13 May 2012 Busy Day

We had chores to do at the house so I dragged the camera along for a few images of the wild (and not so wild) spring blossoms around the house.

When we first purchased this house, Ali's mom brought us a few wild forget-me-nots to plant. Besides being a great, old song, the simple, long-lasting blooms have long be among my favorites. They've spread and create a blanket in some areas. There are also more white blossoms every year.

Twelve years ago, I was bored from too much traveling and stopped at a local nursury while waiting for Ali to arrive. I left with twenty-four rhododendrens. I planted the around the house and in the near woods and hoped for the best. A few of them get browsed by the deer every year, but most have survived and thrived to blossom every spring. Seeing these isn't quite as exciting as spotting wild plants in the ANF or a State Game Lands, but they were a great addition to the yard.

Most of our columbines are cultivated varieties, but the yellow ones are true wild columbines. They were additions to our yard from a Holden Arboretum plant sale.

Wild Geraniums

We used plants from Holden's Wildflower sale to start establishing wood poppy on the property. For the first few years, our efforts were all the return of prior years plus any new plants. For the last two years, the wood poppy has started to spread naturally.

The remainder of the flower after the petals have dropped made an interesting image.

Our afternoon activities included a planned hike along the Tanbark Trail. We were hoping we had timed our hike right to see painted trilliums in bloom. The warm spring had made most flowers early. This was our best chance of a weekend where we would be able to walk the trail and the trilliums might be in bloom.

We made one last stop back in Ohio to have a short walk at a park in Rock Creek. We found the cache in the park and were treated to a heron fishing by the pool and falls.