Happy Boots and Hepatica Hill - Michigan Wildflower Adventure

 2026 April 9 Thursday

You won’t find Happy Boots on a map.  Marie and I made up that name for a place in Allegan County,  many years ago.  It is a delightful swampy woodland with wildflowers! 

Here are a few things we saw on this day in April. 

Marsh Marigold

Spring Beauty

Anemone 

Marsh Marigold

Skunk Cabbage

Trout Lily

Sand Creek at Happy Boots

We also visited Hepatica Hill. Mark Cassino told me about this place several years ago.  It is a south facing hill along the Kalamazoo River.  In the spring this hill is brown and muddy except for the burst of purple Hepatica! 

My favorite flower! 

We also saw a dragonfly, and a few butterflies.  

Hepatica Hill

Kalamazoo River

Last week, April 8th, I also got to walk with my other fun sister, Sugar. We started at Nunica Junction Trail Head, part of the North Bank Trail.  We headed east to the trestle bridge over Crockery Creek.  It is a two mile walk, round trip.  It was a wet, 35 degree day. Yet it was nice to be outside for a walk especially with my sister.

We have had a lot of rain, so we went to see how high the water was in Crockery Creek. 

Crockery Creek near Nunica

Today is April 14th, Betsy (my fun daughter) and I went to Riverside Park today to see if we could get to the wildflower trail.  Every route was flooded but you could make it with a boat. We did see a few pretty flowers!

I hope you enjoy these adventures, I certainly did!

July Adventures 2018

July 2018 was mostly hot and humid here in Michigan so there weren't as many adventures this month.  Here are some of the high points...

 I checked up on the Rose Pogonia in Muskegon County.  We had seen several of these plants nine days before, but I found only two of the orchids still blooming and they were rough looking.

Pitcher Plants looked good yet.

 This is a close up of Culver's Root (Veronicastrum virginicum), there were many of these plants still blooming.  They were about 4 feet tall and quite elegant looking.

 Pickerelweed (Pontederia cordata) was blooming in the damp mud, just along the shoreline. I especially like the attractive spikes of blue-violet flowers, and also the leaves of this plant, which have interesting veins.

Around home about mid July, I found a lovely Broad Leaved Helleborine, a non-native orchid that doesn't stand a chance if it grows in Mike's lawn.  This one found a safe place under the play structure in the back yard.  So it was one of the few to survive.



I didn't see many Indian Pipe (Monotropa uniflora) this year.  Whether I wasn't out in the woods as much or it was too hot and dry, I'm not sure.

On July 11 - Marie and I were able to get together for an adventure to Port Sheldon Natural Area, and it was hot!  Port Sheldon Natural Area in Ottawa County is 440 acres including gently rolling terrain, woods, wildlife ponds and Ten Hagen Creek.

 This is the pond where we see hundreds of Virginia Meadow Beauty (Rhexia virginica), they weren't blooming yet.  Just a few were in bud.

  Virginia Meadow Beauty bud

At another pond we saw beautiful Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis), in their prime!

 

 We saw just a few Michigan Lily (Lilium michiganense).  They were a bit rough but still nice to see.

 

Mike and I were able to walk at Connor Bayou and Crockery Creek, here are some photos from Crockery Creek.

 Crockery Creek in Ottawa County.

                 Heal All, one of my favorite plants!

 It is a bit hard to see but, all that white is Lizard's Tail (Saururus cernuus) blooming!

In the garden, Mike had some sticks in the soil for the green peas to climb up.  Well the rabbits ate the pea plants, but the dragonflies enjoy perching on the sticks.  So here are a couple of shots of the dragonflies.

Late in July, our oldest son, Andrew, and his family came to stay with us for a week.  We spent much of our time at the Lake Michigan beach, visited a petting zoo, walked the boardwalk and pier in Grand Haven, and had a fun hike at Hoffmaster State Park.  Andrew brought a couple of jet skis, I don't care to ride them but I made some nice sand castles with the kids.

July 30 - my sister, Sugar and I visited Bass River Recreational Area.  She had seen Cardinal Flower blooming and we wanted to see how they were doing at Bass.  Here is what we found.

                 Monkeyflower (Mimulus ringens)

   Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis)  We found some blooming but not many.

 

   Swamp Milkweed

   Water Plantain

Most places at Bass were pretty dry.  This is one place we see Bottle Gentian growing in early September, I hope they had enough water.

One more adventure in the month of July, to Happy Boots in Allegan County! 

 

              Baby Tulip Tree!               

 

 

 

Marie added two Life Plants to her list!  Spikenard....

 

And ....Larger Canada St. John'swort

 

 Liverwort

   Sand Creek

 Somewhere at Happy Boots!

Marie found one Purple Fringed Orchid!  A bit rough but there it was.

   There it is, the only orchid we found.  Can you find it?

 Lizard's Tail (Saururus cernuus) a few were still blooming
 

 
 On the way home we stopped at the park in Hamilton...

 

Next time on to August!  I hope you enjoyed the adventures as much as I did.