Dutchman's breeches

Dutchman's breeches, a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.

Blendon Woods - Dicentra cucullaria (Fumariaceae) - last of the blooms this weekend. By next weekend they will all be gone.

Steve and I did a short walk yesterday morning - allegedly to look for warblers. My ulterior motive was to seek out some of the spring ephemerals. I found one plant of Dicentra cucullaria with some good flowers still in bloom. I think I was very lucky to find these tucked away behind a large tree.

Milkweed seed awaiting flight

Milkweed seed awaiting flight, a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.

Steve and I did our Sunday afternoon walk along the Olentangy bike path. The river level has lowered, nearly to normal, since last week. All the lovely ephemerals from last week are mostly gone, but the trees are in bloom, the violets are abundant, and I found some Dutchman's breeches in their last bit of display.

This is a milkweed pod, dispersing its seeds. I well remember catching these little gems when I was a kid. You are suppose to make a wish and let it fly away again. My wish for today is that we could see some of those good old days when there were no terrorist attacks with IEDs, government actually governed, people cared about watching out for those in need, etc., etc. Fly away little seeds. Grow into lovely flowers to brighten some future day.

Along the Olentangy

Along the Olentangy, a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.

From last weekend, when the weather was lovely. We had a freeze last night, so it will be interesting to see what the flowers are like this afternoon.  This is Cardamine concatenata (Brassicaceae) - cut-leaved toothwort.

White Trout Lily

White Trout Lily, a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.

Another of our beautiful spring ephemerals: Erythronium albidum. The Olentangy bike path between Lane Avenue and the OSU wetlands is going to be spectacular in a few days as the patches of these wildflowers come into bloom.

Wood Hyacinth

Wood Hyacinth, a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.

The spring ephemerals are one of the highlights of central Ohio. The flowers bloom before the tree canopy fills out, taking advantage of the early spring sunlight. For some of these small gems, you have to look for flashes of color amongst the dull browns of the leaf litter.

Hellebore

Hellebore, a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.

Last weekend the weather was lovely -perfect for getting over to Whetstone Park to do some macro photography. This is one of the lovely Hellebore plants in bloom in the perennial garden. It's in the Ranunculaceae - lots of anthers for the bees to visit to collect pollen.

Buckeye promise

Buckeye promise, a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.

Spring has finally arrived. The trees are starting to leaf out, and the Magnolias are in bloom. This is the bursting apical bud of a buckeye.

Green stinkbug

Green stinkbug, a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.

Last weekend at Highbanks, the green stinkbugs were pretty obvious against the brown background. This photo was taken using a Canon EF 100 mm L f/2.0 lens - one of my favorite lenses to use.