Normally it is hard to photograph the Nodding Trilliums since the blossom hangs underneath, but on a very windy day, the leaves were blowing upwards so the bloom was exposed.
Nodding Trillium Blossom Seen
Picture of the Day for May 19, 2021
The nodding trillium has blossoms that hide under the leaves, which may be why my deer don’t see the white to eat them or the leaves have a different taste as the nodding trilliums survive in my woods where the great white trilliums get grazed off.
Nodding Trillium
Picture of the Day for August 8, 2018
The nodding trillium had a three petal blossom hanging under the leaves in the spring and now there is a red seed pod. The pod must have looked like a mini apple to the deer since there was two trillium seed pods a week ago, but one plant has been eaten off.
Nodding Trillium Seed Pod
Picture of the Day for May 27, 2018
The woods at the farm were filled with the great white trillium which is easily spotted, but this year none of my had blossoms as they have been eaten off by the deer too many years in a row and I only some leaves which emerged but no blossoms. The only variety of trilliums I have blooming this year are the Nodding Trilliums, which hide from the deer as they ‘nod’ or hang underneath the large three leaves. The way they hide also makes it hard to photo since you have to be on the ground looking up at it (or cheat and tip the stem over to see the blossom better).
Hiding Blossoms
Picture of the Day for May 24, 2017
The nodding trilliums have a little better chance of keeping their blossoms dry since they hang underneath the leaves. They also seem to better survive becoming a snack for the deer which wander across my lawn since the flowers are more hidden and not as showy.
Nodding Trilliums Hiding
Picture of the Day for May 16, 2016
It was nice not waking up to a white lawn today, after the snow on Saturday morning and the heavy frost Sunday morning, but some white is missing as the deer have eaten all of my Great White Trilliums. The flowers and leaves are gone with only a stem remaining. Apparently the Nodding Trillium leaves don’t taste as good as the deer eat them or there is no white blossom drawing attention to them as the blossom of the Nodding Trillium hangs underneath the leaves and you don’t notice the flowers.
Elusive Blossom
Picture of the Day for May 18, 2015
The solitary flower of a Nodding Trillium hangs underneath the leaves so it isn’t spotted very easily (and maybe why the deer don’t eat as many of these trilliums as the other type) but it also makes it difficult to take a picture of them as the camera has to be on the ground shooting upward. With the probably frost tonight, the Nodding Trillium probably will want to keep its head covered under the leaves.
Finding the Nodding Trillium
Picture of the Day for June 4, 2014
The Nodding Trilliums are blooming, although it is easy to miss the blossoms since they hang under the leaves. But hiding under the leaves, don’t always protect them from the deer seeing them and eating the plant. And it is hard to get a picture of the blossoms since have to get down and look up. Trillium cernuum is also known as Nodding Wakerobin and Whip-poor-will flower. The Drooping Trillium is very similar and hard to tell the ‘drooping’ ones from the ‘nodding’ ones.
Nodding Trillium
