Aman Park in Ottawa County Michigan - April 16 2021

    Aman Park looking down to the creek from the parking area.

Spring Wildflowers!  My sister Marie and I had an adventure at Aman Park on April 16 2021.  It started around 9:40am, it was cold, 38 degrees, and cloudy.  We spent five hours meandering along Sand Creek, we sat a few times, pretty much identified a certain buttercup, I took pictures and Marie took notes.

By the time we got back to the car, it  was sunny with a blue sky and temps up to 60 degrees.  I would have guessed we were out there 2 hours but I was wearing a watch and it said 5 hours and 10 minutes.  We had walked two miles.  Wow!   

     The south bridge over Sand Creek

      Sand Creek from the south bridge

This is the buttercup Marie identified, using Newcomb's Wildflower Guide and Peterson's Field Guide.

I think she settled on Early Buttercup (Ranunculus fascicularis).  Maybe, actually I don't remember  now... only one day later. 

Trout Lily was closed up tight.  

Bloodroot was done blooming.  We saw only a few hepatica blooming.

We started seeing a few patches of blue sky.  Some flowers will only open if it is sunny or at least bright.  Some don't seem to mind about the brightness, like the buttercups.

There were hundreds of Purple Cress blooming with their heads down, a very pretty little plant.

Many places the ground was covered with green plants.  Most of this green is Wild Ginger.

   This is the flower of Wild Ginger, most Wild Ginger plants were still in bud.

This is Dutchman's Breeches just starting to flower, later we saw more and they were fully blooming.

   Dutchman's Breeches
 

There are many Paw Paw trees at this park and they were in bud.  The flowers will have six petals and be a maroon color when they bloom.

We saw Blue Cohosh flowering.

There was one blue berry-like fruit left from last year on a dry stem of a Blue Cohosh.

   A mighty sycamore tree white against the blue sky.

   Spring Beauty 

 Spring Beauty started to react to the warmth and sunlight!  Some of the Spring Beauty were almost white and right next to them were  these very pink ones.

    Trout Lily (sleeping)

    Trout Lily lifting their heads

Virginia Bluebells were just barely blooming

I wasn't sure the trillium would be blooming yet, they usually bloom more around the end of April or early May.  We had seen a few along the way but not actually blooming.  Then we saw them!

   Large flowered Trillium

I would say we have several more weeks to see these blooming.  We are having more cold weather for another week or so but as long as they don't hard freeze they should be okay.  I really think they just started blooming recently.  

It was a perfect spring day.  I am so glad we got to spend the day outside.  I hope you enjoyed the day too. 

Spring Wildflowers in Aman Park, Ottawa County Michigan

May 6, 2013  It was a perfect spring day, sunshine, warm temperatures, few bugs, and lots of wildflowers!  Aman Park is in Ottawa County Michigan, it has steep hillsides to Sand Creek far below.
This time we walked to the southern bridge in the park and followed along the creekside trail.  There were many oohs and ahs from my wildflowering buddy - my sister Marie, and me.  We spent 5 hours at Aman admiring everything.

 Sand Creek at Aman Park

 Large-flowered Trillium

One of the many hillsides covered with trillium.

We saw several different types of violets, all so pretty in their own way.

Virginia Bluebells

 

The Virginia Bluebells were just starting to open, soon these will cover Aman Park near the creek.

Many trees were flowering, below is the creamy white flower of Flowering Dogwood.

The Paw Paw trees had fuzzy buds...there are numerous Paw Paw trees at this park.

 Buttercups have shiny yellow flower petals...

 



 For the first time this year, we saw Wild Geranium blooming...



 Just a few Dicentra,

                                            Squirrel-corn

                                            Dutchman's Breeches

I know dandelions are known as nasty little invaders but how can you not think they are pretty?

 Common Dandelion


A lovely group of Large-flowered Bellwort, these are at the northern bridge in Aman. 

 Sand Creek

Spring Beauty were everywhere, at times making the forest floor look pinkish-white.

Spring Beauty

We saw a few trillium that had various abnormalities...

 



 We found many other wildflowers blooming but after 5 hours at Aman we moved on to Grand River Park.

 

Hayes Pond at Grand River Park in Ottawa County, Michigan

 Some trails were still totally flooded near the Grand River.

In a field 500 feet from the Grand River we saw signs of how high the flood waters had been.  See the red arrows pointing at the debris caught in the trees, the debris was more than 4 feet off the ground!   

 

 Jack-in-the-Pulpit

Marsh Marigold 

 

We saw some wildflowers and had another enjoyable walk.