Marie and I visited Dowagiac Woods in southwest Michigan. We knew it was early to see wildflowers blooming, we also knew we would at least see Hepatica blooming.
Some "petals" were deep purple, pale violet, pure white, pink edged, deep rose, all absolutely beautiful!
Some of the flower heads measured 1 1/2 inches across! Some plants had six "petals", some up to 14 petals. I enjoyed each and every hepatica we saw that day.
It was a beautiful day, sunny with temps starting at 47, and as high as 69.
Another flowering plant that we saw hundreds of was Harbinger-of-Spring! It is a very tiny little flower, also an early bloomer.
We found some Bloodroot blooming.
We saw just a few Marsh Marigolds blooming down a hill in a wet area. They are like bright sunshine flowers!
In this same swampy place I found Golden Saxifrage! We saw this tiny flowering plant at Happy Boots last week.
And Skunk Cabbage
We heard frogs, and saw a Garter Snake, a few bees, and a butterfly.
We found one Purple Cress blooming, several more with buds.
Only a few Spring Beauty were fully open, this one was a beauty.
Scarlet Cup This beautiful woodland fungus grows on decaying wood in damp places under the leaf litter.
Here is more of what we saw...
Trout Lily in bud
Red Maple flowers
Ohio Buckeye bud
Two different types of ferns...
Trillium leaves
Blue Cohosh sprout
Virginia Waterleaf - No flower yet
Blue-Eyed Mary, Large-flowered Trillium, Trout Lily, Spring Beauty, Dutchman's Breeches, and more!