Saturday, April 15, 2006

Wildflower sightings at the Park of Roses

We've been watching the spring ephemerals emerge and go away over the past several weeks during our walks with Emma. Here are some of the plants in bloom today.







The buttercups are spectacular today. I think these are a species of Ranunculus, but I need to look it up to be sure.
















Here's a close-up of the flowers.















This is called "Dogtooth Lily," but known to us botanists as Erythrinum albidum.
















I love seeing "Dutchman's Breeches" in the wild. This is a species of Dicentra. I'm not sure of the species, but I have some cultivars of Dicentra in my garden. They're known as "Bleeding Heart" for the garden varieties.















"Spring Beauty" is about done with it's flowering season. I've been seeing these for a few weeks now. The genus name is "Claytonia."
















Raindrops on a "Virginia Bluebells" leaf.












Here's the whole plant. The genus name is Mertensia, and I have a lot of these in my garden. They're one of my favorite spring wildflowers with their beautiful blue flowers.











Violets (aka Viola) were all over the park today. There were two different color morphs - these purple ones and some pale blue, almost white, ones.

No comments: