex as opposed to a combination of sexual parts.
As Spring graces your area, be sure to appreciate those blooming Red Maples !
Isabelle Dijols, amidst Mountain Laurel, gazes at the red hue of blooming Red Maple off in the distance
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
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
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.
The 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.
Today was sunny and much warmer, and out come the pollinating bees! Â 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
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.
It was hard to find a blooming one on this chilly spring afternoon.
This is the setting.
Claytonia virginica, the Spring Beauty, growing side-by -side with the Cut-leaved Toothwort, in abundance.
