April 15 2015 For this adventure, Marie and I went to Flower Creek Dunes Nature Preserve owned by Land Conservancy of West Michigan. "Located in northern Muskegon County, Flower Creek Dunes Nature Preserve protects unspoiled dune habitat along the lakeshore. A boardwalk leading to an overlook provides panoramic views of Lake Michigan and the surrounding dunes. Trail length: 1.2 miles (round trip from Meinert Park). Approximate street address: 8501 Meinert Park Road, Montague, MI"
As you can see the sky was a beautiful blue and so was Lake Michigan. The next place that day was Park Road end lake access which is in Oceana County.
Same pretty sky, same pretty lake.
Our third stop of the day was south, back into Muskegon County, to Henderson Lake Park.
Here we found Trailing Arbutus blooming, mostly white flowers along with pink flowers on plants nearby.
2015 04 24 My sister, Sugar and I went for an adventure to Aman Park in Ottawa County. I took her along the trail that follows Sand Creek through the park starting from the south bridge. It is a wonderful meandering path with many wildflowers, interesting trees, and nice views of the creek.
Dutchmen Breeches were in bloom.
Sand Creek
Spring Beauty
Some of the wildflowers like these Bloodroot were still wrapped up from the cool morning. But later opened nicely.
Some Large-Flowered Trillium were open but not the hillsides full like later in the week.
After Aman we stopped at Riverside park, also in Ottawa County, to check out the wildflowers there. Here are some that we found.
Trout Lily, the white variety
Bunches of Spring Beauty
One more stop in Ottawa County, Connor Bayou County Park. This park is along the Grand River, as is Riverside Park.
The river was calm.
We found many Round-Lobed Hepatica blooming! Beautiful flowers.
Next time out with Marie, April 28, Hudsonville Nature Center in Hudsonville Michigan.
Marsh Marigolds lined the trail.
Marsh Marigold
Here you will find ravines, meadows, swamps, a creek, and they each had special wildflowers blooming.
A hillside of blooming Dutchmen Breeches.
Spring Beauty
Wild Geranium was blooming for us, the first time this year.
Trout Lily
We went on to Paris Park in Kent County, we have been here before. The last time we visited, we renamed the park Snakes-in-the-Grass Park because we came across so many snakes. Well, the park lived up to its name, we saw over 10 snakes!
"The park consists of forest and wetlands. Plaster Creek winds through this approximately 69.6 acre park. Paris Park is undeveloped, however, there is a paved pathway that allows all visitors the opportunity to view the numerous deer and wildlife that inhabit this park. Currently Paris Park is owned by Kent County and leased to the City of Kentwood."
Another stop along Plaster Creek in Kent County was
Ken-o-sha Park.
I think this plant is Lesser Celandine (Ranunculus ficaria) apparently a very invasive plant.
There is a bridge over Plaster Creek and many trails on both sides of the creek.
Along with many other spring wildflowers we saw these bunches of Spring Beauty.
The next day, April 29th a group of us went to Aman to see if the trillium were open. They were! This time we walked along Sand Creek from the northern bridge to the southern bridge. Another perfect day.
All the dots of white in the photo below are Large-Flowered Trillium! Thousands.
That same evening, Mike and I walked at Riverside Park in Ottawa County. The sun was setting, turning everything gold.
A Bloodroot with seed and leaf facing the sun.
April was a month of nice weather and the start of a great Michigan wildflower season.
April 11 2011 For Marie's and my adventure this week we thought to go to Blandford Nature Center (1715 Hillburn Ave NW, Grand Rapids, Michigan), this is a cool place but lots of elementary field trippers visit here, which is nice for them.
So on we went down the road to a new park Marie had made a note card on. It is called Stanaback Park located at the end of Whitebud Drive, off of Pfeiffer Woods Drive, between Breton and Shaffer Avenues in Kentwood Michigan.
This too seems like a nice park and we did walk here a fair distance. We found a hepatica trying to bloom, it was a cool 54 degrees but windy. So off we go to find a place more out of the way, not so city.
Marie suggests Paris Park Nature Reserve (3213 60th. St.) in the City of Kentwood. Ok I'll play along though I'm thinking we are still very close to the city of Grand Rapids, big city to me. We found Paris Park to be the jackpot. Nice wetlands and forest, Plaster Creek winds through this almost 70 acre park. Currently Paris Park is owned by Kent County and leased to the City of Kentwood.
It should be called "Snakes in the Grass Park" since we saw six snakes here. Four of these snakes were big, long, dark, slithery, and liked the water. I haven't identified them.
We also met this frog!
Plaster Creek at Paris Park Nature Reserve
We saw a few wildflowers blooming, False Rue Anemone, Spring Beauty, Purple Cress... we did the wildflower dance.
Spring Beauty
We left this park and quickly headed for Grand River Park in Ottawa County.
Grand River Park has a variety of environmental niches so you will find everything from ephemeral spring wildflowers to long blooming summer wildflowers (of course not at the same time right). Wet, dry, woods, fields this park has it all.
We first found beautiful groups of violets blooming, lots of Spring Beauty, some Cut-leaved Toothwort, but best of all we found Harbinger-of-Spring (Erigenia bulbosa), also known as Pepper and Salt. This was the first time we found this spring ephemeral this far north, we have seen it in southwest Michigan.
Harbinger-of-Spring
More wildflowering adventures soon!
.JPG)
